The Rita/ Naughty — Split

Here we have a C30 split that brings together one of the creators of walled noise/ textured noise sound, with one of the up & coming figures in the scene. The Rita is a Canadian based project that’s been active since the late 1990’s, and along with the likes of Richard Ramirez & Vomir is one of the scenes true legends. And Naughty is a French-based female walled noise project, that has gained a fair bit of praise within the last year.

This release appeared in mid-January 2017, on Italian based nylon & wall-noise label Signor Ward Records. The tape appeared in an edition of 60 copies, and unsurprisingly these disappeared fairly quickly leaving now only a digital version of the album.

The physical release features a pink shelled cassette wrapped in a single pink nylon tight- which comes inside of oversized white paper & plastic sleeve. The sleeve features a line drawing of a women’s foot in nylon, with a ballet shoe bellow it. The package also features a double-sided monochrome paper inlay, which takes in pictures tight covered legs. So if you’re a collector of the nylon-themed side of walled-noise it’s certainly worth trying to track down a copy of this if you can.

Each artist offers up a single fifteen-minute track, and first up we have The Rita track, which is entitled "Threaband( Analogue Study)".  This opens with a very deep ‘n’ grinding low-end sustain. Fairly soon a sublayer of judder & purr has started to occur within the mass, creating a feeling akin to having your face put on & off an industrial buffing wheel. As the wall progresses The Rita wonderfully plays with the sub-layers, bringing in knockings, judders, brutal spins, and burrs; yet through-out the meaty & deep tone is maintained.  That is until coming towards the 6th minute when we get a  brief break-down, which sees this thinner spinning & spoke like chopping feel. Though fairly soon the thick & deep grinding presence has returned, and this time there is more of rapid ‘n’ compressed judder/ burring feel to the ‘wall’. And fairly soon The Rita starts expertly spinning off asides of chopping & seared static twist ‘n bays, and this alternates with the juddering/burring low-end. It must be a few years since I’ve heard work from The Rita, and I must say this track is up to the normal very high quality of the projects past work. Simply put it's a very distinctive & creatively seared piece of wall-craft.

So second up we, of course, have the Naughty track, and this is entitled “I’ll Dream Of Your Blood Under The Full Moon”. This ‘wall’ brings together a central rolling ‘n’ rumble texture, which is battered by thinner sweeps of buffeting & battering grain. The rumble has a nice scuzzy & seared feel to its depth, while the thinner grains have an effective scouring presence to them.  At around the tenth minute, the rumble shifts slightly towards a deeper flaming type roast, and the buffering grains seem to be forming into a swirling & circling pattern- this shift creates an almost like funnel feel to the ‘wall’, which is most rewarding.  On the whole the tracks a most worthy partner to The Rita track, with the textures selected & their later manipulation all been done with both a good amount of skill & flair.

All in all, this is an impressive split- with The Rita offering a great & meaty track, that nicely shifts through-out its length. And Naughty presenting the listener with a rewarding blend rumble & scuzzy grain, which nicely shifts in it's last quarter. As I mentioned above this is sadly now all sold-out in psychical form…so it’s either a digital download or try your luck on discogs.