Appearing at the tail end of last year Prime Time is the third release from harsh noise duo Knife/Tape/Rope. The C30/ digital download brings together two fifteen examples of roughly baying and sourly searing noise craft, which very much fits the projects murky S & M themes. The project brings together two respected figures in the US noise underground- Richard Ramirez( Black Leather Jesus, Fouke, Werewolf Jerusalem, Last Rape, and numerous other projects) and Thomas Puopolo (Scarlet Diva, Karl-Henrik, Fistfuck).

The tape came out on Stockholm’s Ominous Recordings- with a scratched cross on one side black shell tape coming presented in a monochrome sleeve featuring stark & half lit pictures of bondage and a threesome. The tape came in an edition of thirty copies, so it’s not surprising, considering who’s involved these sold out sometime back- though I’d still certainly download the release here, as we get two moodily seared and rewardingly eventfully slices of harsh noise.

So first up on side one we have “Prime Time I”- this opens with a fairly even blend of compressed billowing and cracking static. By around the minute mark, we get the addition of wavering mids and highs added into the mix. As the track moves on we go from blends of chopping bounce & warbling sear,  through to moments of squealing sustain sliding down corridors of bucking static feast. Onto raging billows edged with chiming metals, and mixes of cluttering jagged-ness rounded by buffeting roasts.

Flipping over and we have “Prime Time II”- this starts out with a hissing haze darted by tight clatterings and muffled forks. This hazed backdrop maintains for the first six or so minutes of the track, with the pair throwing down all manner of nasty and foreboding buzzes, grainy swirls, forking judders, and descending textural rips. At around the midway point, we get big searing sustains coming through the centre of tracks structure, as the pair pulling out cascading lines of reverb and high end forking from the wake of these new elements. With the track finishing off with good old round battering mids, and waving highs.

This project has been active since 2020 with three releases under its belt now- so let's hope there will be more Knife/Tape/Rope down the line, as Prime Time severs up two compellingly nasty examples of sonic torture- I most certainly want more!