The exuberance of Buck I, ‘Proud Trash Sound’, was palpable, its ideas escaping almost faster than the tape could catch them. ‘Buck II’ no steps in to harness and shape those, confident in the material and more liberally applying the familiar ideas and techniques of its creators – notably expanded to include Joseph Hammer, whose impact is significant.
The components aren’t dissimilar: a (to put it simply) combination of noise ingredients and country/Americana references, with the opener of each LP of this double set exemplifying ‘Buck II’’s push. “Scorpion” is an extended piece of manipulated slide guitar, tape glitch and loop, and climactic ambience, testament to the influence of the Crumer/Hammer CD ‘Show Em The Door’ (Accidie) to ‘Buck II’ and the most detailed expression of the records’ genre mix. “Woke Up In Reno” bears the project’s maturation with musical fragments looped and fermented, then destroyed with a classic chunk of Jason Crumer noise nihilism which is rarely fund across ‘Buck II’ (the same scarcity which made ‘Show Em The Door’ so immersive).
While the harmonised country songs and gunslinger samples are still prevalent (less so with the samples), the integration of tape and vinyl manipulation of the musical elements is a significant development, the juxtapositions making more sense now to those approaching Buck Young without an immediate love of everything crammed rawly into ‘Proud Trash Sound’.
The love of the source material still shines through, and anyone adverse to mixing some overt musicality and arguably quaint content in with their experimental music may struggle – but experimentation doesn’t start or end with electronics, and ‘Buck II’ is littered with creative flourishes even at the most forceful of its yeehaw moments. ‘Buck II’ isn’t some misguided crossover or reach for wider appeal – it’s place in these pages is not by virtue of grinding industrial clout but thanks to appropriation, technique, and ingenuity.
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