Thesis Sahib

The selling point of the newest project from multi-media artist Thesis Sahib is a beautiful hardcover book filled with pictures of his sculptures, masks, paintings and drawings of abstract people and vehicles, culminating in his sound sculptures. Built to contain circuit bending instruments, or electronic toys rewired and put to new use as instruments, the sculptures' accompanying sounds are found on the matching baby blue seven-inch, along with two vinyl-only exclusives and two more from the album, which is packaged within as a special download card embedded with flower seeds, to be planted after it has been put to its primary use. The songs contained within build on the blueprint Thesis established on prior electro-punk album Loved Ones. With a heavy emphasis on relationships ― whether with loved ones, friends or even random strangers on the street ― the vocals blend the speed and dexterity of Project Blowed-style chopping with harmonizing and new wave-inspired singing, while the production is rooted in hip-hop and electro, but also incorporates elements of post-punk, '80s synth-pop, 8-bit beats and circuit bending. The great moments are many, but standouts include "Every Lastword" and "Flesh Baron," two up-tempo electro tracks that find commonalities amongst us "bags of skin"; "Girls And Boys And," which could almost have been pulled from a time capsule; and "bent" tracks "Dessert First" and "I Could Talk Fast But Instead," the former utilizing distorted and ultimately incomprehensible vocals, while the latter remains strictly instrumental. Despite the higher price point, this combination of book and music is well worth the cost.