Clive Henry & JSH — CH / JSH
Jumping straight into the sonic side of things, and the first side features a twenty & half minute track from Clive Henry- this long term experimental musician has dabbled in a few different genres over the years, but finally settled in the walled noise scene around 2010. He’s not the most active of artists in the genre, but he’s certainly one of the most creative- and really I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by anything he has put out. The track here is entitled "Nakam"- this starts in a fairly traditional-if- creative enough dense & battering walled noise manner, with a mixture of whirring grey drone, rushing feast, and choppy grain meshed HNW- there’s a real feel of both intensity, yet moorishly lashing mood about this part of the track- as if Henry has fed through crusty & blunt anarcho punk roar into his sound, to create this great feeling clamouring tension. As the track progresses there seems a slightly waning/ dulling quality to the whole things - but I think this is just a sonic trick. When there is a definite shift is at around the thirteen & a half minute mark, when the layers seemingly pare back & shift- as we get this blend monotonous locked industrial juddering drone, continual crackling feast, and distant barren knock- added to this we get this weird almost snapping-yet- ghostly whispered voice, this later get added to bsy reverberation brood & hum- giving one the feeling that whole thing is closing in & melt around yourself.
Moving over to the second side, and we, of course, have the JSH track- this is one of the projects of Johan Strömvall Hammarstedt- whose behind walled noise projects like Rien, Gamiani & J.S.H- this project started in 2012, and is normally more focused on Harsh noise. The track here is entitled "Local Arsenic", and apparently, Johan is using his normal harsh noise set-up to create a more focused wall-like track- it’s a blend of blunt buffeting & billowing noise, with is topping of loose & smarting crisp rush. As the track continues, both elements seem to loosen & waver slightly, all created a feeling akin to been under the roasting & streaming flame of a space rocket- with some nice slurred bass choppiness coming into play towards the end of the track.
In finishing we’ve got a nicely rewarding split here- with each parties presenting the listener with worthy & intense tracks. If in the past you’ve been put off by Mr. Henry’s more progressive & subtle genre mixing of the past, I think you’ll very much enjoy this more straight forward though still creative track. And of course JSH is quite interesting & worthy too, coming at the more extremely wallish end of harsh noise