THE STARS AGAINST MEN

An early Sleep Maps release, this is a more stressed, dark take on Kaplan's mix of ambient, post rock, and post metal. As such the metal happens more often, and is more important. The voice sample is from an old science documentary, often rendered into a deep sounding oblivion by effects. Theme here is humankind's rampaging technology, and a relation of this to the vastness of stars and space. Particularly "Post Men" sticks out, with said sample getting intentionally frozen and destroyed in the wake of the apparent death of all humanity. By the end, even the stars are out and all that is left is a cold void, but a riot still occurs throughout the cosmos. The music is as excellent as the three LPs and counting cut and dropped later by Kaplan, and the fact that this is apparently all extrapolated from various remixes and rerecordings of the opener to Sleep Maps' first LP is impressive. Electronic effects have more stage, but guitar remains as important as ever, and these most important parts are done the best. Here Kaplan pretty much set the standard for what he would be doing throughout all of post. A spectacular remix EP, it transcends the song it was forged out of by lightyears.