By Abigail Hansel
White Boy Scream – Remains
White Boy Scream is the moniker of Michaela Tobin, a classically trained soprano vocalist and sound artist. Her work as White Boy Scream encompasses harsh noise, opera, and sound collage bridging gaps between a diy noise approach and a more composed classical approach. On Remains she sings through and around oscillating feedback drones that spike and crackle creating a world for her stunning voice. “For Voice and Feedback” the 15-minute opener starts with slowly building feedback as her voice creates an ambient bed that is then pierced by her own wailing lead vocal. It’s a considered study of what the voice can do, how it can be punishing, comforting, beautiful, and terrifying all within the span of a few minutes. Musically I feel her closest contemporaries are Lingua Ignota and Andrea Pensado, both artists who have expanded the use of voice in experimental electronic music.
Puce Mary –The Drought
The Droughtmarks the first Puce Mary record to come out on the venerable PAN records, a Berlin label that has a garnered a reputation for putting out a diverse selection of quality genre bending electronic music. The Drought is similar to other Puce Mary records in that it cultivates an expertly paced sinister mood that references more rhythmic forms of electronic music while never fully dipping into those sounds. Her previous album The Spiral had a more “live” feel while this record has fully embraced editing and sound collage. There are more tactile close sounds that fill out the landscape of the record making it overall a more compelling and exciting listen. The harsher sounds are expertly integrated and it always feels like they are utilized to serve the narrative arc and that the emotional climax is earned. The vocals on this album are a bit more front and center than they were on previous outings which makes the subject matter clearer and reinforcing the story the sounds were already telling.
Kelly Moran – Ultraviolet
Kelly Moran is a pianist who specializes in the prepared piano, a piano modified with various objects set on, in, or around the strings and hammers to create percussive or altered tones not usually possible with a piano. On her first album for Warp she has pared down expansive improvisations and laced them with shimmering electronics to create a stunning ambient album that feels perfect for fall and the coming winter. The electronics enhance many of these compositions but the real star is the piano playing which feels brisk but never rushed, beautiful but not sentimental, and evocative of many things beyond the piano or any other traditional instrument.
Mass Marriage – Secrets
Relentless, tense, minimal power electronics from Melissa Paget aka Mass Marriages. This is an extremely heavy record filled with super think distorted synth drones and abrasive loops. Very ritualistic and deliberate with anxious monotone vocals rising above the smog to deliver sinister mantras. Not for the light hearted but once you go in it’s easy to get put under the sickening spell.
If any of these albums sound interesting to you tune in to Subcutaneous Frequencies Thursdays 8:30 – 12:30 pm for a mix of ambient, noise, industrial, power electronics, and other experimental sounds.