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No123noise/T.Ruston - That Same Old Feeling Of Being Alone [Void Singularity Recordings - 2019]That Same Old Feeling Of Being Alone is a bleak drone/ DNW split. It comes in the form of a C60 cassette/ digital download- and features two around fifteen-minute tracks from each project. We have Texas-based No123noise, and T.Ruston from Bradford- so it’s a transatlantic affair. The clear shelled and labeled tape comes in a color cover that features a gloomy painting a nude figure looking down into the water, at the edge of a dark and murky forest. The tape comes in an edition of twenty copies- and as of writing this review the label still has copies available.
The first side is from Texas-based No123noise. The project has been active since around 2014 and started putting out releases around the Harsh Noise Wall, Drone, & Dark Ambient genres- though in recent years the projects sound has become more focusing on HNW/DNW. At the moment the project has coming on for 80 releases to its name- taking in splits, downloads, and stand alones.
The first track here is “But the only thing that does last when I wake up, is a sense of loss”- here we get a wavering and forlornly harmonic drone, with a rumbling/ reverbing undercarriage of bass tone. It almost most feels like a slurred, hollowed-out and bass increased take on an 80’s shoegaze track- it’s an ok opener setting the ultra bleak tone of the release well enough- I just found at times the bass tones too high in the mix.
The second track “Alone In Suicide” this track opens with a dialogue sample, which sees a mournful male talking about terminal lost female characters and their mystery. Fairly soon a deep sub-bass rumble & buffeting drone rises, and this is underfed by a rolling earth drone. I found this track less haunting, but the whole thing certainly felt more sparse & blunt in its feeling of despair. With the dialogue sample and the feeling of the tones, the track very much brought to mind the work of Cory Stand’s Eugene Critchley.
Moving over to the second side we have the two T.Ruston tracks, which is Bradford based Tom Ruston- who is behind projects such as E.E.E.E., Ligyrophobia, Niks- as well as the running the excellent mainly wall noise focused label Void Singularity Recordings, that put this release out- he’s been active in the noise scene since around 2015. His first track is "Fleeting Happiness” here we find a blend of rapidly looping bass drone ‘n’ rumble, this is buffeted by subtle sub-bass tones- which nicely enhance, never overload the key tones. I really like this track feel of taunt and tense despair- that feels like it’s going to explode into full-out angered noise- yet never does, but instead grinds away at you to great numbing effect.
The second track on this side is “Solitude”- and I’d say this is my favorite track on the split. It’s a fixed and pressing blend of rapidly churning blunt bass, distant rumbling, and faint knocking. To me it sounds like it could be a modified recording from inside a filling bath, but I just love the way it just seems to drill & expand into its self to create this wonderful blend of churning & breathless tension, and murky aquatics. Really I could have sat through this track for an hour, and still felt entranced by the whole thing.
On the I’d say That Same Old Feeling Of Being Alone is one of the more varied of the bleak drone/ DNW releases I’ve heard- with both parties trying some slight different on each of their tracks. Of the two sides, I’d say enjoy the second side more, as both of these tracks I found impactful, and the second track is simply stark DNW gold. If you fancy picking yourself up a copy of this release head here to buy it direct.    Roger Batty
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|  | | No123noise/T.Ruston - That Same O... | That Same Old Feeling Of Being Alone is a bleak drone/ DNW split. It comes in the form of a C60 cassette/ digital download- and features two around fifteen-m...
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