Droll / Крот – split c20
Cretin Tapes, 2021
A split release of drone and concrète recorded in Tbilisi & Jakarta that is currently still available from the label and a couple more distros. Droll is on the drone-based side - with detail unfolding subtly, based around a tone that sounds like a slowed-down Georgian funeral chant. Not sure if that's the source, but it would make sense obviously. This side is slowly honing in on gradual shifts. Being his first release, one wonders whether Dross came into being during his journey to Georgia? ... & Крот, the mysterious ex-patriot project, has contributed a side that was recorded in Indonesia. Starting off with some kind of contact mic-focused scraping that is slowly enveloped by a more tape-loop based setting. The cassette releases of Крот, being longer than his 7", sort of remind me of Howard Stelzer - the kind of works that concretize a minute environment... Parts of the first LAE tape were recorded in Slavutych (a purpose-built village for Tchernobyl evacuees) and on the move throughout other parts of Ukraine. Крот on the longer cassette releases seems to usually be a grey-zone area of concrète sound-objects, something like an exploration of the environs of a stale couch in a room at the Poseidon Hotel (that was on the first LAE tape, "Посейдон Oтель"). Do time & place have anything to do with it? Environment and chance have everything to do with it.
Knowing nothing about either of these acts – all of that just written is pure conjecture. Still not sure where to place it or how to contextualize this one. The project can differ with each subsequent release - which is definitely a good thing for a project. One live Крот set I heard of a soundboard recording was total harsh noise indulgence; & the name itself comes from a drain cleaner brand involved in Krokodil injection. The cover has some kind of comic book image on the insert. By ingratiating themselves with the comic book panel, they have sort of become one with the strip. Did this tape come out before or after the visually-similar Крот t-shirt with the cartoon-ish Russian drain cleaner brand logo??? Much remains unanswered, but for those of us following the project (& the other Aust. experimental projects based in Tbilisi) this is a much welcomed new morsel from abroad.