
Koobaatoo Asparagus - Time [No Skinny Jeans - 2024]Time is a new two-track release from this highly prolific US wall noise, and I must say it’s somewhat of a departure. Both of the twenty-five-minute tracks sit more in the dense ambient/ almost formal ambient side of things. The album is a self-released digital affair. The cover art takes a photo of a green shrub forest-like area with a town/cityscape in the background. The album can be played/ downloaded here
Both tracks hit dead on the twenty-five-minute mark, and both are untitled. The first track is built around a thick rumbling drone- which is very slightly edged with jittering static grain ever so often. The whole thing is decidedly weight & rapidly rolling in its attack- and while you could still call it wall, I’d say it’s close to a super dense/bass-bound drone.
The second track is the real surprise here- as it’s built a mixture of tightly fiddling texture scratch and rub, which is topped with a glowing/ circling harmonic tone. The track is a most appealing blend of the nervy and warming- and I really found myself getting nicely entranced by the track's contrast. And at points, I’m almost getting a sped up/ boiling ethnic ambient vibe coming through- which is certainly not something you’d normally expect from an act that normally focuses in on the more old school/ brutal/ fixed side of wall noise
With Time, Koobaatoo Asparagus has most certainly stepped away from his normal output to try something a little different. I do hope the project attempts more releases in this setting, though I’d hate if it totally abandoned its normal dense/ brutal wall sound- as it’s so good at it, and there aren’t many acts who consistently put out work in this side of things.      Roger Batty
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