So much current music is spotless, with pinpoint production and sanitised sound so it’s refreshing to immerse yourself in a world that is far from sterile. Absurd Matter 2 is the new release from Shapednoise, aka producer, DJ and sound artist Antonino Pedone. He builds magnificent worlds that crumble, warp, become distorted and abraded, and often sound like an ancient crystal radio set tuning into as much static as music.
Most bands do not have a name that so perfectly sums up what you will hear. Led Zeppelin (a name given to them by Keith Moon) and Einstürzende Neubauten (German for ‘collapsing new buildings’) spring to mind but Shapednoise perfectly describes how to morph an array of scuffed sounds into a collage of beautiful but visceral noise. The opening track ‘Repeater’ is a perfect example as it trembles in on wavering string sounds before rap duo Armand Hammer appear swathed in dense layers of distortion with vocals punching through an electrical storm.
Some tracks such as ‘Bandage, Chipped Wings’ (featuring Fatboi Sharif), ‘Tysmo’ and ‘Veil’ (featuring additional electronics from Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith) can almost be soothing as they glide and judder on gravel wings, but others like ‘Crash Landing’ (featuring ICECOLDBISHOP) pitch frantic rap with a landslide of sounds, like trying to get out of a cave in an earthquake. Then there are tracks that sit somewhere in between like the transcendent ‘I Saw The Light’ featuring Loraine James and Moor Mother which glories in its glitches and swims in choppy electronic waters.
When rap, electronics and sound manipulation merge and shift to the left of the mainstream, unusual and challenging alchemy occurs. Artists like Dälek, and Clipping. push boundaries and are not afraid to make noise integral to their sound as they break rocks in the digital quarry. This is chaos by design, brutal but beautiful and utterly compelling.
Shapednoise: Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
Review by Paul F Cook
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