untitled (?)

el marqo de questiano

I'm writing this as I take my first listen to track 5 from Wolf Eyes & Black Dice's self-titled album. Two things off the bat: every one of the seven songs on this LP is titled "Untitled," with two of the tracks having "(rough mix)" attached to their non-names; secondly, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice are two separate noise bands who came together halfway through this decade to craft what some believe is the best noise compilation yet.

I've always been interested in noise rock, but not necessarily noise. Even as open-minded as I am, I'll admit I find it quite challenging to listen to, and although there's some variations I enjoy, they tend to be the more upbeat and - dare I say - conventional-sounding compositions. An example here, from the above-mentioned Black Dice:

Black Dice - Glazin'

You see? There's weird noises; blips, scratches, slides, abrupt snippets of real instruments, electro clashes and the chugging backbeat of leathery scale upon leathery scale of...noise. But there's that bouncy element of fun and light-heartedness overshadowing all of that, and I find that's what's really lacking from the Wolf Eyes & Black Dice album. So then, a few particular things I wanted to touch on concerning the Wolf Eyes and Black Dice combination:

1.) It sounds like Halloween. That's right. If you wanted to soundtrack one of those creepy displays the odd person sets up outside their house for that one all-unholy day of the year, there'd be nothing better to throw on than the otherworldy electronic grumblings of this album. 10 minutes into this 15:13 epic that is track 5, there's that perfect balance of old, creaky swingset and percussion tapped just lightly enough, just menacingly enough, that it would scare away any child even considering a candy grab from the front porch.

2.) Like I said, every track is untitled. Now this makes for a really, really interesting activity that it's a real shame more groups haven't thought of in this wholly-technological age, when everyone and their aunt has an iPod and iTunes. You can name the songs whatever the hell you want. I'm aware some bands do gimmicks like this once in a while, but an entire album? It's genius. So right from the start, I loaded the songs into my iTunes, and decided to name each one what I thought was most appropriate as I listened to it. Kind of like that game where you say the first thing that pops in your head when someone else says something. But with music. My results?

You can see there wasn't exactly Fall Out Boy-song-title-level thinking put into this. It's just what those songs sounded like to me. Some of them are quite obvious, as the tinkling noises in "Diamonds" easily lent themselves to that title, the laser sounds in "Spaceships" accenting that selection, the unnatural moans and groans of "Zombies" making that one an easy choice, and "Geese" approximating just well enough the vibe of track 6.

3.) I'm deleting the entire album from my iTunes and from my hard-drive the minute this song ends. Not to say I don't appreciate noise music, but let me put it this way: I wouldn't throw it on, in any situation really. It's too depressing for long drives. It's too discomforting to fall asleep to. There's much better albums to put on doing things around the apartment. All-in-all, this is something you'd have to be seriously tripped out on drugs to fully - I hesitate to say "enjoy" - tolerate.

Tolerate really is the operative word here. The music isn't danceable - some might not even call it "music" at that. It might even be a totally ear-grating experience for others to listen to, though I found it bearable for the most part. Creativity comes in all forms, but real beauty is obviously in the ear of the beholder. For me, noise still isn't really where it's at, at least done in this manner. But enjoy that Black Dice track, and take the Wolf Eyes & Black Dice LP for a spin if you're feeling experimental...and if you wanna try naming the tracks yourself any different.