Wrong Hole – “Virgins Go To Hell, Fuck Your Way To Heaven” – C15

Monorail Trespassing

Here’s a short but sweet tape by Wrong Hole from Los Angeles. This one came out a while ago, but is still available from the label and was procured from Nile when he was on tour this past Winter. The production is lo-fi but crisp enough to get the point across and the tape it’s self is dubbed loud and clear. The artwork is nice textured close up capture from some video, abstracted and nice colors as usual from Monorail.

Side A’s “Blindspin” starts with a quick blast of feedback before leading into some ground up mid-range metal grinding and ever shifting speaker feedback. Muddy bass fills out the mix, but things never stands still for long. This appears to be a live in studio recording without over dubs but there is obviously multiple layers present. This is something that impressed me while seeing him live as well. The focus is obviously on the physical action of the metal and mic feedback interacting with the speakers, but it also doesn’t get caught in the single sound source trap, leaving the mix flat and one-sided, that so many artists working in this style fall victim to these days. The fact that he’s able to keep multiple sounds ever-changing at the incredible pace he does, shows where his real skills lie. It’s not quite cut-up, just extremely textured and evolving.

Side B’s “Dropshaft” goes in a completely different direction. Extremely minimal electronic rhythms creep in along with a deep pulsing sub bass line. This is interspersed with quick cuts of junk metal and more delayed textural feedback than seen on the first side. Gradually bizarre highly manipulated vocals make their way into the mix. They exist more to bring atmosphere than present any intelligible lyrics and provide another texture coming and going rather than a centerpiece. This is a good creepy track that brings to mind a harsher version of Atrax Morgue or something similar and provides a good counterpoint the insane speed and intensity of the first side. It’s good to see someone pushing their boundaries as well and not sticking to one formula.

All in all a great short tape to throw on when you’re in the mood for a heavy blast and then a creepy come down. This tape would have worked great as a 7″ due to the length and approach but does just as well as a cassette. After seeing Wrong Hole live a few times in the past year and really enjoying it, as well as his recorded output, I think he’s definitely one of the West Coast names to be on the lookout for in coming years. Or really, one of the people doing some of the most interesting harsh noise anywhere these days. In a time where faux-minimalism and walls reign, it’s nice to hear someone injecting a modern take on classic harsh noise, clearly putting substance before image. This would be a great place to start for those new to his work.

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