Et Sans
Par Nousss Touss Le Trous De Vos Crânes
(Alien8 Recordings)
The first release from Et Sans was a minimal gem released on the Locust music label out of Chicago. At the time, the group was only a duo consisting of Roger Tellier Craig (Le Fly Pan Am, Set Fire To Flames) and Alexandre St-Onge (Shalabi Effect) and the two wove beautiful guitar-based drones together in subtle ways for a nice nocturnal release of slowly-shifting soundscapes. With Par Nousss Touss Le Trous De Vos Crânes the group has not only increased the length of the album title, but they've increased the size of the band (adding 3 more people) and drastically changed their sound.
Instead of experimental drones, the group is now a rumbling, post-something group that throws wave after wave of sound on the pile for a release that is at times quite amazing while at other times completely frustrating. The release opens with a short track (all track titles are roughly two sentences in length and in French) that mixes cut-up vocals, gentle electronic bleeps, and all kinds of swirling tape samples and in just over five minutes manages to be both hypnotic and foreboding. The latter quality it seems is for good measure, as the second track on the release is a monolith of sound that runs almost twenty minutes in length. Mixing old-school electronics, hyper-repetitive percussion, filtered vocals, dense sheets of noise, and a load of other sounds, the track hammers away, changing speed in a couple places and taking out elements and then bringing them back in an almost haphazard way as it lumbers along like a big metal machine that is both losing parts and getting others stuck to it as it lurches down the road.
The third track opens with what is probably the most beautiful moments on the release as filtered strings and vocals build in a cinematic swirl before turning slightly more menacing as the track progresses. Even with the odd turning point about two-thirds of the way through, it's the most stunning track on the release. The closing track again rumbles along with a repetitive rhythm section, and despite throwing everything and the kitchen sink into the mix (electronic bursts, tape hiss, squelched-out keyboards, wailing vocals), the track still comes off sounding like a slightly second-hand version of a track that Le Fly Pan Am pulled off so well on their dynamic deconstructed N'Ecoutez Pas. With four tracks that run just over forty-five minutes Par Nousss Touss Le Trous De Vos Crânes is definitely a release in which tracks take their time in reaching any sort of destination. It's noisy as hell and often distrurbing, and unfortunately is also somewhat maddening in places as the group seems to get mired down during sections in the long tracks and barely keep themselves afloat with passages that feel like rough improvisation. If rhythmic dark and experimental (think Suicide versus kraut plus tape loop and electronic experiments) music is your thing, this newest effort from Et Sans couple be your ticket to a migraine.
Rating: 5
