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Aaron Dilloway

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Andrew Patterson

Aaron Dilloway returns with No Skill Comedy Mind Reading, his first full-length album since 2017, a collection of characteristically jarring, absurdist material. Marked by his signature distortions and contortions — feedback-shrouded found sounds, field recordings, and vocal improvisations — No Skill Comedy Mind Reading collects nearly a decade of select solo work and feels distinctly in the present, a scattered product of volatility, both harsh and humorous.

Few contemporary experimental artists over the past quarter-century are as prolific and revered as Dilloway, a pioneer of the American Midwest noise scene, a former member of Wolf Eyes, and the founder of the Oberlin-based label and record shop Hanson Records. But for wielding such an immense catalog, he has released only two proper solo LPs, amid a steadier output of tape releases and collaborative projects, this latest release completing what has become an ambiguous album trilogy starting with his 2012 landmark Modern Jester.

“I almost feel like they're kind of part of one piece. All three records are trying to find humor in the worst possible situations. Depending on who is listening and what their mindset is, they could be seen as funny or just horrifying, horrible records.” Half-serious, Dilloway continues, “This one to me, it's the result of, you know, fucked up stuff: mental illness, medications, divorce, funny shit. Immersion into weird stuff always fascinates me in one way or another.”

Alongside the aforementioned inputs from the human experience, No Skill Comedy Mind Reading draws on several technical and aesthetic curiosities: the methodical sound design of Alvin Lucier, Andy Milligan’s low-budget 1989 cult horror film The Weirdo, and the pop eccentricity of film composer Hugo Montenegro. Dilloway came upon the latter’s oddball belongings through a storage-unit auction, which included notes from the composer’s early electronic experiments. Some of the album’s most unnerving moments can be traced to the impact of this truly unusual find.


TERRITORY North America

PRESSWAMC
Belt Mag
The Quietus

CONNECTBandcamp
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No Skill Comedy Mind Reading by Aaron Dilloway