Pastuhamovci - AZ [Toxic Industries/Irritant Series - 2014]Pastuhamovci is a Russian based static noise/HNW project, and AZ is a CDR release that offers up eight tracks worth of fairly varied wall-craft. The project seemingly started in 2013, and has put out around seven releases that take in digital albums, split & CDRs Length wise these eight untitled tracks fall between two & eleven minutes a piece, and they move between dense yet fairly layer shifting wall roastings, to more sustained & battering textural attacks, onto towards ANW. As a whole this release is a passable effort, though there is nothing very original or distinctive on display here, with many of the tracks passing by in a competently constructed , yet slightly underwhelming manner- that said I do really enjoy a few of the tracks here. These stand out moments come in the form of: Untitled Three, which is a just over six minute track that’s a mixture of fairly open ‘n’ uniformed juddering/chopping mid-ranged textures, which are under fed by a distant & fixed thin hissing sustained. As this track progresses the mid-range tone seems to slow down-then- speed-up again, but in reality I think both elements remain fixed, and it’s just a trick of the ‘wall’…anyway this effect really sucks you into the track- it’s a pity the track was so short really, as I felt it could have easily kept my attention for 20 mintues plus. Aother stand out moment comes in the form of the sparse, washed-out & stark ANW of Untitled Seven, which offers up just under two & a half mintues of tight yet muffled ‘n’ faded ball bearing like continual rattling/ juddering, which is mixed with a delicate haze of constant static jitter. Lastly there's Untitled Eight which gives the listener just over nine & a half mintues worth of hazed, washed & vague static texturing- this ‘wall’ is built around a worn down almost harmonic & oddly pleasing electro judder, which is engulfed by a mass of very static hazed & muffled thick static grain. Through-out the track seemingly builds up both depth & glitch bound tension, yet it still keeps just in ANW territory- sure the track almost shifts into all out taut & edgy HNW at one point, but just when its on the gasp it drifts back into more hazed out & muffled dwells before fading out So in summing AZ is competent enough example of short-ish static noise/HNW constructions- it’s just a pity that too much of the release slips by leaving little impact or any feeling you wanting to replay it again. As I’ve mentioned there are a few stand out moments here, but really the release is blanced more towards brutal yet mediocre material....I wanted to give this release a two & a half mark, but as we don't deal in halfs, I went for a three instead. Roger Batty
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