Tristan Shone, who marshals an array of custom-made machines to create cyberpunk dirges as Author & Punisher, summarizes his whole vibe on the title track of his latest album, Beastland. “This is my place, these are my methods,” he screams over a pulverizing beat. “Nowhere is safe, all things aggressive.” Author & Punisher sounds violent and scary, but Shone isn’t a meathead looking to start a pit. Beastland is a lonely and despairing album, a mental breakdown rendered as a full-scale industrial collapse. It’s club music for the last humans, those fortunate few who will see forests reclaim the factories before they themselves are swallowed.

by Chris Stamm