reviews
USA
compilation albums are generally my favorite thing to get, cos they introduce me to a lot of artists i wouldn't have listened to otherwise, and this one was certainly no exception [i'd only heard of half the people on this, and listened to only two].
it opens with 'water spider' by 4 Flies On Grey Velvet [the other 4fogv song i've heard], and when i started listening to this i immediately recognized the sound, which is improvised sounding abrasive feedback over a pulsing noise loop, because i used to be able to make the exact same sounds on my old sears turntable/tuner/eight track thing before all the circuitry started melting or whatever happened. the way i did it was just by taking the remote speaker output, plugging it back into the microphone jack, controlling the sound with the bass, treble and balance knobs and then recording the sound via the main speaker output. try it sometime, its pretty weird, as demonstrated on this track.
the next track, 'ICE SUMMIT' by Brutum Fulmen definitely is a feedback improv [it says so in the credits, you know how brutum fulmen loves to document all the methods and sources used in his tracks, probably because he can pull such incredible sounds out of them] but much more subdued than the previous track, or indeed most of the rest of the cd. sounds like the theme for a glacier slowly destroying a city, or starving at the top of a mountain.
'Deep Feelings' by Narbenerde is made up of high frequency sounds and rhythmic loops in a bed of crunchy static, very dense and drudging and too short.
'shocking lum!-Sad lum!-Suggested Paranoid-Sleeping Factory' is the long name for a segmented track by A Sonic Deterrent, who i've been wanting to hear for a while. made up of three short, interesting tracks, one and two being harsh and random and the third a quiet spacey piece.
'Rundub' by Daruin is a very erratic piece, buzzing sounds and vocal samples skittering through an eight minute insect daydream.
'no titles' by Ruben Winter is a shimmery mostly atmospheric track, with bursts of high frequency sounds.
the Reynols track 'Arollamo lo Zazafran #3' begins with some people singing over quiet percussion [kind of reminded me of Can], which turns into the people talking [in a language i didn't understand] and then turns into a short harshnoise burst, then back to the singing. all the vocals sound as if they were recorded inside a large sewer pipe [also there were some watery sounds in it too, which probably added to the impression]. this was the first track i'd ever heard from reynols, and it was pretty interesting.
the next 'Break Fast Goodness' by Special Prick, is muffled sounding harsh tones, low frequency then high and back again that sounds like you're listening to someone next door mess around with feedback noise, and sounds just as unfocussed and goes on just as long. ends abruptly in the middle of a sound, like there was someone else in the room who got sick of it and pulled the plug.
the cd ends on a high note though, with 'Fruit Market Mafia' by Futile Sound of Brunswick, lots of 'natural' sounds [typewriter, various unidentifiable metal objects, glass, vocal samples] with some more processed sounds over a quiet synth. very mellow and relaxing, and a good close to a mostly good comp.
