Ahlzadevelopr — Collaboration

Factotum Tapes presents Collaboration, a c20 by Ahlzadevelopr. As the name implies, Ahlzadevelopr is a collaborative effort by a two of America’s cut up heavy-hitters: Ahlzagailzehguh and Developer. For those unfamiliar, Developer is Matthew Reis, an Ohio-based harsh noise monger, who also runs Factotum Tapes. Ahlzagailzehguh is the moniker of James Cooke, a long-running harsh noise act residing in New York. In addition to this cassette, the pair performed a live collaborative set at last summer’s Summer Scum Festival and have plans for a 2nd Ahlzadevelopr release down the road.

This slim cassette (c20) delivers 2 side long tracks of relentlessly pummeling, harsh noise mayhem. Side A is swarming hive of junk metal manipulation, sputtering electronics, squelchy synth tones, crushing low end crunch, high end feedback, laser-like blasts, and quick stop/starts, all constructed and deconstructed with surgical precision at break neck speeds. Each sonic component collides and clashes, decentering the listener with a constant barrage of noise coming from all directions. While the piece features a balanced mix of electronics and metal abuse, the clang and bang of the scrap metal really stands out to me on this side. It unfolds like metallic cascading waves….crashing and collapsing, almost rhythmic sounding at times.

Side B picks up right where Side A ends, namely the listener getting bludgeoned over the head right out the gates. For this side the electronics really shine. The metal abuse is still there, but more subdued with rabid static tones, shifting and colliding, being a more prominent feature.  The track transpires with shifting sounds moving in rapid succession. At times it sounds like an amped up radio with a broken antenna. You desperately scroll through the dial finding nothing, but varieties of broken static and phantom voices, while stumbling across occasional dead zone silence.

When I was a younger chap, being the morose fucker I was, I would often daydream about what the end of the world would sound like. This tape is a damn near approximation of what I imagined the Earth’s destruction would sound like, playing in my head as a kid.  Ah... to grow up during the Cold War, the constant (real and imagined) threat of nuclear war, and apocalyptic sci-fi cinema. Ahlzadevelopr is the sonic representation of destruction and chaos channelled into 20 minutes of magnetic tape. Hands down, one of the best representations of the cut up aesthetic in recent memory. Own this!