A BOI – See Through (Chapter 1)

Check out the visuals for, ‘See Through (Chapter 1)’ released by A BOI

Chances are, if you’re familiar with TaSzlin Muerte’s music, you know him from Austin’s uncompromising trio BLXPLTN. It follows, then, that you think of Tasz as a ferocious punk rocker – one driven by his sense of social justice to thrash against the system. He’s a scourge of the status quo, launching distortion and drumbeats against the powers that be – but no musician can rage without ceasing.

Tasz has his meditative moods, too, and ABOI, his latest project, is more of a sweet and slow-acting poison than a sudden splash of acid. β€œSee Through” (produced and engineered by Elliott Frazier of Ringo Deathstar) is beautifully bleary, dreamily electronic, and thoroughly trippy.

Although it might take hardcore fans of BLXPLTN a moment to acclimate themselves to ABOI, it won’t take them long to realize that Tasz hasn’t changed very much. The confrontational artist behind β€œNew York Fascist Week” and β€œEducation Destruction” is still very much here: he’s just altered his strategies a bit. BLXPLTN has always been interested in horror iconography, and ABOI makes that attraction even more explicit. This is haunting music – mixes decorated with distant piano, synthesizer, drum loops, treated vocals, echoes everywhere – and as beautiful as it is, it’s more than a little scary, too.