RJ Myato/ Planet Shithead — Split
The release appeared in February of this year on Enforced Existence- a Western Pennsylvania noise and lo-fi web-label. The clear shelled cassette features off white & black texts label on both sides- and then this is presented in a similar colored sleeve, which takes in a medical illustration of a man with side of his head cut, and pulled back. The release appeared in an edition of 50 copies, and as of writing this review, there are still copies left.
The RJ Mayto project is from Charleroi, Pennsylvania- it’s been active since 2009, discogs lists just seventeen releases, but in reality it's more like 60 plus as many of projects release are micro label digital downloads. This is the first material I’ve heard by the project, and I must say I was impressed by the quality & variation of the side’s worth of work here- it takes in three around ten-minute tracks from the project. First up we have “Soporific Clang”- this brings together a simmering & accelerated undercarriage of pitch stretching high-end, cluttering & rattling mid-range blunt junk metal, and some more subtle buffeting & baying subtones. The track certainly mixes nicely active textured noise with uneasy-to-sour atmospherics in a fairly original/ distinctive way- so a great opening track. Next up we have “Starvation Platter Cancel”, and this has a fairly buzzing industrial drone-meets- choppy textured noise vibe, at points it even brought to mind some of Swans more atmospheric noise bound stuff like to say a more seared-up take on something from the Soundtracks For The Blind album. The tracks built around a layered & dense mix of purring machine buzz, spiralling & grim casing droning which sounds like it could be guitar-based, and nicely moody reverberation sub-tones- all which suggests some form of the aged living machine. The final track here is “Duet For Mailbox & Guitar”-the more atmospheric/moody side of the project is dropped for more scrabbling 'n' baying guitar noise attack- which features a rewarding mixture of raging, hacking & mid-ranged choppy guitar tone- all brought together into a meaty wall of sound. All in all a very worthy side of the tape, with project utilizing blends of experimental/ noise sub-genres like textured noise/ wall noise, drone & guitar noise-scaping to make a varied & at times atmospheric selection of Harsh noise.
If you are familiar with US noise/ walled noise then I’m sure you’ll have heard of Planet Shithead, or at least the person who’s behind it- Florida based Joe The Stache- whose behind often more quirky themed walled noise/ dense noise projects like Hoogle (themed around the 80’s family fantasy film Labyrinth), Pig Shrapnel( pork produced based HNW), Extreme Chafing(skin condition themed harsh noise/ HNW), and Heavy Metal Vomit Party(80’s hair metal walled noise).
The Planet Shithead project has been active since 2014- putting out around twenty-five release thus far, and theme-wise it seems to be focused on general life annoyance- hating white chocolate, toast, and US politicians. The track here is amusingly entitled “My Refrigerator Thinks I’m Charming”- this slides in at just shy of the thirty-minute mark- and what we have here is extremely dense & searing walled noise. It’s a blend of hissing & searing mids, choppy ‘n’ throbbing churn, and murky drone-like swimming- the whole thing has a wonderful all engulf- yet-pummelling quality to it. All in all, it’s a well-tooled sliced of highly seared walled matter, and the way Stache pulls 'n' churns the layers is most entrancing.
So in finish, if you enjoy the place where atmospheric & creative harsh noise meets walled noise you need to hook up a copy of this split- and it’s certainly made me keen to check out more of RJ Mayto work shortly. Head here to buy direct/ hear samples.