Type Records
Released: February 2010
Noise albums can be a tricky genre to listen to. On one hand the soundscapes and sonic textures created by these artists can be incredibly deep and awesome. On the other hand they can be flat-out boring and/or annoying. Thank the looping-pedal-god that Yellow Swans fall into the former camp.
Going Places is a six song album running at a tidy-45 minutes. Which, for a lot of noise and drone albums, this seems like the length of punkrock record. I love a lot of experimental music but one of my biggest complaints is that typically the songs are waaaaaaaaaaay to long. So you get four songs stretching out over 70 minutes causing the album to drag in places.
Yellow Swans managed to create a moderately decent paced album here. There is only one song over 10 minutes long and four of them hover around 5 1/2 mins. So just as you begin to truly bask in the glow of sound textures, you are gracefully released from the enveloping noise and are lead to the next song.
The highlight tracks for the album are "Limited Space" which is where the analogy of electronic waves mentioned above really hits home. Swell after swell of lo-fi distortion envelops you. Each a bit bigger than the last. An undercurrent of haunting keyboards are carried along with the waves and some indescribable type of electronic noise creates rhythm and pace to the song. "New Life" is also a highlight that is an amazing noise/drone song and the swell and ascention at the end is the absolute crescendo of the album.
Overall this album is truly great and will most likely be on my as well as other year-end lists. The album swells, crashes, bubbles, and breaks very much like the unforgiving sea. (Sorry for the cheesy metaphor but its so true!)
RIYL: Wolf Eyes, Sonic Youth's noisier moments, Swans (the non-yellow, Michael Gira-fronted one from 20 years ago)
Rating: 9.0
No comments:
Post a Comment