Customer Reviews

October Language

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Belong, belong (couldn't resist) in a world of washed out sound, faded memories and blistering layers of sound. Imagine the warm crackles of Endless Summer era Fennesz, a touch of Godspeed You Black Emperor aimed at monumental peaks and valleys, a Flying Saucer Attack eyes half closed eyes half open delivery with a My Bloody Valentine shimmering layer of sound thrown in for good measure. A duo from New Orleans, Belong do a really nice job of taking from their influences but also having their own unique take on the whole gauzy smeary ambient free noise sound. Their take being a thick heady blast of sound that doesn't at all lose any of its gauzy dreaminess. October Language is that great kind of record that can take on different lives when played soft vs. loud. It allows you to enjoy it quiet, as a textural layer that you can dream beneath or drift away on top of. Or you can blast Belong and they'll take you out of your dreams, and your head and into another state completely. So nice!

With their debut release on Carpark, the New Orleans duo, Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones, grind through filter overload, guitar based, heavily processed and distorted loops that seem to go on forever. For me, noise happens to be a new territory, and with the tightly clenched jaw I smile at its beauty, as I attempt to stand upright through the torrent of shoegaze unleashed by a hurricane. The intricate detail is revealed through layers of intense sonic bombardment, like staring at an abstract sharply outlined object for minutes, only to see its true contour after glancing at a white wall. As silence fades in, I am left with only microscopic sediments that encapsulate the feelings of destroyed and tumbled New Orleans. Considering there's a lot of data to sift through, the quality of the mastering is top notch, performed by none other than another New Orleans native and friend, Joshua Estis (Telefon Tel Aviv). Estis and Dietrich have previously worked together under Beneli moniker in remixing Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile. Diestrich also played the guitar on a track for Telefon Tel Aviv's Map Of What is Effortless. Highly recommended if you dig Ben Frost as much as I do. Also for the likes of Fennesz, Tim Hecker and William Basinski.

A stunning & shimmering dream of an album. These are gauzy, luminous, shoegazey, semi-drone dreamscapes that sound particularly great listened to on headphones/earbuds. One of the opening textures sounds like a CD skipping and in listening longer it fades into the artful mix. Sometimes reminding me of Stars of the Lid and Hammock, their songs build into majestic sonic crescendos before slipping back into infinity. I want to Belong.

Apparently their 1st release, these songs recorded in 2004 were experiments put onto cd.
While overall pretty good, later releases were better and recommended. Why these tracks
were released in 2008 is a question.

I'm really pleased with this album, this style of ambient music is one of the most fascinating existence. I recommend this album to those who like the music of Tim Hecker and Juv.