Wolf Eyes – Burned Mind CD – Sub Pop 2004
I was hit out of nowhere a few nights ago with a deep desire to go through the Wolf Eyes releases I still own. This is where it all started for me. Prior to Wolf Eyes I had heard MERZBOW, noise side-projects from metal artists and a lot of extreme computer music like Pita and Hecker and other Mego and Warp related stuff. I don't know how I first became aware of Wolf Eyes but I remember seeing this album art online and thinking, "this has to be good". Because it's on "indie" label Sub Pop I was actually able to buy this CD at Tower Records, in person, after school. That sentence makes me feel old. That first listen had me looking like the Maxwell arm chair guy getting his hair and brain blown out, stoned and terrified.
This was it for me, the third part of the noise Rosetta Stone, the other two being MERZBOW's Venereology and the Satanstornade live recording on net label Falsch. And listening to it now, it's really a perfect kind of gateway to noise album because it feels like a fucking rock n roll album. There are "riffs", simulacra of "percussion" or "beats" and snarling and snide vocals. The songs feel like songs rather abstract art/noise/whatever. Compared to listening to Venereology which felt like a terrifying, life and death errand in those early years, Wolf Eyes was music to get rowdy to, to actively enjoy and participate with rather than just withstand. Having listened to noise consistently for 15 years since, I return to Burned Mind and it still puts a big fucking smile on my face. Not for nostalgia's sake but because it does everything well and sounds like no one else. The tracks are roughly laid out as abstract song/rock song/abstract song/rock song, and I personally I lean towards calling any one of the "rock" songs the best, but this is one of those where it all flows so nicely together. Perhaps the best amalgamation of the two and in some ways a hint towards creepier side of Wolf Eyes is "Rattlesnake Shake". I assume for some reason it's Dilloway who got the tapes to sound like a fucking rattle snake but whoever is responsible is a personal hero. That one oozes with such fucking menace! But you can't ignore the killer "Stabbed in the Face" or "Black Vomit" which fucking rip and have actually made it into live shows in identifiable versions.
Coming in at under 40 minutes, Burned Mind is a concise statement from a group that released a lot of meandering material over the years. This is definitely their A game and it stands the test of time for that reason.
I'm under the impression that many here probably class Wolf Eyes as hipster noise or hippie US noise. I guess that's because of their Sub Pop affiliation and lack of overtly hateful imagery or album titles? I'm sure someone can explain it to me. Hipster or not, because Sub Pop released Wolf Eyes albums I could buy at actual record stores, I was able get into more noise as a youngster. Purient's widely available albums in the next few years had the same effect. And per the lack of "serious" or hateful imagery, I don't really get it. It's not like My Little Pony shit. Or maybe it gets bad marks because it's the lack of tape hiss or analogue softness due to the good recording quality and proper mastering? As far as the hippie concerns, I'd be the first to say I liked doing drugs and listening to Wolf Eyes and Wolf Eyes probably liked doing drugs and listening to Wolf Eyes but what's the problem with that? I guess an argument could be made that the drugged up Wolf Eyes fans of yore are the ancestors to the coke and dope addicted wannabe PE guys in the US now, so Wolf Eyes contributed to the moral decline of America's youth?
Well the good news I think listening to Wolf Eyes these days is farthest thing from hip, so if you're feeling adventurous, come and listen.
