Dosis Letalis & Valvan - Whipping Scars [Imploding Sounds - 2021]Whipping Scars is a walled noise collaboration bringing together Serbian’s Dosis Letalis and Ohio's Valvan. The release appeared as a pro pressed CDR on Seattle’s Imploding Sounds, with it taking in four examples of densely textured yet detailed wall-craft. The release appeared early last year, and amazingly it seems the label still has copies!?. The pro-CDR comes presented in a DVD case, which features a moody black, grey, and bone coloured sleeve- on its front cover it features a picture of a double head horned skull, and on the back a murky picture of a ritual knife & cup. Inside we find a one-sided glossy inlay slip- featuring track listings, with the CDR featuring the labels logo. If you’d like to purchase/ find more about this release drop by here
We open with “Whipping Scars I” which slides in at just over the twenty-seven-minute mark. It’s built around a constantly rolling & muffled mid-range wheel-like tone, choppy bass hacks, and smaller snapping ‘n’ bopping textural patterns. Together these elements create an interesting blend of loose mids, tighter hack lows, and busy textural detail. I’d say the track is best played on headphones- in a fairly focused manner, so as to pick out the text real details here, which at points get quite rewardingly complex- yet subtle in their layers.
Next, we have a selection of three tracks Whipping Scars II( parts 1 to 3), and these each slide in around the fifteen-minute mark. “Part 1” is a decidedly ragged and ripped affair, been built around a rattling ‘n’ ranging billow, cluttering ‘n’ coarse static tonality, and distant roasting purr- all create a thicker wall than the first one. Next, we have “Part 2” here we find a more droning cable judder, being met by a loose static rattle and hints of subtle roaming purr in the background. Finally, we of course have “Part 3”- here we find a more ragged billowing and battering low end, topped with rapidly skittering and spluttering static grain. Each of these tracks rewards careful listen’s, so you can pick out the subtle textual detail.
It's nice to see these two projects getting together for a collaboration- and let's hope it’s not just a one-off. As they’ve offered up a selection of dense, yet subtly texture detailed wall-craft here. And of course, it’s great to see a physical wall noise release- as much of the scene has largely switched to releasing stuff digitally- which has its place, but I’d rather have a physical release....so please do buy/ support this release, then maybe well get more physical releases! Roger Batty
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