by SL Makita
The reviews are short. I’m only trying to get out the facts. Who it is. What it is. How to get it. Too many reviewers kick in their own opinions…and they are usually writers with delusions of being someone they are not. Who is to say my opinion is right? Who am I to judge someone’s art?
SKIN GRAFT “Blackout” LP // Tusco Embassy
www.tuscoembassy.net
Blackout is everything you could want and more from a Midwest blue collar noise unit. Skin Graft (a.k.a. – Wyatt Howland) pushes the boundaries of entertainment and pain during lives shows as well as on recordings. To me this record is very much like 80s power electronics – brutal low-end rumbles with highs that peak and hold at the perfect moment. Hunt this record down my friends.
EMERALDS “Solar Bridge” LP // Hanson Records
www.hansonrecords.net
With “Solar Bridge”, the Emeralds are on another journey through space and time in search of new worlds to inhabit and overthrow. This 2 track, solar-blue vinyl platter is layered with both synths and guitars. The guitar tone on this record is beyond amazing…amid Brilliant well executed and constructed walls of droning sound. You know who the Emeralds are, you know what they do, so let yourself be carried away on their electronic drone quest.
WINDSCALE “Self-Titled” Cassette // Actual Noise
www.actualnoise.net
It’s all here – insane frequencies, vicious bass driven low-ends, vocals that demand you, the listener, to pay attention and decipher what is being said/yelled (like a criminal profiler). Windscale is the powerful thought provoking project of Jim Fellahean and Andrew Nolan -there isn’t anything that can stop these two…not even miles of distance, lakes and border patrol agents. This U.S./Canada team are unstoppable.
QUELL “Self-Titled” 3-inch CD // Fellacoustic Records
www.fellacoustic.com
The sounds on this CD are extremely powerful and sadistic, love it or hate it – that’s power electronics! The lyrical content is in-your- face and presented that way…to disarm even the most hardened personality. The CD is packaged in a zine-styled booklet that has pictures of minority oppression, humiliation and abuse. If you are easily offended, then Quell may be an unwanted challenge for you. This CD walks the line and at times crosses it, but again – if you don’t like it, don’t listen – it’s that easy.
If you would like your noise/sound art/power electronics/weirdo band reviewed in the pages of Pink Eye send me a copy of whatever it is on any format. I will never criticize your work. I will only report what I hear, it’s your art, your creation – who am I to say if it’s good or bad?
Inner Ear Infection
slmakita@vzw.blackberry.net
PO Box 360811, Strongsville,Ohio 44136
