Keith Rowe/Burkhard Beins

It starts with amiable chatter between the musicians and ends a mere 28 minutes later with audience applause and a burst of laughter from Rowe — but what comes between is a sonic minefield, cratered and littered with debris. The venomous mood is set nicely by an opening grab from Radio Canada International — talking heads nattering on about Iraq. Rowe lets them burble away for a few minutes, and then singles out a half-intelligible fragment from the program for further treatment, repeating and successively deforming it until it’s a shapeless smear. Dusty Springfield’s "Son of a Preacher Man” makes an appearance halfway through: someone turns up the dial; both musicians sit listening without comment for a solid minute, and then let loose a terrifying onslaught, sounding for the entire world like a bicycle chain dropped into a blender. It’s hopeless trying to figure out who’s doing what here, though Rowe (credited with guitar and electronics) seems to be responsible for the buzz saw-encountering-sheet-metal racket and fast-forward/rewind activity, while Beins (percussion) contributes everything from softly tingling bells to rusty playground-equipment shrieks. The results are a terrific nail biter of an album, and make for a fine start to Erstwhile’s new ErstLive series.