The Hole: A Reading Soundtrack is the most welcome return of Texas Wall noise project Big Hole, which has really been dormant for the last five or six years, aside from the odd release. This C60/ digital release takes in two side-long examples of taut ‘n’ tense static texturing, that are alive with both variety and rewarding micro detail.

The release appeared on Stockholm-based Ominous Recordings in late January of this year.  The black-shelled cassette features a monochrome abstract shape label on one side. This comes presented in a flipside plastic case, with a green, black and white sleeve- on its front cover we get what looks like a pair of either severed or outstretched hands beneath a sliding metal door, and inside text detailing the concept behind the release. There are still copies of the tape for sale and these can be purchased here.

As the release title suggests this is the reading soundtrack. It’s the soundtrack for The Hole by José Revueltas- this originally appeared under the title of El apando in 1969 in Spanish, but the English translation appeared in 2018. The book was written over a few weeks, while the author was incarcerated in the infamous Palacio de Lecumberri prison near Mexico City. With the plot detailing convicts trying to smuggle drugs in to satisfy their junky needs, at great risk to themselves.
 

I wasn’t aware of the book, but the concept is to listen to the release as you read the short novella…but I played it just as it was, and must say it was a most engaging example of the static texturing form, with both side-long tracks completely keeping ones captivation throughout, due to the detailed & clever sound scaping- which was amazingly done in a single take, highlighting both great control, skill, and focus.

Both tracks come in at spot on the thirty-minute mark. So first off we have “The Hole, Part one”. This opens with a mid-raged tone purr- which is jaggedly fed over by a selection of rips, drags, tears and rapidly jittering-to juddering static tone detail. There is a real feeling of both taut control, focus and vision to the track, and as it progresses one is kept firmly enthralled by the whole thing. As we progress the textures subtly develop and shift, so while there is movement/ change occurring- the whole thing remains consistent & flowing in its focus. We have rapidly clutter rip pile-ups, brief grainy feedback purrs, bucking weaves of scaping-to-pelting detail, reels of taut pulls ‘n’ tears, and lashing showers of hack, rip, and spitting jaggedness.

Onto the second side & we have “The Hole, Part Two”. And this really leads on from the end of the first side, with a mixture of tensioned tone pulling, and rapidly twisting mesh of pelting, jittering & cluttering static grain. As we move on we go from more rough ‘n’ ragged tone pulls and circling, which are surrounded by pelting to hacking grain detail. Onto nervy mixes of tight jitter tone flow, which are rapidly pelted by jitter grit, taut clutter, and jagged rip. Through to complex webs of rip, pull, and tear- that is underfed by uneven jitter tone. And beyond- making for just as an eventful/ rewarding track as the first side.

It really is wonderful to see Big Hole returning to the wall noise scene, especially when it’s with a release of such high calibre and skillfully executed as this c60. So The Hole: A Reading Soundtrack easily stands as one of the walled noise/ textured noise-scaping releases of 2023, really up there with the more complex and detailed work from the likes of The Rita & Dosis Letalis- so totally unmissable!