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CD Feature/ The Walls Are Whispering Volume III

  Tobias

Are you in for some confusion? This sampler comes courtesy of a label called “EE Tapes”, packaged exactly like a 7’’ Vinyl record and in the format of simple Audio-CD. Contained on it are twelve artists from eigth countries and representing styles as diverse as field recordings, drones, electro-acoustics, noise and (dark) ambient. If you like your music easy to digest, smooth and seemless, this is definitely not for you!

“The Walls are whispering III” is the perfect antidote to all those Chill-Out compilations and a wet dream for genre-hoppers. And, like the previous installments, which featured relatively well-known names such as Troum, Vidna Obmana and the [Law-Rah] Collective alongside slightly more obscure acts, this is both a meeting with old friends and new faces. Fear Falls Burning (Dirk Serries’ latest, high-profile project) contributes eight minutes of simultaneously angelic and demonic guitar fluxion over petrifiying palpations – very close to his “He spoke in Dead Tongues” Double-Disc debut. Timo van Luijk contrasts a delicate melody with the abrasive and chafing noises of a grinding shop (or his local dentist) – a magical and mysterious piece, lasting a mere five minutes. Oren Ambarchi’s “Bank Account Blues” is another journey into the deep – flickering harmonics lighting the stairs down a darkened cave without return. While one can get completely lost in these dreamy and unreal sondscapes, the more experimental tracks will pull you right back into the here and now. Michael Northam has descended into the realms of “sur le caveau” in Switserland to capture the gnawing and nibbling sounds of a giant moth, while Seth Nehil’s almost ten-minute long musique concrete tribute collects various sound sources, weaving them tightly together. The harsh attacks of acid_soma and the humorous industrial of long-standing Japanese noise-mongers Contageous Orgasm conclude an album full of contrasts, challenges – and beauty.

While a trip to the cinema will tell you that “hills have eyes”, this CD indeed makes the walls come alive, babbling in tongues. What should come as no surprise is the fact that the print run is strictly limited to a total of 525 copies – so be quick or loose out on one of the more inspiring Various artist-releases of the last few months. Just don’t confuse it with the soundtrack to that bizarre Wes Craven-remake!

Homepage: EE Tapes