Grubenwehr Freiburg I hadn’t heard of before, but their back catalogue has quite a few names which will interest many of you – and me, for that matter. It’s too much to do all the name-dropping, but besides the recently reviewed MB and Coalminer split, which is still buzzing in my ears, how about Flutwacht, Modelbau, Fabio Orsi, The Haters, Joke Lanz, Lasse Marhaug, Richard Ramirez and Feine Trinkers are amongst the better-known acts as well as one of Belgian’s best kept secrets Bruital Orgasme (I seen them on many occasions and loved them each time). So, let’s start by stating that this raised my expectations about this split/collaborative release.
This release is a C40 cassette with four parts of “Gewässerunterhaltung” on one side by Grodock and Vargus. That is, except for the fourth part, which Giacinto did, too. Of course, I couldn’t find anything about the artists, but that’s okay. This will not be the last we’ll hear from them. Seriously. The first side is a mixture of different noise styles, with some cut-up, looping, found footage, harsh elements and erratic behaviour. And moments where the artists take their time to create an atmosphere. So, listening to all four parts as one is a journey for your mind. Being a bit of everything, my review could have ended up with “it has no distinct goal or purpose”, but these guys build and work on glueing the parts together. So I’m honestly interested in their next one.
The reverse side has one track entitled “Desertion of Self” by Giacinto. Again, there is no information to be found, but he/she has been active for a few years. The composition is quite different than what we have heard so far, although there are a few of the same elements in both: aspects of noise and drone, there is some contact mic-ing going on, a few found sources (seem to be radio waves) and a lot of dynamics. Composition-wise, I love this second track even more than the first; the sounds used are way more up my alley. The only thing I liked a bit less was using the field recordings in the latter part. It sounded like the wind or whatever was constantly blowing directly in there, which disabled the rest of the sounds to form layers. But again, to be honest, that’s just a taste thing. It’s still a solid piece here.
Comments
Post a Comment