Various Artists — Sylvia Rimbaud

Sylvia Rimbaud is a recently (largely) walled/textured noise focused compilation from up and coming Fort Worth Texas label Hot Fuzz. It’s an eleven-track affair- coming as either a ltd tape release or digital download- and I must say it’s a highly consistent, and well-sequenced collection.

The physical tape version of the release is appearing on the 29th of April and is going to be ltd to just fourteen copies. The digital version, which I’m reviewing is now available- both can be picked up directly from here. 

The eleven tracks featured here are fairly short examples of the walled noise form- coming in between the four and the eight-minute mark. So, nothing hangs around long, which I guess has its pros and cons.

We kick off with “The Cassandra Metaphor” this is from Ohio’s Stalk Market, and boy it’s a great aggravated 'n' battering example of more rapid ‘n’ ear ripping wall-craft. We have a manically bucking blend of bass rips and skittering static, with towards the end what sounds like vocal bays been added to the mix. The low-end is nicely nasty in its ragging attack, while the skitter static brings in both mid and searing highs. So, a great opener, which certainly makes sure you are awake and ready for the compilation.

As we move through the release we come to “Demon Kitten” this is from the rather mysterious and recently appeared Worship. And here we have a mixture of fairly loosely cluttering layers, which together create an entrancing feeling of lightly battering sonic freefall- akin to falling through lightly buffeting cloud layers. There is a lightly shifting and subtle industrial churn/ billow, this is surrounded by a selection of rattling static tones- and the whole thing really did get me lulling in a wonderful wall noise haze.

We have an appearance of now French-based Serbian wall maker Dosis Letalis- their track is entitled “Dirty Little Secret”. Here we find a taut, yet atmospheric blend of on/off tumbling bass rolls, cluttering static tumbles, and almost glitching micro details. The just under the five-minute track is a wonderful excise in textural control, and sound tension- and is another great example of the walled noise form from this most respected scene figure.

Moving towards the latter half of the release we have the ragingly moody, and slightly unsettling attack of Thin Mountain's( one of Sean E. Matzus projects) “Sometimes Little Evie Gets Agitated Like Our Own Mama Used To Get So Often”. It brings together muddy churns, billowing bay, and lightly forking and kind of eerier mid to high end- with the whole thing featuring a nice sort background amping up drone towards it end.  And playing out the release we have Dreall’s “Fifteen Minutes of Fame”- where we find cluttering background hiss meeting a tightly beaded line of juddering & jittering texturing.

Clearly, a lot of time & thought has been given to the track selection and sequencing on this release- which is most appreciated, making it one of the best compilations I’ve heard from the scene for some years. The Hot Fuzz label already has twenty plus digital releases on its books, with more in the works- so this is most certainly a label to keep an eye on!