Mecha/Orga, 50:01 (Echomusic)

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Mecha/Orga has recently completed a trilogy of the breakdown of audio information.

By his own admission, Mecha/Orga´s sounds are tortured until they become "intolerable". No argument here.

"56:24" (Absurd) was a classic, long-form drone which turned slightly more vicious over the hour (see review elsewhere in these pages). CDR label Triple Bath issued a second installment last year featuring the handsome splatter art of Themis Pantelopoulus, who runs the label, on its cover. The four tracks on "61:50" range widely in length and were recorded over the course of two years. The track "13:49" featured percussive engine idling - a water pump sampled in the Syrian desert - which grows more in volume than intensity. "04:44" is radio static through which extaterrestrials are unsuccessfully trying to break though to make contact with us - too much unnecessary chatting clogging up the airwaves, I suppose - before being drowned out by piercing feedback.

Epic in length, "31:43" is similarly epic in demand on its listener, exposed to a half hour of searing, buzzsaw distortadelica, its pitch changing only slightly - or it maybe it´s the listener´s battered ears adjusting - until degradation sets in around minute twelve and the dominant tone becomes increasingly deep before bottoming out and being forced to let the aforementioned shriek retake command, assertilng itself with renewed authority and brutality for the remainder of the piece. The buzzsaw, it turns out, is actually wind plaguing a spot on Naxos Island in Greece.

"11:33" is a welcome recovery centre located in some damp, dark place, grim in all its shades of grey, below ground among the pipes and drains and air ducts. And believe me, it is a comfy respite after the previous assault. Almost like a spa treatment for the ears after the furious punishment to which we´ve´ve been subjected.

The slightly out-of-focus photograph (by Anton Maiorov) in which the final installment, 50:01, is wrapped, is a landscape of (from the bottom up) bleached-out sand, a sad body of water, and the shore beyond. This visual serves as a perfect complement to the music within. The first piece, "18:03", is a smooth and pleasant environment to inhabit, forced air unwaveringly drowning out some shifting pitches relegated to the deep background. Just as water can become choppy in the breeze - and it does look like the vegetation in the aforementioned photo is swaying in the wind - "17:02" places us inside the engine of a revving, sputtering scooter, gaining in intensity until reaching ultimate guitar-feedback squall before being sharply concluded by the onset of the third track, "14:54", which drizzles static finally subsiding as it is blown clear of the treetops.

A lot of numbers, a lot of noise, and a lot to ponder.

http://www.triplebath.gr, http://www.echomusic.gr