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“You can’t accuse Massachusetts-based Judson Mac Rae and KaeoFLUX, a.k.a. Pilot Balloon, of not having a sense of humor, even if it’s black as coal. If this is good cheer, then who needs depression? On their debut album, the duo construct a web of post-nuclear haze and confusion that is so oppressive, it’s terrifying.

 …. While Ghastly Good Cheer could never be described as “hard”, it’s some of the heaviest music you’ll hear. Well-chosen samples and sound bites struggle to make their way out of the mix, as if someone were trying to tune in a radio just to find signs of life. Throughout the first three tracks, beats spurt and stutter to life only to sputter and die quick deaths; the atmosphere is just too dense for them. When a backbeat does finally get going on “Pavane for Vinchy”, it’s one of the most crushing hip hop rhythms you’ll hear all year. ...

Ghastly Good Cheer‘s seemingly random bits of dialogue, stop-start rhythms and meandering, almost free-form arrangements all nod toward jazz. And, like most free jazz, it’s a challenging listen at times. It’s not the kind of record you put on the car stereo while you’re doing errands. But settle in with some headphones or a nice sound system and Pilot Balloon’s truly blunted compositions will envelop your senses. If Radiohead had gone whole hog with detached, brooding atmosphere on their last couple albums, they might’ve ended up with something like this. Even if they had, they would’ve been hard-pressed to come up with a listen as arresting, and harrowing, as Ghastly Good Cheer.” – Pop Matters

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