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Two [CS; Individual Lines]

If the Bandcamp tags “experimental,” “bang,” “scratchy,” “violin,” and “woosh” sound appealing to you, can I make a recommendation? This tape. Recommended to you, oh fan of bangy-scratchy-wooshy violin music, by your dear friend Strauss. Two, by Morgan Evans-Weiler (which obviously follows his previous effort, One), uses all those tags, and also “Boston,” which I guess is where Two was composed and recorded. But more importantly, the thing goes bang and scratch and woosh, and also bong and fritz, and *heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*, all over the damned place, much of the time with what I can distinctly tell is the musical voice of a tightly strung and well-tuned violin. (It also screeches a little.) And I know what you’re thinking. “Oh, Strauss, I know what the fuck this is. I know what this sounds like, I’ve heard it before, sure, sure, musique concrete and blah, blah…” and I’m hear to tell you that you’re wrong and shut up for a minute. Two is way too nuanced and detailed for such a foolhardy dismissal, full of very carefully planned and executed uses of dynamics and solid exploitation of the stereo field at hand, which is primarily what makes the tape overflow with wonderful ear-perking surprises. Weiler efficiently shifts from very light staccato sections that feel like pricking your arm hairs with tweezers one by one, to alternately dense and elegiac bowed drones with supersonic overtones. Side B focuses heavily on the more ear-piercingly high frequencies (maybe like six or seven of them at the top of the piece gently folding and weaving themselves atop one another with just slight variances in pitch to complete a truly excruciating exercise in listening patience) all before dropping out into a gurgling cauldron of boiling audio shrapnel. Have I sold you on this thing yet? One of the best straight-up noise tapes I’ve ever heard right here, period. Maybe yours too, if you can stand it.

Cerberus

Cerberus seeks to document the spate of home recorders and backyard labels pressing limited-run LPs, 7-inches, cassettes, and objet d’art with unique packaging and unknown sound. We love everything about the overlooked or unappreciated. If you feel you fit such a category, email us here.

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