Pacific 231 - Deep Jet, Soundscapes of Conflict

Pacific 231 – Deep Jet (Soundscapes of Conflict) – Aussaat – Aussaat 32 – CD – 2024.

          1.    F-104 Lockheed 1958.

          2.    A-10

          3.    F-16.

          4.    Gripen – E.

          5.    F-18.

          6.    Ordinance AGM-65.

          7.    Ordinance Hydra 70.

https://www.facebook.com/Aussaatundernte/

https://www.facebook.com/Pacific231/

 

Pacific 231 is a French project made by Pierre Jolivet, it stretches right back to the early 80s. Initially, the work fell in line with the Power Electronics of that era that was in its infancy at the time, present day work now is made of different sounds that explore the limits of sound. The 1983-86 Compendium on Tesco from 2011 captures the early work perfectly.

Deep Jet contrasts noises in different compositions, the most consistent one being jet roars that seem to be field recordings. The individual track titles are named after the jets that provide the main sound source for each track. The harmonious sounds contrast the Jet roars to express the dual nature of technology, in that it can advance us through it’s benefits and also serve as a force of destruction – this happens across several of the tracks.

F-104 Lockheed 1958 is pitches of electronic sounds and jet roars that serve as a disruption of ambient soundscapes, almost an electronic battle of nature and technology. The ambient combinations of buzz and drone sound like a recreation of a field recording. In contrast to this, the jet sounds do come across as the sampled sounds - there is a sense of irony that the jet sounds are the natural sounds against the artificial nature scene. Maybe it is addressing that technology has become a new natural?

The second track A-10 uses a base of contrasting drones with the roar of the engine to layer the track. The harmonious drones that build up begin to give off a symphonic feel, a sense of beauty is achieved here, it's no longer purely just contrasts. F-16 is a deeper roar, distortion that sounds like rain and harmonic pitches to layer the composition. At times this breaks down to industrial sounds and the jet roar, leaving a recreation dominant artificial human landscape. Gripen-E demonstrates a clear, aggressive use of jet field recordings that rise over the quieter delicate layer of noises. This serves as the nature environment that is continually disrupted by the machines – that is the core concept of Deep Jet. Sharper pitched sounds dominate across F-18, this is the point where the work raises the aggression to uncomfortable levels, I like the shift that happens here. Ordinance AGM-65 feels purely technological, as if a dominance has been fully achieved amongst the louder and quieter electronic sounds. AGM-65 continues into Hydra 70, as the sounds all eventually die into the distance.

All I have heard in contrast to this is the earlier Power Electronics Pacific 231 work which is good and of its time, this achieves a clinical degree of conceptualisation that Whitehouse excelled in when the project was alive. However Pacific 231 has progressed to make work that is purely their own and in its own field entirely. This is serious, heavily conceptualised work.

Coventry to Nottingham 2024.

 

 

Temple of Tiermes - Apara.

Temple of Tiermes – Apara – Cd – Aussaat – Aussaat 29 – 2023.

https://www.facebook.com/Aussaatundernte 

https://templeoftiermes.bandcamp.com/music

          1.      Black Axis.

          2.      Khosunra.

          3.      Atma Lokah.

          4.      Passe Vuoksi.

          5.      Muspel.

          6.      Aeon.

          7.      Aeonics.

          8.      Bohu.

          9.      Ulos.

Temple of Tiermes is a Finnish project that has been active for nearly 30 years and they are Jarkko Toivonen and Hannu Saarnos. Apara was released last year on Aussaat and has been on my playlist all year.

The sound is described as ritual and esoteric, which it is very much so. In recent years I have come across a lot of good esoteric noise and this is amongst the best that I have recently heard. Temple of Tiermes does this simple but very effective thing of drones covering instrumental sounds that happen in the background, sometimes they are percussive or melodic or noisey. This technique muffles the work slightly and makes them appear as if they are way off, in the distance. Due to this, you find yourself pulled further into the work, floating across the drones in and out of the sound, making the listener feel as if they are plunging the depths of their own subconscious.

As the background sounds become less identifiable, the work then loses structure and becomes increasingly abstract as if it is a collection of sounds playing to make one. The depth of the work increases as the sound's clarity melts. Apara is continually alluring, with each listen more details reveal themselves to the listener.  The album comes in a digipack case that opens up to reveal a beautiful album with rich textures and rich depth of sound. Aussaat has established itself as a strong label with continually impressive releases and Apara is typical of those high standards, links are above.

Nothing and Nobody, Something and Somebody 2024.

 

 

Slow Murder - Deserving.

Slow Murder – Deserving – CD/Download – Self Released – 2024.

https://slowmurder.bandcamp.com/music

https://straightpanic.bandcamp.com/album/slow-murder-straight-panic

          1.     Hands In Prized Mouth.

          2.     Ulcer.

          3.     Target Practice.

          4.     Only.

          5.     Permanent.

Jo don't read this review, just keep the work coming and jog on.

Having seen Slow Murder perform as Insatiable Wound a few months ago, I have become very aware of the project – obsessively so, I cannot stop thinking about that performance at Cafe Centralla in Birmingham, it is a short, sharp, green memory that has been etched into my head. At that show it was Flesh Licker that gave the most performance art performance of the night, but Insatiable Wound completely blind sided me. There is no doubt that Slow Murder is now amongst the top of the pile in todays scene, they rub shoulders with Knifedoutofexistence, Pale World, Mlhest, Ordeal by Roses, Blackcloudsummoner, XAL, S.T.A.B. Electronics, AM NOT and Stark. However, my job here is to decide if Slow Murder is good or great? I think we have a project that may unintentionally be someone who may be that project that could be our best.

I have listened to this album in two stages, first it was when Dean Llloyd Robinson shared out a post that said there was new Slow Murder out. The post said that Deserving was available on Bandcamp, I purchased it immediately almost unaware I was doing it, as if I was in an obsessive psychosis. I played that through my Bluetooth speaker. I loved it instantly, no questions asked. The CD arrives a week or so later, so I play it in the car and I play it a lot. The CD is green, I can't read the text, just see green, that's what happens when you see Jo, there is a lot of green. The album makes good use of long noises and plays with the levels of cold that the work gives off make play to the past of Power Electronics and recent players who like it cold.

You have to address that they are Welsh, from Wales. I go there a lot due to family commitments and you have to be aware that it is a completely different landscape to England. They are steeped in mythology like the UK, but more so, the landscape absorbs pain and never lets it go, I feel it every time I am there, I love Wales but am glad to escape that volcanic pain, the pain of my family, the pain that Wales resonates. This is why Ordeal by Roses and Slow Murder are so intensely unique in today's Power Electronics scene. Deserving is 5 solid performances that leads me to the conclusion that this album is great, I stand by that.

 

R_KKK - Saint Noizes

R_KKK – Saint Noizes – (K)Anal – CDr – 2021 – KR004

https://rdkpl.bandcamp.com/

https://kanalrecords.bandcamp.com/ 

R_KKK is Radek Kopel in Czechoslovakia and has been prolifically releasing under this name since 2021, he is also a former member of Eine Stunde Merzbauten and many other projects.

Saint Noizes presents a consistently, high speed, accelerated use of Harsh Noise. In comparison to the Rotat album that I just reviewed, Saint Noizes has a very digital feel to its sound. The five tracks shift rapidly as if continually  hitting through and interrupting the overall flow of distortion. It could be seen as an offbeat wall technique with high pitched noises wailing through it and burying themselves, only to emerge after a short time, repeating the cycle again and again as if to keep the sound in a state of continual fracture. There is a deep distorted cloaking bass that allows the other noises to resonate whenever it is cut into, the overall sound is a constant war of volatile interruptions.

Inner Demons sent me this, much appreciated.

Forest Fields Fury, Mapperley Man.