ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Sailor Winters 'Red At Morn' LP 2006, Stickfigure/Black Noise Recordings

This week got some noise for your ears- this project is Sailor Winters. From Athens/Atlanta, GA- this man called Ryan Cox puts out some vicious shit that I've grown to enjoy very much over the years. Red At Morn came out several years ago and Cox has released quite a few things since then, but this is the only one I've been banging solid, as it is the one I own. He calls this shit Black Noise, obviously the other end of white noises, which come from the radio and tv and whatnot, all that shit. But anyways this record ranges from some weird synth, documentary-soundtrack sounding soothe to much, much harsher distorted layers of straight filth and grit. Sometimes there are vocals on it, well mixed in to the stacked up walls of sound and mayhem, power electronics sounds. It never really takes it full on into power electronics territory, maybe some grind here and there but not for very long, which I enjoy; I can hear that shit elsewhere, you don't need to smash it all into one record. Many acts who max out their amps/effects and whatever and then call that shit 'power electronics' is stale and played out. Instead there are rhythmic pulses and some melodies up in it, the bass dirges and the whispering shrieks give the record a texture that borrows from a few places. Sort of reminds me of some of the ambient Leviathan or Xasthur material, or Thrones, or Bastard Noise, but also the darker side of Warp Records stuff, anyways it is dope. You can tell this dude is into lots of sounds and he does a splendid job stacking those sounds on top of themselves, together bricked up in a strange sonic blast. Anyways this records slays, for stretching one's mind out and that sort of thing, but also for having it present in a room and letting it grow up in there. Noise splinters your air like that, records live and exist as creatures that lurk up in your house through your stereo, if you imagine that shit right. You can draw to it, and put it on when you go to sleep, in eager anticipation of fucked up dreams. I met this dude once, seen his powerviolence band from a few years back called Divorce, a band that ripped some Athens basements apart, its cool to learn he's on some different shit these days..keeping them sounds moving around, its good. As I read up on the man, he's got a label called Black Noise, and has put out tons of shit since Red At Morn, such as the Monolith 7", What Child Is This, the Owe EP, and the Parker Volumes 1 + 2, and the new Pop EP. Noise dudes are prolific as a fuck so you already know. And as always, if it don't hurt, you didn't earn it fool.