My review of Young Hustlers’ debut cassette ‘Encaged’ described a series of tracks built from familiar power electronics components but promising more than it could deliver, the singularity to the pieces wearing quite thin. Of greater moment were the duo’s tracks on Styggelse’s ‘Stadsbranden 3’ compilation, a crueller detachment settling into the two tracks donated to that collection.
The opening synth buzz, slow synth excoriation and barked vocals of “Alienation” bash out an effective but primitive power electronics attack opening ‘Hiding In The Open’, flagging that Young Hustler’s stoic primitivism hasn’t been abandoned – but the pieces have moved beyond the motionless trajectory of ‘Encaged’, demonstrated by the emergence of a scalding fuzz into the opening track, and the antisocial remoteness of the project remains strong. What follows is familiar European power electronics but with a heavy dose of unsettling hooliganism bringing similar disquiet to Young Hustlers’ neighbourhood the way Skm-Etr did to Winnipeg in the mid-’00s, notable for what it manages within strict genre confines rather than any attempt to move or expand upon those. The tracks from both ‘Stadsbranden 3’ and the pair’s split cassette with Alfarmania are included on the LP, ‘Hiding In The Open’ the fuller exposition of the tone set across those releases.
The opening synth buzz, slow synth excoriation and barked vocals of “Alienation” bash out an effective but primitive power electronics attack opening ‘Hiding In The Open’, flagging that Young Hustler’s stoic primitivism hasn’t been abandoned – but the pieces have moved beyond the motionless trajectory of ‘Encaged’, demonstrated by the emergence of a scalding fuzz into the opening track, and the antisocial remoteness of the project remains strong. What follows is familiar European power electronics but with a heavy dose of unsettling hooliganism bringing similar disquiet to Young Hustlers’ neighbourhood the way Skm-Etr did to Winnipeg in the mid-’00s, notable for what it manages within strict genre confines rather than any attempt to move or expand upon those. The tracks from both ‘Stadsbranden 3’ and the pair’s split cassette with Alfarmania are included on the LP, ‘Hiding In The Open’ the fuller exposition of the tone set across those releases.
Heavy synth currents and burly distortion layers remain the instrumentation of choice but the vocals are the central feature both in attack and tone; “Cocaethylene” sets the scene with an overwhelming glut of effects in which the vocal blasts are immersed, as sickly feedback and a slippery low-end thud take up the small amount of available space which remains. The remaining tracks of the first side follow suit, the unhinged vocals dominating the compositional space, new track “Bacca Bazi” a favourite as the punishing yells become so swollen with effects that they bear the sonic texture of sheet metal bashing as much as they do vocalising, supported by an insistent fast-paced repetition and intentionally irritating mid-range scratching.
Over the second side a balance returns between vocals and instrumentation, Skm-Etr heavily invoked in the rampant vocal effects and turgid synth of “Startpistol Med Hagelpatron”, while the heavy thrust of “Vagabond Annihilation” and glacial synth ebb of “Knullad Av Hundar”, laced with a fuzz of cold wind distortion, allow more space between the lines of hoarse yelling. While playing an intentionally supportive role across the LP the chance for that instrumentation to emerge is crucial to closer “Vagen Ut”, which unwinds a softer mid-range shudder and slow modulations for a chilled finale of introspection, the heavy vocals completely absent and replaced instead by spaced spoken word passages seemingly sampled from news broadcasts or the like. Spoken in Swedish the content of those passages is lost on me, but the sudden shift from hooliganism to introversion is clear: a pause in external hostilities to dwell on the internal motivations which enrage the remainder.
While there may not be solace there does seem to be in “Vagen Ut” an internal recognition of the excesses across the remainder of ‘Hiding In The Open’, a retreat into the shadows after blazing across the city fuelled by intoxicants and malign intentions. The danger which brews in the remaining tracks is palpable, but that detached antisocialism is actually recognised and made that little more dangerous by the clarity of thinking which “Vagen Ut” brings to an already strong LP.
No comments:
Post a Comment