Audiopile Review: Melbourne’s CS + Kreme quickly established one-to-watch status. The duo’s 2020 LP, ‘Snoopy’, had real ‘what is this even?’ appeal. It was the type of record that provokes a strong but confused reaction. Is this the kind of music I like? Is it ambient IDM? Old school post-rock? One thing CS + Kreme certainly are is mind-bendingly psychedelic. But there are few if any classic psyche rock moves on display in their music. And rather than saturating everything in gauche audio effects, they leave big, airy gaps in the frequency range. What remains recalls the stark, homebrewed intimacy of DIY post-punk. But where are they getting all this? The notable use of flamenco-inflected acoustic guitar on the duo’s new LP, ‘The Butterfly Drinks the Tears of the Tortoise’ provides some major clues. It evokes the oddly new agey end of post-punk, specifically The Durutti Column and Woo. But it also evokes Coil’s ‘Teenage Lightning’ and that, we think, is the most important influence here. Crucially, CS + Kreme use the classic post-industrial group as a strictly musical influence. Which is to say they don’t ape Coil’s ‘magickal’ shtick. In fact, they don’t rely on shtick at all. There’s a real sense of mystery to this music. Mystery itself can be a shtick, but this is genuinely hard-to-read, perplexing, and beguiling music, with cool influences but no obvious precursors. CS + Kreme manage to sound original without looking like they’re trying too hard to do anything other than follow their own instincts. Indeed, it all seems distinctly spontaneous, bordering on effortless. That’s why we were always keeping an ear out for their stuff even when we weren’t totally sure how we felt about it. And we can unequivocally say that ‘The Butterfly Drinks the Tears…’ is effortlessly weird and absolutely wonderful. There are very few contemporary acts who can manage anything like this, and most of them of are perilously obscure (Ak’chamel is a name to watch, by the way). CS + Kreme seem to be pushing through the difficulty of marketing a non-obviously eccentric project and making their mark on the world of music. Good for them! This is extraordinary music, which deserves to be heard far and wide.

Written and produced by CS + Kreme.
Cello on ‘Master of Disguise’ by Yuki Nakagawa (Kakuhan).
Tarawangsa on ‘COTU’ by Teguh Permana (Tarawangsawelas).
Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker.
Photography and design by Will Bankhead.