CD, Some Place Else, 2007
www.someplaceelse.net
Okay I knew I was in for the long haul with this album as it consists of just three tracks.
First up is the title track, a direct collaboration between both Finland’s Gelsomina and underground fairly well known sound manipulator No Xivic. Together, they work better than previous items I have heard individually, both complimenting each other’s layering and filling out those areas that would normally be lacking through a vast amount of space. Harsh abrasive sounds are edged out with low-end electronics and drive a more hypnotic feel to the track than I first imagined would be the end result, a pleasing cooking pot of warm, destructive visceral anti-ambience that, neurologically speaking, smacked me in the face with a warm flannel.
The immediate downside of course is enduring Gelsomina on its own playing field. Yes track two headed down the most utterly pointless avenue of drivel I half expected it to. I am a massive power electronics fan. I adore the likes of Deathpile and so forth, people who manage to get some sense out of what they are doing and cripple you with kindness. Unfortunately “Everlasting Fire” overcooked my patience somewhat and was an immediate downer after the rather enjoyable opening title track.
No Xivic thankfully ends this release on his own. “Greater Suffering” teeters around in the more ambient noise pool and is a welcome ending to this album as a whole. It’s muggy and dirty and very low end, but again has something more to it that the likes of Gelsomina fail to grasp when trying to show some element of structure to their songs. No Xivic knows his ambience well and through an electro-acoustical discord manages to please with a relative ease.
Interesting and disappointing in equal amounts this is a mixed bag of a release that thankfully is saved with the opening and last tracks. Care to guess who managed to play the role of lifeguard on this stranded ship then?
[6/10]
— Tony Young