Guesswork — Head Crash

Guesswork is the moniker of Jack Chuter, founder of ATTN:Magazine, Hard Return Records, and the Crucial Listening podcast. His latest album is Head Crash, available digitally and on cassette from Tool Use imprint.

Head Crash is one long slab of focused noise. I'm not entirely certain through what means the sounds were created, but if the cover art is any clue, it appears that metal implements (with needlepoint endings) were dragged over a felt-like material. Again, I’m not sure that was the method Chuter deployed, the cover could just be an aesthetic misdirect, but it’s emphasized in the press material that Guesswork sought to minimize the composer. The guess work being the unpredictability of the hardware used.

Not quite HNW or ANW, but I can see this piece appealing to those who enjoy listening to long-form static drone. I quite enjoyed this work. In its near 55-minute entirety, the listener is challenged with a rumbly low-end hum and crisper lines of static. It's quite organic sounding, and almost tactile in presentation. Think travelling through an electric socket in some Lynchian void seance. Some shifts in tone and crunch transpire at a glacial pace, nearly imperceptible at times, but present to the thoughtful listener.

Head Crash is  solid effort all around- check it out for yourself here