NP175 Featureless Ghost – ‘Personality Matrix’ LP
Personality Matrix is the debut LP by Atlanta duo Featureless Ghost following a steady stream of EP’s including the recent Mind Body cassette on Night-People. All of those prior releases were great but Featureless Ghost were holding onto something special that they have now fully materialized in the form of this LP. Pre-release listens of the vinyl had friends of the band and the label awed by the heavy and deep sound of this record, a true stunner that buries the speakers and space around the sound. A fully realized master work recorded and mastered to perfect specifications; Night-People has never released anything that simply sounds this good. Featureless Ghost set high expectations and surpassed them. Any reference to the aesthetic or influence seems too simple to fully describe what has been accomplished with this release. Synth pop, dark wave, minimal synth, trance, none of it really matters. This is deep eclectic electronic music performed to live midi, hybrid digital and analog perfection. The dual male/female vocal delivery presented on this record shows a high concern for distinctly developed interplay and identity that is perhaps unequaled in contemporary synth pop. Cyber dreams, lost worlds, and dystopian futures seem to be the subject of Featureless Ghost’s expression but the music itself couldn’t be more solidly realized and perfected. Night-People is so honored to be a part of this release and we hope you end up enjoying it as much as we do. Mastered by Pete Swanson. Artwork by Shawn Reed.
NP171 Goldendust s/t LP
Goldendust rides deep and dark but not free of a lush joyful pop sensibility sometimes sneaking in behind menacing moments to disrupt the darkness and let a little light through. If John Carpenter’s soundtracks had more Romanticism or synth pop sensibility in there stark minimalism it would sound a bit like these songs. Still something else is at play that’s not so easy to pinpoint, which is what separates Goldendust from the current crop of minimal synth revivalists. Joe’s vocals are unique in their delivery like a drifters sense of space and time they come not from some urban machine view of the world but from deserted small town parking lots or streets starring out into vacant fields. Maybe the experience is what separates these songs, the identity of the duo itself not as big city chic but of rural state isolation Justin’s dual analog synth approach creates the perfect balance between dense bass riffs and sharp leads and both dig deep into big melody. Recorded by Luke Tweedy at Flat Black Studio and mastered by Pete Swanson for maximum fidelity; this is a record that sounds great and is not to be missed. Artwork by Shawn Reed.