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.

Abruptum – In umbra malitae ambulabo, in aeternum in triumpho tenebrarum

April 1, 1994 • Deathlike Silence Productions

Abruptum was one of the more "classic" bands in the original black metal scene from when it began to trickle into Sweden, although they seem to have taken a radically different approach to their music than their contemporaries. If their second album In umbra malitae ambulabo... is indicative of their typical style (and I hear that it is) then I'm not sure how they managed to garner any fame at all, as it is a very (for lack of a better word) stupid-sounding album, one that to me fails at everything it sets out to do.

The name of the game here is improvisation, coupled with a hefty dose of dissonance, all drenched in reverb. In fact there's hardly anything metal about it at all—with its slow, sparse, methodical drumming, off-kilter and even-sparser guitar, and deranged grunting vocals it is more of a dark ambient album made with rock instruments. But even after accepting that, it still isn't a good ambient album. While it is true that it has a decidedly gloomy atmosphere, it's thwarted by the fact that it all just sounds silly, especially the vocals. The wordless grunts and moans don't sound creepy, just ridiculous. Same thing with the guitar; it doesn't sound foreboding or scary, just like someone who doesn't know how to play it.

The other issue is that the album is so long and boring; for sixty minutes it's the same thing—the improvised guitar over either the slow drums and vocals, or nothing. It goes on and on and doesn't progress or build or express anything (except "oooh we are scary", which they're not), and after about ten minutes of the same thing it becomes pointless. I can see a heavily-abridged version of this working as a closer to a more typical metal album, but on its own it doesn't work at all.

While it fortunately never quite borders on being truly annoying, Abruptum is definitely dull and not something I want to revisit anytime soon. They didn't make a good dark ambient band and they didn't make a good black metal band. Although plenty of other groups have crossed that genre chasm successfully Abruptum just fell in, and I don't want to go in after them.

3

The Gerogerigegege – Hell Driver

1999 • Dirtier Promotions

The Gerogerigegege is one of those bands that I tell myself I enjoy but is totally hit-or-miss: they can pull off some brilliant albums like Tokyo Anal Dynamite or Senzuri Champion, but sometimes their exercises in self-indulgence can completely flop. Hell Driver is one case which doesn't do anything for me; while it may have good intentions, it winds up being a complete meandering borefest when it's not trying to destroy my ears.

Don't get me wrong; I love listening to field recordings just as much as the next guy, and this band has put out some really nice stuff of its own (again, see Senzuri Champion). But field recordings have to be put to good use to make a good record, and here it all falls short. Take the title track, for example: it's fifteen minutes of wandering (perhaps improvised piano). Now, one could argue that this piece has a very marked atmosphere, one of solidarity, loneliness, agoraphobia, etc., and I can understand that. But to me, the track is simply boring. If it were half as long, I can see it maybe working, but I guess I lost interest in the track too quickly.

But the album's biggest flaw is its monstrous middle track "Moonlight & His Loser Knife"—thirty-five minutes of the most annoying buzzing noise I've ever heard. Even if the other four tracks were brilliant (they're not) this one ruins the entire album. Yes, it does have some semi-interesting snippets of clangings and voices in the background, but the buzzing is so grating that it's impossible to even think about what else is going on. I honestly cannot imagine why they thought this was good (then again, it is The Gerogerigegege; they've always had questionable motives and tastes). Perhaps they wanted to create a despairing and frustrated mood, in which case, congratulations.

The other tracks are mostly non-noteworthy, being more bland field recordings and grating noises that simply don't sound interesting and go nowhere. "Night Is Morning" is practically silent; "Pray Silently" is the same annoying scraping noise for seven minutes that almost redeems itself with some neat noise in the last few seconds; if only it had actually gone in that direction. The first track "_____" is the only enjoyable part of the album, being an unadorned clip of voices and city sounds; if more of the album were like it this review would be completely different. But it's a misleading opener.

My frustration with Hell Driver might partially have to do with the fact that I know The Gerogerigegege have done so much better with similar styles and this one simply sounds like a cheap knockoff of their better material. Some hardcore fans of the group will probably find value in this album, but I'm not into such musical masochism and I don't see it as anything except an irritating exercise in pointlessness. Fortunately, they have better material, and I'll stick to that instead.

2

Big City Orchestra – A Child's Garden of Noise

May 1994 • Drone Records

This release completely baffles me. No matter how much I think about it (though I try not to), I cannot figure out what the purpose of it is and how anyone at any point thought it would be appealing. Every bit of it is irritating and goes against all aspects of what good music should be.

Essentially, the A-side of this EP is a collage of spoken word clips and random noises (mostly sound effects, but some vinyl crackle and static as well). The spoken word segments seem to mostly come from educational records for young children about sound, and they are cut up in what I assume is an attempt at being creepy, which fails. They are sort of interesting at first, but eventually turn annoying as they repeat purposelessly. Nothing else happens.

The B-side is more sound collage, but instead of spoken word segments it mostly combines clips of things like piano recordings, various percussion mashing, and children attempting to sing. While the first side was tolerably bad, this side is completely horrid. The singing is atrocious and the instruments and sound clips don't attempt to justify it. And I cannot fathom the stupidity of including a typical parody of that Barney & Friends song every kid comes up with thinking they're clever; it wasn't funny when I was four and it isn't funny now.

Simply put, this EP sucks. I hated listening to it and I hated writing about it. Just about every second of it is completely annoying and an utter waste of time. Do yourself a favor and just forget you ever heard about it.

1

People Band – People Band 1968

Welcome to Bad Music Week! For the next five days I'll be revisiting some of the most abhorrent monstrosities in my library. So plug your ears and let's see if these are as bad as I remember!

1970 • Transatlantic Records

I don't know if my distaste for free improvisation comes from just listening to the wrong albums, but People Band 1968 isn't helping the case. Even with a bit of jazz flair, its formlessness and amateur-sounding improv style result in a hopeless, disappointing mess that I'm surprised I managed to listen to once, let alone twice.

Supposedly, a bunch of people were simply gathered and told to just play, without any sort of instruction or direction, and it totally shows. It's pretty clear that these people have no idea what they are doing. With the exception of the "Conduction" tracks, the instruments are all off in their own worlds, and not one takes a lead role in guiding the others along any common path. Instead, everyone just sort of hangs back, timidly banging away, and it goes on for nearly an hour without anyone figuring out how to command the group. That isn't to say there's no group mentality; they tend to do dynamics together okay, but that doesn't go far in making up for their lack of coherence in any other category. On the "Conduction" tracks, though, it actually doesn't sound too bad—with someone actually leading the performers, the result is way more listenable, although still not particuarly good, and those tracks are undeservingly short.

Here and there, though, are glimmers of what could have been decent music—a moment of cello droning, some neat drumming, etc. But these moments are brief and rudely interrupted by the random squealing and crashing that makes up too much of the album. The fact that there were almost some good sounds here makes the whole experience that much more disheartening. And, of course, the vast majority of the sounds aren't good; things like random yelping, violin screeching, harpsichord mashing, etc. would sound horrid on their own and they're even worse in a group.

It just goes to show that no matter how good a group of musicians you can gather, it doesn't mean much without preparation or leadership. With more "Conduction"-style tracks with actual form and dynamics, this album might have been redeemable, but the rest of it is just plain awful. I can't even bring myself to listen to the whole thing at once, as it would probably drive me insane, and I'm baffled at how the album's producers thought this was a good idea. The title "Skip to Part 3" is good advice, but I can do better: skip this album.

2