Russell Haswell & Pain Jerk — Electroacoustic Slude Dither Transformation [...]

Noise collaborations have always been very common, and the internet has definitely helped to make these collaborations easier. Russell Haswell and Kohei Gomi (Pain Jerk) met at the 20000 Volt Club in 1997, and the two decided to collaborate in the future. Fifteen years later, the stars re-aligned, and both Haswell and Pain Jerk were asked to play together in Nottingham. Digital files of their solo work were traded, the show was recorded, and the pair walked away with loads of material to transform into their collaboration. Two years and many edits later, Editions Mego presents us this collaboration via the 2 CD set, Electroacoustic Sludge Dither Transformation Smear Grind Decomposition nO!se File Exchange Mega Edit.

Taking the form of two long tracks, Electroacoustic [...] is two hours of digital and analog chaos. Russell's track is the beast here, clocking in at 72 minutes. Over this time, so much ground is covered that it would be impossible to succinctly describe it. Ranging from distant, ambient glitch to harsh distortion, Russell's "Mega Edit" has something for everyone. I much prefer Russell's edit because of the Pain Jerk source material. There are some seriously blistering elements on display here and work very well in juxtaposition with the softer, more glitchy sounds that make up most of the track. Overall, though, the space covered and drift between styles feels unfocused and haphazard.

Pain Jerk's edit clocks in at a more reasonable 35 minutes. Since he's re-editing and re-arranging Russell's files, one shouldn't be surprised that it doesn't sound like typical Pain Jerk. Throb, high pitches, and randomness are three descriptions for this edit. Much like Russell's edit, this track feels too disconnected. Not being too into glitchy sounds anyway, this one was a let down for me.

Electroacoustic [...] took two years to edit and re-record, but it surely doesn't sound like it. Some of the source material is nice, but when slammed randomly into other, completely different pieces, it doesn't always work out. This collaboration may get mouths drooling on paper, but doesn't really carry through sonically. I would rather have just heard the Pain Jerk material and called it a day.