The Rita/Herukrat- "Red Imprint From Ankle Ribbon"

The Rita and Herukrat are perfect partners in noisemaking, mostly because any small detail they focus on, either thematically or musically, is explored to the point of total obsession. 

This quality is magnified 100x on Red Imprint From Ankle Ribbon, an album that explores the physicality of ballet dancing and its relation to the female form in nauseating detail. 

The album begins with the track Ludmila Semenyaka, named after a Soviet prima ballerina. Appropriately, it begins with a sample of live ballet, presumably recorded in the 1950s. The sound slowly degrades into a dynamic, shifting wall of noise. It eventually solidifies into pure static before morphing into something with a subtle industrial rythm.

The song made me feel like I was hiding beneath the floor of a stage, listening to the shoes of the dancers are strike above me in unison. 

Woman on Beach With Head Turned is another obsessively erotic examination of a small moment, in this case a woman lounging on the beach.

The track itself is mostly a static noise wall, droney and filled with bass, occasionally broken up by samples of a female voice.

The title  track turns down the obsessiveness and turns up the beauty. It is soft and ambient. Vocals are also sampled, but this time it sounds like children singing. Absolutely chilling.

The Rita and Herukrat have managed to craft an art piece that both unifies and magnifies their individual thematic and musical preoccupations. Fantastic.

9/10. 

buy here

This week's favorites

Hello everyone. Excuse the lack of posts. I've been hired to write a book. Also, I just had knee surgery.

So I've been a little bit less than lucid. Hopefully this post makes sense when I reread it in an hour or so.


Here are things that I've really enjoyed this week.

1. Breathing

2. Space Machine- Cosmos From Diode Ladder Filter LP

Cosmos From Diode Ladder Filter, the only LP from Masonna side-project Space Machine, is a soothing, retro bit of analog synth doodling. It sounds like the inner workings of a spaceship from a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. It's a piece of work far removed from Yamazaki's mostly-harsh output and, as a result, is a refreshing hidden gem.

It's long out of print but it is on Youtube. Listen to it here

3. IE Selvedge Coat

For when you really want to look like a homeless logic professor, this is the coat for you.

Ah, I kid, I kid. This is actually quite a lovely piece. I'm very small so it fits my frame quite well. I can't wait to wear it often enough to get it dirty.

It's only available at Layers in London. Cop it if you're in the area.

4. 

A brilliant history of one of the most imaginative and influential political movements of our time. Definitely worth a read.

Also, if you're a "true" situationist, you'll wrap this book in sandpaper before you put it on the shelf.

5. MSBR 7" + Sculpture

Unfortunately there is no photograph of this release on the internet and I am in no position to go get it off my shelf and photograph it myself.

With that said, this release by MSBR, psuedonym of late noise figurehead Koji Tano, is something you should see for yourself. It's literally a 7 inch attached to a spring and a piece of wood. It's whimsical, silly, and very fluxus. It'll look nice on your coffee table and will annihilate your turntable.

Weird Japan

Check out this two part mixtape I made of weird Japanese music.

Featuring Lemon's Chair, Tokyo Shoegaze and a lot of others.

Part 1 here

Part 2 here