In the Merry Month of May by Tony Conrad and Jennifer Walshe

As the American psyche hits terminal velocity, all artistic, cultural, and social traditions unravel into pure paranoia, and all art that fails to reflect this schizophrenic disintegration feels increasingly disingenuous. Deep within In the Merry Month of May by Tony Conrad and Jennifer Walshe, American folk traditions still animate the improvised sonic chaos, but their manifestation as continuous, free-flowing panic attacks reveals the future that this culture was always moving towards. Conrad’s droning instrumentals grace the studio for the last time on this album, ending his long, legendary career with this maddening composition. Manic vocals and atonal instrumentals fly through states of sustained, difficult drones and rapid, restless notes, employing some tones and timbres from traditional music while violating every tradition of structure and form. For reasons we may never understand, these sounds represent the world we inhabit, nipping at our heels as we desperately run for an escape.