Toshiji Mikawa/RDCD – s/t, split (2014)
Midwest Maso mimic meets Mikawa on own label TrangSao. This is the first I've heard of label boss RDCD. Is it to be the last? Not bloody likely. For starters, he's also released two splits with Hiroshi Hasegawa, aka Astro, and one with Knurl, aka toaster molester. The man has taste. As to whether that taste does tasteful noise make will have to wait till I've got the Mikawa cravings out of my system. Of the six-track disc, but the sixth (and last) belongs to The Mikawa, a veritable squealfest extending twenty long minutes. Emphasis on long. "Wrap Around" is the work of someone who has probably been listening to too much Borbetomagus, a spaghetti-like orgy of pure electronics whose many and divergent strands unravel with all the lackadaisical intensity of harshnoise god on extended freenoise leave. Wrapping a many and varied array of divergent frequencies around the channel pan, Mikawa scrapes the bong of noise to find a new buzz in its resin: continuous cycling of hard-panned highs sliding about singular strings of attenuated otherworldly buzzings, giving way to the even-handed squelching undulations of bassy break and tremor. This is still The Mikawa we're talking about, so however many or varied the divergent frequencies arrayed, most of them end up squealing like a pig, albeit in somewhat muted capacity. And herein lies the secret to the success of this particular Mikawa offering. Moment of confession: I wasn't really grabbed on first listen, nor on the subsequent five or six listens. With (Mikawa-led duo) Incapacitants, success often rides on the ability to maintain the sustained sense of harsh intensity that comes blasting out the gate. I don't have too much patience for the Incaps-lite here presented: extended improvised noodling, oozing into play and going nowhere slooow. But the first hint of success comes when the muted capacities, abovementioned, are taken into account. Borbeto is a good reference point, but so too Biota, in whose ample dynamic range the dense improvisations are given their room to breath. Upon exhalation, when all the disparate elements swell together in concert, the sheer mass of almighty squealing is terrifyingly harsh, overwhelming. Overpowering. At the appropriate volume levels, you are pretty much guaranteed the hearing loss you know you want you sick fuck. RDCD, as mentioned, has the honor of starting things off. And he certainly comes out swinging. Five abbreviated ejaculations unloaded in quick succession, like full-blast Maso-inspired vocalizing without the quick edits- what Masonna might sound like in a live setting... if he were able to keep the ejaculations coming for more than forty-three seconds. The shit is harsh, a good deal harsher than the Mikawa- at least, from a distance, owing to much louder mastering level. It is fierce. It is absolutely unrelenting in its pure, white-washed, scorching flavors. And any studio trickery takes second seat to the art of repeated, rapid-fire, spectrum ripping. This is the kind of thing I would wank myself silly over... if there were sufficient depths to sink into. The bottom is rock, and hard, however, and comes up fast. Against the carefully massed range of Mikawa molestations this shit comes off as frankly plebeian. But the heart is certainly in the right place. There are at least three more split works worth checking out so plenty of chance for RDCD to prove his mettle.
