This early album by Japanese noise master KK Null can be described as a cross between Tangerine Dream and noise music, and possibly the most successful attempt yet at such a synthesis.
The Noise genre is often derided for its explicitly and deliberately anti-musical stance in a gesture similar to that of avant-gardists who see iconoclasm as an end in itself, without any artistic statement in sight besides vain provocation and transgression, and thus often devolving into pure chaotic, meaningless sound and fury. While this description might apply to most “artists” working in the genre, KK Null is one of the few who rise above the crowd by injecting order and crafting a semblance of a narrative out of these wild and ominous textures; this album should be considered a landmark achievement in that task.
The potential for pure, primitive expression is harnessed but infused with an organizing principle that gives coherence to the chaos. Obviously, this type of music follows a mode of composition that is very different from any conventional genre; in the attempt of achieving a higher degree of freedom, it replaces the basic unit of the “note” with that of “sound”.
The structure of the tracks generally obeys a pattern that fans should be familiar with: a disquieting soundscape is introduced and lingers for long enough to be apprehended by the listener until he’s drawn into a trance-like state; then a new layer is added, like the intrusion of a strange object or entity, and eventually becomes dominant until it is replaced by the next one and so on. These soundscapes are designed to sound organic, resembling an autonomous, living aural ecosystem moved by dark and sinister impulses. A quote by Henry Miller might provide an apt description: “a stone forest the center of which was chaos”.
KK Null employ a series of tools that add variation and expressive power to the music. On the fourth track, tribal percussion underlies the evolving and shifting soundscapes for the entirety of the song, while sparse echoing vocal effects contribute to the mystery and otherworldliness of the album. The more aggressive sounds, some occasionally bordering on white noise, are interspersed with quieter moments that nonetheless emanate the ever-present sombre aura. The synthesizers and sound effects do not exclusively aim at a robotic feel as in many of KK Null’s albums, but are rather torn between that mode and the more “spacey” tone popularized by the Berlin School.
This record is the best option for people who like “cosmic music” but wish for a more visceral experience, or those fascinated by the premise of noise music but desiring a more disciplined vision.
