steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

Art Muscle / no rGans

Split C32

Prairie Fire Tapes

Genre: no-wave & pornographic track titles

Viljandi, Estonia

January 2010

Tavis Walker alone is responsible for both Art Muscle and no rgaNs, though the two are remarkably dissimilar in approach. For me, Art Muscle's untitled opus takes the top layer of the cake – it's a scummy no-wave assault built out of battered drums and generally grungy guitar bedlam, the sort of noxious lob of spunk that elicits wondrous images of utter dreck. How marvellously dreadful! On the other hand, no rgaNs is much less forgiving; it's effectively a vehicle for throbbing, satanic grumble-noise that's as sonically offensive as its track titles suggest: “Cock Hungry Amateur Fucks,” “Cute Blonde Takes Creampie in the Ass,” “Foursome Lesbo Action (Pt. 1)”... I wonder what sorts of websites Mr. Walker has been perusing. This split is the sort of lo-fi hazardousness that the cassette medium harnesses so perfectly – it's far from perfect, but it's all spirit and glory, and that's pretty damn swell.

art muscle's myspace

Michael Tau

[Vitals: 7 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2010]