Hoggle & Ludo — A Great Beast Becomes A Great Friend
The release appears in an edition of twenty-five copies on Hair On Your Food Tapes - this is the label of Joe The Stache whose behind Hoggle, as well as a few other projects such as HNW/Harsh noise projects Pig Shrapnel & Extreme Chafing. The two crome setting clear tapes feature black and yellow labels on each side- then these come in long clear plastic shell double cassette case- which takes in a glossy & colorful double-sided sleeve featuring stills from the film. As of this review, there are still a few copies left of this release available via the label- though I wouldn't hang around too long.
As I've pretty much covered the Hoggle project details in my opening paragraph- I won't go over that again. But I must talk about the second project here Ludo- this project takes its name from a gigantic brown beast, that earth teen Sarah rescues from a group of cruel goblins in the film, and then the two become friends. Behind the Ludo project is Hal Harmon- who has been active with the US noise underground now for quite a few years- been behind projects such as Vasectomy Party, G'Mork- a walled noise project themed around another 1980’s family fantasy film The Neverending Story, as well as running the noise/ experimental music label Forever Escaping Boredom.
The first side of tape takes in two tracks from Hoggle- we have "Things Aren’t Always As They Seem", and "The Goblin Torment The Snared Beast"- each of these tracks run between the eighteen and twenty two minute mark, and each features a sample from the film(as do all the tracks). The first track is a ragingly roughshod mixture of tumbling and cascading buffeting drone matter, whizzing & jittering noise texturing- all back by a pummeling back grind. The whole thing feels like it could literally pull it’s self apart with the battering & baying feel of the ‘wall’, yet never does- keeping it’s self firm and fixed. On the second track the sound pares rushing-to- billowing drone, with sweeps of galloping ‘n’ cluttering hack- as the ‘wall’ progresses the low-end drone lessens, and with this the galloping & cluttering elements become more detailed & gritty in their attack- and in the last quarter we get this effective searing texture that comes into play. Of the two tracks on this side, I’d say the second is my favorite, as I like the subtle shifts that occur.
Moving onto the second side of tape one, and we have the first of the collaborative tracks- and these run between nineteen & twenty minutes mark. We have “With A Howl, A Rock Rolls”- this brings together: a rapid and gunning drone, a billowing ‘n’ manic swirl, with cascading lines of chopping static- it’s a great and urgent wall, that has quite a subtle moody undercurrents running through it. Next is “A Hall Of Stones Cause Confusion And Retreat” here once again we have a speeding billow- this time though it’s a bit more snipped & less droning, around this we have a detailed mesh of hacking, cluttering, and skittering static- it’s a most enjoyable blend of two key elements, with the billow once again been quite atmospheric, and the topping layers keep you held in through the tracks length.
The second tape opens up with two more collaborative tracks- the near twenty-five and a half minutes of “Is That Any way to treat someone that’s trying to help you?”- and this is probably one of my highlights here, as the pair weave such a detailed and entrancing wall. To start with we find a blend constantly descending Mirco bass pummels, these are surrounded by crusty skips & ice like slices. At around the two-minute mark another layer of more rushing-meets- buffeting grain is added to the mass, and this creates a decidedly disorientated wall that feels like it’s slowly but surely feasting, then easying out its self again- much like a manic caterpillar- that eats then shits undigested wall matter back out. By around the fifteen-minute mark, the wall feels like it’s become more of a blend of knocking rips & juddering mids, all topped off by a thinner erratic static jitter.
The next track comes in at just shy of the fifteen-minute mark and is entitled “You Seem Like Such A Nice Beast”- here we find a pelting bass hack, which is surrounded by descending knocks & crisp skating static waves.
Flipping the tape over and we have two solo around nineteen minute Ludo tracks- first is “A proper Introduction To A New Friend”- this ‘wall’ has quite a muddled and messy flow, as we have running together grainy circling's, swirling crispness, and spaced cluttering billows. Fairly soon another layer is added and this is more pronounced rattle 'n' grind pattern- but instead of pulling me in further it turns me off more. It’s an interest and creative wall, but for me, it feels too diverting in its layers which seem to pull & grind into each other.
The final track is “A Journey Renewed, But Still Lacking Knowledge” this is a rather neat blend of gurgling & grinding low end, hack & smart mids, and a few rattling & knocking subtones- yes once again this wall is fairly complex & layered, but it just feels more focused & defined in its attack- all making for one of my favorite of the solo tracks on this set.
It must be a good few years since we last had a Hoggle release- so it’s great to see the project remerging with a big bag of new walls, and of course, it’s great to hear Ludo’s collaborations & stand along tracks too. I do hope there are plans for a stand alone Ludo release, as I think Harmon doing some interesting things with this new project, and once again it’s great to see him return to the wall genre again- as he’s not done much in that side of things for a few years now. In conclusion- yes I didn’t love everything here, and at points, it gets a bit too muddled/overloaded for its own good- but there are some most effective moments & all-out great walls here too. Certainly if you’re a fan of either Hoggle, or the Americain wall noise scene when it’s a bit more quirky/ playful theme-wise you need to pick up A Great Beast Becomes A Great Friend. Head here to snag a copy.