Anti- Action Figure stands as one of the neat looking/ coolly presented wall noise releases of all time.  It appeared in two versions: a hand number box, with a hand-painted miniature figure of the black bag wearing wall maker himself and a forty-minute tape, and an edition with just the miniature and a C40. Sonically it’s rather business as usual from Vomir- with two side-long and untitled examples of crudely feasting and searing wall-craft, though as with all of the Frenchman's work there is both bleak appeal and rewarding pull to the ‘wall’ craft, with subtle hints at grim ambient crawl/ oppression on both tracks.

So, before getting into the sonics with-in, let us talk about the packaging. Lucky and kindly enough we got sent both editions of the release. So the first edition appeared in December 2020- this came in two versions, one was ltd to just three copies and featured a hand paint miniature( made by Skeleton Head Toys), and the other to ten copies featuring an unpainted figure- each set came in a magnetise white side lidded box- this features on it’s front a drawing of Vomir with bag on head, surrounded by four skulls and on it’s back stuck on black and white label with text detailing the release. When opened up we find the text from Vomir’s Proclamation of Bruitist wall on the inside flap, then a black and white stuck on photo on the back of the box with a vomir in prime (un) live form. And now for the really neat part- we have the wonderfully detailed miniature, and when this is placed on the magnetized bottom of the box, and you press the button you get the sound of walled noise…very neat. The white labelled tape comes in a black card slip, and this features a smaller reproduction of the cover. The second edition appeared early on this year- featured a bronze version of the figure presented in a small black box with DL code slip and a NF chip that if you have a smartphone will send you to the vomir’s Bandcamp, and a fitting bronze cassette, and came in an edition of thirty copies- both editions are out of print now, so you either have to get lucky on discogs, or download the release here https://geraeuschmanufaktur.bandcamp.com/album/anti-action-figure

Moving onto the ‘walls’ themselves and these each slide in at the twenty-minute mark, and as expected/ already mentioned both are untitled. The first sides track brings together a muffled-seemingly- very slightly oscillating barren drone, and a constant flowing mesh of cross-hatching static feast. Together these elements create a feeling of pressing grimness and barren rattling static churn- the drone has a rather surprising almost grim ambient feel, though it’s not in any way harmonic or moody, instead having a suitable numbing press to its attack. The cross-hatched static feels both crisp and rattling in it’s attack, and as one goes along you can make sub rattles and clutters coming off the mass, though this like the oscillating effect of the drone I suspected is just a trick of the wall. So another good example of Vomir crudely numbing and uber nihilistic take on wall-noise, and I do hope he does more with the pressing ambient elements on this track in the future.

Flipping over the tape- and on this side, we get once again a droning undercarriage- though this time it feels more rolling and blunt in its attack, with the ambient effect lessened somewhat, but still present. Onto top of this we have a pronounced rattling static mesh of cross-hatching. Together these elements create a ‘wall’ that feels more grimly flattening in its attack- as if you are been flattened by a pure static fed road roller. On this track, I was getting slightly less audio trickery going on- but the static topping sometimes appears as it’s juddering/ shredding into the drone in rather a rewarding manner.

When gimmick led releases like this appear you always worry if that’s all there is to it, but that’s not the case with Anti- Action Figure- as the Frenchman severs up two largely familiar, if consistent examples of the walled noise form. Of the two I’d say the first track is the most effective/ rewarding due to the clever oscillation and pressing ambient edge, but the second side is still most worthy too. I’d say if it was just down the noise, I’d give this a light four/ three. But taking the neat/ cool packing( of both editions) I’ve gone for a straight four.