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Now where to start with Gnomefoam, I first bumped into them via a collaborative project on the wonderfully diverse net label Rack & Ruin, a project they worked on with _ yep _, now _ is a brilliant artist that specialises in his own little world a world where _ rains supreme and field recordings and sporadic ideas rule. The Gnomefoam/_ axis of sound was called Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai, which came in the form of two EPs one noisy on R&R and one laid back on Bearsuit Records, both polls apart in sound but just as brilliant to listen to. But now we have Gnomefoam on his own with Fucklord Dragonfist a sample-shafting journey through sound.Freaky collages of words and fx usher in the album with sample addled tracks opening out in front of you, but things really come into their own on the shimmering laid back beauty of ‘FADE’, which feels like a hip-hop variant on the twinkling ambient experiments of Aphex Twin. ‘Beasthole Tunebarge’ comes on like a freaky hybrid of the Beach Boy aping indie hipsters Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear doing an acapela in space as punishment for being mentioned in every music publication on earth to the point that you’re a bit sick of the site of the names, and it sounds brilliant too. The underwater siren song of ‘Saved by Beluga’ is a twisted otherworldly story from the deep that really comes into its own when the orchestral swells and delayed spoken word samples come into full effect, before melting into the surf… ‘Livid’ balances the disturbing with the laid back, by throwing together bursts of noise and rolling electro drums with distorted vocal snippets and a mesmerising guitar loop, it works really well as a juxtaposition. ‘The Fucklord’ pulls off a similar feat, with its horror film screams and disturbing monologs drenched in effects, but then it kicks off in a whole new direction with rave addled breaks and even a small metal lick.The almost Portishead-like vocals on ‘Wright/Griffths’ have a hazy dreamy quality that draws you in then some seriously twisted soul grooves appear like you’ve driven past a funky house club on a windswept rainy night. The toy town breakbeat of ‘Hostage Moth Guns’ flys out of the gates like a deranged Go Team! Before taking a more atmospheric direction in the mid section before it drops back into the car chase soundtrack breaks.Gnomefoam has made an enjoyable collage of sound that jumps from the eerie and sublime to the fun and noisy at the drop of a hat. The messy sporadic nature of it all is endearing and makes for an interesting listen.Download: Gnomefoam – Fucklord Dragonfisthttp://www.myspace.com/gnomefoamhttp://www.rackandruinrecords.com/
The project between Japanese experimental artists _, Bradford’s Gnomefoam and Bunny has already produced one exhilarating EP for net label Rack & Ruin, in fact you can read about that here and even go and download it for free very soon. The name of that project was the Horror Punk EP full of noisy elements with a playful feel to it, the Sweetness & Light EP for Bearsuit Records is the flip side to that, a down beat dreamy affair that’s all together easier on the ear but just as sonically ambitious.
There is a really beautiful fuzzy dream like daze on the Sweetness & Light EP, shimmering guitars with shoegaze like qualities a build hazy atmosphere. The songs aren’t as insane as the Horror Punks EP here you get to know the more melancholic side to their musical bows. There’s a glitchy electronic feel to the music but it’s not mechanical and cold, it’s the complete opposite in fact, full of warmth and really playful and organic.
Some of my favourite tracks are the wonderful opener ‘Forsake’ with the robo voice opening and sublime guitar shimmer that builds a subtle soundscape around the beautifully sweet vocals buy I presume _ as they’re on Japanese are just gorgeous. The way AWSTS use found sounds in their songs always makes me smile, you hear crackles of what sounds like fire or just everyday things you cant quite put your finger on but they really give the music a living breathing feel. The track ‘Bearskin’ shows this wonderfully with a windswept whistle running through it, which makes you feel like you’re stuck alone on the moors. But the track isn’t as simple as that it breaks out into playful bleepy electronica like your still stuck out on the moors alone but you’ve started hallucinating. This group often send you in new and interesting tangents.
Sweetness & Light flows so beautifully there is a real emotional feel to this music, even when the vocals are obscured in fuzzy dream like distortion at times you can just feel an underlying sense of sadness. At times here AWSTS remind me of a lo-fi M83 without the big cheesy epic ambition, its more subtle than that though and more personal.
Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai make some beautiful and insane music sometimes all at once, they are a diverse bunch of artists that come together here to create a beautifully EP that both pulls on your heart strings and makes interesting new shapes with a wonderful sonic pallet. They will draw you in an demand repeated listens.
http://www.myspace.com/awsts
http://www.myspace.com/gnomefoam
http://www.myspace.com/deconstructivism
Coming on like a fucked up noise driven glitch addled punk pop hybrid Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai is the latest project from the enigma that is _ from Japan and Bradford’s Gnomefoam and Bunny. It’s hard to explain exactly what kind of music lays within this seven track EP, which you can download for free on the fantastic net label Rack & Ruin. You could say that this is the flip side to the project AWSTS did for Bearsuit (words on the way soon), which was mellow and glitchy this one is insane, a no holds barred journey into the unknown and you know what its loads of fun.
The gentle opener ‘Evergreen no niwa ni kirisame’ opens with sweet Japanese lyrics and what sounds like an accordion before looping into some crunchy beats and eerie electronics. The Punkieness of the title really kicks off on track two which comes off like an insane Go Team! But with lo-fi noisy guitars and descends into a thrashy metal like beast at the end. You really don’t know what’s coming next with AWSTS right after the full on thrash of ‘I wish they all could be horror punks’ comes the quirky dreamy off key poppieness of Persistent damp problems haunt my keyboard’ which sounds like its been made out of clockwork robots.
An un-doubted highlight for me is ‘Moisture container and the pain in my arm’ with its catchy melody and fuzzed out distorted lyrics that echo the title as a lonesome guitar and electronics try and freak the shit out of you. The next track somehow reminds me of a twisted hip-hop track if it wasn’t so off the wall you could imagine Biggie Smalls rhyming against the breaks and strings. This idea is only enhanced for me when the piano loop of ‘Lost in the forest of blank sportswear’ comes in but then soon gets dismissed when the track melts into a freaked out noisy ballad with fuzzy buzzy sounds and pluck melodies that give way to distorted melancholic guitars, wonderful. The EP closer does exactly what it says on the tin ‘Goodbye Until We Meet Again’…
The two combine forces to create a strange skewed vision of punky pop played though found sounds and electronics, its music made by any means necessary. The Horror Punks EP is experimental by nature but still manages to twist out some song-like wonders, its almost like switching on the radio and surfing the airwaves, once in a while a song pops out of the fuzz. This juxtaposition of all out freewheeling experimentation and catchiness brings a joyous energy to the EP that gets under your skin.
http://www.myspace.com/awsts
http://www.myspace.com/gnomefoam
http://www.myspace.com/deconstructivism
http://www.rackandruinrecords.com/
Now where to start with Gnomefoam, I first bumped into them via a collaborative project on the wonderfully diverse net label Rack & Ruin, a project they worked on with _ yep _, now _ is a brilliant artist that specialises in his own little world a world where _ rains supreme and field recordings and sporadic ideas rule. The Gnomefoam/_ axis of sound was called Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai, which came in the form of two EPs one noisy on R&R and one laid back on Bearsuit Records, both polls apart in sound but just as brilliant to listen to. But now we have Gnomefoam on his own with Fucklord Dragonfist a sample-shafting journey through sound.
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