Pholde - To Favour the Occurence

Pholde – To Favour the Occurrence – CD/Download – Absurd Exposition – 2023 – AE76

https://absurdexposition.bandcamp.com/album/to-favour-the-occurrence

https://pholde.bandcamp.com/

Paul Van Tright Artist page

1.    Adjust One’s Desires.

2.    Accompanying the Onset.

3.    The One Intended.

4.    Take In Order.

5.    As a Result of Action.

6.    In Order to Gain.

7.    The Process of Forming.

Artwork from Absurd Exposition Bandcamp

Pholde is a project of Alan Bloor of Knurl; there have been Pholde releases since 2001.

To Favour the Occurrence is an interesting album as it explores low level noise that seems to be sourced from contact microphones and metal scrapings. It isn’t Ambient or Dark Ambient in what it does due the obvious physicality of the sounds and there is a strong exploration of a quieter use of noise and its inner workings. The noise cuts into the silence gently as if to slightly disturb the layer of tranquillity and the sound is incredibly subtle in its’ workings. The titles Pholde uses seem to imply personal context as if relating to the artists life or events around his life. This contrasts to the Piece numbers of his work in Knurl greatly.

In recent reviews, I am starting to see a lot of use of quieter sounds used in work that I am sent. This often uses the slight disturbance of silence or minimal use of noise used to create bigger holes in between sounds. There are what I’d see as leaders where the subtle disruption of the quiet using sound is particularly strong, those are Small Cruel Party and Spoils and Relics, but I would add this project to that equation too.

To Favour the Occurrence has served as my introduction to Pholde and I am very impressed by the work that I have heard.

One and alone, 2023.

Dodge Jones Rage - West Coast Power Outage V

 

Dodge Jones Rage – West Coast Power Outage V – CD/Download – Absurd Exposition – 2023 – AE75

https://absurdexposition.bandcamp.com/album/west-coast-power-outage-v

https://www.screamandwrithe.com/

1.    Power: Conundrum

2.    Power: Luxury.

3.    Power: Absolute.

4.    Power: Bizarre.

5.    Power: Disaster.

This trio release each of their albums as differently numbered West Coast Power Outages since 2022. So far there have been 5 of them including this one. The trio are linked to a multitude of projects and labels, but as you will see, the uniqueness of this work deserves to be the focus of the review.

The album begins with a blast of what I would deem to be Hellish Wall. Melody seems to play in the centre of it but it is masked by the blast of the distortion. I like the overall, short effect of Conundrum. Luxury in comparison feels tropical and warped, noised and samples swirl around, the shift in tactic is impressive. Absolute is immediately darker as it farts into action. Churning drones and cut up distortion form a dance of noises as a supporting cast of quirky noises fall into the rhythm and rhyme. Veiled melody plays in the cacophony and it works well. As the piece reaches full flow it truly makes an impressive racket.

Juddered electronic sounds send a fractured signal to form Bizarre which uses discordant keyboard notes amongst the sonic chatter. When they keep doing that, it works very well! Power: Disaster is the longest track on the album and begins with wailing noise, backed by chaotic shifts between electronic clunking and distortive waves blasting over it. This feels as if a moog is used in the distance of the sound, the listeners focus can zone in and out of the different elements presented on Disaster. The sound is dark and unique as the elements of sound gradually intensify, screaming and wailing utter bleakness.

This is a brilliant album that sounds like nothing else that I have heard before.

One and one alone. 2023.

Knurl - H2T.

 

Knurl - H2T – Absurd Exposition –Download/CD - 2023 – AE71

https://absurdexposition.bandcamp.com/

https://www.screamandwrithe.com/

https://knurl.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.hotel2tango.com/info.html 

1.  Piece 1.

2.  Piece 2.

3.  Piece 3.

4.  Piece 4.

5.  Piece 5.

Image from Scream and Writhe Bandcamp.

Knurl is a Canadian noise project operated by Alan Bloor that has been active since 1994. Hotel2 Tango is a recording and performance venue that is run by the Godspeedyoublackemporer folk in Montreal, Quebec. This recording was recorded there on July 7^th, 2001. Knurl has released on many labels including RRR and Obscurica, who are a personal favourite old label of mine, RIP. Bloor has also played live with members of Sonic Youth.

The sound has an immediate acceleration as if moving at high speed. Layers of noise and distorted roar overlay on Piece 1. Once everything is in full mass, things pulsate and throb, whilst higher pitched distortion screeches over and through the entire sound. At different points it feels as if the sound is trying to slow down, but moves at such a high speed, this creates an abrasive friction that rubs alongside the main mass of noise.  This is very, expertly put together and delivered.

Effective restraints control the flow of Piece 2, which isn’t so out of control. Bloor uses a minimal array of sounds here and allows different sounds into the forefront at different times – stop, start, stop, start. High-pitched feedback ends up dominating the work in its’ final stages. The squealing noise continues into the 3^rd Piece leading other elements of sound to join in the movement. A deeper bass roar is intermittent and adds a thicker depth to the sound and is pulled away like a tablecloth at times to let the sharper sounds cream where there was a roar. The thickness of the sound increases as the bass deepens; this gives a good texture to the work. The texture of the sound changes gradually whilst the elements move quickly, it is like a steady undercurrent to the work that gives structure to the abstraction like the background colour on a painting whilst the lines and drips interact over the work. For example the cloudy mist in the background of a Lydia Dona painting whilst the diagrammatic drawings and lines interact with degrees of detail and colour. This is the longest Piece and allows for a longer, gradual shift in sound that can adjust speed where it is appropriate. Like the first track this reaches a high speed and trying to affect this speed gives off pulsations of friction that squeeze the sound and accelerate it further when released.

The fourth piece demonstrates some excellent Death Drones that dominate making the screech a background element every time it rears up. The sharper tones make a comeback and take the lead whilst the hum of the drone controls the thickness of the sound. The die out of the sound allows background noise and feedback to play off each other. The sound rebuilds itself for the final work, Piece 5. This track pushes the under drone and the wailing noise together to sharpen the focus point of the piece. The lower end feels like it is punching the sound in the stomach whilst the higher tones go for the head, a double barrelled assault. The deeper hum on this track is very strong and really bellows when it is allowed to. The track drops into a scattered no mans land of intermittent noises, it is as if Knurl kills the underlying structure to allow the work to fall into chaos. This passage only lasts for a short time until a finely honed precision takes hold to the work’s end.

This was my introduction to Knurl, despite hearing the name mentioned for years and I very much enjoyed it. The disc is limited to 200 and available from Scream and Writhe in the link above.

One, alone, promoting the scene for three decades now. 2023.