The fruit of the estimable labors of one Dan Smith and one Justin Bean, Chicago Illinois’ Brighten Up is a sonic tundra of tribal drums, prerecorded samples and washy keyboard parts distorted beyond recognition. And much like the tundra, this experimental duo’s music is an austere, inaccessible force of nature and noise–which still offers occasional glimpses of living warmth: beneath the tightly regimented electro-noise, [...]

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