Annna - Kwiat Paproci [Somnolent Shelter Records - 2013]Somnolent Shelter Records presents Kwiat Paproci, a full-length CD by Annna. I couldn’t really find any information on this act other than Annna seemingly hails Poland. Annna plays some crushing harsh, hyper fast cut-up noise that eerily sounds like another Polish act I gave effusive praise earlier this year called Sleep Sessions. It makes me wonder if it’s the same gent that does that project (and more recently Purgist) or if it’s just the Polish waters. Kwiat Paproci delivers a feral assault of jarring, harsh kinetic noise. If I had to sum up this album in 2 words it would be “H-O-L-Y F-U-C-K!” Right out the gates and it’s on as Annna pummels your senses through 12 tracks (and 3 hidden tracks) of unrelenting sonic warfare. Take a deep breath because you won’t be surfacing for air anytime soon. From start to finish it’s a ubiquitous maelstrom of static wash, crackle and crumble, sonic blasts, stuttering synth, quick stops and starts, high-end to low-end feedback, samples, machine gun juddering, glitchy bits, laser-like whizzes and whirs, explosive dive bombs, and many other crushing tactics. If you can approximate the sounds of continuous car crash collisions mixed with the sounds of a wartime battlefield, you’ve got Kwiat Paproci. I don’t mean that as a slight, Anna is just that damn brutal. Even for someone acclimated to the harsh noise environment, I felt pretty wasted after the continuous punishment. If 12 tracks wasn’t enough audio pain, no fear! There are 3 more track that commence after the proper album ends. As the tracks tick away, 30, 31, 32, 33….we get a brief respite. Then as track 97 clicks on, the ride begins once again. Track 97 (“untitled” for all intents and purposes) is actually the one departure from the core cut-up noise present on Kwiat Paproci. In it’s 6+ minute duration, track 97 is actually a bit on the droney side of the equation with fluctuating feedback. Though this could just be meant as a long intro to the final 2 tracks, which reverts back to the high-speed cut-up formula of the rest of the album. The final track #99, mixes in some old-school cartoon music (sounds like something from Mickey Mouse’s Steamboat Willie or another toon tune from that era) along with the furious noise collage.
I have to say, while I didn’t initially gravitate toward cut-up sounds early on in my discovery of noise, it’s quickly becoming my favorite noise sub-genre. If you’re into artists like Sleep Sessions, K2, and Developer, then Kwiat Paproci is another worthy cut-up album to add to your collection. Recommended to appease the sonic masochist in all of us Hal Harmon
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