Album Review // The Black Sunshines // Volume III

Self-released

4/5 stars

Avant garde artists like Captain Beefheart made it clear one did not need to record in traditional studios like Abbey Road, with over-the-top production. Decades later, musicians like Steve Albini would create an entire album on a cassette tape four-track recorder easily utilized in any kitchen or bedroom. These days laptops with audio interfaces are cranking out work through apps like GarageBand from anywhere and with higher quality. Here is where we find Erie's The Black Sunshines (Louis Rullo Johnston). His third release of 2024, Volume III consists of eight broadly varied digitally-voiced and traditionally-played compositions. Tracks "Part A" and "Part C" are like the heaviest of metal — bombastic and forceful. The dissonance of the tracks recalls the earlier works of Throbbing Gristle or the admittedly influential Swans. "Part B" and "Part G" still maintain the unresolved discord yet with a more organic feel, like Legendary Pink Dots or even early Tropicala. The cadence of these pieces is less refined. They are raw and unbridled although deliberate — more like Karlheinz Stockhausen or John Cage. These pieces form from a primordial ooze and continue to move with a certain degree of entropy, like the best of Grateful Dead's "Space." As Rullo Johnston's work matures, I look forward to seeing where he will take us.