Search - Hair & Skin Trading Company :: Jo in Nine G Hell

Wow!!

Joanna | Albany, NY United States | 12/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'll admit, I purchased this sight unseen, sound unheard, (that's how I normally introduce self to new music, anyway,) I was expecting some random metal or death metal. I can now say: this isn't really in either category.

I partially purchased it because of it's label, (Beggar's Banquet,) and it's time frame, (on the cusp of grunge,) out of curiosity. Wiki gave it the labels "drone" and "avant noise". That seems to fit. And I love it. I like Sonic Youth, (more than a whole lot,) Brian Eno, (quite a bit,) and (guiltily,) early King Crimson, so this fits nicely in with the moods and noisy rock edge of those, to some extent. I have never heard of an ensemble called "Loop" but will search that out, too. I think that one would have to be in a particular mood to throw it on, and it can partially just become background noise, "Music to Type To" or "Music to Think Hard Thoughts To." You could also drive your roomie crazy if they don't particularly care for avant-garde, monotonous, odd bits. These are not regular songs with regular lyrics, they are rock-based compositions based on sound feeds and loops, etc., with guitar and drums/rhythm, however this disc is *not* industrial, for example, they are nothing like Front 242. I'd say it was worth every penny. If you can grab it used for a few, go for it. I would also add, it's a little bit ahead of its time, say, if it were now re-packaged and re-released, it might find a (slightly) wider audience. The medieval animal painting on the cover, although interesting, has nothing to do with the music, as far as I can tell. Why four stars and not five? Because I reserve a five star designation for something that would live in my disc player or iPod for a month. I don't think I could listen to it everyday for a month, but it has a respected place in my collection."