The Girl With The Stanley Knife - Dark Feed [Ink Runs Recordings - 2014]Ink Runs Recordings presents Dark Feed, the 2nd release by French noise project The Girl With The Stanley Knife. For those unfamiliar, TGWTSK is one Charlotte Skrobek (wife of label-runner and noisician Julien Skrobek) who utilizes contact mics as her weapon of choice. Dark Feed is a live recording presented on a 3” CD-R. The art on this little bugger is very reminiscent of something you’d see on a Rainbow Bridge release. Xeroxed black line work on blue colored paper. It kind of looks like a bleeding floral pattern to me. It comes with an additional insert on tan colored paper with the usual release information. The disc itself has no art or markings, making it easy to identify….not. Onto the content. The single track on the disc “Dark Feed” runs 15:30 and can best be described as wallish harsh noise. It’s not quite static enough for me to call a straight up HNW release, though it maintains enough steadiness for me to call wall-esque. Through 15+ minutes Skorbek lays down a lo-fi, low end rumble...the wall for all intents and purposes, which lasts the near entirety of the track. It’s a relentless punchy rough n’ tumble, that sounds really scummy and muffled. As the rumble drones on, you can hear some contact action running concurrently making all sorts of squealing, squelchy sounds. The track pretty much maintains that direction throughout its course, with the exception of some high feedback that begins and ends the track. I have to admit I’m a little ambivalent towards this little disc. While the noise is performed competently enough, it overall sounds somewhat unremarkable. And while I can’t really fault anything in particular on Dark Feed, there’s not enough nuance that sets it apart from the myriad of countless other acts toiling in the harsh noise underground. It is a live recording, which I’ll admit usually isn’t the best way to be introduced to an artist. So given that fact, I’d be willing to give this act another chance down the road. Hal Harmon
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