It's Chicago Time! The Windy City! One of my favourite places in the United States. And why? I haven't got the faintest clue, other than the fact that I really appreciated and liked the "Chicago guitar sound" back in the days (style wise: Big Black, Touch and Go, Slint, Bitch Magnet), which weren't Chicago bands mainly, but in my head, they were all connected somehow to a big city where people tried to think differently. So with my project, I've played Chicago twice - the basement of The Nervous Center and The Empty Bottle - and I think back with a big smile to both events. And my timeline coincides with many people from around there, Marc Benner from Oxidation being a name you come by in the Vital quite often and: Blake from Ballast / Vertonen. And this one is about Blake and Chicago.
Because Chicago has a history when it comes to music, the guitar scene in the 80s and '90s is just an example, and in this release, Blake gets to another part of Chicago History: The Black Patti label, which only lived in the year 1927. It mainly released jazz, blues and sermons, but I thank the good lord on both knees that this release isn't jazz at all. The 10" lathe has titles hinting that way: "Run Out Groove Blues" and "Frying Bacon Blues", but the title doesn't fit the tune. It's how the original label hinted at the covers of the release's content back then. However, some of the sound sources Blake uses on the lathe tracks seem to fit the description correctly. The A-side uses those crackling runout grooves, which you won't hear when you have an automatic shut-off record player. And the B-side, in a way, has the same but with a bit of fantasy the run-out groove is manipulated into sizzling bacon - and I might add: vegan friendly. Both tracks are around 10 minutes, made of crackling piano samples and voices, and manipulated heavily into drone-like soundscapes.
The CDR elaborates on the sound palette chosen for the lathe tracks. These compositions are around 25 minutes each, and because Blake decided to use more time, the flow within each composition is more gradual and accessible to the ear. The first track is a hypnotic and super-dynamic masterpiece. Lots of - what I suspect - granular synthesis or at least more minor sounds stretched into atmospheric layers. And some less 'atmospheric' and more intrusive sounds. It's what creates the dynamics here. Lovely. The second track opens with a piano sample and from that moment on... The mid-section is creepy, with a pulsating, almost rhythmic background, and the track ends with what I can only describe as 'the sound of emptiness'.
So yeah: I like this release. A lot. My favorite track, the 2nd track from the CDr. But that's not what this review ends with. Because: This is the first release in a Ballast Subscription Series. Only 25 copies each, of which 19 are for sale. So collectors, be sure to check the link at the bottom for the information you need because the message of this review might well be that Chicago just got a new chapter in its musical history.
Subscription: https://ballastnvp.blogspot.com/2023/04/10-lathe-series-subscriptions-now.html
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