Kylie Minoise – Kylie Minoise Fucking Hates You!

July 18, 2008 • Kovorox Sound

I have my doubts as to whether or not Kylie Minoise actually feels so strongly about me, but he is definitely bringing an appropriate punishment on this album. We are presented with some fairly typical 2000s-era digital harsh noise, which is certainly brutal and also surprisingly good. I didn't care for this album the first time I heard it but somehow it's grown on me over the years without me even listening to it.

Compared to a lot of noise releases I've heard, this one is pretty diverse: sounds range from heavy wall noise to screeching feedback, grinding sample-laden layering, and a good bit of ambience. It all manages to sound pretty consistent as well, unlike some albums that mix things up so much they sound like various artists compilations. Here, every track has its own style and feel but they do hold each other up well and form a cohesive whole.

While that's a good thing, each track by itself is a tiny bit disappointing; there's practically no mood and little atmospherics to be had. I'm not going to fault the album too heavily for that—it's difficult to do things like that in noise—but sometimes the tracks feel a bit flat. The monolithic closer is a nice exception, though, as it builds tension throughout its first half very satisfyingly and its ambient second half is nice and dark.

Another thing about this album I do enjoy is that Minoise knows exactly when a track is long enough; unlike a lot of, say, Merzbow tracks that drag on forever, here the tracks are all pretty short (with one obvious exception). So the harsher pieces don't have time to get stale and the tracks I don't particularly care for aren't as bothersome as they could be. While I try not to have a short attention span (I did listen to all ten-plus hours of Merzbient, after all) this is a huge plus and I'm not sure why most noise artists don't seem to have picked up on it yet.

To be honest I'm a bit mad at myself for so casually shrugging off this album with a 2.5-star rating so long ago; it's a great example of how a noise album should be arranged, without a lot of the pretense and wankery. Sure, it has its flaws, as any album will, but I'd still recommend it to any noise fan.

6