Host - Null Pointer

One from the inbox! Felt like doing a bunch of drone/ambient stuff today.

Host are a noisy, dark, ritual ambient group from Australia. Host is the product of Nathan Jenkins, ex-The Amenta, who I have tremendous respect for after he played bass on one of my favorite albums, Occasus. Host have also toured with a bunch of metal artists including The Amenta, Ruins, and others. I have to say I definitely like the name of the album and the whole computing connotations that go along with it. Nothing is more abrasive to the psyche than segfaults, null pointer exceptions, and other programming frustrations. In fact the whole field of computer science is more or less a droning, ritual effort in its incessant but necessary tedium.

Like all good noise and ambient, the tracks on Null Pointer don't just persist in monotony for their entirety. "Know That I Am" opens with a calamitous roar and a pervasive, metallic echo like air being funneled into a bunch of PVC piping. The dull roaring pops up intermittently before the track becomes much more subdued, but following that a repetitious ascending whir takes over in the void of melody. It all sounds like crawling through an air duct and coming upon a vast network of industrial size fans. Very claustrophobic and very picturesque.

The same can be said of the other tracks. "Four Crooked Arms" has a very oceanic vibe with a tidal sound and a droning whistle. The imagery this music evokes for me is astounding, like walking through a glass canyon leading to a frigid coastline. Some of the higher pitched noises sound like rockfalls scratching the glass of the canyon, etching their impermanence into its sides. While I would describe the first two tracks as noisy dark ambient, the title track on Null Pointer is certainly ritualistic with its subtle bass thrums and even - dare I say - a melody. It has a pretty distinct sound compared to the other two tracks before it fades out with a noise reminiscent from the beginning of "Know That I Am."

There's plenty of static and graininess to Null Pointer, so if that's your thing you'll definitely enjoy this. It isn't harsh noise by any means, and it's pretty relaxing and visually appealing to listen to. This is a genre that I'm not wholly experienced with, and writing about it is still new to me, but I've been getting more into it with time. Host definitely have something going here though, and quite frankly I wasn't thinking as highly before I sat down and listened to it while writing. Null Pointer is definitely filled with great concentration sounds and plenty of mental imagery. I'll definitely be keeping tabs on Jenkins' future work.

7.75 out of 10

Tracklisting:
1. Know That I Am
2. Four Crooked Arms
3. Null Pointer

Bandcamp

Also I really recommend trying out Host's cool little experiment titled Evolution. It takes various metadata from local financial, social, and meteorological services, converts them to soundwaves, and plays them over Host's music. Use only in Chrome. When I checked it out I got a churning low-end with some wooden sounding clicks and clacks.

Death Grips - No Love Deep Web

No more promises. I should really stop with those. I'll just write reviews when I can. Sorry for letting you guys down over the past few weeks, but it seems like obligations keep popping up out of nowhere effectively killing all my free time for blogging. Someday I'll get to my inbox too. Got a few goodies in there for later...

As for now the internet seems to have ejaculated another Death Grips album to the top of the hype charts. I'm sure the drama with their label supposedly shutting down their website and Death Grips' response (leaking the album with such wonderful artwork) only added to the fanboys' accumulated keyboard gunk.

 

Poised to reinvent themselves with every new release, Death Grips have proven themselves to be a force in the noise/experimental hip-hop scene. No Love Deep Web is another chapter in Death Grips ever-evolving beatography. We saw the inconsistent yet mildly stimulating The Money Store earlier this year and No Love is essentially a continuation of that sound, so don't get your hopes up.

One thing any Death Grips listener will notice is that No Love Deep Web incorporates a few sinister beats and the distorted shouts of Exmilitary. To my dismay they also incorporate the (often forgettable) dance elements of The Money Store equally as often leading to a varied but inconsistent album. The quality of aggro-heavy tracks like "No Love," "Come Up And Get Me," "Bass Rattles Stars Out Of The Sky," and "Lock Your Doors" is mitigated by weak dance-heavy tracks "Pop" and filler-garbage like "Whammy" or "Stockton." It makes listening to the whole album a chore and I often find myself reaching for the skip button.

The drum sounds on here are incredibly superficial. I can't tell if it's the distortion applied to them or the whole dance-beat bullshit that pervades the entirety of post-The Money Store Death Grips. Zach Hill has plenty of talent (just listen to Hella) but his work here is superficial and feels as arbitrary as the droning meters. "Hunger Games" is especially atrocious with it's 'ding-boop' drum samples.

Another big issue I have is the layered vocals which are a half-hearted attempt at adding "noise" to tracks where it's not necessary. Gone are the days where Death Grips carries itself with aggression and forceful vocalwork. Now it's just layered FL Studio beats and distorted vocals with no real feeling behind them. Normally it's fine to evolve your sound, but this evolution didn't result in a more developed product. Whatever the case, this is a problem that could be remedied by ACTUALLY SPENDING SOME TIME ON WRITING MUSIC, as opposed to pumping out shit to feed the hypetrain.

That's what the problem is here. This album literally feels like The Money Store Part II, where B-sides are scattered equally on both albums to make both feel meaningless. It's like these guys decided to write one album and then write a bunch of filler just to have two albums that they could feed the willing e-morons. At least a few tracks on No Love have balls. Can't really say the same for The Money Store.

6.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1. Come Up And Get Me
2. Lil Boy
3. No Love
4. Black Dice
5. World of Dogs
6. Lock Your Doors
7. Whammy
8. Hunger Games
9. Deep Web
10. Stockton
11. Pop
12. Bass Rattle Stars Out The Sky
13. Artificial Death In The West

Listen // Get