v/a "Like Music to Their Ears Vol. 2 - An International Gathering of Extreme Electronics" compilation CD
[Mechanoise]
Canada's Nagasaki Fondue opens this collection with a frantic cutup track of harsh noise, samples, and then some - a great, explosive intro and one of the finer pieces of lighthearted noise I've ever heard. Next up is a worthless power electronics track from The Mark Dutroux Slideshow (who I've rightfully never heard of). Worthless, I say, because the backing noise is pretty weak and the lyrics ("Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Cunt! Fuck!" and other such ridiculous rants) are a waste of fairly strong over the top Slogun-esque vocals. Control follows with the masterful "...Without Death": Five minutes of seething, sinister death industrial undercurrents with sizzling midrange distortion and highly distorted spoken vocals. This is what fucking power electronics is all about. Superb. Beton Barrage (France) is up next with some dense distorted throbs and some of the most obscured vocals I've come across (they blend in very closely against the harsh pulsating core). Australia's DVT follows with "[FFF]", a nice piece that relies mainly on raw death industrial backing sounds with a few secluded samples and some pitch-shifted vocal assaults deep in the heart of the mix. Cutman (France) offers one of the most minimal tracks, based around a few loops and eventually breaking into some screaming vocals. I'm 50/50 on this one. I like some of the eerie noise a lot, but the piece is too one-sided, and the effects over the vocals render them almost powerless. Japanese veteran Government Alpha cranks out the loudest and most piercing track, "Scoop Out", which spans back and forth across thicker and rugged bass tones and crisp high-end stabs. I find it a little uninteresting, but it definitely makes its mark on this collection. Another French project, Mourmansk 150, drops a disappointing "power electronics" piece that sounds more like simplistic, rumbling harsh noise with really goofy vocals that sound sort of like filtered German barking or something. Thankfully Foutredieu!!! follows with a decent harsh piece that, after opening with a sample, moves over into some twisted distortion and strange ambient textures that persist for about four minutes. There might be some vocals towards the end, but it's hard to be sure. Nagasaki Fondue's second contribution is entirely forgettable harsh noise, while yet another French outfit (This is Not Red Paint) brings in the first prominent sense of percussive rhythm in the brief "Inhale, Exhale and Die". Russia's Rupor Udara's track is similar in its use of rhythm, though more musically oriented on some level, with an abstract sense of melody (soft vocals that are almost sung and some weird synth lines to boot). Next is the ever-intriguing Pine Tree State Mind Control with "Nowhere": Subtly musical distorted bass notes, percussive industrial hits, a very persistent and borderline hypnotic structure, etc. Sulphur (Australia) follows in a similar, though slightly cleaner and more ambient vein - complete with low-end drones and pulsing rhythms; and the oddly named Kryptogen Rundfunk (Russia) displays some minimal and foreboding dark ambience in the droning "Vision Reflections". By far the longest track is "Calipsia666" from Navicon Torture Technologies - opening with some whispered female vocals and shuffling musical elements (very distant). Distorted shouts gradually introduce themselves alongside a very faint hum of distortion while the carefully placed synths continue to develop in the background. Things simply fade to a close over the course of the final two minutes, and I have to say that this is one of the most impressive recordings to date from NTT. Angel of Decay (a solo project from Deathpile's Jonathan Canady) then closes the compilation with another excellent piece of dark ambient noise, with lots of absolutely immense low-end, subtle glitchy/distorted scratchings, and indecipherable vocal samples amidst some reverb and pitch-shifting. The layout's alright, keeping things minimal with clean text and a few consistent photographs of industrial landscapes that are oddly vibrant in certain colors. Inside is contact information for each project, and that's about it. There are only a couple of tracks herein that I actively dislike, and I think this is a solid underground compilation that offers up both familiar and unfamiliar names. Good work, and absolutely worth checking out for the Control and Navicon Torture Technologies contributions alone! (7/10)
Running time - 71:55, Tracks: 17
[Notable tracks: Control, DVT, Pine Tree State Mind Control, Sulphur, Navicon Torture Technologies, Angel of Decay]
Mechanoise Labs - http://www.mechanoise-labs.com

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