Xenophobic Ejaculation - Vala - This one starts off with a bang. "Jugend" is probably one of the best XE tracks recorded to date. There is a bit more going on here than on previous material yet it is still very minimal, still stripped down and straight forward PE still in the vein of Come Org. There is less high-end on this first track which is fine with me. It actually feels as if the latest Snuff offering (the II LP) sounded more like XE and Vala leans more towards early Snuff material. Or is it just me? "Vala (Oath)" is an updated recording of the track from their White Power tape, field recordings and rough feedback (there's the high end!) are the culprits here. The second tape is pretty boring. And the thing is I usually love spoken word/samples/speeches/field recordings/victim tapes/etc but this just comes off as apathetic, lifeless and lacking any depth. Whereas sample heavy material like Sotos' Buyers Market, some Broken Flag comps and some of the mid-era Taint stuff (just to name a few) are sometimes edited or manipulated, the artist might collage multiple samples in one long track, sometimes these may contain some background Noise, etc. The speeches found here on Vala are just that, almost 40 minutes of nothing but straight forward speeches/field recordings that aren't very exciting themselves. And I wonder why these samples? They don't seem to patch a story together with the rest of the cassette or stay coherent with the material other than it being of the same subject matter and dealing with the KKK. I do wonder what they are meant to express when considered as a whole. Which is strange because I consider Pasi to be one of the better modern Noise/PE artists and he always has expressed ideas and content very well in his material and art. I will definitely be listening to the first tape again but I think the second tape is a one time novelty.
