 Crackhouse
"I" CDR
Mandragora Records
Genres: noise, psychedelic noise, guitar noise
Mandragora Records P.O. Box 936 Northampton, MA 01061
May 4 - May 11 2002 |
So ya like your noise, eh? Ya like it hard; ya
like it psychedelic? And ya love those overdriven guitars, too, don't
ya? Well say hello to Crackhouse, then. The magnificent duo of Erik
Amlee and David Gilden recorded these five pieces of noise all the way back in 1989, and,
by golly, they stand up perfectly well today. Guitars, synths,
samples, and all sorts of other bizarre sounds come together on this cool little album,
released on the increasingly cool Mandragora label. A plethora of moods are
represented here - from the harsh and strident to the eerily calm.
"Leatherface," the second track on the album, starts off calmly, but then builds
into a symphony of grating junk noise. Fans of Mike Shiflet and his
Noumena outfit will surely enjoy this. The last track, "I'm
Gonna Die," is somewhat different. Using a spoken sample of the words "I'm
gonna die," and combining it with all sorts of other grating noise, Crackhouse has
created one of the most haunting noise pieces I've ever heard.
As good as those tracks are, though, nothing lives up to the bar set by "Black
Light Discipline Room," the main attraction on this album. Spanning the
entirety of forty-seven minutes, the track bellows out mad layers of pedalized
guitar noise - kind of like something Caspar Brotzmann would do, except
with a more psychedelic bend. By the end of it all, your entire body will feel numb.
80%
Matt Shimmer |
