3 out of 5

Label: Auris Apothecary

Produced by: Kaltrunner and K. Tahop

I wanted to give this a shot on headphones – my first listen was over speakers – because I conceptually liked the noise experimentation I was hearing from Kaltrunner, but it wasn’t especially overwhelming or immersive in the way I prefer. Figuring that having the stuff plugged directly into my earholes would help, it rather underlined the mentioned issue. At the same time, I think this highlights Kaltrunner’s – Erik Russell’s – positives, at least as far as this recording goes: this could be considered a great intro to noise; a good stepping stone towards denser and more chaotic stuff, as it keeps its harsher burble at a moderate level, bringing in more graspable, organic sounds at another layer. While I had trouble conjuring imagery that matched song titles like Intruder, or Incubus, A Vestibular Motor Hallucination – those all sound potentially intense, no? – I did like how the base level of noise (kind of a very, very distorted droning hum, crackling with more less or volume) would peel back for whatever other element towards a track’s conclusion, giving this stuff a sense of structure that’s perhaps unusual for noise. Or, at least, not without some work, which is, again, my preference: while I’m not necessarily a fan of assaultive noise, I do like when it’s pretty dense, and only upon several listens to do you find your way through. That’s not to discredit what Russell is doing here, as I’m sure it’s 100% more complex than I perceive, but it feels rather distinctive throughout – it’s that base hum, or it’s another element. Perhaps appropriately, closer Transmigration gets closest to what I enjoy, allowing its levels to overwhelm, alternating with patches of drone.

Dirteater II’s relative accessibility may make it a good place to start testing these waters for some, or I can also see it as a good thing to put on when you can’t quite handle melody, but aren’t necessarily looking to have your brain burned either. This is all subjective for this kind of material, of course, so those effects may rate more highly for you.