LOAD Records Doubleshot Special
Hetero Skeleton's En la Sombra del Pajaro elludo and White Mice's Blassstphlegmeice
I've held the bizarre honor of working with LOAD Records for almost two or three years now, and what a ride it has been! Utterly beyond the mainstream, the label sporadically sends me packages of their new releases, all of which are surprises wrapped in the guise of alternative art. Like it or love it, I never know what to expect, and that in-and-of itself is something special. With 2007 having seen the release of LOAD's first batch of new printings, I'm especially pleased to say that some of the best stuff I've heard off the label in ages (save the USAISAMONSTER, Lightning Bolt, and to a lesser extent Prurient stuff) has made its way to my mailbox and that I've got quite the interesting task in describing the discs in front of me. Despite the daunting challenge, I'll try my best, and here goes:
First up is Hetero Skeleton with their mind-warping En la Sombra del Pajaro elludo disc. Describing themselves rather obtusely as "Perez Prado at the Gates of Hell," what this sound like to my ears is an impressive mix of Latin free-jazz, stumbling noise-rawk, the cartoonish violence of later Fantomas, and the general "f*** you" mentality of the 1970's punk movement in England. The nine songs here each form a part of some greater, cohesive whole, with the first three parts being the "La Oracion del Muerte" trilogy and the rest of the songs forming a chapter known as "El Serpente del Amor." While these Spanish phrases ("The Oration of Death" and "The Serpent of Love" respectively) might suggest a band out of the Latin American nations or Spain itself, the group actually hails from Finland of all places and features members of local noise outfit Avarus in its ranks! As far as LOAD music goes, this is exactly what I'd like to hear---legitimately strange and/or unusual music that is still heavy, insane, and structural. I can't emphasize that last adjective enough, as LOAD often signs bands that throw together seemingly random spatches of garish noise and label it as music---in stark reality, nothing can be further from the truth. Regardless, these guys know how to take seemingly separate elements and combine them into a cohesive (dare I say sadistically fun?) whole. I never thought I'd see the day when jumbled blastbeats, distortion howls, tortured saxophone, garbled Latin radio addresses, and sickening vokills could form a unified musical entity, but here it is. En la Sombra del Pajaro elludo might be stranger than an episode of Lost watched after consuming large helpings of crystal meth, bu I assure you it is every bit as abnormal and entertaining. I'd check this out if I were in the mood for something extremely far off from the beaten path.
Next to the plate we have long-time LOAD auteurs White Mice. The music on here is a fusion of buzzing noise, crushing sludge, and sickening depravity. Bleak and hostile, the songs are almost always anchored by trance-inducing percussion and dank, putrid guitars which cling to you like globs of snot. The amount of sonic stomp here is pretty incredible, and this is probably the heaviest yet most accessible artist on LOAD I've yet to hear besides Lightning Bolt. The songs have grim titles ("Foetal Castro" anyone?) and generally reflect an abject nihilism not readily found in noise-related bands....the disgusting filth this band seems to be wrapped in owes as much to Buzz*oven as it does to Prurient. Crude, rude, and raw, many of the songs feature hair-raising samples (check the screeching rodents and screaming woman on "Catasstastetrophy") which set the stage for musical techniques as varied as blastbeats, grinding guitars, jangling piano keys, and lord knows what else. Blassstplegmeice is quite the wild ride and could conceivably appeal to anyone as it is has that Fantomas/Faith No More level of absurd hookiness to it. Weird as f***, but I promise it will stick with you for a long time after hearing it.
Both discs are out now on LOAD and offer an excellent introduction to the best of what the label has to offer. Hetero Skeleton's droning, apocalyptic rumbas range from the exotic to the destructive, and are a musical abnomaly worth exploring for the novelty of it all. White Mice meanwhile are getting pretty damn good at their genre (a sort of shot-in-the-cranium noise that stutters between sludge and grind) and have another strong release under their belts with Blassstphlegmeice. To close, both are fine editions to the LOAD catalogs and will be impressing the underground for some time to come. Hetero Skeleton's En la Sombra del Pajaro elludo
1.) La Oracion del Muerte Pt. 1
2.) La Oracion del Muerte Pt. 2
3.) La Oracion del Muerte Pt. 3
4.) El Serpente del Amor, Pt. 4
5.) El Serpente del Amor, Pt. 5
6.) El Serpente del Amor, Pt. 6
7.) El Serpente del Amor, Pt. 7
8.) El Serpente del Amor, Pt. 8
9.) El Serpente del Amor, Pt. 0 Final Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. Check 'em out at www.myspace.com/heteroskeleton White Mice's Blassstphlegmeice
1.) Blassstphlegmeice
2.) Dieabeasstitty
3.) Caged Mearachells
4.) Catasstastetrophy
5.) Foetal Castro
6.) Wrawblow
7.) Violence of the Lamb
8.) Porn Again
9.) Hole (Sweet) Hole
10.) Mousestassh Ride
11.) Turban Sprawl
12.) Rattardead
13.) Sewercide Final Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. Check 'em out at www.myspace.com/whitemice
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