STAR - Last Vestige of Malehood (White Centipede Noise)
Perhaps the harshest entry in the STAR discography thus far. Feedback screams with much more aggression than usual, the drops into low end crunch are felt more in the soul. Roommate walked in on this listening and commented "sounds like somebody's angry." Hah. I just can't see STAR being angry, but rather overjoyed to make such visceral harsh noise! That's just me though, maybe he was angry making this.
Back to the point though, despite such harsh antics, this tape does not lose the weirdo aspects that make so many people hyped on this project. There is some sort of phasing synth work at play that really chops up the mix at the beginning of A, and then clearly bouncy synth through B that will grab your attention for how out of place it is amongst the rest of the pummeling.
These weird elements actually make me stop now and think "could this be STAR's most challenging piece?" Approaches to records like Elephant in the Snow, Life Goes On or Hormone Lemming are things I can wrap my head around, but the way this one lays out its sound palette results in such varied results. One minute I cheer in victory at the Americanoise onslaught, the next I am like "is there something wrong with my player?" Nonetheless, great stuff.
Richard Ramirez - Volume 1, Disc 2: Certain Cruelty (New Forces, reissue)
This disc actually ended up being the perfect follow-up to that STAR tape. Surprising that this one came out on Slaughter originally, as it does not fit the mold of what I considered Marco's taste to be. Maybe I don't know shit though. But back to what I do know -- this release fits under the "weirdo Ramirez" style that I love so much. You have moments of Richard barking into the mic coupled with a very active display of harsh noise battery. You have a guy jumping between PE, straight American harsh and even a little cut-up (proto-cut?) and it all makes sense! In your listening to this, you will think to yourself "how the fuck is he doing this? This can't be just a mic and 3 pedals!!" It will bewilder you to no end at how good this is and you could never make anything this good.
By the time the "Trapped in an Organic Room" kicks off, the action slows down a bit but is still very good nonetheless. This track actually has similar qualities of phaser use that STAR had, and that makes total sense. Both releases are both extremely satisfying and primal challenges to put on.
When I obtain boxsets like these, I start to think that obtaining the original release is no longer needed. Not for something like this though, I will keep my eye out. It's fucking fantastic and easily enters into my top spot of favorite Ramirez under the government name.
