(07.09.06) Noise albums released by Planet Mu are always something special but, apart from the widely acclaimed Making Orange Things by Venetian Snares and Speedranch, the Speedranch / Jansky Noise record and this Guilty Connector are very much underrated. Beats, Noise and Life is indeed a harsh collection of tracks, but there’s much more than a simple wall of distortions: Guilty Connector frequently opens his pieces with evocative settings, using Japanese instruments, field recordings and, most notably, gloomy beats and screaming sirens, like in the amazing “New York Shibaki Terror Conversation,” where the intro is even more terrifying than the forthcoming grinding noise assault.
“Nishi-Ogi Punk Waste” features hellish bass tones, while “Cosmic Conspiracy” deceives the listener with relaxing bells before unleashing a grinding storm, but the tension is not relieved even when there’s no noise around: “Asagaya Crystal Crypt” is a long, alien, ambient track with a sort of warped didgeridoo in the background of echoing bleeps, something so unsettling that you almost rejoice when you face the last two minutes of shrieking madness. Then, the brief interlude of “Inokashira Park Brutality” predictably introduces the most fierce track of the album, “Tonight, At All The Akacho In Your Town,” a relentless assault on your ears, before the sweeping end with the title track, built around deadly bass drones, industrial blasts and detuned sirens, a real pitch black nightmare.
I won’t recommend this record if you’re not comfortable at least with some recent digital Merzbow or some other noisy acts, but I can assure that in Beats, Noise and Life opposite moods and sonic extremes coexist to form a unique piece of art that goes beyond the basic meaning of noise.
Beats, Noise and Life is out now on Planet Mu. (Buy it at Amazon.com)
