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Rei Rea, "Food For The Worms"
A reissue of a previously limited self-released cassette, the newest release from Christian Dubé is as uplifting as its title. While it might be (extremely) dark, it is also an exceptionally well done melding of clattering rhythms and harsh electronics dissonance that clearly pays homage to the two genres’ innovators, but the sound is anything but a direct copy.
Dubé’s employment of percussion, at times sounding like processed drum machine, at others improvised metal banging, results in the most memorable pieces on this tape.The stylistic nature of these rhythm based pieces resulted in them being my favorites, reminding me of music I grew up with while still being fresh.For example:the heavily processed, big crashing rhythms of "War Rat" result in a brilliant blend of compelling rhythms and sinister bass sounds that have an obvious song-like structure, but have a far less conventional sound.
On the other side of the cassette, "Garry Membrain" features lo-fi hyper-kinetic drum programming and more overt, untreated keyboard sounds.Even amongst the others on this tape, this is one of the peak aggressive and creepy moments, with the second half loosing the otherwise taut structure of the piece and instead allowing it to sprawl out wonderfully.
The other style that Rei Rea heavily draws from, harsh electronics, appears on the album via passages of loud electronic noise and unrecognizable, harsh vocals.The aforementioned "War Rat" features what I assume is his voice, but processed and unintelligible to end up sounding more like any other instrument.Voices also appear on the clang-heavy "Torture Well," which sounds like Dubé playing a bass guitar as a percussion instrument in lieu of traditional rhythms.With the sampled screams and free form, deafening drone that concludes the piece, I felt hints of the earliest (and best) Dissecting Table coming out of the song.
The two concluding pieces are less forceful, instead having a dreary, rhythmless throb to them."Giant" sounds as if it is constructed from a droning cello or synth string passage, run through a wide variety of delay effects.While the elements may be basic, Dubé does quite a bit with them and the whole is certainly greater than the sum of its parts.The final "Scoff" follows a similar blueprint, being heavily steeped in expansive strings.Here the low end frequencies are emphasized and layered, resulting in a rich, thick piece that has just the right level of eerie.
Between the stiff, inorganic sounding drums, overdriven synths and indecipherable vocals, Rei Rea's influences are recognizable, yet he never even comes close to direct emulation.Food for the Worms is bleak, depressing, and harsh, and does those themes exceptionally well, embracing just the right level of terror without crossing into self-parody.As everything I have heard from him, Food For the Worms is another exceptionally strong piece of music.
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