Album: Scrat EP
Artist: Scrat
Label: Nailed Nazarene Industries
Catalogue no: N/A
Tracklist:
1. Subterranean
Marketplace Transaction.
2. Purchase.
3. Volume.
Scrat the band is Scott
Ballard and Rorac Johnson, while Scrat
the
EP is a short three-tracker of about ten minutes’ duration. The band themselves
define their brand of music as noise, musique concrete, avant noisebleed,
Santacruzcore, and porn grind. In all honesty, for once I am going to be
deferring to the band’s own descriptions of what their music is, based as it is
around manipulations, improvisations, tape loops, and samples, which make it nigh-on
uncategorisable, which futhermore makes it all the harder to describe
adequately. It very much reminds me of early Smell & Quim (I am talking
early nineties here), at least what I remember of them, a collage of styles and
ideas that get blurted out and are done with almost instantly, but without the
tongue-in-cheek approach of S&Q. This is not to say that Scrat’s
interpretations aren’t any good, it’s just that they’re coming from a
completely different angle, and that their compositions are more abstract and
nebulous, their music a series of concatenated sounds built around a looped
background and field recordings, all held together by percussion and drums,
eliciting altogether darker and more unwholesome reactions.
‘Subterranean Marketplace
Transaction’ begins quietly and unobtrusively before an almighty growling
exhalation intervenes that could be the prelude to something heavy and
gargantuan: against expectations a disturbing laugh breaks out (‘That was
fun!’) and completely shatters the anticipated sonic assault, followed by some
dark ambient-like sci-fi/cosmic warblings and doodlings. It gives off an almost
psychopathic vibe, especially with that laugh, and it honestly sent shivers
down my spine. A good start, and quite an unexpected one at that.
‘Purchase’ begins with
staccato bursts of noise, which abruptly jumps into a background of playground
voices accompanied by furious drumming and a male voice. This one is especially
slippery, the only consistent aspect being those voices in the background: the
only thing I could think of was that this is describing a drugs purchase being
conducted in a public playground or housing estate, and even then I feel like
I’m stretching. However, it’s extremely listenable in its own elusive and jumpy
way, and I actually liked it.
The final piece,
‘Volume’, brings one into familiar noise/industrial territory, featuring machine
buzz and what sounds like a tiger making low growling noises in its throat.
It’s certainly tempestuous and stormy, and drives along at a jittery but
boundless pace, rolling along with a certain modicum of exuberance. Perhaps
we’re looking at an unstoppable behemoth, obliterating everything in its path
with uncaring abandon, a killing machine bent on killing and destruction.
The tagline used here is
‘Listen and enjoy… if you can’, which for me conjured all manner of assumptions
about what the music would be like but I can honestly say don’t be put off by
it, because it is certainly
listenable and can definitely be enjoyed; if there is any criticism to be
levelled at this it would be that perhaps the three pieces could each have been
a tad longer, allowing for more exploration and a slightly broader canvas on which
to delineate the ideas expressed in them. As it is, there’s a lot to get to
grips with and not too much space or time in which to do so: but what is there I found intriguing enough to
hope that a longer exegesis will be forthcoming in the not-too distant future.
In all fairness this is nothing more than a sampler, a taster of what Scrat
could produce if they’re given a little more room to play in. They’re
definitely an outfit to look out for in the future.
Available as a download
from here:
Psymone Marshall 2019.
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