“Extra-Dimensional Anxiety”
Another awesome noise assault from Strange Mutations. While their prior MuteAnt release (“A Farewell to Weapons”) was all about war, this one is expressing anxiety and uncertainty. You’ll hear similar elements to “Farewell…” – distorted percussion and harsh noise mixed with occasional lighter letups that allow you to catch your breath. Also similar to the last record, you can take this all in as one onslaught (through the opening “complete program”), or enjoy it in tasty, bite size morsels as it’s divided up in the remaining eleven sections.
“A Farewell to Weapons”
Strange Mutations (Mike Stitches, apparently) offers up a little slab of noise with “A Farewell to Weapons.” It sounds like it’s made up mostly of machine percussion that is put through the ringer, but there is also some mangled samples and other sounds mixed in. Monotonous it is not, as the noises keep changing. He says this is “…loosely inspired by the dystopian/apocalyptic war-torn desert landscapes…” but I hear mostly the war sounds – machine guns, helicopters, fires burning – mixed with a few very brief respites. That is, until the final barrage before the machine goes dead. The complete “A Farewell to Weapons” is found in the 11+ minute opening track, but its parts are also broken down into ten short, separate tracks, in case you just want to listen to the hit singles.