xdementiaPost subject: V/A – Caterpillars, Head Swells and Mind Melts CDR
Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:29 pmV/A – Caterpillars, Head Swells and Mind Melts CDR
No Statement Records: http://www.nost8ment.co.uk/
Overall Rating: C
Composition: C-
Sounds: C
Production Quality: C-
Concept: D
Packaging: C+
Right off the bat there are several things I look for in a compilation release. The first and most important is track order, if the tracks aren’t ordered, don’t have a sense of flow or progression then generally the comp isn’t going to be successful. Caterpillars fulfills this requirement well enough, at least enough given the fact that there is such an eclectic array of tracks on this release. The second is track mastering, the comp needs to have a consistent enough sound to it, the heavy parts need to punch you in the mouth and the soft parts shouldn’t have to have the volume knob jammed up to fully appreciate them. This is one aspect where Caterpillars fails. Perhaps an attempt was made to do this because it just so happens that all the harsh noise tracks on here are fucking quiet, which takes all the punch out of them. In fact, it’s the opposite of even the aforementioned bad scenerio, the harsh tracks actually have to be turned up to be appreciated.
The tracks on this comp range from harsh noise, experimental, freak out jazz wankery, and even a little ambient thrown in for good measure. If there is a consistent vision to any or all of these tracks it is lost on me. That’s not to say however that there aren’t a few decent tracks that can be found here and there, but coupled with the vision and production they rarely rise above mediocre.
Gland kicks off the comp with the badly titled “Ye Gods! This Parachute is a Napsack!” I really don’t mind humor in noise, in fact with acts like Brian Miller/Kevin Shields and Cock ESP I can usually laugh along, maybe it’s not a hearty guffaw, but at least a quiet chuckle. However I don’t see the point in using total geek humor that’s not even funny to describe a harsh noise track with some potential. If it’s meant to be funny make it funny, don’t make it some cheesy pointless one liner for fuck’s sake. Humor can have substance to, have a deeper meaning and if you don’t believe me just search “ass pennies” on you tube.
Tiger Piss a project with a fucking terrible name brings us “Aint Heavy” a wanky free jazz drum track that I don’t really have any interest in because I’m not a fan of this stuff. I guess this isn’t that bad compared to some similar acts I heard in this realm but it just doesn’t interest me. Falling Boy bows in with a good track of psychedelic jamming guitar solos luckily dashed through a ton of effects and sounding more like some dreamy feedback then anything else. The guitar is a little more prominent then I prefer but this is probably my favorite track so far.
Mutant Ape presents a fair noise track with nothing really that stands out but has enough layers and thickness to tide me over though it does feature an annoying very thin high pitched frequency that bleeds through all too often and makes the rest of the layers loose a lot of their oomph. BBBlood which I believe stands for “Baron Bum Blood” presents some decent junky cutup noise, totally lo-fi and not even really harsh but at least keeping a lot of ideas flowing and staying true to the lo-fi aesthetic.
Enough about the bad/mediocre tracks I can’t right any more smack. Towering Breaker shows what he’s got with a decent experimental track featuring some delayed metallic/glassy rhythmic sounds and some melodic synth lines combined with meandering analog synths in the distance to create a classic style experimental track with atmosphere.
Cam Deas plays an interesting lo-fi orchestra or what sounds like plucked and delayed guitar strings with an eclectic array of other elements blending in and out mostly sounding like they are produced with a standard guitar/drum rock group setup but at least culling some unorthodox sounds of the instruments and presenting them in a way that doesn’t flaunt that he’s using “real” instruments. Kind of reminds me of a dirtier Keith Fullerton Whitman.
Finally, save the best for last with 2 very similar tracks (could one be a remix?) the first being Textured Bird Transmission’s “Clouded Sulpher Yellow Form” and the second being Another Enough Chair’s “Craved Food.” Both track feature anxious clanking scrap metal over organic noisy drones to present 2 tracks that although similar are full of heart and don’t pretend to be much more then what they are. An excellent closing finally to an otherwise mediocre comp.
Despite the few good tracks here and there I’m disappointed to say this comp has found it’s way into the throwaway pile because I feel (like most comps that have fallen into my hands) that the bulk of the tracks are throwaway that the artists just had sitting around.
Related Articles: Textured Bird Transmission – Spectral Doves of Skeletal Intensity Review , Textured Bird Transmissions - Purple Weighted Pellets of Dispair Review , Another Enough Chairs - Bring That Voice to the State Review
Last edited by xdementia on Sun Oct 12, 2008 6:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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