Reviews By Sue Wedge
Neil ‘Glowsticks’ Campbell – Fractals CD (Self-Important Records)
Ten years ago Neil was rehashing the Angus Maclise / Tony Conrad 60s NYC trance drone sound, now he’s rehashing the 90s trance electronica / part time corporate jingle writer sound. At this rate in 2010 Neil could be trancing out to the sounds of 2007, (that means you and your home recorded CD-R of fuzz recorder). I got this direct from Volcanic Tongue so it was £48 plus postage, but worth every damn penny - spark up the Nag Champa and head for the Chi tent.
Sunn O))) with Bonnie Prince Billy – By The Time I Get to Phoenix 4LP boxset (Southern Bored). We were very privileged this week to receive an advance copy of the new collaboration between Sunn O))) and Bonnie Prince Billy, the most anticipated alt-country / ambient doom album since Dylan Carlson went bluegrass. O’Malley’s pedal steel environments really add to the apocalyptic American Gothic feel of the album, whilst Killer Joh Wiese’s justly intoned banjo adds a crepuscule hue to the 20 minute doomcore reinterpretation of the Femme’s Country Death Song. And doesn’t Will Oldham look deranged on the cover, with his faux-Druid hoodie and black eyeliner smeared down his cheek.
Jizkummer – Norway-sted CD The news that this Norwegian freenoise act had dropped one Z from their name (from Jazzkammer to Jazkammer) really came as a severe shock to most of us. What could this identity crisis mean, we asked? Well now comes the news that two vowels have been altered. What are we to make of this new direction? Our fears are unfounded as the duo serve up an excellent platter of emo-electroacoustic – “it would have been more emo if our father’s had touched us up” Lassie Morehog said in a recent interview.
Prurient – Dachau Blues 12 x C-10 cassette. It’s very time consuming fantasizing about being a high-IQ serial killer, what with all that research to do about filleting prozzies, corpse disposal, how to self treat STD’s and remove DNA from your S&M leather bondage gear. Musically, there’s hardly any time left to do anything but shove a microphone into that old practice amp you got when you were learning guitar, and screeching some feedback over the top of your porn collection. Plus there’s dozens of death industrial acts from the Eastern Bloc that one has to compete with these days - they all have CDR boxsets and terabytes of net archives, so it pays to slice up your material into the most excessive analogue tape and vinyl formats imaginable.