MACHO BLUSH “Firma” (Self Released)



I always strive to do a decent job spreading knowledge to anyone who reads one of my reviews and sometimes I don’t do a good job. Please absorb this piece of music history lifted from Wikipedia. Pierre Schaeffer started using the phrase experimental some time in 1953. 1953 isn’t really that far in the past if you think about it.

To Macho Blush, the moniker of Austin based musician Gina Probst, being experimental seems to mean a couple of things. First, it means disorientation. Layer the vocals and distort them. Change the pitches and level the volumes unevenly. Take the instrumentation, put it through a sonic blender when mastering, and then use what is left. The other meaning is movement. No idea or sound is harped on for long. Rarely do sounds progress in a way that feels natural or standard. Mostly they feel dragged over the song by force, as is within Probst’s rights to do when crafting and composing.
The assumption has been made that not allowing the listener to focus makes them open their mind. I’m still not sure if I believe in that philosophy or not. But subscribers to that mindset should check “Firma” out.



-- Roy Blumenfeld