Ball of Wax 61: Sceneries, Placements – “Guidance and Navigation”

Our new Arizonan friends Sceneries, Placements – whose membership overlaps to some extent with Vir(us), whom you heard on Volume 60 – have graciously shared with us the title track from their majestic space-travel-themed (I think?) album Guidance and Navigation. The song wastes no time, dropping you right into the steady, shuffling beat and layers of fuzz that will carry you blissfully through the next five minutes of your life. Rhythm and fuzz are the defining characteristics of this track, but there is melody to be found as well: slappy, delayed guitar lines weave in and out, along with strange synthesized sounds that might be a voice through a vocoder, or some other thing entirely. This may or may not be your jam, but it’s exactly what I would want to hear on my headphones during a space walk – or while hurtling untethered through space to my doom.