Hototogisu – Prayer Rug Exorcism

December 2005 • Heavy Blossom

Like drone, noise can seem like an easy genre to tackle but in reality it's very tough to pull off a good noise record, and all too easy to create something bland or unoriginal. Prayer Rug Exorcism is, of course, an example of the latter—an album that seems promising at first but is too homogenous and grating to deliver.

All four untitled tracks here are layers upon layers of dense samples and noise, creating a very thick and abrasive sound. It's pretty neat at first, actually, and there is quite a lot going on, so close listening reveals some interesting stuff like guitar feedback and maybe some screaming vocals. The problem, though, is that the sound doesn't really ever change; after about five minutes or so, the constant grinding becomes tiresome, the layers have dissolved into a formless mess, and my brain simply can't take it any more.

It's not that I can't enjoy this sort of intense music—quite the opposite; harsh wall noise can be pretty awesome sometimes—but to me this isn't a pleasing example. It's just so incredibly difficult to take it in all at once, and by the end of just the first track I'm already worn out, but there's another forty minutes to go. And every track is more or less the exact same thing, the same dense, grinding, muffled mess. I wouldn't mind if there was some variation in texture or composition or even just timbre, but there isn't any (well, each track is a tiny bit different, but barely). And the sound itself isn't close to being good enough to make up for the lack of diversity.

I don't doubt that there will be plenty of noise fans who will love this album, who enjoy the mentally-draining brutality. Nine times out of ten I'd be right there with them, but this is one album I'd sit out on.

3

Thanks for joining me for Bad Music Week! Next week, more bad music! And some average music, and maybe some good stuff too; who knows.