Wednesday, August 05, 2009

review of CONCRETE VIOLIN / THE VOMIT ARSONIST

from plaguehaus.com ....

Concrete Violin / The Vomit Arsonist - Split Print E-mail
Written by J.

Concrete Violin / The Vomit Arsonist - Split Danvers State Recordings : 2009
Format : C30 Cassette


Danvers State Recordings is the label owned and operated by The Vomit Arsonist himself. I own about half of the ten tape releases he’s issued so far and haven’t been disappointed with a single one. This one is no different. This one keeps to the old school aesthetics, no bells, whistles or spray paint…just that fine, wheeled mechanism and the sounds housed within.

Side A kicks off with my comrade and fellow Houstonian Concrete Violin. While not sacrificing on the power, this single 15 minute track is a bit more subtle than previous offerings. Bubbling static and hiss are compressed into laser point perfection. I’d say he’s invented a whole new genre here, Wall Ambient. There’s a constant rumble behind the needle thin viper slither and somewhere buried beneath it all I pick up the occasional voice of some unknown field recording or some psychotic EVP. I like this direction a lot. You don’t have to throw everything but the kitchen sink in to show some muscle.

The VA takes the reins on side B. with this tape I realized I’d been buying his releases but had never actually heard his own stuff other than with Bereft, which he’s also half of. The tape leads in with “Moth” and I am as one to a flame with big, beefy synth lines that undulate and disintegrate. I really was expecting the Death Industrial vibe and since that’s one of my favorite genres of all time, it’s a happy realization. This thing moans and groans like a French whore and sizzles like acid poured down her privates. Really subtle, heavy delayed vocals set the whole thing off. I detect a heavy Navicon Torture Tech influence and that’s never a bad thing. “Flame” is along the same lines, but more influence on the vocals, lot more disintegration of sound and some feedback throw in for fun. I like it, but “Moth” is definitely my favorite of the two.

As mentioned above, standard plastic box issue and j-card, but four slightly different covers. Limited to just 44 copies, I believe it's sold out from the label, but there might be a few distros out there still carrying it. It's worth tracking down.

Websites: myspace.com/concreteviolin | myspace.com/thevomitarsonist

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