Peter J Woods – Fear C20+C9+C17

FTAM

Here’s a mammoth release from Milwaukee’s infamous noisemonger Peter J Woods. Immediately noticeable is the heavy conceptual element here. With classy “artsy” photographs, card inserts, abstract poetry and strangely manipulated spoken samples mixed throughout the release it’s clear the concept is of utmost importance.

The style is similar to what PJW has explored previously, an odd mixture of noise, electroacoustic, and power electronics. Tape I Side A is a quieter piece with crinkling and off kilter audio artifacts which build to a quick noise attack right at the end while Side B is an alternating quiet/loud piece with high pitched squeals, blasts of distortion and transgendered, pitch-shifted vocals.

Tape II Side A is where PJW really starts to shine with a more atmospheric edge and excellent spoken word/lyrics that remind me of something delivered by Boyd Rice. Side B kicks in with some excellent metal field samples before once again blasting with distortion. This piece continues the quiet/loud aspect of PJW’s work while combining it with a sample collage style, but this time the quiet part builds to meet the noisy part which is an interesting development.

Tape III Side A focuses on mainly the spoken word portion with a bed of noise in the background. The spoken samples here are especially effective and well delivered. While Side B features more variation and an interesting mix of musique concrete and noise. This is probably the first track that actually blasts its way into full power electronics motion but it’s not for long.

The theme of Fear seems to be both between the spoken word and the quiet/loud dynamics. Wood’s use of editing and composing is as on-point as usual with a lot of thought put to how sounds will affect the listener. I really enjoy the juxtaposition of all the different elements coming together for this release and although it’s available as a digital download as well as a physical release I really feel like one would be missing a lot without a hardcopy of this.

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