Hooked Talons/Garbage Mask — Split

Here’s a new release from the wonderful Breaching Static label, as curated by the man behind the superb Boar project (to mention but one). It arrives in a dvd case, with murky, black and white, xeroxed artwork. Both Hooked Talons and Garbage Mask are new names to me (though the former is revealed as another Richard Ramirez project), with the first contributing a near forty-minute piece of junk noise, and the second, two much shorter tracks of squeal.

The Hooked Talons piece, ‘Cebrenii’, is probably the least hnw-esque work I’ve heard from Ramirez. Obviously, the methods and aesthetics of wall noise remain evident; but its much more of a flat-out junk noise assault. The track is characterised by two things: periods of stasis, amongst the general skree, and the stereo split format. ‘Cebrenii’ is a fast-moving barrage of crunchy noise, sometimes becoming more blown-out and saturated; but, within this attack, are several passages of ‘quiet’ - several ‘rests’. These sections are often humming feedback, as the objects of Ramirez’s energies are left alone for short periods. They provide a difference in dynamic and tone, which is welcome, given the fairly restricted palette of colour and sounds that the piece operates in. These rests also interact nicely with the stereo split format, with passages of stasis/feedback coinciding at fortuitous points and giving a sense of structure or composition to the whole affair - though, I imagine they are indeed fortuitous meetings.

The Garbage Mask tracks, both just shy of fifteen minutes, present a very different sound world. At first glance, “Lubbock’ and ‘Marfa’ appear to be much harsher and more kinetic than ‘Cebrenii’: abrasive, squealing synth-like sounds, which snake in constant motion. Over a short period of time, though, these pieces become tiring - and tired. I’ll admit that I’m not overly enamoured of sounds made by small circuit bent/lo-fi synth devices - which I’m guessing are Garbage Mask’s tools - but here, they are just constantly tweaked in pursuit of harshness, without ever really alighting on any interesting or truly abrasive sound. There’s very little light and shade, just a relentless assault; whilst never really solidifying into any sense of concentrated attack: it’s declawed, without teeth.. It really just wanders around.

This split hasn’t set me on fire, as you can see; but Hooked Talons comes out better than Garbage Mask. The track from the former is engaging enough, if not earth-shattering; bringing a sense of exploration and composition to it’s sounds. The Garbage Mask pieces, on the other hand, really do just sound like a sprawl, in the worst way. I’d go as far as to say that I really got nothing from them at all.