Readers, take note: you fall into two basic subgroups-- those that appreciate the skronk, and those that don't. If you're in the latter camp, you may as well stop reading; there's little use in trying to convert. Yours is a rather generously-sized camp, and if you want to say hi to other members, just do a cursory search of "Harry Pussy" (make sure you spell it correctly) on YouTube. The phrase "cat in a blender" is used liberally, and you'll find it applies to AIDS Wolf as well. If you're in the former camp, that's like saying "it has strings in it" when comparing Stravinsky to Brahms. "Strident" is accurate when you're describing noise-rock, but it's just one general parameter.
Okay, Latter Campers, do you love the AIDS Wolf? If so, all I have to say about the new album March to the Sea is: yes, it's good. Differences? Well, Chloe is screaming less; in fact, she's doing a rather good impersonation of Eric Paul of Arab On Radar, which is sort of weird (and a bit anti-thetical without jokes about genitals -- but then again, who knows what she's saying?). This may be their last album with two guitarists, so one wonders what's in store for these noise standard-bearers. Should we be a little worried? Perhaps. Does that make us a bit wistful? Almost.
There's something almost-- dare I say-- triumphant about this AIDS Wolf, three long-players in. If you parse the guitars separately, you could almost hear them as horn parts, like trumpets, or cornets in two competing parades. It's not surprising to hear that Ornette Coleman was part of their tourbus playlist, as this is very much "harmelodic" music in its finest sense: four musicians, each with a separate and distinct part. Soprano guitar, tenor guitar, drums and throat; it's chamber music, if a very anxious variety. "Side one" is six short compositions for the quartet, terse within their perfect little angsty playground.
Then there's "side two"-- "Very Friendly", their 10-minute cover of Throbbing Gristle, which is a cover in the sense that Harry Pussy's "Showroom Dummies" was a cover of Kraftwerk. Though it's clearly mid- to up-tempo, it's like watching the bands requisite parts in stretched taffy slo-mo: high-tension guitar one, scaling a ladder; gruff in-the-basement guitar two, growling around the perimeter; Yanek bashing solid kick-drum and hi-hat metronomically, like some asymmetrical robot; and finally, Chloe stalking the strays, and leading this angry march into a glorious sea of static. If you love the AIDS Wolf, this is why. Long live.
[AIDS Wolf Myspace]
[Buy March To The Sea from Skin Graft Records]
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