CJA
Pink Metal
(Pseudo Arcana)
2cd-r
16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We love CJA, aka Clayton Noone, aka one half of New Zealand free rock combo ArmpitÊas well as a member of weirdo new wavers the Futurians. CJA releases have varied considerably in tone and texture, from dark and contemplative dreamy drone, to more corrosive free and furious noise. We weren't really sure what to expect with this, the latest from CJA, a massive double cd-r called Pink Metal, wrapped in a super goofy garish hand drawn heavy metal style handmade sleeve. We were super psyched, imagining it might be some demented Kiwi freaked out what-the-fuck blast of damaged metal, and while it is heavy at times, and could most definitely be considered metallic in places, the 'metal' of Pink Metal has much more in common with bands like SUNNO))) and countrymen Black Boned Angel. And those chunk of metallic pummel are spread out, and scattered amidst all sorts of other strange sounds and mysterious soundscapes.
The opening track on disc one starts things off in a distinctly non-metallic style, it's all dark and quiet, expansive and shimmering, guitars unwinding into lazy drawn out swoons and shimmers, skeletal melodies spread out over barely there ambience. But the second track quickly sets things right, a sort of ultra lo-fi Godflesh style industrial trudge, huge booming trash can lid percussion, over murky muddy downtuned riffing. Not so much heavy as it is intense and relentless. But before you know it, Noone switches back to acoustic guitar strum, weaving a folky little interlude before shifting into a strange stuttering guitarscape, hypnotic and repetitive. There are a few brief blasts of buzzed out riffage, crumbling and thick, caustic and dense, but for the most part, Noone veers between haunting folk flecked lo-fi deconstructed pop and abstract ambient drone music, only peppering it with chunks of grainy heaviness.Ê
TheÊsecond disc is a similarly dizzying sonic spectrum, beginning with a cool, super tense, weirdly dramatic solo guitar drone, but instead of low end rumble, it's crashing drawn out chords, distorted and melodic, repetitive, and overlapping, riffs pulled apart into slabs of melodic sound, before coalescing near the end into a killer hook. Then we're off again, fractured twee folk, stumbling lo-fi strum and clatter, thick swells of industrial whir, Dead C style chaotic murky noisiness, finishing off with an extended low end hiss drenched slab of grinding, growling, throbbing, super distorted pummel, complete with sludge riffing and propulsive buried in the mixÊdrumming. As always, awesome!
Packaged in an oversized thick paper, black, white and purple multi page booklet, adorned with awesome high school binder heavy metal / Dungeons And Dragons imagery, huge muscled demon warriors, swords andÊmaces, and slain foes laying heaps on the ground, strange fiery aliens, Silver Surfer like creatures firing lazers from their fingertips, spike headed beasts, samurai warriors, cloaked demons, dragons, and growlingÊwolf beasts, ultra violence, and decapitations, skeletons, zombies, ninjas and more. All black and white, but with all the text in a garish bright purple (or pink maybe it's meant to be), blood dripping metal font. The cds housed in plastic sleeves affixed to the insides of the front and back covers.
This came out a while ago, andÊ it was of course pretty limited to start with. We have a bunch, but there's a definite chance that once these are gone we won't be able to get more...
MPEG Stream: "Totxt"
MPEG Stream: "Skull Probe"
MPEG Stream: "Mean Ancient Heavy Industry"