Hoogle — The Wiseman And The Hat
This release appeared in late 2016, in an edition of twenty copies- and as of this review, the label still has copies left. The green shelled tape comes in a doubled sided color sleeve- which takes in stills from the film, on the front cover we a get a picture of The Wiseman, and his impressive tall hat. And on the inside a picture of a green Topiary maze.
Each side of tape takes in two tracks. And first up on side A we have “The Wiseman Is Intrigued”- this opens with a brief film sample of the Wiseman saying ‘oh a young girl’- then we're into walled noise. The rapidly paced track is built around a looped blend of descending judder, snapping mid-range clutter, and distant industrial like locked churning- as the whole thing progresses it seems to be slowly fading in it’s intensity & structure- but this could just be a trick of the wall. It’s a fairly simple & un-dynamic bit of wall craft with a fairly narrow & set tonal range, but I did find my self-getting pulled into the whole thing, and quite enjoyed the almost cascading corridor of mirrors feel that's created here. This track comes in at around the sixteen-minute mark.
Next up on side A we have “Ancient Minds Process Slowly”-once again this open with a film sample, this is time it’s a short dialogue sample between the Wiseman, his helper, and Sarah asking about getting to the castle. Fairly soon we are into the ‘wall’, and to start with it’s just a focused line of blunt ‘n’ rapid juddering, which has quite a dense stream like quality. Fairly soon we get the addition thinner jittering, buffeting & billowing textures added to the mass. Once again it’s a fairly tonally narrow & basic wall, but I do enjoy the way we get some subtly effective shifts in the sub-tones, which keep you focused yet never go too far from the original walls setting.
Over onto side B, and we have ”Wisdom Has Been Dispensed”- and once more we get another sample with the Wiseman giving Sarah some wisdom, then within less than a minute, we are into the wall. This time we get a blend of the set & dense billowing, which is fairly soon stacked-on top by several more layers of rushing searing & ripping buffeting. This track feels slightly less set than the other tracks, as the additional textures do have some stop, start & shift in their make-up, but it still retains a fairly fixed ‘wall’ setting. I rather like the denser & searing rush of this track, and of the four tracks on here, I’d say it’s my favorite it ’s searing-yet- simplistic feel.
Last up we have “Further Explanation, Followed By A Nap”. And as we've come to expected we get another sample, with more wisdom from the Wiseman & his chirpy side kick. This ‘wall’ is a blend of slightly distanced churn ‘n’ roar, which is topped with a cluttering mesh of juddering & jittering static. The use of the panned back patterns and the more upfront patterns is effective and nicely keeps you fixed in on the noise. Through I did start to find my attention waning in the last five or so minutes of the track. The tracks ends fitting with a sample of Wiseman help say ‘I think that’s your lot, leave a contribution in the box’
If you’ve heard any of the other Hoogle releases, The Wiseman And The Hat really follows on the projects past sound with a blend of basic- though mostly engaging wall matter. So nothing mould breaking, or world-changing- but all in all another consistent enough release from the project.