Cock E.S.P./Ginger Cortes — Split

I’m reviewing a download version of this split tape, so I can’t comment on the packaging, unfortunately; all I can tell you, is that the front cover has a black and white photo of two young girls in a cage - and I have no idea what thats from, either. So far, so good. This very short tape, a c12, has two short pieces from Cock E.S.P. and one longer track from Ginger Cortes. Cock E.S.P. is a name I recognise from many years back, and I must admit I didn’t realise they were still going. Ginger Cortes, on the other hand, are new to me; but the internet tells me that it’s Jennifer Magee and Scott Kindberg - the latter being behind the She Walks Crooked project.

The two Cock E.S.P. tracks are over in a flash and barely rememberable, truth be told. ‘Horny Babies (Filbert Version)’, which is just short of three minutes, smothers a long sample under a barrage of noise. The sample is of a female voice, and its buried to the extent that I really couldn’t say what it concerns. Its from a porn film, or ‘something sexy’; but beyond that, its unintelligible. The noise that’s doing the smothering, is nothing special, either. Heavily processed, with pitch-shifting and digital traces, it sounds thin and devoid of grit: not the kind of thing to excite my ears. The second piece, ‘Negative Energy (Remix)’, just clearing two minutes, is much the same. This time marrying a more frenetic, darker sample, to a focussed wall of noise with buried junk percussion. It nearly works as a short blast, but it’s just not there. Its probably not helped by following the preceding track.

Turning the imaginary tape over, we have ‘I Eavesdrop’ by Ginger Cortes. This is a much more satisfactory listen - though, frankly, still too short for my ears. The most obvious comparison with the Cock E.S.P. tracks, is the sense of pacing, space and development that ‘I Eavesdrop’ has. It begins with a wall of chunky static, underpinned by a slow, churning bass drone; before cutting to detailed junk sounds - possibly a scraped spring or wire. This then erupts into a true barrage of explosive noise, marked out by some particularly nice, resonant descending tones - either feedback or synth originating; as with a few moments on the track, they truly haunt the ears and speakers. The piece ends with a very short sample: ‘Come on - be a good little girl and put your vagina up to the phone’; which to be honest, was slightly annoying - I feel like it ties the Ginger Cortes piece to the Cock E.S.P. Tracks, despite being way past them in terms of quality.

This is a very short split, and a very unbalanced split. The Cock E.S.P. side feels very brief and flat. It takes the form of a ‘barrage’, but at no point do I feel the force or weight of this attack. As well as being ineffectual kineticism, its also populated by effects-heavy sounds that don’t charm my ear. The Ginger Cortes side, on the other hand, is - certainly in its end section - everything that the Cock E.S.P. tracks would like to be. Genuinely abrasive, but with good pace and space - very desirable virtues in this area. The only criticism I would make, is that its all much too short. I would certainly like to hear a more substantial Ginger Cortes release.