I’m always happy to receive new releases by LEM; you gotta know that by now. Why? It’s a really active label, and even though we find quite a few recurrent names, they always sneak in new names and new artists. So, as a label, they (or he, being Steve Davis from +DOG+) keep surprising. So, a whole batch we got this time has a few titles sent to me; FdW does others.
So the first release is a 12″ vinyl (about 10 minutes per side) by Blue Collar Calling. According to Discogs – who are not like the definite guide, but it is a pretty good source to find things – they did a few sampler tracks, and that’s it. To my surprise, Google created an actual homepage, and the info there reveals who is behind this release. “Blue Collar Calling is a true noise collaboration from the minds of Steve Meketa (Aprtment 213, Lockweld ) and Jim Szudy (Nihil Omnia, Fellahean).” From Jim, I had never heard (sorry Jim), but Lockweld, hell yeah. Right away, everything gets connected from what I hear on “Anxiety Attack” and what I’ve listened to from Lockweld in the past. They’ve done things together for 15 years, and this seems to be their first proper release.
The two tracks are entirely different in style. Side A is best described as an experimental approach to the sounds of the factory. Tools are elevated into instruments, and movement into modulation. The only word that comes to mind is ‘relentless’, but wait, halfway through the track, it changes, and it’s like … Damn, how to describe this … It’s like the harsh metal work disappeared, and movements/modulation itself become a genuinely gorgeous work of harsh ambient. Forgive me for this choice of words, but I listened ten times and couldn’t find anything different. You have to hear it yourself!
Side B is built around metal rhythms and proper blue-collar activity. Slight movements of subtle noise coincide with the rhythm, resulting in a mesmerizing anthem for the workflow. Beautifully hypnotic. Please don’t let the follow-up release take another 15 years.
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