France
seems to be a hot bed of industrial and noise activity as
of late and like a pedophile banker lurking outside a daycare
center, apparently Belgium is close behind. Mechanoise Labs
certainly have taken note of these recent developments with
this CDR displaying the excellent results of their apparently
10 month in length collations.
The disc
kicks off with a match of stereo ping pong from Rudra Vena,
wet silverish pads lapping at the listeners feet as the cleanly
machined bass samples do their damnedest to stay dry. It's
a nice, almost minimalist setting which acts a perfect staging
for the following track from Hirochimiq, a duo-tone melodic
bit of melodrama that could have been a black metal song in
a previous life but here is a plodding neo-classical exploration
which has more than enough building tension to keep the waterfalls
in Valhalla flowing. The water does
finally run out with Dusk of Hope's track, the last rivulets
of after-life slowly draining into the blackened void with
the resulting low pressure having an unsettling effect on
the listener's sense of balance. "Strong and Athletic"
returns again to the classical fold, somewhere between ancient
Egyptian funeral dirge and Bollywood influenced emotional
despair, the track has me picturing an army of the recently
widowed on their way to a Nile song intro. Next we find Stelladrine
in a surprisingly defensive mood, the tone mostly the usual
but here as if heard muttered underbreath - the resonant sweeps
and processed vocals so distant and reserved. Sobria Ebrietas
finds themselves in a similar set of circumstances but with
different tools in hand, one grasping a vibrato coated version
of Howard Shore's "Crash" theme and the other a most Hushush
sounding isolationist manual covering topics ranging from
found sound to clinical drones. To clean up the first half
of the disc Mourmansk 150 fires up the diesel engines, letting
them idle for quite a bit while the crew grumbles over the
final demolition plans.
The 8th
track "with knives at their throats" backs up the previous
arguments with an abrasive bit of saturation that oscillates
between high end electronic sizzle and clanky metallic delay,
very mechanical and including the disarming addition of sinusoid
song birds and cranking calliope to create a weirdly cheerful
dose of pure industrial music. Ripit is in his usual form
with the QY700's cries of pain barely discernable amongst
the constant distortion and MIDI initiated (but beatless)
fallout. Chupacabras plinks away for a bit out in deep space
somewhere, the voice of god admonishing the suitably anguished
listener while an analog to the "The Andromeda Strain" soundtrack
blares just out of camera view. Personal favourite mad scientist
Tin.RP continues the illicit software testing with a gritty
set of dissolving repetition and intricate operater overloading
which is somewhere between Nexsound type digital deep freeze
and Japanese style miniturization (like reading between the
lines of inventory barcode). Another Mechanoise act Giscard
le Survivant then slowly drags itself out of bed, an orchestra
of Vromb samples recorded from the vantage point of a busy
freeway acting as a decoy for Zerogoki's entrance. "Overcome"
seems a bit of an anomaly in that despite having none, there
is quite a strong sense of rhythm to it which creates a striking
almost physical impact since there seems to be so much undulating
form supported by nothing but electricity and ghosts. Impressive.
The final words are given to Inoculation
via a 6 plus minute noisescape which has been remorselessly
forced through a culvert opening whose diameter is much smaller
than the original frequency spectrum. Raw, primitive blast
then has been sawed off leaving an understated violence like
the constant unseen crush of a large scale hydro project.
Straight-up,
"Like Music to their Ears Vol. 1" is one of the better compilations
in recent memory that I have had the pleasure to encounter.
Instead of clamping a specific thematic chain around listener's
wrists, the intent seems far more general in nature, a dark
interlocking puzzle perhaps whose completed visage displays
a goodly portion of the independent French and Belgian scene.
The key to why this disc sits so comfortably between the ears
is how it always seems to be moving in some way, even when
trapped in a seemingly stangant ambient eddy little trails
of interaction and struggling effort can be seen just beneath
the surface of the murky water. It's an excellent and most
atmospheric collection and it seems almost an afront that
it was limited to only 100 copies. And no, you cannot have
mine.
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