Q: What is pink and 40 minutes long? A: The latest release by the noise project Asylum Symphonies from Catalonia. The Aachener label Benevolent Pain is at it again and has released this tape with 40 minutes of pure analogue terror. And well, we do know that behind the label is Marcus from Dazzling Malicious, Persons Unknown, It Drones, etc., but from a project I had never heard of before. It’s a three-person outfit – Carles, David and Òscar – focused mainly on mental diseases outputted through pure Korg MS20 abuse. Next to the MS20, there is a lot of FX either with gear or in the computer, but you will have to listen to the tracks to hear what I mean.
So, I had no idea what “Oppositional Defiant Disorder” was, so I looked it up. Thankfully, we have something like Wikipedia, and the answer is that according to DSM-5, it is ‘a pattern of angry/irritable mood, argumentative/defiant behaviour, or vindictiveness’ and also ‘This behaviour is usually targeted toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures, including law enforcement officials.’ And we all know what’s the best therapy, right? Right! Noise making! This release is the result of two sessions of group therapy for Carles, David and Òscar. No one was hurt during these sessions, thankfully. It’s not disclosed whether it’s regular group therapy or relationship therapy, but the MS20 had some difficult moments.
And without kidding, this is a very nice release—well-layered noise, which is nicely cohesive through the tape compression. Noisier distorted parts are scattered throughout, alongside a proper part for the pure MS20 sounds. At Discogs, Asylum Symphonies is mentioned as a noise and power electronics project. Although there are moments where the composition tends to become power electronics, this particular release should be considered pure noise. Not HNW, not extremely cut-up, not drony, but noise as noise should be. Old school proper loud noise. And I haven’t heard that in a long time.
And, as with all Benevolent Pain releases, it comes in excellent packaging, this time a black box with another artistic test tube. There are a few copies left at the label, and once they’re gone, they’re gone.
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