Jazkamer — Musica Non Grata
In all the album comes in just under the hour mark & up first we have the longest track ‘Honda Sound Works’ which takes in nearly thirty three minutes of the albums running time. The tracks built around a series of interlocking piercing to ear searing feedback pitches, quite grim & cold guitar drone emissions, and general edgy & nerve jingling high pitched or tense drone dwells. The tracks ok I guess, but for me it seems to go on far too long with too little happeining; Jazkamer just seem to see-saw back and forth slightly different high pitched and dental drilling tones with little or no mood progression taking place. The track would have been far more enjoyable at around the fifteen minute mark.
Up next we have the title track which is a less high pitched & more guitar toned excise in drone see-sawing; though the track still keeps the same cold & bleak harmonic undertones of the first track. It seems a little more progressive & atmospheric in it’s tone, through there’s still no great leaps into different tone or shades of sound meaning it feels like the second part to the first track instead of a stand alone piece-this track comes in at just under the fifteen minute mark.
Lastly we have ‘Feedback Fans’ which is the shortest of the bunch coming in at just under the nine minute mark. And this finds the drone atmosphere & caustic dwell of the first two tracks becoming more urgent, rewarding & electro chopping in it’s tone. With it’s mixture of guitar sustained, electro hacks & deeper more ominous guitar feed back wails. For me this is the most interesting & rewarding track of the three as it feels more tightly composed & socially focused in its attack & you care more about its sonic outcome too.
On the whole a rather underwhelming second release in this series of 12 albums. It just feels like the band is stretching out an idea & series of tones for far too long, meaning that you come away at the end of the album feeling more than a little short changed & indifferent about the whole thing.