Five Star Hotel (a.k.a. Michael Jerome) drops Outlands today on noise-leaning experimental-sound label, Visual Disturbances. The Detroit-based label — created by MJ and Otto Peyer (Spirit Waves) — hosts different shades of electronic-like Tokyo Death Watch, Smith Comma John’s bubblegum, and my favorite White Christian Male, but none as mean as Five Star Hotel.
Conflicting sensory information is what Five Star Hotel’s music is built on. On one hand, the name and recent album artwork draw lines toward luxury: the cover of #HOTELSEASON looks like an expensive Chihuly piece and the glass fixture on Outlands cassette artwork (above) is hanging up in higher-end hotels, everywhere. On the other hand, MJ’s music treats the name like one of those rent-a-hotel-room-and-destroy-everything type of stress relievers. The contradicting palms play into FSH’s powernoise, and combined, each make up a sinister aesthetic. Are we looking at an penthouse secret where debauchery runs the gamut or an alleyway door protecting a dim lit, tongue-in-cheek play against the prior.
In under three years, Five Star Hotel has gone from quiet electronic initiate to utter destruct-mode. The ferocity of Outlands speaks to the seasoned speaker killer FSH is. “Pendant” and “HEV” were the only two tracks out before today – “Pendant” on Visual Disturbances’ #VD1 compilation and “HEV” as the album’s stadium trap standout. Breakbeat, Trap, Jersey, all blitzed into blood-dealing night terrors and paired with rhythmless noise breaks in “Dimensions” and the album’s closer “End of Life Sequence.” Outlands is a monster throwing bows in a crowded room. Please give yourself ample space before continuing on.
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The album is up for grabs at no cost on Bandcamp, where you can grab the hot looking cassette via Visual Disturbances’ tape label Emergency Tapes. All Visual Disturbances are available to download on their easy to love spreadsheet.
• Five Star Hotel: https://fivestarhotel.bandcamp.com
• Visual Disturbances: http://visualdisturbances.net