seven

This is one of those harsh power electronics releases that have helped to spark my interest in these genre. Using an array of found organic and mechanical sound devices and lo-tech equipment these two artists present us with some very impressive pieces.

Displaying five mind-crushing tracks, Eric Christopherson of Sleeping with the Earth occupies the first half of this cd release. We are treated with distorted thunder crush-downs that split and divide ferocious abrasive statics. Terror-ridden vocals dissipates with sheer immensity. This hostile encounter has pulled me into its madness from the start.

The next volatile track, “deliver us from evil” builds on toxic generator streams that are accompanied by brute rhythm forces and electrified spoken words. Resonating tone relays and pulses fill the third track titled, “wuurii-wi dhuwun.” Skull-crushing erosives, static overloads, and menacing vocals pummel us on track four. Track five, “This is my room” is a 15 minute collaboration with the Big Tex. It starts out with combustible abrasives that are gradually tweaked and build hypnotic scourges of frequency overlays and transparent waves of static reverbs that eventually dissipate into the mind with the wise words of Chrisptopher Walken nightmare.

This concludes the first half of this split cd and leads us into the work of James Huggett of combat astronomy. His material is definitely not as fierce and dense as sleeping with the earth, but uniquely harsh and persistent with a different edge of harsh electronic mechanics. Using much found sound samples and mechanical loop structures, combat astronomy dissects and reconstructs simple sound devices to show you how disturbing the machine word can be.

Tracks such as “J-vax” and “hut” provide good examples of tortured patterns that burst out in sheer chaos and return to the controlled state they came from. The abrasive factory cycles of “BAK002” burst out into static loops and subtle abrasive laughter that cuts out with oblique rhythms. The last track, “Sirius02,” entangles high pitched modulations with a background video game melody that is slowly engulfed by bubbling bass cycles and several distant nostalgic undertones.

Both artists convey their own inner vision of disaster and give inspiration to seek more in their tides of harsh distorted electronics. Yet another apocalyptic convergence of harsh mechanical devices and the natural world.