Starving Weirdos - Eastern Light [Root Strata - 2007]This double cdr reissue of an early gone out of print disk set, now presented in a very nice arty paint splattered cardboard sleeve and musically illustrating the different sides to The starving weirdos own take on improvised/ drone music. Making up over two hours of involving soundcraft that goes from sinister/disturbing wondering towards noise, to playful more jazz tinged weird calm scapes, and all sorts audio slipstreams to get lost in-between. Both these disk show a varied and slight more aggressive and immediate sound than the slowly curdling and bizarrely warming flow of their first full length none cdr pressing in the form of Father Guru. Disk one offers up three tracks the first of theses clocks in at near the 15 minute mark and is called Plastic Gagaku, which starts off with the weirdos strange 3D like percussive use, that feels it’s coming from all angles at you. Plus a soaring harmonica which starts off quite tuneful and playful, but slow becomes more droning and dragged out with the other sound elements as the percussion becomes more erratic. It feels like the strange ballad to a dieing cowboy, as he crawls though a dusk approaching desert as his mind starts to hallucinate. Next we have the great titled Sea-Foam at Midnight which again is clocking in at the 15 minute mark. It starts off with a sinister unfolding drone, odd distant dialogue and what could be brass like tones that start to unfold some damn creepy atmospherics. One can imagine walking along a beach in a daze coming across bodies at odd angles in the dark incoming tide, the corpse made up to look like there doing different actives smiles pulled on thier blue lips. The deeper you seem to get into this the more unevering it gets as the Weirdos unfold more sinister sways and cold back wash. Simply a breath taking nightmare sound work. Last on disk one we Quite Shit, which starts with strange mumbled voices that sound like their chanting something and struck bell like tones that are aloud to echo out their harmonics as more odd noises are add in the back ground of the audio picture. Though out it’s near 25 minute running time it seems to be deep in strange sort of sinister eastern mystics or spiritualism, like watching strange half body shapes drag and hobbling their way along in orange monk robes. Towards the mid way point the track swims deeper into strange psychedelic shapes with eerier and echoed acid tinged closing in textures and percussion. On to disk two which starts with Recital hall again the Weirdos odd percussion is in place with some what of tribal native American Indian feel to it. With a low down drone trail growing underneath, slowly unfolding clouds of jazzy air appear echoed trumpet work and other brass work and strange electronic Childs toy voice, this build and smears it’s self together for the next forty or so minutes have quite a playful and dada air to the proceedings, though still been very strange with it. Lastly Bro-in-out which starts with what could be reversed guitar harmonics and strange flute sound and scratching, scuttling tape a reeling noise. It seems to get more forceful as it goes along with almost early Resident's like brass hits, far off dialogue, haunted and soulful flute like harmonics. Midway it goes into very avant jazz honks and splatters of horns before die down to nothing, before build back up into strange toy land ambience with echoed and tripped out percussive hits and sawing and naying sinister banks of instrumental throb. Really this is unmissible if you enjoy any kind of droney, bizarre, hypnotic sound worlds. The Staving Weirdoes along with sound artists like My cat is an alien are carving the own very different and unique musically words, which borrows from traditional musical forms, but aptly and cleverly bends and melt’s them into their own other worldy audio vision. To buy direct(before there all gone) and find out more go direct to The Starving weirdos temple of sound here Roger Batty
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