Novasak — Alpha

A guy from Denver by the name Todd Novosad is behind the project Novasak. He's been making noise with analog and digital means since 1997 as well as video. He uses all kinds of stuff, DIY electronics, mics and pedals, metal objects, power tools and vacuum cleaners.

The well over seventy minutes of Alpha, a cdr release in a string of many (this one limited to 96 copies) mostly concern harsh, drone-ish noise. The three parts that comprise this release are within their lengths, from 18 to 35 minutes, quite varied. Therefore it's not very clear where one piece ends and the other starts, except for a short bit of silence inbetween the parts. Slowly evolving deep throbs are attacked by trembling squeaks. Other times a sudden outburst of hostile noise breaks the uneasy and random clangings of deeply reverberating metallic objects.

In abstract music, some sounds take you certain places, be it dark dungeons or outer space or something like that. With Novasak I can't really relate any scene to it. To my ears, Alpha seems an aural sensation exclusively. Looking at the pictures of the means with which these sounds are made, a liveshow is likely to be the ideal way to experience it, as it seems a rather physical thing as opposed to the more laptop-based creation of some other noise. The sounds are thick, organic and have character, which makes the music that the music still stands, even without the spectacle that comes with its creation.