not too long ago, blake edwards of c.i.p. asked me if there was anything that i'd be interested in reviewing for sa and i put out the names of a few projects that i'd never heard, or heard of, before, and was very pleasantly surprised when he sent me all three that i'd mentioned. here's the first of that package.

self-titled
[2000, c.i.p.]

nuisance beacon is marcelo cavallari, out of oakland. in addition to releasing music under both his name and as nuisance beacon (the first of which is this very album), marcelo also heads up the metamorphmuses production company, which encapsulates aspects of art beyond just the audio one.

rare is the occasion that i put a cd in my computer to rip and it rips with all of the id3 tags already done for me. truly, this is a remarkable sign. i can only hope that the music doesn't fail me.we start off with first cycle which begins slow moving enough, but with some noisy overtones to it. it's not a harsh kind of noise, there's just an ever present higher frequency sound above all else. the rest of the track is quite toned down. after a few minutes, there's a repetitive whirling noise that donna parker would be envious of. that fades off after a short bit, but then other repetitive sounds resurface towards the dronier/feedbackier final minutes. donna fans would certainly appreciate what marcelo's doing here. the second cycle is a meeting of the minds with blake edwards, as vertonen. it starts off beating down the same path that the first cycle ended on, namely repetitious noises, buried ambiance along with a noisier foreground. most of the track will eventually drop off into oblivion as we're left with a sirenesque wailing off in some distant alley with a fantastic combination of a colder atmosphere and excellent noise. once that section's done, there's a discordant segue that will eventually take us to the memorable closing minutes. cycle three takes the word repetitious and squeezes every last loop out of it. this is pretty much industrial strength hammering percussion, through and through. to marcelo's credit, he changes up the sound just enough (with shifts in the pitch, additions of feedback and effects) making the track's thirteen minutes listenable. though, i'm sure some would argue that point. i think it's terrific. it reminds of...ahh, i hate that when i can think of exactly what piece of music i'm reminded of, but can't summon either the artist nor the title...damn...ah ha! i'm thinking of leslie keffer's opener on the split with heart2heart, but where leslie was a bit more rhythm-aware, nuisance beacon opts for uniformity, giving the track a very factory-like sound that i'm really digging on. the final two cycles, which combine to clock in at nearly thirty-four minutes, are fine pieces of experimental noise. overall, they're less noisy than the other tracks, but it's not to a fault.

despite registering zero plays on last.fm (other than mine right now), nuisance beacon impressed the hell out of me and, given the audience, i'm sure he could impress the hell out of you as well.

First Cycle