SeaBuckthorn/Timothy C Holehouse - Split Tape

Artist SeaBuckthorn/Timothy C Holehouse
Label None
Year 2010
Genre(s) Folk, Post-Rock

Here we have a split tape twixt SeaBuckthorn and Timothy C Holehouse. Mr. Holehouse is known to me and I've reviewed some of his previous work. In doing prep for this review I tried to find out some information about SeaBuckthorn, the Myspace mentioned on the insert is blank, listing only a country and age without further details, this is a real pity as I'm most enamoured by the track presented. The total release look wonderful, coming in a stamped envelope (Which is unfortunately sealed and not exactly the easiest to open without damaging) and then further enveloped in black crepe paper, held in place with an orange sticker.

The SeaBuckthorn side is one track, A Mystique Strenched Thin, which opens with calm drones and gently played guitar. Slowly shimmering with a slight sound like Sun City Girls. Light and pleasant, sounding like summer music to forget your problems to. The guitar ebbs against the droning tide, reverb lashed on top to send it on a spiral around the room. The guitar dies out into an electronic buzz which slowly fades out to end the track. The only complaint I have with the SeaBuckthorn side is that the electronic buzz on the end sounds out of place and a little tacked on.

The Timothy C Holehouse side starts in a very similar style, slowly picked guitar, ringing out solemnly in Summer Through the Window, a mournful edge pushing into the music. Like a lament for the lost summer that was presented on Side A. Building in speed and intensity before dying down once more. The next track, Winter's Icey Glare, continues the theme of the release, except this time being more outwardly cold and longing, almost like the solo guitar opening to Bleeding Hope by Life Neglected. The noise elements notable from previous Holehouse releases are gone on this tape, instead choosing to convey emotion and atmosphere through the laid bare guitar. Building onward before suddenly stopping.

This split is a great piece of music, though if you're looking for pure noise/drone music I'd pick up an earlier release. There's a nostalgia conveyed by both artists on the tape, one dealing with a fond reminisce and the other conveying the negative emotions from the same time period. None of the tracks would work without the other to serve as a counterpoint, as a split should be.

Suburban Howl - Green Death

Artist Suburban Howl
Label Side-A-Records
Year 2010
Genre(s) Folk, Noise

Suburban Howl is the project of Davide Lega and Matteo Poggi. This single sided C40 on Side-A-Records serves up three creepy crawly cuts of chilling guitar-centric noise. Delivered on dazzling lime green/black flecked tapes (Sprayed) and ideal for those scary nights when The Misfits just wont do.

Tape opener Green Death is based around a slow moving guitar part, like the slow campfire song of a long forgotten ghost. Echoed voices and croaks mulling just beyond the light, slowly the guitar builds in intensity, succumbing to a pool of white noise, the voices becoming part of the sonic miasma. The noise is great and manages to maintain a more musical quality.

Random begins with another guitar line which sounds like the collective night terrors of a thousand burnt out hippies. Perfectly saccharine in format and delivery, it hints at something horrible concealed just beyond the surface. Sounding like a more focused Silvester Anfang. Always threatening to tip over the edge into yet more noise, instead slowly fading out. The lack of a harsher element making the track all the more powerful.

Finally comes Speak Poetry to People. A far harsher affair that sounds like the chase out of the woods, Leatherface hot on your heels, his chainsaw revving and spitting petrol. A pressing sense of urgency conveyed through the wailing feedback. Murmurs still pass in the background, note able but hidden enough to muddle comprehension. Despite the fuller sound there's still an edge that will have you checking over your shoulder.

I'm having a hard time adding the genre for this release, it's certainly noise in the sense of there being a harsh element composed on "non-music", however there's the calmer (but frankly scary) folkier guitar sections. The whole tape combines to make twenty minutes of the most satisfying noise this year.