Charles K. Noyes

Full Stop

BY I. KhiderPublished May 1, 2001

An avant-garde noise and drone composition album released on Thurston Moore's label, Ecstatic Peace. This album boasts an impressive array of sound sources, which Noyes was kind enough to identify for the listener, as to better appreciate the content. From string ensembles to processed environmental recordings to lap-steel guitar to tape rewind, the listener never gets a chance let their attention drift, since a new angst-ridden sound is dropped to fish-hook your mind. I'm not sure if it's due to the sound sources or the compositional intent, but most of the album sounds unsettling, as if foretelling David Lynch-like doom. A case in point would be tracks such as "Mystery=Misery" and "Murder/Massage,U.S.A." (composed with processed horns and steel drums no less). Even though the material is unsettling, it is also oddly beautiful, in a way, it's just a matter of re-calibrating one's perception of beauty.
(Smells Like)

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