Barstool Mountain - Tightrope Walker LP (Absurd Exposition)
I've had this one for a few months now but just haven't had a chance to play it yet. Where Altar of Flies is a more composed and thought-out process of sounds, Barstool Mountain as I understand is Mattias' stripped down and generally alcohol-influenced project. Not sure if that's always the case but I know it was mentioned in past releases. So in the nature of the project, I had a bit if whisky for my listening session which I think the artist would approve of. The intake of alcohol by the artist does not at all impact the quality of the sounds, maybe the opposite! Nothing sounds sloppy, there is a good mix of fist-pumping harsh noise and even some more quiet dynamic moments, but not too many! A lot of classic super high-pitched feedback manipulation, some metal junk, and just classic stripped down grimy sounds. Feels like everything noise should be!
The song titles feel like they could be punk or even old outlaw country song titles. I know Mattias mentioned in a recent interview with the Untitled magazine that he's a big country fan. Some of the songs are, "Raw Power", "Cigarette Burns", Forget How It Used To Be", "One More Round" and so on.
Definitely one of the better releases from the project among a fistful of already great releases. This might be my favorite along with II. However, everything is very worthwhile from Mattias' imbibing alter ego.
Dead Body Love - Emetic LP (Phage Tapes)
Been on a Dead Body Love kick recently and catching up on all of the reissues. I was slacking on grabbing this LP and the Destruction's Geometry from Phage, as well as the Prayers for the Sick and on Tribe Tapes, and Input Error reissues of Stand in Blood and Horrors of the Human Body. However, after getting Puke on my Corpse from WCN and reigniting my love for DBL, I ordered everything all at once and completely splurged! Emetic is the only recent reissue to get the LP treatment and now I wish I grabbed that Audiocide 95 that Urashima did a while back... I prefer CD reissues typically but Emetic sounds great on LP.
A very crunchy release. The A-side, Spasms, is composed of a lot of loop-based sounds which I wasn't expecting. Crunchy loops that last for 5, 10, or 20 seconds and then move on to a newer quasi-rhythm, all while staying very harsh and textural. I've been listening to some earlier Macro material from the 90 to 92-ish era recently as well and there are similarities in method to that sound. While never straying away from being overtly harsh, there is a bit of variety in the sense that I hear some buried samples, vocals, and other elements sprinkled beneath the waves of harshness.
B-side, Excretions, is more free-flowing electronics but still has some loop elements, but far less. A good mix of mid and lower-end frequencies. Really punishing sounds. Full-spectrum press. While side A was good, side B for me is definitely the star of the show and top-tier DBL. The man really was doing the harsh full spectrum stuff that influenced so many in the mid-2000s crunchy noise scene. I just heard The Rita or The Cherry Point before I heard DBL due to the timing of getting into noise and what was available. Excellent LP.
