AIDS WOLF - "March to the Sea" LP (Skin Graft), "Very Friendly" 12" (Lovepump United)

"March to the Sea" is an LP that does not deserve to have a lengthy, abstract review written about it, when the content is hollow, and really just an act, an empty shell. Not just because it's enjoyable and valid on every level possible, but because the review that rambles on for several paragraphs is much more further "gone" than the record it's trying to de-legitimize in the process.

Not to say that this is simple music, because that is simply not the case. At the same time, this is not an uncoordinated attack, and it's certainly not "noise", unless the subculture's dictionary has been updated and passed out without me receiving a new copy.

I suppose that I should declare that I am biased when it comes to my thoughts regarding Aids Wolf, shouldn't I? That I've known Chloe for nearly a decade, surely would influence my opinion of her creative work, and should therefore be stated, otherwise I would be deceitful, in some people's opinions, not only dishonest, but a liar.

In most people's cases, I am sure a personal relationship, no matter how small or large, can adjust the fine tuning on the small, delicate black knob which above has a label reading criticism. I'd like to think that I'm above that, and don't find it very hard to convince myself of it. (This is called being "self righteous", or so I am told). The things that I like about Chloe (and Yannick) are synonymous with their art and sound, because I feel like they are intertwined within all of their output. And maybe you don't always see it, or it's just not obvious when the pre-existing knowledge isn't there.

I've participated in the same confusing scene for a long time, where when music and art has become this left-field and out there, the consumer expects and desires you to be as out of control as they translate your music to be. Why not doing drugs (and in their case, being vegan - I myself am just a vegetarian) is often looked at as being a bit of a bummer and a let down, is quite confusing. Maybe it's the "real world" desire to get fucked up with the band? I'd always rather talk, and not about any of that stuff, but I guess that's why there's a minority here that I relate to and feel at ease with. Knowing what gigantic fans of music they themselves are, is also something that adds to what I hear when they play, and knowing that the fanaticism is embraced and worn like a badge here and there, does so all the more.

I've even had to put my abnormally PC self out there and defend their band name within the pages of HeartattaCk, as a letter came in and was going to be printed (and was), criticizing my personal ability to be okay with such a name, this of course coming after a column I had written was printed in the previous issue, in which I mentioned them in the ending paragraphs of things I were excited about at the time. I, of course, had to reply.

These are disclaimers though, and if someone's going to think that I actually would bother writing about something I didn't truly enjoy, just on the basis of liking the people involved, then that's what they will think, and that's fine. I said earlier that I am biased, but that was sarcasm.

And so anyway, two years since the last full length, Aids Wolf have offered a final recording as a four-piece, "March to the Sea", just before venturing across the states with a whole other kind of shiny beast (and I look forward to trying to explain it when new recordings that document it, see the light of day).

Ever present is Yannick's style of drumming, which is a consistent pummel of aggressive movements that could easily fall underneath the umbrella of free jazz at it's finest and most raucous, and yet still functions as a back bone that drives these songs. With the guitars free to stutter through abstract riffs that have more to do with inherent melodies that are just a bit more mangled than not, the end result feels like what a modern Captain Beefheart LP might, and this is only solidified by Chloe's willingness to put her voice out there without relying on screaming or shouting in short bursts. Mature might not come to the casual listener's mind, but to mine it does.

Sure, you could say that there are frequent nods to the more recent past across the A-side (Arab on Radar, Pink and Brown, fine), but going back just a few years earlier, Bill Orcutt's guitar playing in the later Harry Pussy recordings seems like a much more accurate and appropriate comparison. There, as here, is a sound that at first may be a bit too abrasive for most people to bother dissecting with a sterile knife. That is to say, they use the rusty flat blade that was once inside the box cutter used to open packages and cut down cardboard to make 7" mailers, instead of wiping something off in the kitchen.

Forgetting what was waiting on the flip-side was obviously an accident, and was the stereotypical icing on the cake. I already was really happy about this thing, but the cover of Throbbing Gristle's "Very Friendly" that sprawls across the entire side, took it to the next level. Pounding and repetitive and thick, the intensity has been raised quite a bit, and Chloe's vocals sound incredible: maniacal and a bit wrecked (especially half-way through) but still clear enough that you can understand most of the lyrics. And especially in each of the three breaks, there is something playful and twisted and perfect about her meandering just before the song locks back into the groove again. They did a really great job: it sounds like it must have been really fun to record and I am positive TG would approve.



Though I know not of the series of events leading up to it, there's a companion 12" to "March to the Sea", which is five remixes of this cover, by Weasel Walter, John Olson, Jason Forrest, Emeralds and Nautical Almanac: an odd assortment that also seems to make sense to me (and I guess, maybe isn't all that odd).

Weasel's chops up the raw recording and funnels it into an oddball early industrial work that, in a way, is maybe more closer to the way TG might do it themselves (now). Olson's is a chopped apart even more, allowing only slivers to replicate into dreary American Tapes style fodder, her vocals now surfacing like a warbled cassette of one of his home made horns (and/or) synths - and while it's pretty much a complete departure from the song, it's awesome - and maybe just how he hears the original anyway, right?

Jason Forrest has at it and partitions small portions into strategically dropped moments: resulting in a glitchy and ironically melodic version, even more "song" like than in it's unedited form, and with Chloe's voice spiraling in and out of a tin can. Inevitably, it's strewn into dance music, or at least something I would hope a grimey house party after-show could utilize.

Emeralds version finds me pulling the Harry Pussy card again, as I'm reminded of their absurd double LP culled from a few seconds of Adris' vocals (do I own that, yes, and would I ever part ways with it, no). This is not nearly as drastic, not at all, and there is a bit more going on, a psuedo-ambient and robotic sound-scape. The Nautical Almanac track is not at all what I expected: layers of pitch-shifted and auto-tuned vocals atop a muffled and restrained backdrop of the rest of the song, which occasionally jabs through in it's normal form. Quite honestly, I would have assumed any auto-tune would have been coming from Jason, and some more adventurous stuff going on with Nautical Almanac's piece (his stuff is insane, after all) but I suppose you never know.

Maybe it's not mandatory, but I certainly enjoy playing this directly after "March to the Sea" which might I also add: the cover art is absolutely the best and makes me smile every single time I pick it up. I'd try to explain it, but why bother? You can see for yourself.