New Class Identities — Follow Along in Wonderment

Lurker Bias presents Follow Along in Wonderment by New Class Identities; another installment in their Neon Walls series. The gist of the series is simple: ten cassettes from ten artists, limited to 10 copies a piece, the only guiding concept is Neon Walls. Featured artists include: Cory Strand, Shurayuki-Hime, Neighbor’s Nightshade, and other familiar (and not so familiar) wallers. New Class Identities is a relatively new project as far as I can tell, and this here slab of magnetic tape appears to be their only release to date.

In it’s original cassette presentation Follow Along in Wonderment features two side long slabs of HNW sterilization. However, the digital version that I listened to is a single 32 minute track (before it was split to accommodate both sides of the tape). In a fit of boredom one day, I was scanning through animated GIFs on some social media site and came across one that particularly caught my eye. It was a television with waves of static (resembling tidal waves) crashing back and forth on the screen. Several times listening to this piece, made me recall that image. The track unfolds with crashing waves of static, not unlike the rise and fall of tides. In repetitive patterns a crunchy mass ebbs and flows as we channel surf a sea of static. Several minutes in the pattern is obscured by a more caustic, granular crunch. There’s also something going on beneath surface, almost like a wailing sound, perceptible to the attentive listener. It all comes together quite nicely to deliver one of the more unique walls I’ve heard in recent memory.

All in all, a rather effective slice of static sound. Here’s to hoping that New Class Identities isn’t just a one off project.