Ghostly
As one might expect from the artist known as Tobacco (a.k.a. Thomas Fec of Black Moth Super Rainbow) Ultima II Massage is a wild ride of speaker-blowing weirdness and buzzing synths swirling in psychedelic wizardry. This is music for the future. This is music for the nighttime. These are charged and sonically immersive sounds.
Ultima II Massage has a driving momentum while still being able to break off into a plethora of moods and tangents. Despite the exploration of different tempos and emotions the album holds together quite cohesively from start to finish. From buzzy beat-driven trips like “Eruption” to dreamier meanderings like “Beast Sting” each song works as part of the journey. Pretty much every track works with warm vintage synth melodies in different configurations and paces. Some of the tracks (especially those nested around “Beast Sting”) bear a lot of resemblance to Black Moth Super Rainbow.
Nothing is predictable about Tobacco which is what makes listening to his strange music so enjoyable. Ultima II Massage could be called the most cohesive Tobacco album to date without being a disappointment to fans of his crazy sounds.
