EDWARD
SOL – wrong action
(3”CD,
quasi-pop)
So, here is the boss of Quasipop doing it himself,
infusing us with a sharp little treatment of some fucked up hi-fi stereo
noise. Edward Sol is the mind and body behind Quasipop who brought us
delicious records by world-class noisenicks such as Merzbow and Lasse Marhaug as
well as lesser known but just as interesting artists like Jorgen Knudsen.
Which sheds a special spotlight on his own endavours into this field as
well. Let’s see what the main man likes to do himself.
“Wrong Action” consists of four quite different and
intriguing noise pieces that keep themselves away as far as possible from
being labelled or structured. There are harsh electronic noises, power
electronics, single-layer noise waves, some very impressive low end rumbling
and vocal samples, especially one of somebody saying “Vodka, Vodka,
Vodka” in a Russian accent. I think I even heard a toilet flush in there,
a mixture you won’t find everyday. Everything changes quite fast, so even
if there are some sounds that could be described as ambient, the longevity
of time needed for real ambient effects is of course not available. The
noise bursts spasmodically and erupts in a non-linear fashion, there is some
chaos and some randomness, so maybe it is nothing but a metaphor for the
life in Russia the way it has been one hundred and fifty years ago as
described by Dostojewski (his book about living in a prison camp is really
impressive) or as it is right now. This has definitely a paranoid,
exhausting and very straining atmosphere going on.
Did I mention that Quasipop operates from the Ukraine?
I have no idea what live is like deep in what used to be the eastern bloc
for me for half my life and then what has been the eastern bloc for the rest
of it. (Getting less than half of course, but speaking as of right now, you
know…) So I am very aware that my picture of live in the UdSSR has been
produced by news-casts, spy movies and history lessons about Stalinism and
the Czar. I just saw that there are people organizing “adventure-trips”
where live in a stalinist detention camp is emulated for a few hours,
including seperation, single cell treatment, sharp german shepards and
interrogation. No actual torture, though, I guess, and even if this, of
course, is nothing like it is to really have been a political prisoner, it
does show a certain, very ironic but also strange way to work out history.
Anyhow, I don’t think that Edward Sol or Quasipop
have a distinct political agenda going on, except for the often mentioned
cathartic cleansing of all the bullshit that accumulates inside of people by
the use of sharp noise, but I do wonder if this kind of history is a reason
that there are so many great noise artists around what used to be the
eastern bloc (thinking of Andrey Kiritchenko, Dmytry Federenko, Zavoloka,
Kotra, and others.)? Maybe somebody sometime will have an answer for me.
