The Oscillation

★★★★ Untold Futures ALL TIME LOW. CD/LP

East London acid-rock space man Demian Castellanos hits maximum freak-out.

Since debuting on big-beat architect J Saul Kane’s DC Recordings imprint with 2007’s Out Of Phase, Castellanos has explored most avenues of psychedelic misadventure. As The Oscillation, initial experiments around loopedup thump have gradually morphed into pulsating jams where guitar amps go up to 14, while bass doom, synth throbs and percussive thunder further batter the senses. This eighth album forsakes any of the formal restraint found in vintage Loop/Spacemen 3, say, for full-tilt groove-based freak-outs of Comets On Firestyle fury. Some light and shade prevails: Forever Knowing establishes a relatively spacious framework of flanged six-string and portentous low-end, only to left turn at 3:40 into a more punishing dimension via a filthy bass line and myriad FX. Expertly constructed and limitlessly detailed, Untold Futures will reliably escort ‘experienced’ listeners to the other side, and beyond.