|
So
here we are, at a point where two of the most unique underground
expressionists meet, gel and burst like jeez with an album, that
not so strangely, explodes with ambiental morbidity. First
there is Jarboe, she of the forever cult heroes Swans (fourteen
years and thirteen recordings with them), she of the slanted
alien-like eyes, of the unusually tender, sentimental yet
pugnacious voice, she of the big forehead (they say that denotes
intelligence), and numerous collaborations (on the heavy extreme
end she’s worked with Neurosis and Cobalt to give you just two),
who sounds like a wounded angel, resting on her side and
squeezing her last moments into this recording. And then there
is Justin K Broadrick, he of one half of the first Napalm Death
record (Scum), he of the almighty industrial cult heroes
Godflesh, of the endless joints and the big crooked nose, he of
the prolific profile and the extreme music, only because he is
so talented we might as well include him in, Jesu, who here lays
a potent, deep and organic soundtrack.
So assuming
we all have an open mind and assuming that we are all into the
heavy and the strange, as much into guitars as into trip hop
beats, it should be granted that J2 will go down like
orange juice after a morning jog. This is all about extended
tracks (but not so much as to kill the moods created, the
shortest clicks at 5:12 and the longest at 8:40) with ethereal
bits, deep and carving basslines, programmed and paced and
perfectly produced drums. It’s about organic sounds, fluorescent
and incandescent leftfield lights matched to surreal voices. The
kind of vocals reserved for dreams or nightmares, the likes of
which are only allowed to exist in netherworlds instead of this
fucking planet. “Decay” is baroque, the stuff you expect to hear
in a dungeon, in the hidden basement of an old Catholic church.
Once Broadrick steps in though, with subtle tones, and
flatlining noise, it all kind of distorts itself. What’s going
in on in that dungeon? Well, it’s Catholic church for fuck’s
sake, so what do you think? “Tribal Limo” is demented; the
jerking pygmy on acid vocals start oddly and slowly spiral into
surreality, but Broadrick adds beauty to the background. Or
shall we say the foreground because when Jarboe is not in J2
basically comes out like a programming oriented instrumental
post rock record. The kind that comes from non-metal minds.
Jarboe Official Site
Jarboe MySpace
Justin Broadrick’s Weblog |
