Quttinirpaaq – “No Visitors” (Rural Isolation Project 2013, RIP001, LP)

Quttinirpaaq are an Austin, TX based noise/drone/sludge-psych combo led by Matt Turner, the band being named after a Canadian national park.

Side 1 of this vinyl LP opens with a 1.5 minute blistering noise-sludge dirge that brings to mind Keiji Haino playing guitar with Throbbing Gristle. Malvert follows, starting off as a menacing but cool grooving industrial dance-floor rocker with periodic bouts of spacey electronic freakiness. Ex-Batts laces itself with more sludge. I like the combination of drugged stoner vibe, chaotic noise, and vocals that sound like early Chrome meets The Residents gone totally noise-fucked. After a brief interlude of space electronics Quttinirpaaq launch into a cover of George Brigman’s DMT. I’d never heard of Brigman but a little Googling revealed him to be a musician from Baltimore who released a self-financed LP called Jungle Rot in 1975. So off to YouTube I went to hear DMT and darned if George Brigman wasn’t an unsung contemporary of Chrome, fitting well into the punk-industrial with a spaced out psychedelic edge mold. Quttinirpaaq’s take on DMT is a heavy rocking slab of ear-slitting acid drenched psychedelia, industrial horror-show and Chrome. Bad Ronald follows, being a rhythmic bit of off-kilter noise, samples and effects collage that would make for some avant-garde dance fun. And Becombs is a short, noise-laden stoner psych blast that wraps up side 1.

Side 2 consists of three longer tracks, starting with the nearly 8 minute Lohlands. If you like noisy, here’s-yer-brain-on-drugs, but totally rockin’ industrial psychedelia, then you’ll dig this for sure. I really like the use of effects on this track. Les Rallizes Denudes is a band that’s referenced in the promo sheet and I’d say that the raw, chaotic, but passionate power of the Les Rallizes Denudes music I’ve heard is very much in evidence here. Golden Needles lays down a rhythmic, danceable, industrial groove, accompanied by a steady wave of static that functions like an irritating drone, plus warbling Poltergeist voices and other freaky effects. Finally, Horsehead Bookends starts off as a meandering experimental noise, drone, guitar feedback, and effects exploration, but then near the 3 minute mark launches into the heaviest space-noise-sludge assault of the entire set. Keiji Haino quit Throbbing Grislte and joined Sunn O))).

In summary, there’s quite a bit of variety on No Visitors, and while it’s aggressive music to be sure, it’s far more accessible than a lot of the relentlessly dense sludge-fests I’ve heard. If you like your psychedelia on the noisy side, dig Chrome and Les Rallizes Denudes, or my early Chrome meets The Residents analogy resonated with you, check out Quttinirpaaq. Note that the LP comes in an edition of 300 copies pressed on 180 gram dark red vinyl.

The LP can be purchased through the Quyttinirpaaq Bandcamp site at: http://quttinirpaaq.bandcamp.com.
Like most Bandcamp sites it includes a download and the music is available to stream on the page.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

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