used to make music as dirty beaches in the 2010s, now he mostly does free improv/drone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOZFVFF-ATw i personally love the vibe of his work as dirty beaches. it may come off too much as alan vega worship from time to time, but that’s always a good thing. his best album as DB is the two-parter “drifters / love is the devil”, with the first part having sludgy synth jams and the second one some drones to die for.
https://alexzhanghungtai.bandcamp.com/album/divine-weight-2 divine weight was one of my favorite albums of 2018, would appreciate some similar albums. his newer improv collabs are also really good, especially eight black horses crown snake: https://alexzhanghungtai.bandcamp.com/album/eight-black-horses-crown-snake
(i’m new here, sup everyone)
― marblesurf, Friday, 24 September 2021 01:44 (two years ago) link
hey!!! Alex was already doing ambient/improv music the first time i ever saw him play, at Cagibi in Montreal, way before Dirty Beaches broke as an indie rock band. so it makes me really happy he's gone back to this "first love" after his success with something more conventional. talented!
― sean gramophone, Friday, 24 September 2021 02:20 (two years ago) link
love dirty beaches. haven’t followed all his solo stuff but ‘divine weight’ and ‘august at akikos’ are great. his stuff exists on the knife edge of slight and whimsical to me but he pulls it off. he used to have a blog that was very poetic and odd
― flopson, Friday, 24 September 2021 08:02 (two years ago) link