BiPolar Joe/The Sleep Sessions/Vilgoc — Self Titled
Bipolar Joe (a noise/experimental artist from Ireland) starts it all with fuzzy, static-y dub sounding beat. This becomes our backdrop for screaming noise effects that kick in and stay with us for the duration. It’s strange but after awhile it’s almost as if the din becomes the vocals against the throbbing backbeat. Sometimes it meanders a bit, but in the end it becomes a tornado of sound.
The Sleep Sessions is up next, the Polish artist has been making harsh noise since 1998. Here we find a massive, thunderous din. We feel totally surrounded by the sheer volume of effects, static, reverb and feedback. Yet in this clamor there is a sinewy path of highs and low, seemingly taking us from one sound to the next.
Vilgoc is yet another Polish artist featured here. Again we find the brutal sheer power of sound. Pitches shift, tones rise and fall. It is a collage of swirling sounds, never ebbing or giving the listener reprieve. Even the ending is a barrage of effects and volume.
The last track finds Vilgoc and The Sleep Sessions working together to create sounds that swarm, encasing us. The din falls into a drone, with continuous movement and pitches banding together.
Together the tracks are a cohesive picture of modern harsh noise. It is a compelling representation of the architecture of sound; the building and planning of effects with the combination of spontaneity. The live setting only adds to that, bringing a blissful tone to the proceedings.