Wastelanders – Cosmic Despair (Calls & Correspondence / Basses Frequences / Space Idea / Hewhocorrupts Inc., 2012)

Wastelanders – The Beginning (Calls & Correspondence / Basses Frequences / Space Idea / Hewhocorrupts Inc.)

 
Despite the plurality, Wastelanders is actually just one dude, Dean Costello. And he’s got four different labels working on his side, C&C and BF doing the CD release, Space Idea is taking care of the tape, and Hewhocorrupts, Inc. is releasing it digitally. Maybe a little over the top, but whatever. I’m just glad this is getting out there on all fronts because Cosmic Despair is a fuckin BEAST. Mostly organ based, this is a drone record for the masses, calling up all sorts of dark places. The first few tracks are as depressing as it gets, gloom thick enough to asphyxiate on, solid minimal melancholy that turns your heart into lead and brings gods to tears. Then there’s a 15 minute piece that gets noisier, rumbling feedback sounds crisped on the edge of a black sun while stardust and distant beacons twinkle in the faded background. The final 20 minute closer is a fucking burner, shifting gears into something wholly uplifting, stripped of darkness and brought fully into the light, holy & transcendental, busting out all the instruments on hand to make for a hypnotic ritualistic drone to assist in trans-dimensional passage. Impecable stuff. I can’t get enough of this. Then again, I’m always a sucker for organ drones, so, consider me slightly biased.