This is one of the finer noise albums and one that challenges other noise performers to up the ante. While the method in which this record was created is interesting, the actual sounds and rhythms that compose the album are its most attractive elements by far. Yasunao Tone was created by taking various Chinese poems and converting the characters into wave forms via a character recognition program.Asphodel
At first, some of the sounds are extremely disorienting. On "Wounded Man'yo 2/2000," rhythmic howls of mechanical distortion rule but are suddenly replaced by shimmering, static snaps. Drills march foward aggressively and haphazardly until an army of ping-pong balls with heavy metal brains ricochet about and make room for the stuttering prophets and spaceships that follow; each moment of sound is interesting and a story in and of itself. "Wounded Man'yo #36-7," offers a experience similar to the first track, but with a slightly different emphasis. Sounds are given more time to breathe and play out their existence and certain passages have a decidedly more subdued feel to them. Although the first two tracks are not radically different from one another, both offer different experiences and do not feel dull or repetitive next to eachother. The massive and diverse thirty-plus minute closer, "Wounded Soutai Man'yo," is a combination of thick, wall-of-sound sludge attacks, the rhythmic skipping of its predecessors, and brief bouts of silence. Though it is perhaps a bit long, it would be difficult for me to say that anything on this album had me impatiently waiting for its end. By the time the sound draws its own curtain, I feel as if I've experienced something unique. All noise records should be as captivating as this.
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