001. "Talc" CDr (Breaching Static Recrds)
HEATHEN HARVEST:
‘Talc’ is the first release from Extreme Chafing, the harsh noise project by Joe Stache, the man behind the label Hair On My Food Tapes. Released on Breaking Static Records ‘Talc’ is part of the Silver Top Series of ultra limited (ten copies each) cdrs of extreme noise.
‘Talc’ consists of a single twenty-two minute track of driving, relentless harsh noise. A blisteringly paced slurred pulse madly dashes forward through a wasteland of smart dust and electromagnetic interference in this futile race to the horizon creating a ceaseless feel of travel. Where to? The end, or somewhere similar. An overwhelming sense of urgency is behind this, as if time is rapidly running out and when the clock stops something terrible could happen.
This release is very dense, packed with constant static interruptions, adrenergic pulsing bass patterns, sudden increases in intensity and strangely danceable moments bleeding through in on occasion. Throughout are passages of interfering speech rhythms that I am almost sure are heavily distorted unintelligible vocals adding to the paranoid anxiety of the track. The listener is being pursued by shadow people with voices screaming messages inside their head they can’t understand. The atmosphere of this makes me think of a short science fiction story ‘A Walk In The Sun’ by Geoffrey Landis in which an astronaut stranded on the moon in an accident has to endlessly walk to keep pace with the moon’s rotation in order to stay in the sunlight, because otherwise her solar powered life support systems will fail.
They both convey this autopilot, instinctual endless race away from death. The normal steady advance in the direction of death has been distorted here into an overwhelming flight from entropy towards some alien destination that might not be any better than what lies behind.
‘Talc’ is a promising first release combining layers of abrasive texture effectively with a dark fearful atmosphere and a compelling sense of look over your shoulder hyper vigilance.
Rating: 4/5
005. "Temporary Relief" CDr (Muzikaal Kabaal Records)
MUSIQUE MACHINE:
“Temporary Relief” is an active, layered, at times haunting & at other times damn brutal slice of rewarding HNW. Extreme Chafing is another project from Santa Fe US based Joe The Stache- whose behind HNW project Hoggle, HNW/Harsh noise project Pig Shrapnel, and also runs the noise tape label Hair on My Food Tapes & Records.
This is the 5th release from this project which started in mid 2011, and this release comes in the form of a CDR. The single self titled track on offer here comes in at 46.16 mark, and it’s a great example of shifting & captivating walled noise. The track starts out very dense ‘n’ thick in it’s attack with a mulit layered mixture of closely kitted rip ‘n’ roaring textural thickness- this mid to lower tone attack batters and rages around your ears like a slow monition avalanche. The battering yet subtle shifting thickness is from time to time underfed by this distant, haunting & sorrowful harmonic billow trail, which you seemingly are never able to full grasp….it sounds something akin to music drifting in the wind from miles away across a barren plain.
As the track progresses Joe sends out a steady ‘n’ battering terrain of ripping, roaring, juddering & billow noise- these tones stay pretty much in the same mid to lower toned area as the start of the track. The ‘wall’ remains mostly fairly thick ‘n’ dense through-out it’s near on forty seven minutes attack. And it also keeps it’s sonic avalanche like vibe meaning your forever feeling like your getting buried deeper & deeper in the sound. Also as the track progress Joe thins back the layers from time to time, or he slows the pace slightly, yet he never fully thins out or slows completely to AWN, through it does come very close at times.
All told this release offers up an wonderfully shifting, textural detailed, and atmospheric piece of active HNW that has a sombre & sad heart deep with-in it’s brutal churning folds.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Roger Batty
