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Review: A Fail Association, These Are the Rains of Our Yearning (Monorail Trespassing, 2005)

Look out for two scorching tracks of blazing harsh noise on this one, which is what I tend to expect from A Fail Association. "Give, Part II" takes side A and blows through several waves of chaotic distortion, settling on a few more subdued loops for brief spurts in the process, and it's actually some of these "breathers" that allow things to get more interesting as low-end swells creep in underneath before things shift back over into quick fits of feedback wails and totally frantic bursts of all over the place harsh attacks. Side B sees "Desire (A Play in One Act)" taking a more stripped down path with one searing wail of feedback that twists and turns throughout the core of the composition, getting louder and more caustic at times, but remaining fairly thin in terms of overall layering and such. The tape comes in a standard case with a simple xeroxed image of a window on gray paper. Simple yet effective. I have to say, though, I really like the title of this cassette a lot, and along with the line "Gone is the fever of spring." on the inside cover, it's cool there are some suggestions in place for this material. I know I've said it before, but all too often harsh noise artists just unloads heaps and heaps and crazy distortion, and it can all seem senseless without any touch of artistry to it, and A Fail Association is one of those projects that's really starting to push for a little something more in terms of offering little hints for the listener to build interpretations from, and I really appreciate that. I've heard better from A Fail Association in the past, but there are still cool moments here, and the little things do count. This one's limited to just 50 copies, so if the fanatics haven't already scooped 'em up you might still have time.

[Monorail Trespassing]
Running time - 20:00 (approximately), Tracks: 2
[Notable tracks: they're both about even for me]
Monorail Trespassing - http://www.monorailtrespassing.com