Childish or not, one is always going to throw the words Abstract Tits into an Internet image search and see what artistic results it comes up with. Quite disappointing really but the label in question are apparently Danish and have the mission statement of releasing “contemporary music that challenges the listener.” There’s no question of them doing anything else when it comes to this duo who are also from the land of bacon and Carlsberg. The question is just how special would the brew of sounds we get on this 4 track 10” vinyl record be? Post Metal, neo-tribal and improvisation are mentioned and that’s pretty much nail on the head too so let’s put the needle on the record and see where we go…. Hold on though, what speed is it meant to be played at, lack of vocals could make it swing either way?
‘Screen Walking’ is possibly the most linear sounding song here a clattering and arty slab of noise rock which sounds as though Steve Albini has woken up from a night on the crank in the late 80’s and is slaving over his mixing desk throwing out obtuse noise. It’s discordant, angular and no doubt something that fans of bands like Botch, Keelhaul and Knut will lose their shit over. With plenty of skewed rhythm and discordant chanting anyone not into this sorta genre is likely to be searching for the headache tablets. ‘Endlessity’ is a calmer improv jam which takes a few minutes to meander without actually going anywhere and patience is definitely being tried here. Hopefully the b) side may give some definition and tie all the loose ends together?
Well nope, although chaotic ‘Bestanden’ is 2 minutes of turmoil that grinds the nerves like nails down a blackboard, could you call this a track even? It’s just a load of random noise flung together basically. Beards are stroked, hipsters no doubt think it’s just what they have been looking for but to me it sounds like the last time my washing machine went haywire and blew up. I do quite like ‘Ultraprisme’ which is an exercise in rapid-fire tribal drumming building up over the duration of the track. It sounds like it could be Congolese or something and the momentum and ever more frenzied pace takes one into a jungle running in panic from something nasty out the pages of National Geographic. Finally we have ‘Driftwood’ which unsurprisingly drifts crafting random textures which go nowhere. After the last track it’s akin to watching paint drying unfortunately.
Label mission achievement unlocked, perhaps someone out there likes this but it’s just too abstract and directionless for these ears I’m afraid.
(5/10 Pete Woods)
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