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LP
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BLACKEST 039LP
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The Vienna-based trio's second LP following 2013's crushing debut Licht (BLACKEST 016LP), Crack finds Peter Rehberg (Editions Mego), Christina Nemec (comfortzone), and Christian Schachinger crafting a powerful alloy of extreme electroacoustic music, luminous ambience, and the mineral fundaments of rock and black metal. Opener "Spalt" immediately signals a departure from the monolithic doom of Licht, conveying instead a sense of adrenalized movement, of acceleration toward an ever-receding horizon. There is no percussion, yet Nemec's chasmic bass and Rehberg's protean electronics give rise to an unstoppable momentum. Schachinger's highly lyrical, spiraling guitar improvisations nod to Fripp and Göttsching, but Shampoo Boy's vision of the cosmos is more hard-boiled and unforgiving than that of their forefathers. On "Riss," slow, ceremonial down-strokes suggest a return to Licht, with the addition of Rehberg's unintelligible conversation-snippets, machine noise, and nameless natural currents mingling in pernicious hybrid forms that curl and ricochet about the stereo field. Subterranean bass tones, meanwhile, seem to reverberate from an ancient and appalling source. It's typical of Crack's unorthodox Weltanschauung, however, that just when we think the game is up, we are faced not with oblivion but with potential absolution: "Riss"'s closing section is a gravely serene tone-painting. Side B is given in its entirety to the three-part "Bruch," the most potent and pugilistic manifestation of Shampoo Boy's brute psychedelia to date. Part I is a near-gothic assemblage of tortured computer processing, abyssal drones, and stray industrial noise. This gives way to the calm but agonized concrète of part II, sparse, minimalist, dub-damaged. The broiling digital synthesis of part III complements annihilating slow-motion riffage; a thuggish monochord attack that feels almost Stooge-ian -- grungy, swaggering, sewer-savvy -- but doubles back into abstraction. It becomes impossible to distinguish individual instruments, processes, or contributions; the group mind takes over, the third eye is on fire, and the album climaxes in a black flash of negative ecstasy. Epic in scale, complex in mood, and dazzling in technique, Crack is a momentous achievement from three improvising musicians at the height of their powers. A lived-in and emotionally charged work, harrowing but energizing, it is also a sustained achievement of arrangement and post-production remarkable even in light of its makers' pedigree: the harshest and heaviest passages are rendered with a sense of space and richness of detail that is truly otherworldly. Russell Haswell's astute mastering amplifies this, resulting in one a supremely exhilarating and rewarding work.
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12"
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SSS 006EP
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RSD 2014 release. The debut album by Shampoo Boy (BLACKEST 016LP) was released in 2013 on Blackest Ever Black (London, UK), and is a harsh electronic-noise-drone project of Peter Rehberg -- one of the shining names in the international electronic/avant-garde scene. First and final pressing of 750 copies.
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LP
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BLACKEST 016EP
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Licht is the debut album by Shampoo Boy, a new guitar, bass and electronics trio from Vienna, comprising members Christian Schachinger, Christina Nemec, and Peter Rehberg. Schachinger and Rehberg have played together in various projects over the last 25 years, most notably Peterlicker -- see Last Slave (2010) and Nicht (2011), both released on Editions Mego. Schachinger was also involved in Der Scheitel, their album In einem Haus das Liebe heißt being a classic of German "Schlagermusik." Rehberg currently operates the Editions Mego family of labels and is a member of KTL, R/S, and Fenn O'Berg as well as working on theater productions with Gisele Vienne, and with choreographer Margret Gudjonsdottir. Nemec's background is in avant-rock and industrial outfits such as Bray and her own performance group SV Damenkraft. She remains highly active as a solo artist, both as Chra and under her own name, and she has performed on several occasions with Lydia Lunch. Licht is made up of four improvisations recorded and mixed at Twisted, Wien between April 2012 and January 2013. Mastered by Noel Summerville at 3345, London. Artwork by Stephen O'Malley.
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