Bleep

Diagonal Records’ 13th-anniversary series continues to expand horizons with its third drop, ranging from mercurial musique concrète to sneering post-rock slow burn. Jim O’Rourke constructs a lakefront bell choir in miniature on ‘ror bypass’, with undulating chimes forming a reedy, zen-like soundscape fluctuating between eerie and intriguing. This is mirrored by Sote’s gale-force synth manipulations brushing against metallic, rippling santour plucks from Arash Bolouri on ‘Ataraxy’. Meanwhile, Powell’s stabbing rhythm meets Kae Tempest’s biting words in an unfaltering grievance on unfulfilled desire and displeasure, leading to Blood Music’s ‘Heard In The Womb’, where deeply resonating drums and loosely hanging, high-pitched strings evolve into a buzzing dirge of guitars.