AHMED, ILYAS - Goner

"Portland, Oregon bedroom wanderer ILYAS AHMED emerges from the shadows and offers up his first new batch of songs in some time. Over a year in the making, Goner sees Ahmed telescoping his previous acoustic wanderings into fuzzed out rockers and a hypnotic set of beautifully tight knit nocturnes. The whole things kicks off with a massive rush to the head called Earn Your Blood," which has Ilyas effortlessly channeling any number of stoned out trajectories found in a Topanga Canyon ditch circa mid 70s. Massive waves of hiss still penetrate the mix, and so do the smeared vocal trails, its just that its all a little more in focus this time around. The comedown into "Exit Twilight" with GROUPER at the helm is a haunting broadcast that will for sure knock around in your skull for days. Edition of 1,000 CDs in an offset buff case with maroon ink." -Root Strata.