Smear Campaign — Stakes Sharpened

This is my first taste of Manchester's Smear Campaign and I’ll have to say I’m very impressed with the variety, quality and depth of the noise art on display here, they seem to give their own particular angle on noise- which is always highly rewarding and refreshing.

I guess the thing that stands out most about their sound is the use of trumpet playing with-in many of the tracks here- so quite often the tracks coming off like a manic pumped up and amped up avant jazz noise cross breed. As the trumpet wails and screams amongst the ripping and roaring sound stew- I’m quite sure if the late great Miles Davis was still alive today he’d be mighty impressed what Smear campaign are doing with his chosen sonic tool. But there much more here beyond the simply gimmick of using trumpet with-in noise, the tracks are impressively constructed and composed,with the trumpet clearly played by someone who knows what he’s doing. The none trumpet tracks stand up well too with a mix of percussive overloads, feedback rips and drags, and sinister noise drones.

A very fiery and impressive noise/ jazz cross breed, which through highly brutal is highly listenable and enjoyable. To hear samples and pick-up direct wail to here