Monday, May 04, 2009
hunting rituals
brooding forest c20
[2008, myiasis tapes]
on the last (housecraft) hunting rituals cassette, i mentioned that i wasn't so sure that it was just scott by himself, well, this time i know it's not just him as brooding forest sees jeremy buchan included in the fold. now, if you're keeping score at home, that means that hunting rituals, at least in this instance, are more fossils (with two former members out of three total) than fossils. david payne keeps on keepin' on, though.
brooding forest opens with ringing metallic sounds, rhythmic stomping in the forefront along with slowly wavering high-pitched whines, though, that will all change after a couple of minutes. from there, this duo take a turn towards shrill screeching and howling, with occasional moments of instrumental quasi-clarity (i think i heard guitar strings in there)... one thing's for certain though, whatever they're using, they sure as hell aren't playing as was originally intended since this is awash with harsh tones that seem to cry out from all angles. it's even more assaultive considering that this is essentially the sum of what they're doing (though, there's also some lower moaning which is sporadically interspersed). there won't be too much around to divert your attention away from the noise for a few more minutes, but when they do get to that point, they kindly provide us with a foundation consisting of, what's tantamount to, a distorted muffle in the tape, occurring in periodic intervals. i find that this creates a great, albeit vague and off-kilter, rhythmic quality. hunting rituals also balance out the stridence with an emphasis on layers of quivering, faintly undulating, and noisy, droning.
i'm greatly appreciative for the listing of their instrumentation on the insert, because, when i have to guess, i'm fairly certain that i'm wrong 99% of the time... and yet, that doesn't stop me from doing it. in addition to them spelling out what they were doing, there's also a pervasive calmness in the onset of the second side, which makes the instruments easier to recognize, in this case, that would be easy mannered horn blows along with jeremy's clarinet. when johnson's wonderful melody drops off, shortly after three minutes, the clarinet reverts back to the wild squealing that permeated most of side a. that will be joined solely, for the most part, by a loop of slow, rumbling clamor. when buchan's dissonance passes, the horns will make their return, though their tone isn't quite as welcoming as it was, more like warning; however, what they were making us look out for, turns out to be a dramatic shift, right after seven minutes... all of a sudden brooding forest becomes the scene of a psychedelic tribal jam (super brief, as far as jams go), replete with an upbeat, though simplistic, drum beat, as well as slowed down vocal chanting and intoning. it's too upbeat to be evil, but too fucking weird to not be. i dunno, man, for some reason this reminds me of an (experimental) musical tribute to the peyote scene from young guns. i think it's because of the sound of the vocals. anyway, rad shit, for sure.
like i've said previously, and will continue to do until i come across something that isn't good, i haven't heard anything from hunting rituals that i wouldn't recommend. that being said, i've enjoyed the last couple of tapes most of all; the memorable melodic aspects and the unexpected twists have been fantastic, and keep me looking forward to what scott's going to do next, which is refreshing, to say the least.
only thirty copies of this were released, so i doubt that there's many more left. all gone, but....
update (5/6): apparently i'm not the only one to take notice of how awesome this tape is as it's getting a second life as a ten inch on ecstatic peace! i'm inclined to think that it's fairly uncommon for a tape to get reissued on vinyl and especially rare when said cassette was put out in such an intimate run, so that's interesting news. i believe that this is impending, with no concrete release date as of yet.
Brooding Forest Side A excerpt (from 0:00 to 4:27)
[2008, myiasis tapes]
on the last (housecraft) hunting rituals cassette, i mentioned that i wasn't so sure that it was just scott by himself, well, this time i know it's not just him as brooding forest sees jeremy buchan included in the fold. now, if you're keeping score at home, that means that hunting rituals, at least in this instance, are more fossils (with two former members out of three total) than fossils. david payne keeps on keepin' on, though.
brooding forest opens with ringing metallic sounds, rhythmic stomping in the forefront along with slowly wavering high-pitched whines, though, that will all change after a couple of minutes. from there, this duo take a turn towards shrill screeching and howling, with occasional moments of instrumental quasi-clarity (i think i heard guitar strings in there)... one thing's for certain though, whatever they're using, they sure as hell aren't playing as was originally intended since this is awash with harsh tones that seem to cry out from all angles. it's even more assaultive considering that this is essentially the sum of what they're doing (though, there's also some lower moaning which is sporadically interspersed). there won't be too much around to divert your attention away from the noise for a few more minutes, but when they do get to that point, they kindly provide us with a foundation consisting of, what's tantamount to, a distorted muffle in the tape, occurring in periodic intervals. i find that this creates a great, albeit vague and off-kilter, rhythmic quality. hunting rituals also balance out the stridence with an emphasis on layers of quivering, faintly undulating, and noisy, droning.
i'm greatly appreciative for the listing of their instrumentation on the insert, because, when i have to guess, i'm fairly certain that i'm wrong 99% of the time... and yet, that doesn't stop me from doing it. in addition to them spelling out what they were doing, there's also a pervasive calmness in the onset of the second side, which makes the instruments easier to recognize, in this case, that would be easy mannered horn blows along with jeremy's clarinet. when johnson's wonderful melody drops off, shortly after three minutes, the clarinet reverts back to the wild squealing that permeated most of side a. that will be joined solely, for the most part, by a loop of slow, rumbling clamor. when buchan's dissonance passes, the horns will make their return, though their tone isn't quite as welcoming as it was, more like warning; however, what they were making us look out for, turns out to be a dramatic shift, right after seven minutes... all of a sudden brooding forest becomes the scene of a psychedelic tribal jam (super brief, as far as jams go), replete with an upbeat, though simplistic, drum beat, as well as slowed down vocal chanting and intoning. it's too upbeat to be evil, but too fucking weird to not be. i dunno, man, for some reason this reminds me of an (experimental) musical tribute to the peyote scene from young guns. i think it's because of the sound of the vocals. anyway, rad shit, for sure.like i've said previously, and will continue to do until i come across something that isn't good, i haven't heard anything from hunting rituals that i wouldn't recommend. that being said, i've enjoyed the last couple of tapes most of all; the memorable melodic aspects and the unexpected twists have been fantastic, and keep me looking forward to what scott's going to do next, which is refreshing, to say the least.
update (5/6): apparently i'm not the only one to take notice of how awesome this tape is as it's getting a second life as a ten inch on ecstatic peace! i'm inclined to think that it's fairly uncommon for a tape to get reissued on vinyl and especially rare when said cassette was put out in such an intimate run, so that's interesting news. i believe that this is impending, with no concrete release date as of yet.
Brooding Forest Side A excerpt (from 0:00 to 4:27)
:: posted by avant gardening, 7:37 PM
4 Comments:
"so i doubt that there's many more left"
yeah, there's none left motherfucker
yeah, there's none left motherfucker
wait for the re-ish then.
avant gardening got # 31/30, specially made.
wait for the re-issue.. it's gonna rule
wait for the re-issue.. it's gonna rule
which i certainly appreciated!