Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Expose Your Eyes & Howard Stelzer - One Should Never Cease Considering Human Love, Whi [Oxidation - 2021]

This rather lengthy titled collaborative release is a long-form example of morphing drone matter, and surreal-to-psych sound/ jam scaping. It’s a CD/ digital release appearing on Oxidation- an Illinois based noise experimental label.

The CD comes presented in a multi-coloured striped four-panel digipack. Inside this features a multicolour static haze, and a dark pink backdrop to where the CD fits. So a simple, though nicely presented presentation which ties into the shifting and morphing soundscapes with-in.

Moving onto discussing the two artists here- and even if you've dipped your sonic toe in the water of the drone/noise underground you’ll know the name, Howard Stelzer. Since the early 1990’s he’s created a large body of work, that has seen him blurred/ blended ambience, layered tape scaping and more subtle/ hazed noisemaking to create a very distinctive and highly respected sound. Expose Your Eyes is the project of West Yorkshire based electronic noise creator Paul Harrison, who has also been active since the mid-’90s with his sound also melding-shifting through noise/ experimental ambient genres.

The single track here rolls in thirty-three minutes. It starts out with hazed and blurred 40’s easy listening, which is slowly but surely engulfed by lapping spacy drone ebb & shift. As we move on the pair expertly blend and morph the layers of sound- with it moving between bass throbbing & gong tolling stuck psych-rock texturing, post- Industrial creak and simmer, mournful/ wonky synth hovers, building tribal ambient meshes afloat with wailing female vocalising,  mixes of cinematic ambience and surreal texturing, and more. The pair here have created both a captivating and replayable work, which really does reward closer/ longer dwells, as you become aware of the very skilful blending/ blurring, and layer mixing going on here.

Pretty much anything with the Stelzer name on is well worth picking up, as he’s such a skilful and clever sound maker.  I can’t recall hearing any of Mr Harrison work in the past, but there’s no doubt he is equally skilled/ clever. So as a result, One Should Never Cease Considering Human Love, Which Remains as Grisly and Golden as Ever is a most worthy and highly rewardable example of drifting, droning, and morphing soundscaping.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Expose Your Eyes & Howard Stelzer...
This rather lengthy titled collaborative release is a long-form example of morphing drone matter, and surreal-to-psych sound/ jam scaping. It’s a CD/ d...
161225   Daniel Szwed - Splinter
161225   Marmur - Elektroniczne Systemy
151225   Danheim - Heimferd
151225   Stärker - Spectral
131225   Rose Tang & Patrick Golden -...
121225   Uriah Heep - The Shadow And ...
121225   Howard Stelzer - Five Thousa...
121225   BITTER SPINSTER - Scat Punk
121225   Cro-Mags - Alpha Omega
121225   Cro-Mags - Near Death Experience
Latest Articles

The Spectral Sounds of The Projec...
As music obsessives know, what makes a label fascinating is not just the sounds they release. The most intriguing labels offer a conceptual framework and con...
041225   The Spectral Sounds of The Pr...
281025   Michael Hurst Interview - Unb...
071025   Xiphos - The Rise And Fall Of...
030925   Third Window Films - A Label ...
130825   HNW fest- Barcelona- 12th Apr...
250725   Raté interview - Walled-in F...
180625   Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sha...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
090525   Ennaytch - Of walls, abused ...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom