Let’s open this review with the exact words on the Bandcamp release page: ‘Most intros to a Richard Ramirez album mention he’s an artist that needs no introduction. Presenting a brand new album with five tracks of harsh noise, low-end drone thrumming, crunchy textures and good old-fashioned sleazes. Further indication that Richard remains one of the most consistent and important artists in noise.’ The real question is whether I can or should add anything to this because it’s all been said. Well, I’m still gonna write a review.
Richard Ramirez is one of the big names from the noise scene. He is from Houston, Texas originally, but from what I understood, he’s now in Pennsylvania. He has been active since 1989, and of his many projects and involvements, the most well-known are Black Leather Jesus and Werewolf Jerusalem. And, of course, releases under his own name. It’s difficult to have never heard his name if you like noise in its many glorious aspects, but for those who aren’t precisely noise heads, why should you listen to him or his work?
“Bodytalking” is ‘just’ an album, and when you go to Richard’s Bandcamp page, you get the offer to buy all his releases as you do with all artists. I just looked there, and you will be getting no less than 964 releases. Nine hundred and sixty-four!!! And all of those releases have something to do with Richard. It’s incredible. I don’t know all of them, but I do know that anybody with a curriculum/back catalogue like that knows his gear and what he’s doing. Musically as well as conceptually. So no, “Bodytalking” is not ‘just’ a new Richard Ramirez album. It’s another chapter in a continuing story told by someone with a proper vocabulary for telling said stories.
This story has five chapters in between 5 and 15 minutes. A total playing time of just under 50 minutes. Musically, it varies from crunchy direct sounds in “Making Entries” to suffocated HNW with, let’s call them ‘field recordings’ and even some more direct harsh noise structures in “The Way He Looks” and even ambient / drone scapes in “Not Alone / Hidden Kiss” (here I suspect the hidden kiss being the sudden noise eruption).
Richard knows exactly what he’s doing to keep the tension in this album and created a beautiful release. Maybe for many people, noise is a difficult genre, but if you want to explore, this album will lure you into a genre as deep as the ocean. And there, too, is a lot of unexplored territory.
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