Conure "After They're Gone" CD
[Snip-Snip]
Not bad. About 30 minutes of diverse experimental noise. Starting things off is the title track with some raw harsh noise and death industrial styled textures busily layered in the background. Feedback, pulsating bass hums, various distorted tones, lots of stereo panning, etc. Tons of unexpected blips and beeps come forth towards the end as things slowly calm down. "Confused Again" is more than twice as long as the other three tracks, beginning as a very quiet ambient piece, even bringing in some slightly musical textures amidst abstract shuffling sounds and low-level hums. About halfway through it breaks into some harsher textures that sound like stuttered drum samples and a bit of vocals, both under massive distortion. "Pachyderm" is fairly quiet with some high tones and a lot of busy background work, but it's all mixed very low so that it creates a curious element of confusion. In my opinion this is the most focused and effective track herein as the mood remains consistent throughout. And then "Learning Curve" is very rhythmic, bouncing back and forth between fluttering ambient tones and fluttering explosions of percussive distortion, occasionally tossing brief samples into the mix. The recording seems to be somewhat lo-fi and contains lots of midrange, but doesn't lack density by any means. There's plenty of volume, though you do have to adjust the levels accordingly for specific passages as the dynamic shifts are fairly extreme. I definitely feel that more clarity would amplify the potentially menacing nature of this material tenfold, because there's a lot of subtle atmosphere going on that really adds to the compositions, but those details can get lost in the shuffle (especially in tracks like "After They're Gone"). The CD-R comes in a slim jewel case with a relatively interesting "booklet" that seems to be the standard setup for this label. It's got a xeroxed onecard insert with some imagery on the front that rests inside of a wraparound cover that's printed on a heavier stock of paper (this time brown). The heavier paper has small flaps on each side, one for the band name/title, and one for the label release number, and the xerox shows through an open strip in the center. The back of the heavier insert has the tracklist and other such information. Not bad... it could be better, but this is a nice way to keep it simple without being too standard. The label sells these releases for a very respectable $4ppd US/$6ppd WORLD, so definitely check this out if you're heavily into the genre. (6/10)
Running time - 29:05, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Pachyderm]
Snip-Snip Records - http://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/snipsnip/

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