Great release this, albeit a bit shorter than I expected the run time to be. Out on I Had An Accident in super limited C10 cassette form, Marina Stewart gives two sides of ‘Les Horreur’s Indescripitable‘ – cut and paste experimental electronics that leave us wanting more and hunting down the rest of her works.
Evidently started in 1986, the A-side (strangely titled ‘Les Horreurs Indescriptable II’ against the B-side’s ‘Les Horreuers Indescriptable I’) benefits from it’s raw tape transfer feel, an untempoed composition incorporating bouncing synths, random voice recordings and tick-tocking effects working together in an eery space. Fans of the last Broadcast album will find some common ground here no doubt.
The flip side of Horreur Tape is a more recent composition for Marina Stewart, this one done specifically for this release. Throwing up a more industrial beat sound, Stewart deliberately dirties up and crunches out the drums, distorting effects to the Russell Haswell level and using this to dictate the recording’s direction. Much more brutal in construciton, the organ sounds are stretched out uncomfortably, reversed and pushed around in to smaller spaces then should fit. The irony of the 2012 recording sounding grimier than the 1986 offering one isn’t wasted on us either, but recording times aside neither sounds out of place on a limited tape offering.
Discogs shows us that Thorsten Soltau and The Elecctent were involved in the mixdown and effects, which is somewhat unsurprising given the quality of the release. Limited to 40 copies only, done on purple cassette – not sure how there’s still some kicking around. Brilliant addition to the collection, get on it while you still can. And it even shipped with a promotional condom – first I’ve seen of that, and a nice touch from a label with ‘Accident’ in their name.
Marina Stewart originally crafted the first part of the Horreur Tape back in 1986. Recently revisited and with the addition of side B, a short introduction to Stewart’s music has been formed. The two tracks, spanning just less than 10 minutes, are not to be taken lightly. They are filled with heavily distorted beats, breaking sound blips, audio clips, and a forceful presence of moving forward. Aged like a fine wine, the intricate nature of the recording lends itself to multiple layers of sounds that reveal themselves little by little after each listen. The album is rich in texture, sound that you can physically feel, reach out and touch. It drudges on and provides a whirlwind of backward momentum and damaged sound. A very limited 40 copies of this tape exist on purple cassettes with layout and artwork by Zin. Scissor motif by Marina Stewart herself and accurately portrays the history of this work.