Two Women by Blackhumour
SPH052
Release date 1992
Tracklist :
A Tangle
B Sharon
"Two Women San Francisco 1988 (SPH052) is a recording by Blackhumour, and continues their use of recorded and edited human vocals only: no effects etc. You may find this hard to believe given the entirely abstract textures that result: windy, hissy ambience on side one and a flock of sad seagulls on the second. In an inspired (or just tedious) act of minimalism, that's all there is: long textures that really don't seem to change very much from one minute to the next."
Electronic Shock Treatment Magazine
I choose to review this tape first because it is, without doubt, the easiest. Two sides - two tracks- two atmospheres. Side one is entitled "Tangie" (I think) and is a long, drawn out, sustained sound, like a constant, unrelenting Industrial wind, blowing dovm a darkened, cold and unwelcoming corridor. There seem to be audio images, akin to kinophantoms in thick fog, moving through the miasma, perhaps causing eddies, or maybe it's just suggestion rising into the conscious mind, peopling the grey sound with movement & images. It's not a harsh sound - indeed, despite the gun-metal-grey feel it has, it is quite relaxing & meditative. Perhaps this is the antidote pure noise freaks need when the likes of THE HATERS, MERZBOW & others have given them a migraine.
Side two is a little more complicated, opening with a higher-pitched mass of hysterical voice, either laughter or panic, gradually cycles around in complicated loops which all alter & change as the minutes pass. It seems that the same sound is used on several loops, each a fraction shorter than the other, so the sound changes from apparent syncronicity through to uncontrolled chaos. It actually reminds me a little of a tape I once had of bird call - a flock of geese or some other panic-sounding birds, all calling at once, sometimes, by pure accident, creating rhythm, or sounding in tandem, while mainly maintaining a sense of disorder & chaos.
In conclusion you're left with the impression the voice was laughing. but there's no solid proof. Interesting material from this performance artist/sound manipulator/writer/who knows what else.
Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.
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