D.S.W.A.C.V/Chaste - Black Tape Series 004 [DeathSexElectrionics - 2015]Here we have a C50 split that offers up two twenty five minute slices nihilistic & nasty walled noise. It brings together northern English project D.S.W.A.C.V, and Chicago USA based Chaste. Fitting this series name of ‘Black Tape’ -the plan black tape comes in a small baggie, that features a orange inlay card with minimal texts on, and a second plan black card. All very sparse/ fittingly for the grim ‘n’ unforgiving walls with-in So on side one we have the D.S.W.A.C.V, and this is entitled “Gelsemium”. I guess you’d say this track's a blend of deep bass-bound & reverb muffled ‘wall’ craft, & a buried yet darkly seared drone craft element. The track sort of circles round & round this slurred yet darkly blunt & nasty mass of wall- which is set to a sludgy rumble/ stretched judder. The muffled bass weight is edged by the shifting yet dull & wonky harmonic drone points, which seem to dart ominously in & out of the thick crushing/throbbing weight of the walls mass. The tracks really a nice mix of thick & airless wall weight, and the more buried yet darkly atmospheric elements. Over on side two we have Chaste track, and this comes under the title of “The Chocking Game”. And compared to the wall/ drone blend of the first side- this second side is a lot more straight HNW. It’s built around three or so layers of juddering ‘n’ slowly buffering noise layers, which are meshed together to create a wall. The textures used fall in the lower-to-mid tonally range- though they are all fairly close in their range, and really these just move in a fairly simple & familiar pattern range. At times it feels like one layer is slowly or speeding–up slightly, or another is more prominent in the ‘wall’, but I think ultimately this is a set pieces of wall-making. On the whole it kept me locked in for it’s full length, though it did feel a little unremarkable- on the whole just an ok ‘wall’.
In summing- I really enjoyed the D.S.W.A.C.V track, as it took a slightly different take on walled noise. The flip side was just ok for fixed ‘walled-noise’, if it hadn’t have been backed by the D.S.W.A.C.V, I think I would have enjoy it more, but as it stands it just felt a little ordinary. Roger Batty
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