Friday, January 9, 2009

Deeded To Itself: Athens Southernoise | Thor's Rubber Hammer comp.


Interesting and not so much of the same-ole, same ole noise. Many times artists can't escape the influences of location, history and legacy, thus this comp, from the Athens, Ga. scene has quite a southern feel to it. I know that sounds really weird when talking about noise, but it makes this a unique one for sure. Here's a review I wrote a while back on RYM.

"Athens, Georgia has a long history of experimental/noise music. . wait a minute, no they don't. When you think of Athens you actually think of bands like, uh that one band, I can't remember their name, you know the one I'm talking about, as well as groups like Pylon, and the B-52's. You think of Herschel Walker and the Bulldogs. You think of Coca-Cola. Well, that's Atlanta, but close enough. One thing you don't think of is Athens being a hotbed of experimental noise music. This disc changed all that for me. A hybrid steaming stew of diverse noise groups show us how it's done down south; and by god it's a dead reckoning.

Deeded To Itself, such a great name for this release because it has such a definite Faulknerian southern feel, is an amalgamation of experimental groups put together by Thor's Rubber Hammer productions out of Washington D.C. The disc begins with the blues-noise/free-jazz front porch psych freakout PoemX by Altruizine, which includes complimentary banjo jamming. They somehow pull this off. Furthering the cause and selling you immense amounts of caffeinated noise are the Orthopedics and Killick with some straightforward sonic destruction not unlike a whirligig going berzerk in a tornado and pigs fucking in the mud, all field recorded, looped, analized and refed.

Long Legged Woman continue the marketing ploy with their splendid rendition of It's the End of the World (And We Didn't Know It), which as you might suspect, sounds nothing like the original, but a bit more surreal. Sorry, there's no lyrics here per se', so you can't try to sing along with it. Sailor Winters grasp string theory while Chartruese bring the drone to the boardroom to level the playing field. Finalizing the disc are Garbage Island with some straight-forward noise, Better People with some peculiar vox and percussion forays, and Telenovela with an introspective strum-bliss, flute fantasy that is distinct from the rest of the disc, and provides an appeasing fruition.

Fabrication from a unique setting results in a diverse set of songs/pieces to crank on a Sunday afternoon while enjoying a mint julep or a hard drug of your choice."

get ya' some of this deep south racket.

TRH also has another comp out which has some bigger names on it. Buy it here.

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