Pitchfork

I listened to this collaboration between the Octopus Project and Black Moth Super Rainbow half because of the image at left, a still from the opening sequence to "You Can't Do That on Television", which continues to evoke pleasant memories from my first 10 years of TV watching. This track has little in common with "You Can't Do That on Television" or my first 10 years, and it isn't pleasantly dance-able, sing-able, or hum-able. But the bassline's very Schoolhouse Rock, and the organs pile up into layers of Elephant Six-style candy apple hooks. "Psychic Swelling" maintains integrity even beneath the weight of all those pulses, warbles, and electric piano flutters. Everything locks in-- it's a jigsaw puzzle, not a train wreck. That's what keeps this instrumental interesting, rather than morbidly fascinating-- there are so many melodic flourishes and mini-hooks that it's almost as if OP and BMSR were competing, not collaborating, yet they never quite get tangled up in each other.