If You Like Brian Eno and My Bloody Valentine ...

PS - 
Okay...with earbuds vs my laptop's little speakers at low volume as at first, I hear what he is doing on things like "Bum" and "Games".  There's a melody line with vocal and rhythm track in there under a  lot of distortion.  It's not simply noise.  Can't say this difference is going to turn me into a fan, however.  ;-) 

I agree with @ghosthouse , too much distortion. Bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive are much more melodic. Sorry, I wanted to like it.

@ghosthouse Thanks for taking time to give it a listen. 
@lowrider57 Glad you gave it go.
So, what I hear...the future (I think). Kraus is a one man show, who I believe is channeling Eno for his generation. I agree with @ghosthouse that MBV and Slowdive are more melodic--I believe that was an extension of where "rock" was at the time. Now, I think the teen and 20-something crowd doesn't think life is a melody with a bit of distortion--it is instead chaos with the hint of melody maybe down under all the noise. 
I ran the album by my college aged kids, who are classically musically trained on piano (still playing thank goodness) to get their take. And they really like it. I think this may be where us old people fall off the ride. I generally like the album, but it felt to me like the first pass was a test--was I willing to listen to what was underneath it? I admit that when I first heard Wilco crank the distortion and noise on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I wasn't surprised because I owned other Wilco albums and you could kind of predict it was coming. But, this album? I think for our age group it may feel like it is too much hash; for younger folks, who yawn at Rage Against the Machine and embrace "screamo", the hash has its own musical value.
In essence, I think it is meant to be ambient and this is today's ambient mood. And in that way, I think it is worth noting. The kid knows what he is doing--and he is doing it alone--the voice is his voice and he is speaking in a way his peers may understand. I don't claim that I fully do.
But, almost every kind of music makes its way into my ears.
I hope this helps explain my reaction to it.
Peace
Al       

Al (astewart) -
Just to give credit where due...it was lowrider making the comparison to MBV and Slowdive (and btw, I agree with his comment! No comparison, really).

That out of the way now, great write up from you. I hear what you are saying and note the (increasing?) prevalence of a "noise" component in some of the so-called, cutting edge stuff (not that I listen to all that much of it). Your comment about Wilco’s YHF is very apropos in the context. Would Sonic Youth be actual pioneers, though? What about Neil Young’s Arc? I think "artists" are the cultural prophets of western culture, signaling what the new normal’s going to be 10 or 20 years down the road. Kinda scary, actually - and I think that’s been true of a long time now; things ain’t getting any better (if I may be allowed that broad sociological observation). I’d be curious as to whether the good folks at "A Closer Listen" have reviewed Path.

A further editorial....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBW2Sk1CvR0

@lowrider57 I apologize for attributing your observations to ghosthouse.
@ghosthouse I agree with everything in your last post. Don't know about "A Closer Listen"--I think Path went live about 2 months ago, but I'm not certain. The Peter Gabriel link is terrific. One of my boys is spinning vinyl Gabriel upstairs pretty regularly. Regarding your cultural prophets observation--Bruce Cockburn's "Maybe the Poet" comes to mind:
Male female slave or free
Peaceful or disorderly
Maybe you and he will not agree
But you need him to show you new ways to see
Don't let the system fool you
All it wants to do is rule you
Pay attention to the poet
You need him and you know it