On the first side of latest EP Ultimatum – a sequel of sorts to this year’s Eternal Binding - Only Now explores unprecedented degrees of beauty and melody, composing a fluid projection of harp-like phases that ripple and recur into infinity. An elusive procession through ethereal elements and heightened points of convergence, Side A affirms a compelling sense of resolution towards its mesmerizing final third.
With Side B Only Now devastates and dims this same piece through a lens of pure overload, cutting open and modifying several layered parts through resonation, reamping techniques – completed at the studio of Oakland's own black/doom/crust visionary Abstracter - and panning reminiscent of Japanoise legend Merzbow. On Side B those earlier points of beauty and melody have become a corrupted but no less enrapturing wall of noise.
Across Ultimatum, and throughout the material of Only Now, process remains central. In this case with the utilization of Euclidean sequencing achieved through the means of three physical modelling synthesizers. The results point to the potential of this methodology, illustrating new paths within, and beyond, the project’s many associated touchstones. Ultimately the outcome is one that situates Only Now in a wide ranging, un-classical / noise / ambient continuum that might include the likes of Tim Hecker, Kelly Moran & Ben Frost.
Ultimatum is a release that, much like the Psychic War (Pt. I & II) episodes found on 2017's Timeslave, brings Only Now back to the roots of the project; origins which were enriched by early forays into the headier margins of noise and dark ambient. Looking back but moving forward, Ultimatum continues a prolific 2019 for the Only Now project.
From The Wire: Adventures In Modern Music June 2019
"The first track on Ultimatum sees Arora in a gentler mode, with its looping, Laraaji - like melody; the second is an increasingly claustrophobic scorch of white noise and bitrate burn." - Emily Bick
credits
released April 26, 2019
Only Now is Kush Arora
Recorded in Berkeley, CA in 2019
Mastered by Thomas Dimuzio
Art: Kush Arora, Cheng Sok
Mixed at KAP and Ancient Owl Studios in Berkeley, CA with Sammie
Special thanks to Robin Kahn from Abstracter for the reamping.
This is pure power, distilled through the perfect blend of raw kuduro, heavy industrial techno treatment, and unrelenting propulsion. Sinister, snakelike, and almost subliminal melody. Only Now
catch contributions form Only Now/ Sutekh Hexen on this. Assuming their ultimate and ghastliest form, Abstracter return with their most astonishingly telluric, bleak, and hopeless album to date. Only Now
definite collection of some of the best and most refined Kuduro/Lisbon sounds out there. Some moments of pure beauty, and definitely the intro and more piano driven tarraxo joints are must listens. Only Now
An absolutely powerful album that I can't help but keep coming back to. The music, the voice, the calm, the rage, the snake eats its tail and we return again. local warlock
Every sound here is made using Megan Mitchell's voice, even though the music often sounds more like Earth’s vibrations than a human singing. Bandcamp Album of the Day Mar 28, 2023