Guillermo Pizarro — Glasswerks

The experimental scene is wide and diverse and filled with so many artists, you're constantly coming across a project you've never heard, and most of the time, never heard of! Usually, though, with a little research, you can find out a bit about the (wo)man/(wo)men/transsexual behind the sound. However, there are times when, try as you might, you end up like an Irishman trying to masturbate on a cold day; you can't find anything. That's where I am with Guillermo Pizarro. I don't know his history, but I now know his Glasswerks release, and I'm very glad to make its acquaintance. 

The two tracks on Glasswerks are of common length for experimental music (15 and 16+ minutes). Textures need time to grow and rushing the songs undermines the whole purpose for creating music. Guillermo clearly understands this and lets his well textured layers grow and interact like elementary school friends. "By the Time I Get to Green Lane" starts with a deep, rumbling, roll of low end distortion with some satisfying crunch on top. A brief bit of distant, sparse, unintelligible vocals follows before calming down to a round, pulsey oscillation. Soon, an awesome, fiery crackle and grunt loop come in. The distant, disembodied vocals return. They're almost haunting when dropped as they are over the crackle. Quick, controlled feedback squeals forward signifying the new wave of boiler room fire distortion. It's thick, layered, and complex. The movement of a microphone in the back adds a nice, living feeling to the distortion throng. "Glasswerks" takes a less harsh approach toward texture building. The beginning's mic'd up fun is looped while broken glass play goes on really up front in the mix. While the low looped back is a nice juxtaposition to the concrete glass play of the front, the difference in clarity is a bit jarring. The low is really muddy and distant while the glass is super clear. The chaos of the smashing and movement is excellent, so it's kind of a bummer the low layer isn't nearly as crisp. It gets less important, though, as a tapped metal loop comes in for some distraction before some crunchy distortion waves come in. It ends in a nice orgy of feedback, distortion, oscillation, and reverb.

Finding new music is an awesome experience. While it's fun to find something new (to you) and dig into a back catalog, it seems more fulfilling to catch an artist upon his first release and seeing their evolution first hand (second hand? third hand? you know what I mean). Guillermo Pizarro's first release is really solid and really promising. I look forward to future releases chock full of textures and thought.