CD-R, Death Paradise, 2008
www.sinewaves.it/plasticviolence
Plastic Violence is power electronics delivered in Italian fashion, courtesy of Paolillo Fabrizio and Marco Ricci. The project takes its cues most notably from rhythmic noise and the usual experimental post-industrial fusions, not to mention space rock and shoegazing, and even has a little free jazz thrown in the mix. Following the release of the twelve-part mini-CD “Dog Series” (2007), Plastic Violence now returns with an extremely limited promotional release chock-full of harsh electronics. Most striking about “A Mouthful of Dust (A Soundtrack for the Desertic Landscapes – Vol. 1)” is its range of expression within both the genre and the confines of a rather short format (nine tracks of unexceptional length, plus one bonus track). The release manages to avoid wholeheartedly indulging in common rhythmic noise clichés (or even a single cliché) while engaging a simultaneous familiarity with those selfsame themes. The title track, for instance, showcases harsh noise and feedback loops driven by a plodding, jarring beat, and expanded with high-pitched jazzy bursts appropriate to post-apocalyptic sound collages.
Aside from similarities in feedback, processed guitar wailing and nicely modulated bass, the several tracks on “A Mouthful of Dust” form a varied suite of corrosive electronics. “Entering the Mirage” offers a moment of broken atmospherics and wistful glimpses of ruination, balancing out the slow-motion hallucinations of “Tripping Beings.” Appropriately enough, the latter track gorges on bowel shaking, buzzing bass-tones and distorted guitar-sounds that make space rock stabs into other dimensions. None of this really compares to the punishing cycles of mechanistic breakdown churned out by “Totally Tilted…” in classic wall-of-noise dissonance, but at least that method is countered by the skittish, building clicks and bass of “The Flight of the Last Firebirds” or the thick, bass-heavy spikes perforating the bonus track, “Decendent, Faster.” It should be apparent by now that there exist recognizable bits and pieces from an array of experimental noise types on this release. Despite that, “A Mouthful of Dust” manages to maintain an overall unhurriedness or patience about it, from death-march-tempo cadences to ambient crackling and molasses-infused psychedelics. The desert is expansive indeed.
[7.5/10]
— Dutton Hauhart