Ducks Battle Satan

Since Menche reactivated as a recording artist last year he has produced some of the strongest and strangest work in his catalogue. There are four tracks on offer here. Two being some of the nastiest recordings I’ve heard Menche make and the other two much more mellow – if you’re idea of mellow is the creeping realisation that the world will end.  What I think Menche does on the second track is explore a much more dark place than he has in the past. This isn’t so much about the blood and energy  flowing through nature but more an exploration of the blacker, hidden side both in its dark recesses and its ultimate destruction. The word “desolate’ gnaws at me when I listen to Feral. Devastated, forsaken, hopeless, ravaged.  The thing to listen to on Feral is the  lower registers. This is where I think Menche excels. Feral One is all noise nastiness with emphasis on giants swarms of static and enveloping clouds of blackness but underneath all of that  is a bass level. There is life underneath the noise but it requires some deep listening. The spooky, chalky, bone  fossicking which made an appearance on his Coultis collaboration is on display  in Feral Three but only lasts momentarily before what sounds like the digestive process of Cthulu takes over  before changing into what sounds like a field recording of a wind, sleet and hail event in Menche’s beloved forests.   Feral Four sees him bringing a lighter touch once again but somehow the creep factor delves into dark ambient territory and is one of my favourite Menche tracks period. Feral is one of the most diverse records of his catalogue. Worth tracking down.

There is something in Menche’s version of drone that sets it apart from many of his contemporaries.  On the surface the noise is a simply layer beast of low-end rumble and high-pitched distortion which somehow propels itself forward over the length of a track. The problem with a lot of drone is that if listened too passively the reason for the movement in the sound can be missed. On the first of two lengthy untitled tracks which make up Odradek the hidden something which makes it all work is processed percussion.  The track starts ominously enough with a an occasional jarring thud which sounds like a piano being punched but after those few distractions the track gains some momentum before half way through revealing its full percussive colours. It’s actually very clever because I think he is one of the few noise artists that can incorporate percussion into a layered drone and almost completely hide it. Despite all the different elements which combined to the first track, it is bleak as hell and is almost an aural representation of Menche’s black and white photography of Oregon’s wilderness.

The second track is really strange. It begins with the reading of a poem (in German) of the mythical creature which the album is named after. It’s all a bit KTL like in many ways. The spoken word component doesn’t last long and in typical Menche style lies under some effects (in this case some  chiming gong and distorted thuds). After the poem recedes into memory the track doesn’t immediately reveal itself as a drone track. It’s almost sounds like   an orchestra of wind chimes. The most remarkable thing about the track as it slowly moves and shift is that it is one of Menche’s few musical expressions of hope and genuine emotion. A startling leap froward for Menche and a remarkable record. It will take you a few listens to get the full effect but give it time and let it blow you away.

One of my resolutions for this year (read my only resolution)  is to start reading the booklets in records I buy. For instance I had no idea until I was having a bit of a cruise through Discogs that Menche made an appearance on Monoliths and Dimensions. DBS was never meant to be a fan site of any sort, it started as a way of trying to articulate noise and experimental records without getting too pompous about it all. But if you hadn’t picked it up by now, I am a fan of many of the bands that I post on here. Being a fan is different from being a band tragic because I think the latter term indicates someone who is passing a less than critical ear over the records they listen to. For instance I’m a bit of a Merzbow fan but to be fair his  output for 2009 was patchy at best and downright dull at worst. There is Prurient I love and some, you know, not so much. In the case of Daniel Menche I have yet to encounter a record I think is anything less than brilliant. I think the same way of Kevin Drumm but I’ll leave that for a later post. Menche has a wonderful drone quality to his pieces of experimental sound that are rich and rewarding. You know when you have really good wine and you get that amazing mouth feel. Well Menche is kind of like that for your ears. Take for instance this record from 2007 (which is a very fine vintage  for Menche indeed). The only hint as to  what you are listening too is a line on the rear of the digipak that says: Daniel Menche: Organ and trumpet deconstruction. If you can hear any trumpet over the four tracks of Bleeding Heavens then you’re either high or lying. I discovered a smattering of organ on the second track but that too was a bit elusive.What happens on a great Menche record is that his deconstructions become an electronic drone with static under notes, the drone evolves and changes not so much through the use of pitch but more through volume and intensity. Sometimes it evolves through the use of oscillations to produce that noise being blasted through a ceiling fan vibe. His sound is almost like layering sound on top of one another until the ones at the bottom are taken away over the course of a track  until it collapses. Although , its fairer to say that these tracks don’t actually collapse per se, they just cease to exist, no explosion, just an intensification of sound and then  … nothing. At times it is simply breathtaking. The first untitled track on Bleeding Heavens may be one of my favourite noise/drone tracks because it show just how amazing this sort of sound becomes when drone is so malevolent that it cuts a gash through the Earth’s crust. The second is a stunner that evolves in to powerful oscillations. The third is probably the least successful and doesn’t quite have the momentum of the other tracks but the final piece is a tremendous trip into  semi-dark ambient territory before gently sliding into the void. Amazing. This is as good as any place to get into Menche and I recommend that you do.

Yay! Menche is back. As a devoted  follower of all things Menche, it’s nice to see him back in his solo guise. At the beginning of 2008 he released a statement about how he wasn’t going to release any more solo work and instead focus on visual arts etc blah blah blah . Don’t know what changed his mind – don’t care either. The important thing is he is back. Back!!!  As an aside you should go read his blog over at www.danielmenche.blogpost.com. Menche may be the coolest high school librarian ever. Now to Kataract. Those bastards at Mego are releasing only 500 of these because noise music is so far up in own arse that only 500 people deserve to listen to this or it could be an economy of scale thing with the view that this stuff has a small market and 500 copies all they can shift. Whatever the reason I tracked this down from those nice people at Cold Spring and fucking la di da I’m one of the  lucky 500 so you know … worship me as a god.

So what’s it all about then. Kataract is one 40 minute track of processed field recordings and water falls  and electronic loveliness. I love it.  It’s harsh and droney and dreamlike and awesome and if you don’t buy this you suck. Seriously.  You know you want to hear what processed waterfalls sound like. You’re kidding no one. One of the albums of the year.