Sudden Infant - 1992 download free

Side one soon establishes itself as an exploration of noises various. Lots of phasing, flanging types of sounds wash and wave while noises beamed live from any of a hundred planets Dr. Who visited crackle, throb, scatter and wobble out of your speakers. From early on they make an audio statement that, although they are Sonic Warriors, they do not subscribe to the Japanese all-out-war ethic. Instead there is a certain cacophonic subtlety to their explorations. The angry raging maelstrom is filtered and manipulated, but mainly keeps the same central driving force of sonic noise, which comes to a sudden, undignified conclusion with the end of side one. Side two starts with what sounds like guitar wankery, before setting off through agonisingly strained electronic excesses, with what sounds distinctly like voice hidden amongst the pushing-the-limits noise. This gives it a kinda humorous aspect, not unlike RUNZELSTIRN & GURGELSTØCK's early pieces. 'Found' music is sucked into the cacophonous vortex, here and there reminding me of the MIGRAINE INDUCERS' "Dissonance". The voices appear to scream and ululate before being torn to rags by the sheer nasty anger of the electronic processing. Not bad, in a nerve-shredding way. Their over-processed take on THE RAMONES' "We're A Happy Family" makes you cringe at first, but then kinda works, overwashing the classic with blackboard-clawing shrills. We then go on a journey through Police-band transmissions, sirens, alarms and other such noise-makers. Which are pathetically weak compared with what comes next. If the original creation of life on this planet had a fitting soundtrack, it wouldn't be ENYA or ENO, but this, electronic chaos, an almost tangible thing, wrought out of pained air to unblock the wax from the ears of the deaf. Next comes manipulated bird noises, and the sound of Beelzebub's toilet backing up. Bedsprings heard by a bedbug, an arcane machine made from the wood of freshly interred coffins finally herald the end of his noise-work and blessed silence. Some interesting ideas are spread amongst the onslaught of noises, but overall its - "If You Like Pure Noise, Buy It. Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.