Nathan Youngblood

By Darren Bergstein
Circuit Breakers / Signal to Noise Magazine 49

Launching the steveroach.com sub-phylum of his Timeroom Editions mainstay, Mr. Roach presents a couple of promising young whippersnappers as the potential frontrunners on 2008's new ambient ticket. Rubberstamped and mastered for optimal frequency response, one can at the very least trust the headmaster's instincts—it doesn't hurt that Roach's protégés possess a fair modicum of chops, either.
Asunder, newcomer Nathan Youngblood's debut, catapults headfirst into harmonics of darkness, unafraid to see what lies beneath for the taking. Menacing, minimal drones creep along buzzing faultlines, adjunct noises uncurling behind them like a great beast opening its talons. A singleminded relentlessness governs how Youngblood allows the dense surrounding air to elongate and assume perilous form. For the entirety of the first two tracks, the level of tension builds to unimaginable climax, but rather than shatter our preconceptions to the rocks, instead Youngblood tenders "Umbrasphere" with a delicate, if cautionary, finesse, driving two snapping wavelengths against a seemingly indestructible wall of electronics. Ebony meets ivory in a storm of drones—here's to anticipating Youngblood's follow-up.