Crucifix Eye — Yokai

Belgium based Crucifix Eye are a digital HNW project that create a dense ‘n’ swirling take on walled noise. The project’s been in existence since mid-2012, puting out seven or so mostly tape based releases. “Yokai” comes in the form of a c40, & features two side long tracks.

The release is themed around Japanese folklore, and the  bright full colour tape sleeve features some comic like artwork that takes in a  multi-eyed red & hairy faced serpent making it’s way through a rather deranged oriental  landscape. The tape it’s self also features full colour labels too, which taking in more surreal comic book oriental like artwork.

Yokai is the name for a class of supernatural monster in Japanese folklore- they ranged from the malevolent to the mischievous, and they are often shape-shifting entities too, which rather nicely fits with the dense yet subtle shifting ‘walls’ on offer on this tape.

Side one is taken up by the track “Oni”, which starts out with a very brutal  mixture of juddering ‘n’ billowing noise. As the ‘wall’ progresses Crucifix Eye subtle adds in more layers of tone, that sometimes stay around for a bit, but at other times are quite fleeting- these take in: eerier ‘n’ slow almost harmonic pitch accelerations, often off pattern  juddering ‘n’ pummelling tones, rushing static like bumbling ‘n’ boiling textures, onto throbbing drone judders, etc . The ‘wall’ remains very dense & overloading through out, with the juddering ‘n’ billowing textures of the beginning staying fairly constant under the slow shift of the sub-tones.  I must say I rather enjoy the clamouring overloaded yet shifting vibe of this track, and the pitch accelerations  really add a ominous atmospheric edge to the proceedings.

Side two's track in entitled “Tsuchigumo”, and this  goes for a more stripped  & atmospheric take on wall-making. I wouldn’t say it was ANW, as the textures never drift or thin right out, but the vibe here is certainty thinner & more moody. The ‘walls’ built around a muffled & buried mixture of juddering ‘n’ crackling electro texturing, looped church bell like tonality,  repetitive  ritual grating like subtones &  eerier billows. Once again there is some subtle textural shift & movement here, but it’s done in a much less noticeable & atmospheric way. And once again the ‘wall’ retains a few fixed & constant tone repetitions too. 

I must say on the whole I was rather taken by this tape- firstly  both tracks here have a fairly original take on ‘wall-making’, and each of the tracks has  a nice atmospheric/ eerier underbelly. Secondly the bright pro printed cover adds a nice surreal edge to the proceedings that you don’t often see with HNW releases. I’ll certainly be on the look out for future releases from this project