Small Hours/The Ebony Tower — One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Both the film & book should need little introduction really, as both are counted as classic works. But here’s a rough out line of the plot: Troublesome inmate Randle Patrick McMurphy gets moved from a prison farm to a mental institution for evaluation. He thinks his life will be easier but he doesn’t bank on the authoritative, by-the book, and martinet Nurse Ratched who runs the ward he's placed in . The story tells of the battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy, and the inflexible Ratched. The book was written in 1962 to by renowned counterculture figure Ken Kesey, with the film appearing in 1975 with Jack Nicholson playing the role of McMurphy- in one of his great roles
The Set comes in a four disc DVD case, and takes black & white artwork related to the story. The Small Hours discs take in the iconic picture of Jack Nicholson in a black beanie hat, and The Ebony Tower discs take in reproduction of artwork connected to the book.
So first up we have the two disc from Small Hours, and If you only have just a passing interest in walled noise/static noise you’ll surely be aware this project- it’s one of the main projects of British noise maker James Killick( also of Love Katy, and other projects, and the mind behind two of the scenes most respected & influential labels Sweet Solitude and Vagary Records). Small Hours has been active since 2011, putting out around thirty plus releases- these have seen the project move from early examples of ANW, through to complex & shifting wall craft, and beyond. The project is rightly highly respected, and pretty much everything it's put out is always well conceived & well thought-out.
The first Small Hours disc features just a single track, which is entitled “The World Series (But I Tried, Didn't I? Goddamnit, At Least I Did That!)”, and this comes in just under the fifty four minute mark. The track opens with the classic scene from the movie were McMurphy (Nicholson) is trying to get the baseball world series shown on the wards TV set, this sample last around a few minutes with the wall textures build up around it, before the sample fades & we’re left with just the noise. The first ‘wall’ is built around a slightly wavering lower end drone, this is overlaid by a slowly swirling & repetitive wash of taut yet thin static patterning. Around the ninth minute Killick slowly & skilful morphs the ‘wall’ into a mixture of slowly clamouring 'n' rumbling looped descents, which are stitched with detailed static pattern detail- the rumbling elements sound like slowing avalanche like textures, while the static elements have a crisp, precise yet engrossing quality to them. From here on Killick skilfully shifts through several other rewarding texturally shifts, and these are intermixed with another two dialogue samples from the film regard the World Series scene. I really can’t fault the textures, or the way Killick masterfully shifts and moves the track through a series of highly rewarding of ‘walls’- but personally I found the samples a little bit over done, and intrusive, and at points it felt they did take away from the tracks structure, this maybe down to the familiarity of this classic film dialogue I guess.
The Second Small Hour Disc takes in two tracks, and each of these come in around the thirty minute or just under mark. First of these is “Put It In The Basket, Chief!!”, and this track starts off with another sample from the movie- this time it’s mainly based around the classic basket ball scene, and McMurphy talking to the chief. The sample comes in around the four minute mark, and once again the ‘wall’ is introduced around it- growing in strength. This first ‘wall’ is most effective & quite tautly eerier in it’s atmosphere- it finds a taut yet meaty galloping texturing moving against what sounds like a looped sample of a chicken or a crow call, around this you can makes out a hazed & muffled sort of hissing element- it’s truly is a great piece of wall texturing. By around the 10th minute this first ‘wall’ is fading back to be replaced by a mixture of swirling/rumbling water like texturing- this is seared by weaved layers of hazed hissing static patterning, again this is another very creative & clever bit of ‘wall-making’. Just like the first disc track we move though a few rewarding shifts with-in the tracks ‘wall’ landscape, with the track ending with another film sample.
Lastly on this second disc we have the track “You're No Crazier Than The Average Assholes Out Walkin' Around On The Streets”. And once again we have another dialogue sample from the film- this time it finds McMurphy involved in another debate between Nurse Ratched, and the other inmates. This goes on for around eight minutes, with the ‘wall’ moving around it- this first ‘wall’ is a layer detailed affair which is built around layers of jittering ‘n’ rumbling patterns, which are edged with smaller snapping stapler like textures- it’s a great ‘wall’, but once again I felt the sample running underneath rather took away from the ‘wall’s detail & impact. When the sample does finally fades you get to make out more great textural detail, but fairly soon we shift to another ‘wall’. Once again we go through a few more shifts with-in the tracks ‘wall’ landscape- these are very well thought-out & masterful, & in the last few minutes we get one last sample from the film. Once more I can’t fault Killick morphing ‘wall-making’, but sadly the samples were just way too intrusive for my liking, and rather ruined much of the first ‘walls’ clever detail.
So moving onto the second half of the split, and we have the two discs from The Ebony Tower. Over the last year or so this in Greeley Colorado project has been getting a lot of respect & praise for its dense yet often textural rewarding take on walled noise. All of this projects work is theme around works of literature, and most of it’s releases taking in lengthy submersions in ‘wall-craft. Each of this projects discs take in a single just shy of hour long ‘wall’, and each focuses in on the books key characters
So on disc three we have “Nurse Ratched”, and this track opens with a ‘wall’ that brings together deep unrelenting pelting with hiss/chopping jittering patterns. Though-out the tracks first 10 minutes we get a few subtle adjustments in this first ‘walls’ patterns, before it morphs into a more searing rain like pelt & distant storm like meshing pattern . The rest of the track goes through a few more texturally shifts, and these move from overloaded & rapidly bombarding juddering ‘n’ jittering masses, through to caustic skipping & pelting detailed patterned static masses, etc . It’s a great bit of intense yet slowly shifting wall-making with some great & rewarding textural detail.
On disc four we have “McMurphy”- this track opens with a rapid meaty billowing tone, which is tautly weaved thinner locked jittering sub-tones. The billow is most intense yet invigorating in its continual rage, while the jittering sub-tone create rewarding mesh of textural patterns. Around the 18th minute mark we get a slower pattern of dragging ‘n’ juddering snaking it’s way through the original ‘wall’, and this creates a great feeling of textural subversion which of course is perfect for McMurphy character- this new element feels like it’s trying to knock the original ‘wall’ completely out of shape yet both elements still manage to keep in place- with each one switching in dormancy through-out most of the tracks length- though we do get a few detours off into other ‘wall’ textures towards the latter part of the track.
So in summing up it’s great to see these two putting out a split together, and both sides of the split certainly offer up highly skilled & clever conceived examples of wall-making. I just found at times the samples on the Small Hours tracks too overbearing & intrusive…if this hadn’t been the case I would have given this a straight 5/5 mark, but as it stands I’ve drop it to 4/5