Exillon: The Keening Dithers
Ad Noiseam

Following releases on Zod and Component Records, The Keening Dithers signifies a notable emotional and stylistic advance for Jay Fields' Exillon project. Par for the genre, the album includes its share of hammering doomscapes (“Termit”) and intricate glitchfests (“Jan,” “Kollipy”) but promising new directions declare themselves too. Ignore the rather woeful title “Moonlight Sinatra” and instead revel in the, yes, classical sonata-styled piano playing that is the song's moody core. Perhaps it's the infusion of collaborative blood that partially explains the album's broad sound. Certainly the Exillon-5 Minute Project outing “Aliasing” brings forth an affecting melancholy dimension, while Fields' throwdown with Mad E.P. (“Dtofv3”) and acid overhaul of Meat Beat Manifesto's “Horn of Jericho” prompt spasmodic seizures. Elsewhere, placid synth melodies brighten complex rhythm patter in the almost symphonic “Cadi” and laconic hip-hop beats shuffle through the joint Exillon-Terminal11 effort “Now You'll Never Know.” Though such moments surprise, the album's coup de grâce is the ultra-submersive closer “Sfx02,” a thirteen-minute, Ligetiesque space drone that ultimately expires in symphonic splendor. How appropriate it is that this refreshingly unpredictable collection should close with such an arresting flourish.

March 2006