Vital Weekly reviewed 3 of Debila Records' releases.
GOVERNMENT ALPHA – AFTERLIFE IS WARPED (3″CDR by Debila Records)
GEN 26 – GENE FARM (3″CDR by Debila Records)
BROTHER OF JUDO – ALL THE THINGS YELLOW (3″CDR by Debila Records)
Here we have three three-inch CDRs from one of the major contemporary outposts of the noise scene, Slovenian imprint Debila Records. The first comes from Japanese noise legend Government Alpha (Yoshida Yasutoshi), who has maintained an enviably steady pace of releases since the mid-nineties. ‘Afterlife is Warped’ is consistent with the blips I’ve heard from Yasutoshi’s grandiose back-catalogue: squirreling spirals of mid-range harsh noise that flit and tumble with epileptic abruptness. It’s harsh but not vicious – more in line with the playful abundance of Boredoms than the scene of bloodied noise denizens that envisage their listeners decaying in subbasements. At thirty-two copies, this is one of those titillating collectors items that is worth scratching someone’s eyes out to get a paw on.
‘Gene Farm’ captures another grizzled veteran at work: Gen 26 is the noise project of Matjaž Galičič, one of the precious few who built the Slovenian scene from the ground up – including founding both Abnormal Tapes and Fuck-U-Tapes. His mini-CDR also worships the middle range of the sound spectrum, but he’s replaced Yasutoshi’s irascible caterwauling with a rigid Harsh Noise Wall. As Vomir foretold, there is no progression nor dynamics here, except for the occasional, short-lived drop to a different frequency; instead the (dis)pleasure lies in being subjected to stiff-lipped, disciplined auditory abuse for just over seventeen minutes. Prepare to be drained by track’s end – if you can make it that far.
Last up is Brother of Judo’s ‘All the Things Yellow,’ which is the most unpredictable of the batch. Four short tracks feature rapidly permuting abrasion, two of them rendered in full fleshy form, the others presented as if you’re hearing them through a VoIP line. But “Disremembering-Autodidact” is the key item. At ten minutes, it devotes its first half to a mysterious field-recording drone, gently lulling you into a strange sort of peace, before abruptly thundering into a stanza of messy noise buttressed by the ululations of a pornographic actress being either pleasured or filleted. Like most good noise, it generates a sense of tension and acts on it. (MT)
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