Member:
Son of Nothing
Date:
1/4/2004
Originally grindcore contemporaries of other late 80s sonic terrorists, Old (Old Lady Drivers) ventured into un-metalhead territories so much that a lot of their stuff alienated dyed-in-the-wool metalheads. Masterminded by James Plotkin (a sort of an underground hero), these guys have attracted rave reviews and the legendary John Zorn was even on the Lo Flux Tube album, making a sax contribution. James has also worked with several musicians including Zeni Geva mastermind K.K. Null, Mick Harris (Scorn, Napalm Death) and others in addition to his other projects.
Following the excellent Musical Dimension of Sleakstak, Old became a two member project projecting the visions of James along with Alan Dubin. To quote the liner notes of my cassette copy,
"James Plotkin is music, Alan Dubin are words.
Instruments were:
Vocoded voice, looped guitar, synth guitar, bass, tapes, rhythm machine, and a drop of 303..."
The text font used in the album artwork is of the oldie computer type. The music's an industrial, ambient, electronic, dub, experimental lover's delight. As already quoted, Alan's vocoded vocals serve as an instrument rather than to overwhelm the analog tape loop effects. The first two tracks "Last Look" and "Break [You]" are soundscapes with harsh rhythmic tones. "Devolve" is like vocoded whispers underneath all the synth sounds.
"Underglass" ends with savage razor-blade type sounds that are disconcerting and then a funeral dirge starts with "Thug". It features the same whispered vocoded voice that suddenly turns into a demented madman's ramblings. The rest of the tracks are in that ambient soundscape mode.
Fans of dark music in general and to be specific electronic stuff like Coil, industrial music, King Crimson's Thrakattak (there's a lot of similarities in the harsh tones and soundcapes) and ProjeKcts, Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium, Voivod, Godflesh...even Spiritualized and Ozric Tentacles would find this album interesting. What are you waiting for?
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