Reviews: Reactor Four & Cathode Ray

Mark Barton of The Sunday Experience has reviewed my two most-recent releases. Here's what he had to say:

Reactor Four

Keen observers of these musings will no doubt be familiar with the Manitou – better known to kith n kin as Joshua Blanc – notably through love poured upon his ‘electro magnetic’ and ‘the mechanicals’ visitations. Third in his series of two track single releases finds a sinister countenance afoot in both sound and subject matter for both ‘reactor four’ and ‘fukushima fifty’ centre on the nightmarish realities of nuclear meltdowns. Inspired by the Chernobyl fall out ‘reactor four’ is steeled in a haunting dead still that aside being disquieting (with the appearance of the chilling Geiger clicks) is bleakly head bowed and signed in regret, the atmosphere suitable ice cold and bleached I a hollowed emptiness shimmers delicately into territories more commonly associated with Karl Bartos. Carved out in old school retro electro minimalism ‘fukushima fifty’ seductively pirouettes along the same sparse melodic leyline as that found populating a ‘man machine’ era Kraftwerk universe albeit with it frosted exterior somewhat fused to the expansive hypno drills of tangerine dream. http://www.themanitou.bandcamp.com/album/reactor-four

 

Cathode Ray

Those of you loving your electronics spared in minimalism like it was 1979 and steered in a sinister off set funky iciness might want to stay with the Manitou a little while longer for the follow up to ‘reactor four’ – and by a quick head count the fourth in the singles series is entitled ‘Cathode Ray’. This un plugs directly into Human League Mk1’s sound space more specifically having us reaching for our copy of ’reproduction’ in order to sample the dark delights of ‘circus of death’.

My promo video for Cathode Ray has also been featured on Matrixsynth blog, of which I've long been a fan. If you're into synthesizers and you haven't paid it a visit, I urge you to do so.