Elle — Addicted Pleasure
"Addicted Pleasure" is a CDr released by the infamous Australian label Smell The Stench. All the tracks are simply titled "Addicted Pleasure", in a manner not dissimilar to other Italian acts like Toby Dammit (with whom Elle is somehow related, if memory serves well) and the noise hereby contained is extremely rough, simple and uncomfortable.
The first track's only ingredients seems to be a contact microphone and a distortion pedal, the minimum common denominator of all noise. Elle revels in annoying and uneasy microphone feedback, punctuated by a few shakes here and there and accompanied by a constant buzz probably due to the poor home-recording conditions we all share. The assault on the senses is absolute and the spirit seems to be close to the extreme violence of Murder Corporation and some Toby Dammit releases.
It's definitely music made to torture ears, and not to please anyone except probably its own creator. I wish that more modern noise projects shared this same vision. The album goes on with the addition of a few effects and some digital
sounds, but the base ingredients are the same so the variation doesn't matter much.
The composition of the tracks is as simple as harsh noise comes. I appreciate the uneasy aggression of Elle's approach, which as I already mentioned is very akin to some of the past masters of Italian extreme electronics, but after a while her feedback/noise blast improvisations feel empty, redundant and aimless. Also the use of some overly digital effects and what sounds like toy keyboards ruins the experience a bit.
I think that a bit more focus, and a more careful
selection/composition process would highly benefit Elle's output. I'll definitely keep an eye out on her forthcoming releases, hoping that the best is yet to come.