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Fifteen fabulously cosmic bangers in fifteen fantastical flavours. Instrumental Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Glitch-hop, all the hops. It's like a beer that won't damage your brain cells. Time Rival has once again crafted a fine selection of bangers, fresh off the banger crafting assembly line. Get most immediately, on this.
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Inspired by Hip-Hop and built on a foundation of ambient Textures, "Reaction, Vol. 2" is the second of three volumes of reworks of music from Time Rival's 8 hour meditation and sleep project "Inaction"

Check out "Inaction" only on Bandcamp
timerival.bandcamp.com/album/inaction

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INTERVIEW
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George Ernst: WHY MUST YOU SPELL ALUMIN(I)UM THIS WAY? I AM VERY UPSET. I HAD TO LOOK AT THE JAGGED RED UNDER-LINE ON OPEN OFFICE WHILE I TYPED THIS REVIEW BECAUSE MY SPELLCHECKER KNOWS SPELLING IT THAT WAY IS WRONG. AND NOW I'M GETTING MADDER BECAUSE I'M CAPITALIZING EVERY WORD, AND SO I HAVE TO LOOK AT MORE RED JAGGED LINES, so basically, how've you been man?

Michael Southard aka Time Rival: Haha! I heard somewhere the extra "I" was dropped to be more like Platinum, arguably a better and more sought after metal. But yeah...I've been alright. Plugging away and trying to be as creative and productive as possible.

GE: How long did it take for this selection to come together? Did you have any leftover from volume one that ended up worked into this?

MS: I think I worked on this one for about two months. My workflow on these albums was pretty straightforward, I already had the framework from the ambient pieces they started from. I had 50 total and these came from the second half. The leftovers that didn't make it on Vol. 1 or Vol. 2 are on Vol. 3, which is a little less cohesive but more interesting I think. That'll be out soon and free for whoever wants it.

GE: If you had to sum up this album in a sentence, what would it be?

MS: I spent an entire year making "Inaction" and wanted to get more mileage out of it.

GE: Your head is replaced with an animals head. This cannot be undone. What animal's head do you choose?

MS: I'd go with a crow. Nobody would mess with a human-crow hybrid.

GE: What you been reading lately?

MS: I'm currently in the middle of the "Xenogenesis" series by Octavia E. Butler, as well as the "Secret Books of Paradys" series by Tanith Lee. I recently finished Andrew Huang's book "Make Your Own Rules" which was really very fascinating and an easy recommendation for any artist or creator living in the modern age.

GE: Did it suck sitting on this one for so long?

MS: It didn't "suck" per se, but I did forget about it entirely because I'm always working on new music. Whatever I'm working on right now is way more interesting to me than something I finished last September. I have to become reacquainted with it to bring me back into that time.

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REVIEW
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Instrumental hip-hop Time Rival is back again guys! Awoouuu (Wolf Howl). I'll try to remain in partial as I listen to one of my favourite producers cooking up my favourite kind of music. Wait, what am I saying? No I won't! I work for the label, I want you to buy the record!
If you're unfamiliar with the works of one Michael Southard, Triplicate Records' producer and musical chameleon, this works nicely as an entry point. While not exactly representative of his entire discography, it's a keen example of how the man can, seemingly effortlessly take on any genre he puts his mind to. Not to mention, this LP, Reaction vol. 2 is the second (!) beat tape he's released in six months.

The opener, 'Definitive Ballast' is woozy, effortlessly chill, drenched in light and a breezy brittle quality to the percussion that echoes throughout Southard's oeuvre. 'Latch' adds a little more bombasticity to the proceedings. Menacing beats pound as a ghost of what could be a singer but also might be a synthesizer haunts the mix.

It's hard to ignore the tight sense of consistency this time around. This is not to say the first volume was lacking in this area, but the formula seems to have been perfected. 'Nebulous Landing' is exemplary in this regard. These short musical sketches flourish surprisingly well despite their limited run time. Personality is packed into every percussive smack and pop. Even marginally longer tracks, like the gorgeous 'Course Muslin' maintain the sense of urgency that dominates the Time Rival sound. The songs here, paradoxically do not stick around very long, yet are afforded the opportunity to breath, and in doing so breath wonderful musical life into the air. We need it.

Elsewhere, 'Strawberry Veneer' keeps the lush flowing amid a whoosh of breezy weather, (Southard's compositions are noted for often showcasing his extensive stockpile of field recordings), whereas the following 'Silent Showers' feels like being immersed in a warm bath. To keep things on track we're snapped back to reality with 'Aluminum Braids', the pitter-pattter rhythm of which brings to mind a more Trip than Hip-Hop flavour, followed by the sensational skittery glitch-hop of 'Unlatch'.

'Provocative Vaulting', aside from being my favourite title here, is also an LP highlight. Despite its brief length (I think it's the shortest tune on here), packs a sizeable punch, scattering pretty, tiny lil arpeggios over a crunchy beat. The crunch factor is expanded upon in the cosmic banger 'Interferon', another highlight, and the immaculate 'Second-hand Ottoman'. Usually records slump some in the middle, It's hard to stick under a word count when every tune is so damn good that I want to wax lyrical about it for several paragraphs. Sufficed to say these previously six tunes I've mentioned are peak Time Rival.

It doesn't stop there though. 'Jetlag', manages to both shed the unpleasant stigma of its namesake, and capture, through the composition, the sensation of drifting into the sunset on an aeroplane. But like, in a parallel universe where flying doesn't suck. On reflection, the title makes sense. 'Dusty Grail' on the other hand is a little livelier, while staying slick and focused with the melody. This grail ain't so dusty. Southard chose wisely.

Winding down, we're treated to the spacious reverb-laden stylings of 'Impatiently Waiting'. A longie, (by this album's standards at least, at just over three minutes), and a goodie at that! Finally comes 'Disassemble', which I enjoy the title of because I picture Southard literally taking apart his creation like lego blocks. One would simply ask he does so with care, because this is an outstanding collection of songs that I enjoyed every second of listening to. 'Disassemble' feels like the world slowly folding away at the end of a hard but gratifying days work. Though I'm sure the project took a lot longer than that! It certainly sounds like it did!