Man's Last Great Invention

"None" CDR

Eh?

Genre: drone, experimental

Aug 6 2008

None is the first release from Nebraska's Man's Last Great Invention, a curious drone band whose music reminds me of Cul De Sac's more experimental offerings. Issued by Public Eyesore sub-project Eh?, this is slow-building, bass-heavy stuff that sounds almost cinematic in nature. Man's Last Great Invention makes heavy use of echoing chanted vocals, which lends the disc an Eastern feel, as well as a distinct melodic tone. The majority of the album utilizes an ambient formula that is somewhat reminiscent of Biosphere material; sparse layers of sound come together to form miraculously organized compositions. The strangely hopeful first half of the album climaxes in a haze of distant chanting on the third track; this makes way for a much darker second half which could best be termed "unsettling." Particularly disturbing is the monstrous final track; it sounds like a swarm of ghosts trying to force their way out of a metal holding cell. Although very different in spirit from the rest of the album, what it lacks in droney sonority, it makes up for in disorienting unpredictability.

man's last great invention's myspace

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youuuuuuuutube!: short live clip

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 6 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2008]