Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas's Totality opens as a patient meditation on groove and nü-kosmische texture, and across its slow-moving frames critics find both hypnotic beauty and deliberate restraint. Pitchfork's review, which contributes to a 73/100 consensus score from one professional review, highlights how the record's best moments arrive when propulsive rhythm meets succinct form.
Reviewers consistently praise the focused outliers that break the album's expanses: “Nothing Does Not Show” and “Clock No Clock” emerge as standout tracks, where Mikel Patrick Avery's percolating rhythms lend drive to otherwise languorous, psychedelic drone passages. At the same time the title piece “Totality” and the sprawling “Always 9 Seconds Away” indulge the group's minimalist, trance-inducing tendencies, luxuriating in long, dank grooves that emphasize texture over immediacy. Critics note a clear throughline of collaboration and restraint, with the interplay between repetitive patterning and subtle shifts making the collection rewarding for attentive listening.
While praise centers on the album's exquisite atmospherics and moments of disciplined focus, the overall tone is one of tempered admiration rather than unequivocal acclaim. The critical consensus suggests Totality will satisfy fans of psychedelic drone and nü-kosmische minimalism, offering standout songs alongside more patient, immersive stretches that require time and concentration to reveal their rewards.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Clock No Clock
1 mention
"Closer "Clock No Clock" is a true marvel of jazz-motorik"— Pitchfork
Nothing Does Not Show
1 mention
"The Harmonia vibes of "Nothing Does Not Show" are perfectly complemented by Avery’s percolating rhythms"— Pitchfork
Totality
1 mention
"Nearly 17 minutes long, the self-titled opener pulsates and throbs"— Pitchfork
Closer "Clock No Clock" is a true marvel of jazz-motorik
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Totality
Nothing Does Not Show
Always 9 Seconds Away
Clock no Clock
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 2 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas return with Totality, a slowly unfurling record whose best tracks are its focused outliers. The album finds its heights in "Nothing Does Not Show" and "Clock No Clock", where Mikel Patrick Avery's percolating rhythms give the haze some much-needed focus and drive. Opener "Totality" and the sprawling "Always 9 Seconds Away" luxuriate in long, dank grooves, but it is the shorter, disciplined pieces that stand out as the best songs on Totality. This is praise framed by subtle reservation - beautiful and sublime, yet more patient than scene-stealing.
Key Points
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The best song is driven by Mikel Patrick Avery's percussive clarity, turning haze into focused momentum.
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The album's core strengths are warm harmonium drone, weightless synths, and disciplined rhythmic outliers.
Themes
