From the Mailbox 72

Lowdoses – La Calavera Up first tonight, a shadowy bit of contemplative drum n bass from El Paso, TX-based Lowdoses (real name Samuel Molina). Calavera translates to skull, including in reference to the sorts of celebratory skulls decorated for Día de Muertos to honor ancestors. Where those skulls are usually brightly colored and joyous, I’d guess the skull reference here is a more somber one. The whole EP of which this is a part, Smelter Town, is sinister minimalist stuff — meant to reflect life in an industrial border town. An enormous copper and lead plant operated for over 100 years in El Paso, with an residential village for the workers called Smeltertown immediately adjacent, a proximity that led to the poisoning of several generations of Mexican and Mexican-American kids. In many ways, this is mournful music, but at the same time, there’s affection evident here for that setting. That kind of place can steel and strengthen too. Grab Smelter Town on bandcamp or find it for…