Chikmountain - "Porn On The Cob"
(Tachist Records 2000, TR-001)
Chikmountain - "Porn On The Cob"
(Tachist Records 2000, TR-001)
From Aural Innovations #15 (April 2001)
The promo sheet that came with this disc describes Chikmountain's music as "hardcore ambient sound collage". A pretty good stab at a quick summary. Basically "Porn On The Cob" is a chaotic noisefest of electronics, guitars, samples, percussion, and various other sounds. The limited liner note info refers to "all sounds made or appropriated, mangled and mixed by Chikmountain", so from that I'd gather this is a big remix project with the collage element being strong. Overall, it's a wild and scary sonic experience that might even scare off a lot of noise fans. Don't even try to listen to this with headphones. You'll ultimately go mad if your brain doesn't explode first.
Chikmountain have lots of good ideas but the relentlessness of the chaos and lack of development make it difficult to digest in a single sitting. Actually, despite my warning I did give this the headphones treatment (yes... my brain exploded). I give it a high rating on the freakout meter and think Chikmountain have potential. The music rocks out and the intensity levels is high at ALL times. The guitars are rough and raw but blazing. And the voice samples are some of the scariest shit I've heard. So Chikmountain had my undivided attention throughout. The problem is it all gets pretty tiresome after a while. I get the feeling it's all just freaking out for the sake of being wild, which in itself doesn't usually succeed. But I'm intrigued and would be interested in hearing what Chikmountain do next.
For more information you can email Chikmountain at tachist@yahoo.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o Tachist Records; 1301 Massachusette Ave NW #107; Washington, DC
20005.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz