GNOD/White Hills- Aquarian Downer
(Aquarius Records)
From Aural Innovations May 2009 update
This is a five track collaboration with the NYC band, White Hills. I think
this is a limited edition CD-R of like 100 copies. While both bands have been
known to freakout at the highest level, this material is very much more laid
back, spacey ambient psychedelic drone stuff. The CD is 5 tracks in 49 minutes.
It begins with a short track called Belonging with slowly gets louder and louder
as the buzz saw distorted synths layer on it. Hard Bitter Reality is 11 minutes
and begins more ambient with piano, various noises and slowly, very slowly drones
along staying very spaced out. Some tabla drums enter in later and changes the
feel of the drone. Subordinate Contact is also deep out in space and features
primitive drumming deep below the drones. Some different types of spaced out
synths appear on this track. Deeply spaced.. The title track, Aquarian Downer
takes up the next 11 minutes of your bodily existence. This track starts really
quiet as if you are slowly creeping up on a strange band rehearsing in dungeon
and making far out music from another world. This is my favourite track. The
CD ends with When you are Old, which is a very slowly evolving drone track that
gets more and more heavy as the sound frequencies are slowly taken up around
you until you feel like you are going to dissolve. This is stuff best heard
while stoned.
Check out the band web site at: http://www.myspace.com/gnodgnod
Check out the Sloow Tape Label web site at: http://www.aquariusrecords.org
Reviewed by Scott Heller