A joint split between four projects and two artists here: Praire-Litière and Logical Fiend on side A are the monikers of Paul Grémare (along with Baptiste Villain in P-L), and Rotkappchen and Knirschen Knacken are projects of Romain Hebert. This short split is interesting, because it pulls together two projects from each of these artists in such a way that it forces them to coincide together – that could be strange if they differ heavily from each other, but these tracks seem to merge directly into the other.
The first side features Prairie-Litière’s work and then a very easy progression into Logical Fiend’s harsh noise walls. P-L pulls together some lower fidelity noise – a subtle banging of iron-like textures, a heavy bass pulsation, moving into some forms of slight feedback. Everything feels like it’s underwater here; the banging and clanking in the background of the track has a watery, submerged feeling, like the bottom of a boat slapping against the side of a dock. It’s hypnotic in its laid back design, and it leads well into the harsh noise wall territory of Logical Fiend’s “Total Dedication to Moral Issues”, which remains tightly structured throughout. It features a similar bass tone with density to it, but it’s also got a surging static swell to it.
The next side opens up with a devastating track by Rotkappchen, a harsh noise display of blown-out static textures and occasional peals of feedback from electronics that are being pushed to the limit. It’s a cacophony of sound, all melding together for quite a blast of noise that continues throughout its length. As a follow-up to the more pared-back side from Grémare, it’s effective. The last track, from Knirschen Knacken curiously titled “Confiscated My Cell Phone, I Cum On Your Desk”, ties things up with a standard harsh noise wall, very thick and straightforward without much notable about it. It does have some tendrils of static snaking through to add a little bit of varied texture to it.
This is a good tape from four monikers and two artists. The most interesting aspect, to me at least, is how both artists managed to link their different projects together, yet made each track different enough to warrant releasing under two different names. Give this short tape a listen, and enjoy how each artist brings their vision of noise to the table not once, but twice.
MEMORY WAVE TRANSMISSION 