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A seething, screaming set of power electronics and guitar
with hardly a moment's pause for air, this recording finds
the trio of Carlos Giffoni (computer, synth, guitar), Lee Ranaldo
(guitar, firebell) and Jim O'Rourke (synth) in devastating
form. This is classic free bombast, alternately sounding
like a "rock
band" interpretation of Merzbow's Rainbow
Electronics or a punk update of a Musica Elettronica Viva session.
The instantly identifiable Ranaldo/Sonic Youth guitar sound
is joined by blurting digital scree and analog filter abuse,
melding to create a heavy tidal rush of ecstatic cosmic
noise. The bliss of the set is confirmed by the Brooklyn
audience's joyful reaction at the close.
"North Six is a mind-bogglingly
great trio recording from two adepts and an up-and-coming interventionist. Definitively
old-school noise in inclination, the performers repeatedly set bombs and deviant devices
of their own making against each other, stoking a great astral spat. A wild plume of
electric-fire smoke invades the performance space as Ranaldo's guitar is repeatedly
speared by silver darts of electronics. This tactic only serves to illuminate those
moments where the six-string suddenly soars out of the thick air and propels the
improvisation far into the stratosphere, Giffoni and O'Rourke's duelling synths sparking
like stars communing in abstract constellations."
- Jon Dale, Stylus Magazine, July 2004
"Ranaldo's electric guitar strafes
and scorches, a snarling onslaught of clangs and feedback screeches.
Giffoni plays guitar and computer, and he and O'Rourke use synthesizers
like mean action painters, splurging, dripping and recklessly splashing the sounds around."
- Julian Cowley, The Wire, #248
"...fissions those blissful feedback codas of Lee
Ranaldo and Jim O'Rourke's full-time outfit into their rawest atoms."
- Joe Panzner, Grooves 015
"...like being slapped by violent rain while riding a bike."
- Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes, August 2004
"If ever there was a lo-fi
punk version of musique concrete, then it must be
this trio... Essential listening for those who love
noise..."
- Frans de Waard,
Vital
Weekly #430
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