Review by KosieKat for Author & Punisher - Drone Machines (2010)

This is not an album you listen to to get pumped. That being said, Author and Punisher is a band that I will say I have seen live, and far prefer in a live setting. I saw Tristan several years ago now in a pretty small and intimate venue setting and quite enjoyed the whole set, I was enraptured by the music as in a live setting this type of droning music is able to fully encapsulate your senses and you are able to see Tristan's wizardry with his self created  instrumentation tools on stage.  Seriously, if you ever get the chance, go check it out. That said, a lot of that charm is lost in a recording and while I find this to be above average drone and nice to listen to as I took a lie back and relaxed, many of the pieces on the album do not stand out to me. The introduction piece isn't catching, and really, after O'er Skies, which I found to be the most singularly memerable of the individual tracks,  the instrumentals are fine. Tristan does amazing things with this set up but honestly, go find yourself a video recording of him play or better yet, if you can catch a live show . If you're looking for some decent background music or something to relax to then this is a pretty good number, but in my opinion knowing what this music can sound like, this album feels a bit lackluster to really get me o'er the precipice.