This is potentially the release on this list we’re the most excited about, but we’ll save it for another time. Mantra, because it’s from Joseph A. Peragine, was always going to be rad. And of course, we knew it would have backings from his longtime partner in mathematic crime, Chris Pennie of The Dillinger Escape Plan. However, drastically upping our heartbeat here is none other than the presence of Don Caballero‘s Damon Che.

For the true philomaths among us, we’ve got a real treat today. Joseph. A Peragine recently put out 33, a record that featured some of his most cerebral, transcendent post-metal to date. But it also feels like it represents a shift in direction – much of Peragine’s discography is jarringly dense with winding narratives and non-linear, heavy-as-hell guitars that leaves first time listeners grasping for their calculators. 33 is still that when it wants to be, but walks a new path altogether, and it’s a lot closer to classic math rock than you might think.

Joseph A. Peragine’s music isn’t exactly relaxing. His songs are chaotic, non-linear, dissonant, and prone to rapid changes. They’re also impressively technical, featuring sounds not commonly heard from a solo guitarist. They radiate a creative ingenuity that transforms ugliness into beauty. As Peragine proudly boasts, his art is “The Soundtrack of Schizophrenia.” 

I want to write a little bit about Joseph A. Peragine, a friend of mine who I've done a lot of work for over the past couple years. A lot of this information (and much more) you can find on his website, but I'd like to share with you some of the bullet points and my experience knowing him. 

Joseph A. Peragine is a paranoid schizophrenic...

Perhaps the best 2-piece effort in recent memory as (9-string guitarist) Joseph A. Peragine teams up with renowned drummer Chris Pennie (Dillinger Escape Plan, Coheed & Cambria, The Armed)

This could fit comfortably within the mathcore column above, as that’s largely the focus throughout Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, but since it’s completely instrumental, and also delves into math-rock, minimalist atmospheric ambient flourishes, skin-crawling doses of dissonance, djent-inspired chaotic rhythms, as well as channeling an Animals As Leaders feeling at times, it seemed better to put it here with the instrumental metal.

Many people with paranoid schizophrenia are unlikely to talk to others about their illness. Joseph A. Peragine isn’t one of them. In fact, he writes poems about it, sings about it, strums heavily on his guitar about it.

Darkness and mental illness have always found a warm home in music, poetry and the stage. To say that madness breeds brilliance is an understatement when it comes to the work of acclaimed musician and poet Joseph A. Peragine. Peragine is a songwriter, composer, poet and documentary film maker, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Peragine has channeled his illness into two masterpiece cds; The Acoustic Diaries and Self-Medication… Poems of Alienation both, in which he performs like his life depends on it. It’s because his life does depend on it. 

This Ohio-bred madman is a beautiful creature, his words and musical notes two intersecting bolts of lightning in a cauldron of modern musical piss. An artisan who wields many instruments (guitar, bass, drums, samples, mic, etc.), Joseph A. Peragine plays music with a passion that could only be born of serious pain and many somber days spent sitting deep in somnambulist thought.

A new issue means a new love; a new devotion; a new band or musician to plug shamelessly at every opportunity. Just one caveat. Joseph A. Peragine is not the kind of musician you want to be listening to behind the wheel of a moving car. Because such an action would significantly increase your risk of being attacked by trees, parked vehicles, and pedestrians.

Music Zeitgeist recently discovered the music of Ohio artist Joseph A. Peragine. The self-produced multi-instrumentalist creates gorgeous and urgent evolving songs that summon up the best that the first wave of early 90’s independent alternative music had to offer. This is not a slight - it was a golden age for musical experimentation and the music landscape would do well to remember the undercurrents that have slowly become annexed by the bands that claimed the game prize.

The now balanced paranoid schizophrenic Joseph A. Peragine is a man with something to say and a means of getting it across. His 14 hour days in the studio have evidently paid off and the fruit of his labour is nothing short of brilliant. His early Mike Patton-like stage persona is highly effective and carries more of a punch than the restrained sounds offered here.

This is why you never let someone battling with paranoid schizophrenia host their own cooking show. Cincinnati OH one-man-band Joseph A. Peragine takes some burly photos; these images might at first come as stark contrast to the songs on “Self Medication…Poems of Alienation” that feature his soft vocal delivery and acoustic guitars. Then you run into spoken-word tracks that are spat with manic delivery and adderall-urgency.

Joseph A. Peragine, a solo artist from Cincinnati, gives listeners an intensely personal view into his psyche, highlighting his struggle with paranoid schizophrenia. His pieces often open with a single theme, which he slowly repeats and develops, luring his audience into a world of desolation and sometimes utter hopelessness.

Joseph A. Peragine scares the living shit out of me, well, at least at first.  Imagine opening up a press packet to find a spoken word artist - diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, which includes an album cover of himself holding his hand over a gas burner.  There are certain things we find hardcore, and then there are certain things that I find absolutely shocking.

Some music needs context, and some music can stand alone. Joseph Peragine’s record Self Medication Poems of Alienation definitely needs some context.  This is essentially a spoken word record set over Peragine playing guitar/bass, drums and anything else you hear. Sounds simple enough right? Well, it isn’t.  Joseph Peragine is a paranoid schizophrenic. And while things are actually going very well for him lately, that wasn’t always the case. Reading the liner notes and the electronic press kit, where Joseph found TWM, it’s a significant miracle that this album even exists.

There are millions of Americans who have rehabilitating disabilities that cause them to become prisoners in their own body, mind, and soul. This next artist continues to struggle with a common mental illness known as paranoid schizophrenia (click word to learn more about it). But unlike some who never fully recovered from paranoid schizophrenia, Joseph A. Peragine is taking his disability and turning into something that is magical, intoxicating, and bewildered.

Joseph A. Peragine creates music that plays like a movie. His latest album, Self-Medication...Poems of Alienation, features genius songwriting infusing elements of spoken word, sound design, vocals and instrumentation. Each piece is brilliantly arranged and takes the listener on a emotional, visual and audible journey through his daily life with Schizophrenia.

A wise man once told me, ‘Perception is always more important than reality.’ Unfortunately, for those afflicted with paranoid schizophrenia, perception becomes reality. If you’ve seen the flick, “A Beautiful Mind,” you know what I mean. Experimental recording artist Joseph A. Peragine, who suffers from the malady, explores the altered states and amazing grace produced by this dark disease on his autobiographical sophomore release, Self-Medication…Poems of Alienation.

If you'd like to take a trip to somewhere most of us have never been, then you need to get in line for a ticket to visit, Joseph A. Peragine. A self-proclaimed Avant-garde Alternative Artist, Peragine delivers his musical pictures with a dedication to his art form that most of us can't even imagine.  Cincinnati serves as home base for this unique creator.