YOUTH OF THE BEAST “Two Mothers” (Fuck It Tapes)

Andy Spore’s young beast project continues to evolve/devolve into a even stranger creature. “Two Mothers” is the most loopy and musical YOTB outing so far…lots of sampled sax-skronk, detached talk-sing/songing, and sputtering mixer noise. The A side starts with a womb of chimes (hence the first track’s title – “Chime”) but it slowly erodes into an echoing, claustrophobic cavern of ping-ponging mixer destruction. The B zone is where Spore throws it all on the frying pan, and fucks the initial rhythmic quotient exploration. Sharp bursts of machine, headless drum kit battering, toy raygun warblings, all sequenced together audio carcrash-style. Eventually he locks into a slow stomp beat and the track gets 20 times fiercer. “Seagull” breaks rank though, engaging a twittering pan-pipes sounding Wizards & Warriors theme song melody that cant help but RULE. And “Many Names,” the final jam, marches out a Spartan drum-and-flutes battle hymn that’s both rousing and depressing. It eventually builds into a flooring white-out inferno of howls and rumbling. Without a doubt the most unclassifiable and intense Youth/Beast outing to date.

YOUTH OF THE BEAST “Son Sigil” (Night People)

Recorded, quite proudly, in mono, “Son Sigil” is Raccoo-oo-oon drummer/saxophonist Andy Spore's latest outing under his young/beastly moniker, and it's a frantic freak-out for sure. Sputtering hoses of hissing air (or escaping helium) flail and thrash in a reverby chamber with no light (and shrinking sanity). Fucking weird man. The B side feigns a chiller vibe initially with some mild rain field recordings but quickly explodes into another apoplectic field day of pulsing, tightly-wound electronic schizophrenia. Then there’s the sound of laughter, a dying horn, and the tape is done. Interpret as you see fit.