Static and Dogmatic

J Morales' All the Stores are Closed project returns with an album of atmospheric, claustrophobic techno. All the Stores are Closed first record Heterodox, delivered at the nightmarish beginning of the pandemic, was an eerie slab of atmospheric dark ambient Techno, perfectly encapsulating the bunker logic and endtime ennui of April 2020 in all its grimness. Static and Dogmatic, goes even harder, trading in the bacterial miasma for six tracks of stomping, blistering Techno summoned directly from the smoldering soldier of Morales' hardware. At times nearly bordering on European-style Hardcore, other times dissolving into unwholesome vapors, Static and Dogmatic is good music for bad times. Dystopian by its very nature, All the Stores are Closed conjures images of pandemics, shuttered storefronts, and grimy CCTV feeds. Add authoritarianism, paranoia, and quite possibly some form of unclean spirit, and you get this new batch of bangers for the end times. Either a masked vigilante for desperate times or a generational curse, Morales' darkside Techno is a much-needed catharsis for desperate times.