Cthulhu Detonator — Frequency Of The Multivibrator

Cthulhu Detonator is the moniker of Canadian Noise artist Eric Hogg. “Frequency Of The Multivibrator” is the second release from this project, following last year’s “Infernal Machines”. It’s extremely limited to 25 tapes with art by Derek Setzer. Truth be told, I was a little underwhelmed by Mr. Hogg’s debut album which I found to be rather uneven. However there were enough interesting nuggets on “Infernal Machines,” for me to give Cthulhu Detonator another try.

“Frequency Of The Multivibrator” consists of two 20 minute tracks of constantly shifting harsh noise. There’s so much going on these two tracks that it’s difficult to really latch on to any particular sounds. The title track runs through a maelstrom of discordant sounds including: large static washes, harsh noise rumblings, phaser/shifter effects, bubbling electronics, laser gun synths, broken down damaged electronic squeals, and something that sounds like a sonic screwdriver. That really represents only a fraction of the sounds bombarding my ear holes. It vacillates between memorable and forgettable moments, but I appreciate the the palette of sounds he presents and at least the variety keeps it interesting enough.
 

The second track “Unijunction Relaxation Oscillator Circuit” seems a bit muddled compared to the previous track. There is a little overuse of phaser/shifter effects on this track and some buildups that lack the sufficient pay off. There were some silent moments that didn’t quite work and overall a less interesting panoply of sounds were presented on this track.
 

Overall, some of the composition seems clumsy with awkward pauses and transitions. At times, I get the sense that Mr. Hogg’s approach is to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. Though perhaps lack of composition is what he is going for. I will say this is an improvement over his debut release, but I feel like it’s not quite there yet.