(Mr Phreek circa 1998 - Photo by Ackronomicon)Okay, so maybe I was a little too harsh on my first Goatfish release. I've listened to it a few times and I've realized that it's a lot better than I thought it was when I wrote that post, so if you like what you hear here, download the first release here.
This is the unfinished, unreleased, unheard second Goatfish album, which would have been the fourth release on MPAE, the cassette-only noise label. I hadn't heard this stuff for over ten years until I finally burned it to CD.
At this point, I was using my 4-track as an instrument. I'd record a core sound onto all four tracks, and then overdub various sounds through various effects, while twiddling knobs, onto three of the four tracks. All the tracks with German language titles (possibly taken from Rainer Maria Rilke? - I can't remember now) were recorded this way. I really like these.
The tracks labeled "Billy," on the other hand, were recorded in 1996 for my weird homemade short film, When Billy Said, "Maaaaaaah!" It was shot on a Hi8 camera and I recorded the guitar noise live while I shot portions of the film. For some reason, I wanted them on this album, so here they are.
About the songs:
01. Billy 1 - The first bit of delayed guitar noise that I did for the short film. I like how the first few seconds are static-y noise. It's a good opening.
02. Untergehen - I began with the sound of a train moving on railroad tracks and went from there. One of my favorite noise tracks ever.
03. Billy 2 - Lots of playing with the knobs on my delay pedal while I made noise on the guitar.
04. Ubergang und Untergang - The rare "rhythmic" noise track. I forgot what the core sound was (something from a white noise sleep aid machine), but I basically overmodulated it and twiddled knobs. It came out really well. Sounds a little like Non.
05. Billy 3 - Probably the most controlled of all my Billy tracks. This actually sounds like a creepy B-movie horror soundtrack, like from a Roger Corman Poe movie or something. The wind-down at the end is perfect.
06. Rede Vorrede - Another excellent use of the 4-track as instrument. Damn, I wish I had released this tape.
07. Billy 4 - More creepy horror movie music.
08. Brecher Vorbrecher - I either never recorded this track, or never mixed it down, so while I was burning the tape to CD, I boosted the levels at the end of When Billy Said, "Maaaaaaah!" and made it the final track. I think it works as an end to the album.
Goatfish
The Goatfish Oratorio CS
(n/a)
1998
The Goatfish Oratorio CS
(n/a)
1998
This work bears the fruits of amnesia. I very much like the rhymhm method on 'Ubergang' As Mr. Phreek said, there are some similarities to the 'Blood and Flame' album by NON, but that is a release that was overlooked in the first place. 'Undergehen' reminds me of the subjective results of taking Vicoden while on a long train trip.
ReplyDeleteThe picture is intesting too. Like some playboy type who is trying to avoid gas poisoning caused by the neglect of paying the bills.