Jonas Reinhardt: Powers of Audition (Kranky)

Kranky is a label that just gets stranger with time. I give them credit for broadening their horizons; I would imagine this was just as much for financial reasons as creative ones, because it must have been difficult to be a niche drone/post-rock label for all those years without any real “hits” to qualify them financially. Jonas Reinhardt is one of their recent additions who seems to operate in his own orbit, breaking away from the pack like their signature pop signees Deerhunter did in their own way. Opener “Mumma Deed Family Clone” begins things off droney enough, but suddenly then “Atomic Bomb Living” catapults us headlong into the heart of Neu!-esque krautrock. Different permutations of this ghost appear throughout the remainder of the album, in varying degrees of atmosphere, synthesis, rock & roll, and ambience. Reinhardt seems keen on the same vague homage to the past that labelmates Cloudland Canyon have explored in recent years, never sounding like a total rip-off but also not shy about his reference points and a clear love for this music.

Watch/listen: “Near a Mirrored Pit Viper”