Bleep

New York producer Ben Shirken has launched yet another musical endeavour with Shards of Axel, the debut LP from his new project Ex Wiish on Incienso. As ringleader of the multi-disciplinary 29 Speedway collective, Shirken has had a steady hand in the development of a new kind of dance and art culture mini renaissance, but Ex Wiish mostly shies away from the dancefloor in favour of moodier, more cinematic (or in this case, video game centric) motifs. Tracks like “Ashes of Ambivalence’ and ‘Web9’ share some DNA strands with the free jazz Shirken kicks up in other projects, but Ex Wiish mostly stands alone in their discography thus far. Caustic digital distortion looms large over Shards of Axel, but there’s something quite compelling amidst the detritus.