Thursday 7 May 2009

Auk Theatre / Ortho split (no label)

Here's a split 7" picturedisc, one side being the soundtrack from Irene Moon's performance-based Auk Theatre, and the other from a group called Ortho.  Ortho's side is about insects, a common theme in Moon's work actually, and sounds as such, though it would be insects in the dying stages of their short lifespan.  There's picking and plucking and lots of time to look at the corners of the room.  The Auk Theatre side is either mastered with a shitload of lock grooves, or heavily scratched (it's hard to tell on the pic-disc surface) because my turntable arm continually stuck on weird repetitive bits.  With a few manual advances I got through the piece which is a dentistry-themed work, full of dental drills jackhammering into your consciousness, with some warble and samples from 50's educational films.  I thought that losing the visual aspect of the piece would lessen my enjoyment, but it stands up pretty well as a fucked up sound nightmare too -- once I figured out how to crank my turntable counterweight back.