GRIZ+ZLOR "Nocturnal Beasts" (Earth.Space Noise Research Laboratories)

The first promo addressed to Cassette Gods with the specific request that it be reviewed by me! How cool is that? I was clearly picked out of the critic roster by Griz+zlor because of my column on the Wall Noise subgenre, which this tape happily belongs to. Unfortunately, even as I wrote that column six months ago, I felt the WN phenomenon slipping out of popularity in the noise world. Culture moves so fast these days that we can feel nostalgic about things that happened last month; nothing sticks around for long before it gets mulched behind Benjamin's angel of history, and snarked at by VH1's "Best Week Ever." WN hasn't quite gone the way of Lil Jon beats and bullet-time FX shots yet, but the outlook isn't good. For this reason, this tape (unfairly) sounds a bit like a relic. "Nocturnal Beasts" is a slow c97 (dude!) whose two sides stay within a mid-heavy frequency range. Even at super loud volumes, the pieces aren't exactly harsh, they're lulling. I would sooner compare them to a bedside noise generator designed to aid sleep than to a nuclear holocaust, or some equally violent metaphor. In this respect, I would say that Griz+lor's WN material has more in common with Richard Ramirez's more subtle projects (Werewolf Jerusalem and recent Man Plug come to mind) whose static drone style is less concerned with brutality than it is with texture and atmosphere. However, Griz+zlor's sound pallet is less sophisticated than Ramirez's, less detailed; close listening reveals a shallow dynamic depth with fewer layers of individual crunch than one would hope to find. Rather than seduce a person to listen further, it encourages him/her into a trance like state; noise to be ignored, or received subconsciously while other mental tasks are performed. In this sense, it is merely a good tape, and unfortunately, considering the current uncoolness of WN, only great tapes will impress. (The excellent B-side of Forbidden Fuck's "Borderline" cassette on Callow God gets a pass simply because it is so detailed and skillfully produced that the listener cannot help but be sucked into its world.) "Nocturnal Beasts" is the type of tape that I will listen to often, but probably while reading a book, not while staring at my speakers, unable to tear myself from the sound.

"Kassette Kvlt III" (Earth.Space Noise)

One of the more interesting "conceptual" series of releases this year (if the label actually has much competition in that area), Earth.Space Noise's Kassette Kvlt series has asked a number of devoted artists to record exclusive material in anonymity. Before describing anything else about Kassette Kvlt III, it should be stressed that this is worth picking up for the packaging alone. Fetishists take note. The amount of work which has obviously been poured into this project (check the photos here) far outweighs the price, which is no higher than the average rate. The case is housed inside silkscreened black cloth which has been stapled together, and once inside there's more macabre fun with black-on-black printed cardstock featuring biblical imagery and a tape splattered in red.
The liner notes describe the Kassette Kvlt series as "an ongoing tribute to the history and future of noise." KK III, then, is the history lesson. As the first side begins, a chanteuse (rare enough in these parts) croons and chants in a tongue hard to decipher amidst swathes of dark synthesizer melodies. Found sound clips of people talking in the next room occasionally intersperse the instrumental sections, which are a lot of fun to follow in their gradually unfolding paths. Intertwined loops of minimal guitar and reverb-saturated drones appear and reappear but only to serve the direction of the piece. It wouldn't be surprising if the mystery artist was a veteran in disguise, since there is a firm sense of composition throughout the recording. Although some aspects of the production are contemporary, the feeling recalls an earlier time when noise and industrial music were not partitioned off. The ghosts of EN, Foetus and Swans are floating all over this thing, although no one brought drum machines (or mallets). Come to think of it, the singer sounds kind of like Jarboe....? Naaah. Regardless of the artist's identity, this remains an involved and rewarding title that becomes more interesting (and prompts more guesses) with each listen. Recommended.

"Kassette Kult IV" (Earth.Space Kassette Kult)

The liner notes state that the composers of this tape have “cast aside their egos and proclaimed anonymity.” Too true. Though the tape looks beautiful; comes in a nice black on black screened pouch made from old shirts and a black on black screened tape cover, (It even feels good, like its of the earth), its contents are rather disapointing. The idea sounds good, but the tape is very anonymous – and not because it’s a harsh wall of noise, but because it’s intensity falters. It has few distinguishing features or points of reference. It is tape squeal, static, distortion and pedal pounding. Only in very limited phrases does any single portion stand out. Once at the end of each side something interesting will poke its head out – once in a vague field of static where silence suddenly appears…Once in the thrall of feedback overlaid and overlaid. If I was to be particularly generous I could say that this tape’s lack of specificity or personality is because it is intended as a tribute to “the history of noise.” But let us switch genres completely: In 1999 Chemical Brothers (yeah that’s right) release the album Surrender which accomplished the same purpose for electronic music – but it was seriously good. It reproduced sounds from the past, using old gear, but they went the extra mile and brought the sounds of the past into the present. Though that record may have passages that sound dated eight years on, at the time however, that record sounded like an incandescent history lesson. If Earth.Space Noise is supposed to be a history lesson – it’s the type that puts you to sleep. Why? Because it fails to apply its lessons to the present.