Wet Rat Year
Excellent new CD from this pair of UK avantists in a heavier, more-Industrial style than usual. Some great Cosey/Lydia-styled slide guitar over bleeping electronics, minimal Kraut-styled alarm tones and elemental drones. Best cover art yet from Darren more than seals the deal. - David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue
Quiet World is the label by Ian Holloway, and its primary interest is to release his own music or of those he works with. These three are no different. First around is the disc he recorded with Darren Tate, Monos frontman and previously involved with Holloway. No information on the cover, and not much on the disc either. Following their previous more drone related work, 'Wet Rat Year' is a different cup of tea. The opening piece is a duet for improvised guitars and effects. Field recordings do pop up in the second piece, but also noisy synthesizers. This noisy and improvised is continued in the next track, which is the weakest on this disc. Too loosely improvised. The fourth piece is a piercing synth improvisation, whereas the final track is a more subdued improvisation, and perhaps the best of the disc. Not a particular quiet world this release, and also not very convincing in the musical department. Not every new move turns out to be great. - Frans de Waard, Vital
Typically lovely cover artwork, with two nice dancing rats that just ask to be joined. The music is, one should say, “Dadaist as usual”: absolutely impossible in fact to predict what these men will do from a record to the next, especially when Darren Tate is involved. In this case, we have less drones and field recordings than the norm (except a beautiful conversation of honking ducks at the beginning of a track) and LOTS of distorted/warped guitars, digital delays in “hold” mode and, I presume, nonconformist analogue synthesis. In parts, the whole is unambiguously alluring, principia of acid degenerations reinforced by utter corrosions of the audio message (which is a desired effect). At the end of the CD, an FM radio station appears to further destabilize the residual comfort. Those who expect something along the coordinates of Monos, or the most bucolic sides of both artists, are going to remain seriously deluded. This is harsh stuff, achingly dissonant at times, but the substance is clearly visible for the knowledgeable ones. - Massimo Ricci, Temporary Fault
Psychic Space Invasion / Ian Holloway Reviews
