Richard Pinhas

There are a number of ways to define noise. There is noise for noise’s sake, and there is noise that takes you on a journey and is simply a part of the process. French aural terrorist Richard Pinhas falls in the latter category. His latest recording Tranzition showcases the potent energy of the guitar drone. What’s more, he juxtaposes the talents of Antoine Paganotti on drums to create a truly surreal landscape. The guitar loops Pinhas lays down scrape against the drum work in a subtle, yet aggressive fashion, creating his own unique audio world. Much of this record sounds like a tide on an abandoned beach — waves coming in, scraping against the brittle sand, waves going back out to sea. The only drawback I found with the overall record is that some of the longer tracks suffer from a good editing job. Overall though, an ideal listen for a boring weekend afternoon.