Four Flies — Il Gatto Nero
This release seemingly takes it’s name from 1989 movie of the same name which was also know as Demons 6; though it seems the movie has little to do with the original Lamberto Bava 'demons/ zombies attacking people' movie from 1985. Il Gatto Nero or Demons 6 was directed by long time Dario Argento collaborator Luigi Cozzi, and the plot centred around a horror movie production team that resurrects a witch called Levana, who is the main evil character in their fictional movie. Levana tries to take over our world so that evil can be spread everywhere, but the only one in her way is Anne, who is to play Levana in the movie. The films often quoted a semi sequel or tribute to Argento’s classic Three mothers series that took in(at the time) Suspira & Inferno, although Il Gatto Nero is sadly seen as rather low grade late 80’s straight to video Italian fare.
Moving onto the sonic ‘walls’ with-in and we have two side long and untitled tracks which see the pair boiling-up extremely dense, seared and at times altering slice of long form walled noise. The first sides track starts with a fairly urgent yet noise blurred mixture of: a mid-tone noise that sounds like a continuous fish line unreeling, a sheen of hissing/juddering static, and the odd slower static tone pockmarks. For the first 26 or so minutes the pair mix these three main elements into a brisk and searing maelstrom of sound which remains fairly fixed in it’s state; except for the odd tone level switch or slight textural variation. Then at just after the 26 minute point the pair add in and centre around this great semi swirling and weather battering like roaring/billowing tone- this tone gets a juddering like kink in it ever so often. Then at just before the thirty six minute mark this sustained and pressing throbbing/buzzing is added to the top layer of the wall, and this intensify the track ten fold so it’s almost as if it’s physically pressing you down. This new element also brings out complex juddering electro pipe like tones, and altering coarse glitch drills. As track goes on the buzzing/throbbing elements seem to get sucked down a few layers into the ‘wall’, but none of it’s intense/ urgent/ pressing presence is lost.
Side twos ‘wall’ starts off with this very crude and battered mix of the same unreeling yet slight more drilling tone from the first side, and a more shifting & bucking up ‘n’ down mix of jittering static which keeps feeling like it’s going to break lose complete and come smashing out of the speakers at you. This side seems a lot more greyly drilling and aggravated than first side, at times you almost get the feeling of motion sickness as the shifting ‘n’ bucking static is moving in such a stomach churing manner. As the track moves towards it's tenth minute this great advancing judder meets descending maelstrom like feel seems to start to rip through the ‘walls’ structure, but the advancing judder doesn’t stay in place that long and we return to a mixture of drilling unreeling, descending maelstrom texturing and the odd off tone semi-swirling meets battering rain lashed storm tone attack. At the thirty six minute mark ,just like the first sides track, the top layer of the wall is taken over by this sustained throbbing tone- but on this side the tone seems more drilling and deep bone droning in it’s feel, and the tone is joined by several layers of descending static grain. I guess you could see side two track as a more coarse, less detailed, semi- washed-out yet still intense brother of the first sides track.
So “Il Gatto Nero” presents the listener with two lengthy side long tracks of suffocating, intense and unrelenting walled noise. Sure there are similarities in both sides make up and structure, but Ramirez & Newsome do enough to make each track enjoyable and distinct in there own right.