“Waterworld, for sure. If humans are still around, we would be in more sustainable enclaves as communities closer to the Sierra and in the valley. After throngs of folks migrate away, I estimate California’s still too beautiful even in an apocalypse scenario to abandon.”
— Kush Arora, when asked by White Crate what the Bay Area will look like in a thousand years
A decade since the first EP and nearly three years since Timeslave II, Kush Arora reignites his Only Now project with Timeslave III, infiltrating, dissecting, and exploding sonic pandemonium. “Ballistics”—the science of projectiles and firearms—is the first distinct word Kush uses to characterize the new work, and it’s immediately clear why on opening track “Power I,” hurling traditional Hindustani instruments and Punjabi-inspired synthlines into a polyrhythmic hurricane. As if to heighten the drama, occasional pockets of absolute silence manifest, and then are eviscerated.
The arc of Timeslave III broadly traces a path from this frenzy of percussive missiles to cavernous ambient industrial, an apocalyptic sound palette reminiscent of works by Arca, Lingua Ignota, and The Knife. Smack in the middle of this arc sits the album’s nine-minute centerpiece—”Eyes White, Vision Inside”—awash with undulating brown and greyish noise whereupon a single solo synth voice sings its serpentine, pining melody. In whole, the album is another deep meditation in time, and a fitting capsule of the Only Now live experience.
See Only Now perform live alongside Big Freak, Whine, and local DJs on July 12th at the 143rd dimension Black and Brown punk fest renegade.
