Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Josh Lay - Serotonin Haze [Nil By Mouth - 2008]

I’ve enjoyed what little Josh Lay stuff I’ve heard in the past & appreciated his quite distinctive mix of: noise matter, unhinged ambience, black metal bays & unhinged gruff/ demonic voclising. But I’ve never felt fully satisfied with any full release as they've often felt a bit hit ‘n’ miss from track to track & the intensity/ insanity of the sound often seemed to waver somewhat. But with ‘Serotonin Haze’ he seems to have got everything near perfect in it’s attack, consistency of atmosphere & general grim displeasure.

On offer here are two sides of C30 tape with a single long track on each side of tape. On side one we have the title track which simmers into life with a grim, pained & sickly analogue feed back caustic ambient tone to which pretty soon is added Mr Lays pained & unhinged blacked moans. With-in a few minutes of this Lay opens up a thicker more nasty low-fi electro purr ‘n’ juddering wall of sound with even more hellish & deranged vocals on top & ill at easy feed-back singers/ risers. The rest of the track finds Lay really building one hell of an unpleasant, harrowing & truly unnerving track that’s built around grim, cold & punishing analogue drones, sickly feed back whines & the odd almost inhuman sounding blacked vocal dischargers & bays appearing like very real demon chatter over the brooding & sickly sonic base.

Side two takes in a track called ‘Human Withdrawl’ & this is made up of a very low-fi & fuzzed atmospheric dark harmonic synth trail that sounds like the slowed soundtrack to some sleazed 80’s horror film that’s been left to decay on a twenty plus year tape- the is sound juddering in & out of tone or sonic focus,  as well as wavering with discordance, deep airless muffle & feedback smarts. Lay really builds a very terrifying & sleazy slice of sonic displeasure from such a simple & creepy set of synth lines, but it’s all about the inspired & grim way he effects & alters the tracks throb & prime evil dwell that makes it som grimly specail . Later on vocals appear, but there in a much more subtle manner than the first side- there like distant guttural moans or chilling gruff madman rants heard as if from a distance away. It really is a very spellbindly creepy & sleazy track from beginning to end.

Both sides of ‘Serotonin Haze’ are highly effective in creating a very distinctive grim, sleazy & unhinged atmosphere that leaves you disturbed, creeped-out & more than a little twitchy when the tape finally comes to the end of the secound side.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Josh Lay - Serotonin Haze
I’ve enjoyed what little Josh Lay stuff I’ve heard in the past & appreciated his quite distinctive mix of: noise matter, unhinged ambience, black metal b...
240424   Koobaatoo Asparagus - Onna-musha
240424   Magda - And Suddenly, Just L...
230424   Andrea Taeggi - Nattdett
230424   Seedpeople - SeedPeople(Blu Ray)
220424   Shiver - Shiver Meets Matthew...
220424   Elegant Beast - Elegant Beast...
190424   Zachary James Watkins - Affir...
180424   Ulvtharm - 7 Uthras
180424   The Bad Shepherd - The Bad Sh...
180424   Impulse - Impulse( Blu Ray)
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom