Immaculate Affection — III

III is, presumably, the third statement by Netherlands-based HNW act Immaculate Affection. After producing a pair of releases with the Vagary imprint, Muzikaal Kabaal does the heavy-lifting on this cassette. For those unfamiliar, Immaculate Affection is a wonderfully-themed HNW project by one Sven Klippel. The object of desire for this playful project is Glee’s Dianna Agron. Truth-be-told, I’ve yet to see an episode of Glee, but as a wise sage once said, “I don’t discriminate between modes knowing.” As with most Vagary releases, they’re in such limited runs that I never got the chance to listen to IA’s first two releases. I can’t say how this will compare, but as a fan of both Vagary and Muzikaal Kabaal imprints, I figure there must be something good to be had. As part of Muzikaal Kabaal’s - Monoise Tape Project, this cassette is released in glorious low-fi mono!

The packaging for III is pretty standard fare. It’s comprised of a simple xeroxed, black&white paper j-card. The cover is a negative photo of the Quinn Fabray, the character Ms. Agron plays on Glee along with the usual information. The cassette is white, without any labels or markings. Overall no harm, no foul I supposse. The tape is limited to 10 copies, so good luck finding this one.

III presents two side long walls of minimal static crackle. I wasn’t paying attention to the clock as I was absorbing this tape, but it felt like a c20. It wasn’t overtly long, but long enough to keep me entranced. With this release there are no frills, no change, not much of anything other than steady electric crackle. I have a friend who makes a real dynamite crackle noise generator. This release sounds practically identical to the unfiltered sound it produces. I’m not sure if Klippel used a similar generator to produce III, but the sheer simplicity of the walls presented here cannot be overstated. Now I don’t mean “simplicity” as a pejorative by any means. I quite like minimal sounds, especially simple static crackle. I reminds me of the sound of electricity coursing through power line transformers. That said, I don’t quite hear the continuously affected sound as the description purports. Unless the manipulations are subtle to the point of near inaudibility, I certainly couldn’t distinguish any shifts, whirs, or clicks.  As a matter of fact, It sounds like the same wall divided to fit both sides of the tape. At first I thought side B might have been slightly more sped up than the first side, but after flipping the tape several times I couldn’t tell the difference. Again, I had no problem of the homogeneity of the two walls, I just don’t think this release displays the dynamism the labels profess. But you know what, I’m totally fine with that.

In conclusion, while III may not have completely delivered on the promises of the promotional blurb, it is a fine statement on minimalism and static sound.