Having been reduced to only one fully functioning ear since early July has made appreciating new music difficult. Three weeks ago the GP diagnosed a sinus infection, an MRSA type bug, which had filled the eustachian tube to my right ear causing it to block, wipe out much of the hearing in it and produce raging tinnitus as a side effect. Eventually after two months of trying this, that and the other, I was prescribed some antibiotics (which it turns out they use to treat syphilis and malaria too) and although the first course didn't touch the infection, the second course began to work. Driving home last Wednesday, my right ear popped and I could hear. It fluctuated a bit over the next few days but then improved further. It is, in some ways, like being born again. All of which is a long winded way of getting round to some new music.
In July Daniel Avery released Higher, the then latest lead in to his new album Ultra Truth (due in November). Listening to Higher and the B-side Unfolder with tinnitus and only one ear was a disappointing experience. Listening to Higher and Unfolder last week on headphones in stereo was a revelation. Intense, reverb drenched, speaker rattling, emotive 21st century rave/ techno.
