Shurayuki-hime - Noe Itô [Suite Mentale - 2016]Here’s another 2016 release from Shurayuki-hime, which is seemingly now the main sonic focus of Newcastle Upon Tyne HNW artists Liam M( of D.S.W.A.C.V, Tarot, and runner of Tera-AntiQu label). This release comes in the form of a C30, which takes in a ‘wall’ per side of tape. The plain black tape comes in a small black cardboard box, with a stuck on picture, and inlay- this rather brought to mind the releases of (sadly missed) northern English wall/ PE label DeathSexElectronics. It comes in a edition of 10 Copies- this came out in February, so you may not be able to get hold of this anymore, but if not there is a digital version instead. Like much of this projects work the theme here is oriental female figures, and this time around the focus is Noe Itô who was Japanese anarchist, social critic, author and feminist- who died in 1923. Each of the tracks here is untitled. So the first sides track is a blend of continual rushing & galloping lower-to-mid range static textures- these are focused into a fairly narrow tonal range, & set into a similar pattern range. Save from the sudden break near the beginning( not sure if this is meant to be there or not?!), I found this ‘wall’ rather non-descript, and frankly a little bland. Sure at times the layers seem to be slowing or moving back a little, but the textures themselves just felt rather uninspired, simple & unappealing. With ‘wall-noise’ as a genre, the tracks are often very subjective & down to taste….so you may enjoy this, I just didn’t. So flipping over to side B, and we have the second track. This ‘wall’ brings together the following: A churning rumble, a buffeting billow, and this weird sort of buried knocking sound- that appears ever so often. Once again this ‘wall’ stays in a narrow tonal range, though this time around there are elements that my ear picked-out, and these pull me into the whole thing. Also the knocking element is quite effective, having an almost dull ritual like vibe to it. I certainly enjoyed this track more than the first sides track; though I can’t say it blew me away…I guess you’d say it was passable, with some interesting elements. So in conclusion I can’t say I was really taken by this release as a whole. But that said I have enjoyed some of this projects work in the past( like the excellent Swankiss on Lurker Bias/ Neon Wall Series), as well as enjoying his past work with other projects.    Roger Batty
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