Sissy Spacek - Wreck [Phage Tapes - 2013]Wreck sees this electro-fired-grindcore, come cut-up noise, come avant noisy jazz, come electro acoustic noise project focusing in on slight more lengthy & dense sonic attacks. The Sissy Spacek project is centred around respected Los Angeles based harsh noise artists John Wise, and fellow noise-maker Corydon Ronnau. The project started at some point in 1999, moving on from purely grindcore venture onto a original & often channelling noise project, which touched down in most sides of the noise genre along with detours in improv, jazz, and unsettling stripped-back mood making. With each new releases the pair have brought in new collaborators from the noise underground, extreme improv scenes, and beyond- so each release has often it’s own distinctive set of players…Wreck’s six tracks bring together a fairly paired down(compared with some of their releases) line-up of just four players: John Wise, Corydon Ronnau, Phil Blakenship( of legendary horror harsh noise project The Cherry Point), and Metal/grindcore/punk/noisecore drummer & noisemaker Charlie Mumma.
In the past the projects releases have often featured very short ‘n’ brief tracks, which have focused in on a rapid & often extreme cut-up sonic attack…with mostly the tracks falling between a few seconds up to a few mintues. The six tracks on offer here last between three & near on eight minute mark, making these some of the longer works the project has ever attempted. Along with the longer running time the six tracks featured here have a sound that is a lot denser & often sustained compared with much of this projects back-catalogue. And at times the sound/textures moves towards almost HNW overloads, but really it never says ‘wall’ like for long as the sound is a constantly shifting mass of: pummelling ‘n’ searing improv layers, forking feedback, manic & bone battering cut-up percussion, layers of dense electro noise, roasting cut-up sways of guitar ‘n’ bass tone, and pile-ups of ranted/ bayed vocals. I guess as Sissy Spacek releases go this one is less jarring & experimental in it’s attack, as the focuses here is on a more formal ‘n’ dense harsh noise sound. But with-in the searing ‘n’ shifting thick currents of noise/sound there are lots of rewarding & clever textural details that reveal them selves over multiple listens. So in summing I’d say don’t expect this to attack-your-sonic-senses & impress on first few listening, as “Wreck” is very much of a grower….but given time & effort you’ll find there’s much here to satisfying both long time & new fans of Sissy Spacek distinctive brand of noisy chaos. Roger Batty
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