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Grant Smith, "Exploding Diseases"
A reissue of a self-release from the enigmatic Grant Smith, the sound on this disc fits squarely in the world of guitar noise, but with a significant amount of development and variation within each of its six untitled segments. Sometimes harsh, sometimes pensive, and sometimes melodic, it results in a wonderful, mysterious album that is enjoyably unpredictable.
The only overarching theme that seems to be prevalent on Exploding Diseases is a progression from harsher material into more meditative and hypnotic passages.The first segment opens with a deep, subterranean grinding noise that is likely guitar, but has a raw and otherworldly quality to it.Eventually Smith brings in a more standard sounding guitar layer, but with surges of a harsh and unidentifiable noise that balances out the familiar sounds very well.
Moving into the second piece, the overall structure continues with a power electronics bass crunch that would not be out of place on a Brighter Death Now record.The rawness is still present, but dialed back a bit and mixed with a layer of echoing, wobbly guitar noise.It might not be aggressive, but there is a bleak malevolence behind it.The fuzzy bass throb of the third part only slightly serves to obscure Smith’s introduction of an otherworldly melody low in the mix, a hint of what is to come on the album.
The melody was just a teaser, because the following piece leads off with a sharper noise sound that is far more abrasive than what preceded it.The piece may not be musical at all on the surface, but he keeps a churning vibration going that gives it at least a sense of rhythm, even if that is just undone by its grimy and nasty conclusion.
The final two segments are where Smith allows the more peaceful and meditative sounds shine through.The fifth piece opens with an ambient expanse:slowly humming guitar feedback results in a softer sound, and even with the distorted bassy loops, the whole thing is hypnotically droning.In a way, it is like the best moments of Spacemen 3 but more dissonant.The final piece is culled from a similar template, with a little more emphasis on the bass and noise.Kept at bay below the distorted stuff is a melodic loop that again offsets the noisy moments with something more melodic and engaging.
This is an obscure album from an enigmatic artist:there are no credits on the sleeve, and I could not find much information about him or his previous work via a quick Google search.That obscurity though makes Exploding Diseases even more captivating, like a lost artifact of brilliance that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.The mystery is not necessary to fully appreciate the album though, as the music stands on its own strongly.
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