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Bastard Noise, "Live at Babycastles", Bastard Noise/Government Alpha/Hiroshi Hasegawa, "Uncertainty Principle"
Bastard Noise was not as prolific in 2014 as previous years, with only a handful of releases appearing. From that handful, these two are very different in their respective approaches, with Live at Babycastles consisting of a single long-form piece recorded by the duo of Anthony Saunders and Eric Wood, and Uncertainty Principle being two short pieces in collaboration with two well known Japanese artists. The sound, however, stays consistent: a subtle, at times ambient series of sounds that manage to get very noisy, but never lose their direction.
Small Doses/RSM/Skull
The opening minutes of "Alien Mother Nest/Space Graves" from Babycastles are surprisingly hushed.Quiet, slow flanging tones are eventually mixed with very low frequency bass, almost below the range of human hearing.Bits of laser gun synth noise and subtle feedback drift in, but held at the same quiet volume.Things stay pretty calm until the duo crank the volume up, bringing in a passage that sounds like strings from the Psycho soundtrack stretched out into infinity.
Even as the volume builds, the performance by Saunders and Wood is more electro acoustic avant garde than harsh noise in nature.The near forty minute performance is an exercise in restraint, keeping the noise part of the project name to a minimum until the closing minutes.Even at the conclusion, when the distortion knobs are cranked up, the mix is kept controlled enough that the sound is never lost in a storm of white noise.
samples:
- Alien Mother Nest/Space Graves (Excerpt 1)
- Alien Mother Nest/Space Graves (Excerpt 2)
- Alien Mother Nest/Space Graves (Excerpt 3)
The 7" single of Uncertainty Principle, however, has Bastard Noise working with two legendary Japanese artists known for anything but their subtleness.With BN, however, each piece sounds exactly as it should:a blending of both artists.On "The Confusion Age," with Hiroshi Hasegawa (Astro, CCCC), Hasegawa’s spacy, psychedelic electronics are cut up to act as climaxes that are built up to, rather than a massive wall of noise.Taking a slow pace, the artists pair open, expansive moments with harsh noise outbursts, but in a very composed way, peppered with almost grindcore vocals.
"A Diabolical Journey," with Government Alpha (Yasutoshi Yashida) has a similar sound, but even slower and full of screechy, squelchy noises.Guttural vocals appear here too, painfully delivering the lyrics at a snail’s pace.BN and GA mix the harsher, distorted bits with bassy surges and ambient electronics, to create a significant amount of shifting and varying dynamics within the confines of a single piece.
Even though they have the word in their name, Bastard Noise do not choose to sit squarely in the harsh noise realm as many would expect.They may use some of the same sounds and strategies, but their work, especially on these two releases, strikes me as something much more composed and organized.There is nothing here that resembles that critique that noise is nothing but distortion and squall.
samples:
 
