Love Katy - Blues For Katy FLAC

Now, despite what my previous activities might suggest, I am not a hater. I do not rail on the pop charts simply for being such. Barring the sole incident or two that really drive me up the wall, I usually don't care. You won't catch me berating, say, Katy Perry (an artist whom I've yet to hear a full song by since "Hot n Cold") or decrying the existence of her fanbase. After all, that would be wrong, especially given the kind of music I find myself more inclined towards. It'd be even worse once you've factored in that one of these fans is James Killick.
Not a full three months from this writing, Killick stepped into the harsh noise wall community with "Firewall" (a seven-minute piece loaded with bass, light on distortion, and bearing the muffled tones which appear to have become his trademark) and is already sharing labels with Fukte and Bördel Noïr. His heartfelt tributes to the legendary singer are already gaining him a profile, however slight, within the HNW scene. And while I'm not going to lie to you all and say I'm a veteran, or even have much of a collection when it comes to HNW, I can say in good faith that this work is unlike anything I've ever heard in it, even from Killick himself.
Like his first work, it opens with a 51-second sample from the work that inspired it, but here, it's an individual track. Whether or not this comes off as gratuitous may vary depending on the listener, but it's only 51 seconds, and it gives the option of skipping it and going straight to the music if one so desires.
The music itself is a different thing entirely. Here, Killick gives a solid representation of HNW's noise elements while going out on a limb in regards to its more ambient qualities. This results in an atmosphere both infinitely wide open and suffocatingly tight.
The first track, which starts out in nearly drone territory, lacks even a discernible bass until about a fourth of the way in. But as it progresses, Killick feeds in additional treatment, even more layers, tightening the atmosphere more and more. Distortion brings the wall out further, bits of static come right out of nowhere, and, ever so gradually, the layers pile up and the wall goes from claustrophobic to absolutely crushing. And just when you think you're going to get squished...
...It pulls almost everything back in part two, leaving just a faint, clean hum and buzz with a twitchy static track that sounds like it's playing from the other side of a wooden door. It seems to be set in three sections, shifting once every five or so minutes, but none of the shifts seem jarring. The buildup and progression are more subtle here than the last, but they're still very present. The atmosphere gets progressively heavier, more claustrophobic, before reaching nearly flattening territory-and then just fading away. The storm has ended, you can finally rest.
All in all, this is an impressive follow-up to his first steps in, and, assuming he keeps this up, I would heartily suggest you pick up whatever you can by this artist.
4 1/2 out of 5