Circle Six - Struktur Sets

Artist: Circle Six
Release: Struktur Sets
Label: Annuit Coeptis
Year: 2006
Format: CDr
Tracks: 8
TRT: 53:45

The first release from Circle Six and my first taste of his noise as well. This disc is defiantly a great beginning to hearing his noise as it ranges fairly well from track to track. There are 8 tracks all titled as a Struktur Set from 1-8, but not in numerical order.

Track 1, Struktur (Set 6), begins the CDr as a great ambient loop and then after about 2:30 we begin to hear some glitch patterns slowly come into play. It’s a very well produced track and a great opener as it sets the tone for the rest of the disc. It actually reminds me of some Lesser noise from a few years back.

The release is a great mix of ambient, glitch and at times it can get fairly noisy in terms of the level blasting out of your stereo. Tracks begin quiet as subtle layers increase and fade as the track progresses. Struktur (Set 8), track 3, is a good example of a spacey ambient onslaught of noise. I really like this track a lot and it fades into the next one, Set 3, nicely done as well. Total alien creep noise and it builds up so well, kinda scary too. Struktur (Set 5), track 7, is probably the most experimental glitch track and actually has some great sounds, including Tim Curry from IT having his vocal sample "Don’t you want it?" all mess up, love it.

This is truly a great opening act for Circle Six and I look forward to more. The package is a stenciled CDr in a vinyl slimcase with some good looking textures for the art, brick maybe? Nicely done overall.

Robotic Daly, Eraritjaritjaka, Rotted Brain - Debutantes

Artist: Robotic Daly, Eraritjaritjaka, Rotted Brain
Release: Debutantes
Label: Alienated Hominid Recordings
Year: 2006
Format: CDr
Tracks: 13 (3-9-2)
TRT: 45:41

A 3-way split featuring 3 artists that my ears are getting a first taste of. The packing is a slimcase with a glued picture on the back and an insert of an Indian wedding it looks like. Gross. The CDr is nicely spray painted with a bloody looking red.
Robotic Daly offers up 3 harsh-ass wall noise tracks with some fairly nice textures. I did not get bored listening to these tracks as something was always going on in the background. Fan of Vomir or The Rita? Check out more Robotic Daly as it’s a similar experience. Great pedal abuse.
Eraritjaritjaka, say that 3 times fast, offers 9 tracks of some fucked up noise. Can’t really tell what the hell he’s doing at times and there is a great range of noise levels and experimentation between the tracks. Most of the tracks are fairly short, under 1 minute, and I think it works for this release. There is also a live 5-minute track that is my favorite from this set of his. After hearing 3 harsh tracks I needed something different and this artist gave me that. Good bridge leading towards Rotted Brain.
The last artist of this 3-way is Rotted Brain, and he pulls out 2 blisters with some great layered noise. Lots of high pitches, low scraps, hisses, and brutal vocal noise going on. A good mix and it finishes off the 3-way nicely. The last track is especially good with just the types of sounds I was expecting from Rotted Brain. Kind of a wall hiss noise track with subtle layers deep within the wall. Listen closely. I’m a big fan of 3-way splits as it gives the listener a good chance to here what the artists is all about and possible purchase more single releases from those artists…which in my case, I will.

Kenji Siratori - Kill All Machines: Noise Mantra

Artist: Kenji Siratori
Release: Kill All Machines: Noise Mantra
Label: Medusa Head Records
Year: 2006
Format: CDr
Tracks: 10
TRT: 32:55

Does Kenji know something we don’t? Does he believe he’s leaving this planet soon? With the rate of his output one would think so. He has released a vast amount of CD’s and CDr’s since Oct, 2006 that one can’t keep up. This is my first listen to the Kenji experience and I have mixed feelings about this release.
There are 10 tracks, all titled Mantra 1-10, and it’s a fairly short release clocking in at just under 33 minutes. Kenji creates a distorted spoken word speech on each track and they are all recorded very loudly. Each track features a subtle layer of noise that’s just audible only when Kenji pauses for a breath. While listening to this release I really tried hard to hear the noise more than the vocals, but it was pretty difficult to do so. Mantra 3 and 10 have some great noise and I’d wish Kenji had left a couple tracks as "instrumental" as I think he has some talent in experimentation, we just don’t get to here much of it over his booming voice. But I guess it’s a spoken word release it’s just not as effective as others I’ve heard.
Lucky for us though we have one of the best DIY labels releasing this and lyrics are actually provided for us Westerners. The whole package is really quite beautiful. Pure white CD case with a pure white CDr and a 16 page white booklet as well. I’d be curious to hear more Kenji material but with such a vast amount coming out of nowhere in a short time, where do I begin?