Fifteen of CRYSTAL PAIN by I am just a Pupil exist on cassette, and somehow there’s six tapes for sale on Illuminated Paths. 1) I am just a Pupil is throwback-still-all-star dunking meditation shit that been on damn-near everything. 2) You cannot go wrong with Illuminated Paths for damn-near everything too, having snagged CRYSTAL PAIN, a 40-masterpiece in plunder-trance zone that feels never ending, slow morphs of sound sculpture. 3) This stuff just works with people, so play it for them inopportunely, and at random.
I work around a lot of kids during the week, and playing this for them made a few of them feel a bit creative. One felt like they were combing a Japanese stone garden. Another told me it reminded them of the aquarium tour, and the ambient noises they play throughout the halls. Lastly, I asked a kid how this CRYSTAL PAIN made him feel “OK.” I asked why “OK,” and he said he was sad he was late to school this morning because he and his dad were arguing over doing peer-senate; I had to call his mom because he was late.
CRYSTAL PAIN is absolutely a top album for me this year, and there’ve been a lot of releases on par with it (i.e. Pharma, 777 Series, Idylls). There’s story building contorted with narrative sounds gesturing a just in the track “Algorythm” that perplexes multiple senses. You just have to let it take you there. Without rhyme or reason, I am just a Pupil is exactly what the doctor order; from heaven above.
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