Nada - Awkward Y Borracho Core Del Todo mp3 album

Released through FLYING ESOPHAGUS PRODUCTIONS, this is nevertheless distributed through CHARNEL HOUSE. "Apopolysp" opens play & sets the spirit for the entire album. A combination of electronics & taped sounds gather into a medium-slow-paced, ever fascinating rhythmic structure which, through multifarious changes & alterations, has a bizarre atmosphere. "Xlr Flood Od" comes across a little like pre-commercial SEVERED HEADS given a more dense, aggressive mix. Again it's a combination of wild electronics & found sounds, manipulated into a song which has sudden hushes & sudden blasts. It ain't commercial, but it has it's own unique hookiness which could teach a few of us working in a similar field a trick or two (and, yes, I get the feeling that there are elements of ANTONYM here, albeit taken much further than my own primitive position). "The Quality Of Life" is a brief, simple concrete thing merely feeding spoken voice through fast gated filters, bridging the previous track from the more laid back, passive rhythms of the almost Latin American "Ignatio Chloride The Balding", which might almost have come from a TALKING HEADS album circa "Remain In Light" or BOURBONESE QUALK around the time of "My Government Is My Soul" album. It has teeth in the form of sharky guitar, and a Bayou weirdness in tendrils of howling sound which weave between the warm drums & the acoustic guitar. It has passions & a shit load of expression yet is always interesting & full of experimentalism. Other possible comparisons include CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, ZAPPA & possibly even CHROME & SKINNY PUPPY. And if these comparisons leave you a little baffled by their apparent incompatibility, don't worry, the reviewer's a little confused too! "The Revolutionary Om" is an altogether more Industrial thing, a low rumbling synth, slightly distorted voice & strange washes of sound create a bizarre atmosphere which builds into another passive rhythm over & under which ghosts & demons of sounds moan & shrill until it opens out into a constructed minimal beat thing which again brings CHROME at their best to mind. Towards the end it even reminds me of some THROBBING GRISTLE circa "Heathen Earth". "Cocksucker" is a short coprolalic outburst, a segue to the thick, confused & moody "Idiot Planet", a dense sounding thing which starts out with little tune, metal sounds & bell-like chimes mixed within its slow dream-state drift. This fades away into shapeless mood soundscape before building gradually back into a deep, dark rhythmic thing building on bass drum & cymbals together with all manner of samples & sounds, gradually increasing in intensity as sequencer builds out of the noise, becoming a more formed, musical piece, a tune which evolves & breaks at odd moments. "Tsunami Fungus" is another short piece of electronically-enhanced voice, heralding what is perhaps the most hooky track on the album - the wonderful "Falling In Love" which again has degrees of SEVERED HEADS circa the "Rotund For Success" alum, mixed with darkness & the Electronic EuRock sequential music, before bursting out into a more discordant, distorted thing. Again & again this track transmutes, suggesting it's akin to the mildest end of EBM / Techno (although all concerned might disagree) - i.e.. there are elements of CHRIS & COSEY in there, but only fragmentary specks. A nice bouncing impetus makes this both subtle & compelling. "Excruciating" returns to their moodier, slightly quirky sound with a twangy guitar possibly stolen from THE CURE's "Killing An Arab", moving along a compelling intensity with a fuzz guitar which cuts like some automaton Grim Reaper, mounted upon a heavy bass drum beat. It picks up speed into a tidal wave of massed noise which bears down on the listener like impending doom. "String (Premonition V)" is just another spoken word piece (although DAMIEN GONZALEZ is credited as bass player on this!), allowing "I Cannot See You" its' liberty - another catchy track, heavily dark, medium-paced with plenty of atmosphere, this has a degree of commercial hook to it, although its far, far too black for the 'pop' charts. A nice thunderous sooty bass combines well with the fishbone delicate sequencers & rumbling walls of noise which rise & fall. "Afraid" begins not unlike some JOHN CARPENTER film theme, transforming into a sombre Industrial theme, deep, dark & doomy. "Near" is another spoken word thing fed through some kind of filter system. "Zoviet Amerikka" is another medium-paced thing with dark, leathery muscles of guitar mixing into the simple drum/noise theme. This changes direction partway through, becoming no less intense. It heads off in a kind of carnival song, not unlike the quirkiness of MAGAZINE before concluding. "Nothing" is one final snatch of spoken word. NADA are ROBERT M. RIDDLE on guitar, metal, noise, percussion, programming & voice; and MASON JONES on guitar, metal, noise & percussion with SCOTT MARTINEZ on bass & DAMIEN GONZALEZ offering bass on "String" (apparently). I've no idea of their history, but think that on evidence of this album, they're worth seeking out - keep watching these pages - you never know, I might run them to ground. Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.