[Guest Column] Nestor Matthews // Fascination with the Noisy #2

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Hello again, I’ve done some more ruminating on my musical taste. This time I’ve been chewing on repetition and structure either in their non-existence or taken to their respective extremes. Oh, and there is a special treat at the end for those that manage to get all the way through.

I’ve had a rather turbulent relationship with the music, and occasionally the ethos, of the creative enigma that is Zach Hill. First and foremost, Zach Hill is undeniably a musician and composer of incredible ambition, however I can’t help but think that his somewhat terrifyingly prolific nature often seems to spread his unique talents too thin. Within each of the 13 tracks on Hill’s own solo material released to date (an album entitled ‘Astrological Straits’ which is essentially a collaboration including almost everyone else Hill works with in all his other projects) are whole multitudes of new avenues and ideas that are cast aside almost as soon as they are stumbled upon. Polyrhythms and skewed melodies fall on top of each other and simultaneously split apart, often leaving anyone listening bewildered, exhilarated and frustrated in equal measure. I can but imagine what would happen if rather than racing ahead, Hill chose to linger and concentrate his efforts. For some reason I only see it ending in some sort of explosion, musical or otherwise. This also applies to Hill’s extensive list of collaborative work; everything from primary focus Hella via Team Sleep (with Chino Moreno of Deftones) to latest outfit Bygones bears the unmistakeable stuttering cacophony that has become the Zach Hill trademark and this untamable energy both inspires and annoys me. Whatever Hill gets involved in seemingly sooner or later ends up becoming all about him; Marnie Stern apparently has to rewrite her music in order to fit the percussion written for it in the first place and the simple fact that Hill was even involved in Wavves almost entirely overshadowed the music that they eventually created, which yet again, stank of Zach Hill.

I am by no means trying to drag Zach through the mud here (or say that he smells), I’m just trying to understand what it is about him. I think its pure, unabashed and undiluted love for what he does. Vomitous I know, but Hill’s creative output matches perfectly his creative ethic and I find that quite rare; to cram as much in as physically possible and run with it while you can.

Hella performing ‘Biblical Violence’

Zach Hill performing with Wavves at FYF Fest

Next up to the plate, Japanese musical refusenik trio Nisennenmondai. Funnily enough, I first came upon Nisennenmondai at a Marnie Stern show after an accidental double booking, and no offense to Marnie but I can’t remember any of her set because Nisennenmondai blew my mind. Brutally simple in their direction, Nisennenmondai take repetition and build with it to create a clockwork fueled, techno soundtracked slow nightmare that, unless you are constantly straining your ears for signs of change, will sneak up and sweep you away without warning. Unlike Zach Hill, Nisennenmondai (it’s so much fun to type) are content to sit on an idea that seemingly grew from an unassuming guitar wriggle that most people would consider background noise, incubating it until all of its twitching limbs jerk into life in unison and dance like the possessed until, without warning, they fall apart again leaving you feeling out of sync with all known space and time. The fiercely militant adherence to progression and repetition creates a bizarre yet beautiful juxtaposition of conventional musical rules; the music becomes so hypnotic that its the slight variations and occasional mishits keeping you alert to the progression and reanimation of each piece. Essentially it is the mistakes that create the music, the unintentional fluctuations that write the narrative. This minor epiphany caused me to listen to everything else I own (and have owned since) with a new attention to detail, an itching to get inside and have a root around. Nisennenmondai’s blinding purity, steadfast shunning of the media and most importantly, the open display of their inner mechanics strips away the slick veneer of vanity so often painted over a lot of music, so much so that a thirty minute burst can leave anything and everything subsequently listened to that day with the lingering chemical tang of uncertainty and dishonesty.

Nisennenmondai performing ‘Mirrorball’ at Upset The Rhythm

And now to China and the artists known as FM3 and the various incarnations of their Buddha Machines. Deceptively simple at first glance, the Buddha Machine is a small handheld plastic box that plays a series of short pieces of ambient music on infinite repeat. Inspired by the Buddhist chanting machines used in temples to create continuous prayer, with use the Buddha Machine quickly transcends its base properties and turns into something entirely unique. Upon repeated and prolonged listening (for that is the intention) it becomes apparent that the samples stored within the Buddha Machine have been purposely written to be repeated indefinitely; immaculately crafted so that some new apparition is heard and forgotten with every rotation. Couple this with the wonderfully tidal, hissing whisper of the deliberately cheap speaker within and you often find yourself straining for the repeat to come round again in order to check whether what you thought you heard was really there, but of course by then you can’t remember what you heard, can you? This is why the Buddha Machine is completely of its own and in my opinion deserves so much praise. In any other format it would never work; it would be exactly the same clean sound every single time, until, for example, the CD fills up and the loop has to end. The Buddha Machine has no end in that sense, the only real constraint is the life of the batteries (unless you have a it plugged into the mains for truly infinite repetition) and even then they have an effect on the sound, ever so slowly grinding to a halt until you replace them and continue where you left off.

Anyway, I apologise if this last section has been at all aimless; I’ve had my Buddha Machine v.2 on as inspiration and it turns out I’ve been sat here for the best part of an hour and a half, just listening.

Information on where to purchase and also free availability of the loops used on the Buddha Machines! This site is unfortunately in Chinese, but there are plenty of images that allude to FM3’s plans for the Buddha Machine and its potential as a baseline for other projects.

Oh yes, the special treat! We (Sky Larkin) released our second album into the wild earlier this week and to celebrate I did a little remix type affair of the last track on the album, which is in itself a re-working of an older song written in the time just after recording the first record. Deary me. Anyway, listen away but please don’t forget to turn up the bass…