bluming heart

furthernoise.org

A degraded low fi quality set of recordings such as this is rarely heard or so bravely employed for the length of an entire album that within seconds of listening you are treated to a dynamic that will both annoy and enthrall. Think overdriven stoner jams and ferric cassettes left on top of speaker cabs and passed over heavy magnets for good measure. From the start your thrown into a world of lysergically scratchy vocals teetering somewhere between Granddaddy and Sid Barret that is somehow implausibly engaging...

'Moldy Told Story' (track 3) is my pick of the bunch with a simple off cut loop of piano hiccuping at each join whilst Loboy delivers a nasally close mic vocal ruminating on everything from Coca Cola, Wy Fi and household objects drenched in a well of short metal tank reverb. 'Please' contains more evidence (if any is needed) of a growing THC psychosis that even Cheech and Chong would be proud of as we are informed that he has just had a puke while setting off a loop on another reference to how much is being smoked. Enter screeching guitar loops, fat bass line and distorted signals heralding a change in tone as Loboys trip takes on new dimensions. LSM (Liquid Static Meditation) and 'UFO Energy Flow' continues the celestial journey which starts to grow a little tired before being broken by the speaker sheering bass and overdriven beat of the last track 'Eclectricity'.

Loboy AKA Michael Low creates an intriguing take on the lo fi and as an album Bluming Heart holds together pretty well if occasionally over relying on extremes to restate his avant noise credentials. There is more than enough to interest most experimentalists here and with numerous other projects on the go, Michael Low is an energetic creative force to be reckoned with.

-Roger Mills