3 out of 5

Label: VHF Records

Produced by: Neil Campbell (?)

An interesting, pretty punishing run of reworked tracks from Astral Social Club’s (Neil Campbell’s) slew of self-released, numbered albums. If you’ve been a diehard collector of said albums, the copy for this (accompanied by a somewhat insanely lengthy screed from Neil) suggests the music is likely remuxed – with the help of Tirath Singh Nirmala – to a state of being completely different from its origins, hence: this is considered a new beast of tunes, and not a compilation.

Now if you weren’t a diehard collector, and instead, like me, your main association with Neil is through Vibracathedral Orchestra… set your ears to stun. While VCO is a hop-skip step to noisier acts like Sunroof!, about half of the works on this self-titled set are pretty mean. The mix is harsh; even at lower volumes it can be pretty punishing. That said, this veers away from true noise, and falls more on the ‘lark’ side of things, with those larks just happening to be plenty loud.

And I’m also undermining some depth: while the music perhaps errs towards drone, the more passes you give it you can hear how its gradual loops of electronic barrage and reverbed instrumentation and distorted drumbeats have some melodies buried within; on occasion, you’ll get something more approaching VCO’s distant psychedelia (Part 10), or Sunroof!’s ambient flurries (Part 1), but once you hit about Part 3, Neil goes hard on repetition and volume, and it elevates the sensation that this feels a bit more wandering than either of those two bands – which does give it its own identity aside from them, though.

Not something I admittedly return to often, but a good occasional endurance test that lets you appreciate the true nuance all the various players can bring to bands in this scene.