cut throat rogues
[2007, fish pies]

loachfillet is a part of the audio / visual brutal sfx umbrella, also collaborating with sharkiface in pigs in the ground and frothfingers as pod blotz (amongst other projects). i have new stuff by both of those projects that will probably not be new by the time i get around to reviewing them. fish pies is also loachfillet's label. speaking of which, i really like the packaging / artwork for this. there's a nice acetate jacket, adorned with morbid drawings, and then inside of that are some of a rusty, mechanical nature. symbolic? eh, not so much, but it is nice to look at.
the mood here may not be sunshine and lollipops, but what cut throat rogues lacks in amity, it tries to make up for in depth. one of the things that i like the most about the bay area's experimental noise scene is that it's very unique. sure, there's guys like xome and tralphaz who are just straight up harsh (and great at what they do), but then there's the more adventurous side which loachfillet's immersed in. tracks like ectoparasites and (opener) garbage repellent show that dissonance isn't too far from his heart, but they won't insult your discerning taste in music (or noise) by sounding exactly like everybody else.

this isn't a noise album, by classic standards (i.e. abrasive, hard to listen to, etc.) and, again, i'll reiterate the mood. the remaining eleven tracks will share their focus between subtler soundscapes (noosphere, dromids, endoparasites, cartoon smash-up) and more daunting ones, of which two main works stick out: bleached skeleton hunt and finger basket disposal. the former relies on the chilling combination of horror film drones, echoing clamor and unnerving background noises. spooky, but awesome. the latter isn't as cinematic but features a thunderous noise which is loud and jarring as hell, and that occurs over the top of what i'm guessing are audio manipulations, but it sounds more like a swarm of birds. the final component to this cd are the anomalies (landlocked, cut throat rogues, worm cyst remover, the unlisted final track) which don't quite fall in line with any of the other sonic themes. i dig them, too, especially the title track and worm cyst remover, but i enjoy loachfillet the most when he dabbles in the creepy atmospherics, which these thirty-five minutes aren't short on.
for those of you who are fairly acquainted with the bsfx sound, you won't be disappointed, but while some artists and groups in the collective take a tongue-in-cheek approach to serious music, that's not happening here. ultimately, cut throat rogues is a very enjoyable journey towards certain doom.

Bleached Skeleton Hunt

Loachfillet soundtracking Ray Harryhausen's The Story of Little Red Riding Hood (1949), live September 29, 2007 @ Other Cinema, San Francisco.