reviews///
Alors bien sûr, ce genre de disque n'est pas à faire écouter à mémé. Ou alors, faut qu'elle ait perdu la boule ou lécher un crapaud tout vert. Mais l'apanage de telles musiques est sans conteste cette volonté de dire la puissance. Puissance technique, puissance sonore et puissance énergique. Salut les structures du rock, on se dirige bien vers l'impro maudite, entre DEREK BAILEY / HAN BENNINK chiquant loin dans les fréquences distos, chercher GORGE TRIO énervé et un certaine tranche d'un LIGHTNING BOLT francais. Ca a toujours été ça, AGRIPON. Pan dans le lard, t'aimes ou t'aimes pas. Live ou pas live. Les STUCKOMETER sont du même moule, chercher l'impro dans le bruit, cher à LOAD et tous ces labels à l'aura No Wave tordu. Un disque boursoufflé de spasmes, au mal de dents certains, et assumé, non je n'irais pas chez le dentiste, j'irais là où je veux, loin dans les méandres du bruits, loin en moi pour y trouver une énergie. Un disque de transpiration loin dans le sillon, un crachat tout vert pour dire qu'il y a autre chose, et rien que pour çà, ce split a du mérite. Il a été tiré à 306 exemplaires et c'est vraiment super.
Erwan (03/03/2007)
STNT

And hey, one more from Stuckometer -- a split LP with a French group called Agripon, on a French label called Galerie Pache. This has gotta be the strongest Stuckometer statement so far. I might be saying that simply because it's on vinyl, but I'm also saying it because they are on fire here, like they're finally going to destroy everything they've ever wanted or needed to destroy, and they only have 5 minutes to do it. It runs about 10 minutes because they destroyed the timekeeper, too, and then they do "Part 2," a 5 minute coda that explores both the celebration and the trepidation of their new-found freedom, because nothing is perfect and freedom is overrated. But seriously, as you know, when a group of noiseniks go into 'full-on' mode as readily as this, it so often just sounds like a monochromatic blur, but there are so many weird pockets in this performance where the instruments alternately complement and contrast each other, and these combinations come and go so rapidly, you could almost swear Anthony Braxton was conducting or something. Or at least that Stuckometer spent a lot of time composing and rehearsing this monster. But I kinda doubt that they did. On the other side, Agripon are an absurd drums and guitar duo that, like Stuckometer, boldly wreck shit at high velocity. (Their side plays at 45 RPM and runs just under 9 minutes.) They also change things up more than you'd think -- there are something like five different tracks on here, some containing riffs (y'know, like compositions), all containing lots of crazed amplifier frequencies, some containing actual momentarily quiet sections, and the whole thing containing actual top-notch musicianship -- the guitarist coaxes all kinds of clicking/popping/rumbling textures out of his or her particular wall of noise, and the drummer is just a classic high-energy post-hardcore bombast-wailer. They are far from the first duo to be playing in this style, but they sound genuinely excited about it, and it's pretty contagious. So good record, 300 pressed.....
BLASTITUDE

Next up, a limited, split vinyl LP on which the wits of Stuckometer are pitted against Agripon. Stuckometer, formed in 2005, are Manchester’s foremost improv quartet and consist of guitarists Barry Dean and David Birchall, drummer (and cover illustrator) Pascal Nichols, and bassist Joincey (also of Wagstaffe and A Warm Palindrome). Influenced by the sounds (ha!) of ‘Gingerbread Fridgemagnets’ and ‘Five O’Clock Bloodshadow’, their masturbatory-referenced ‘Jodrell Bank’ (in the palm of your hand) might be a savage dig at certain free rock naysayers of their acquaintance, who think that their genre of choice is a quick one off the wrist. Not so, as this power sprawl will bear witness – the group’s telepathy, now firmly entrenched, frequently sparking into zones touched on by Aufgehoben and Shit or Shine. Flip over for Agripon (make sure you alter the revs setting to 45 rpm!). The “electric liberation music” of J.F. Richard (guitar) and Manuel Hainaut (maniacal drums) has sneaked its way round the highways of their homeland Belgium supporting Deerhoof, Chinese Stars and Glen or Glenda. Their two cuts ‘MP3 (Live)’ and ‘MP3 (Not Live)’ boldly anticipate the starting postol and almost instantly blur their surroundings with their face-melt freneticism into which sonar blips, radio crackle and the sounds of tiny cymbals being set ablaze are dropped in at infrequent moments. As my French is fairly pauvre, I struggled with some of the biographical details on certain websites, but I did zero in on mentions of Derek Bailey and Han Bennink comparisons and also the priceless phrase “Lightning Bolt Francais” – which doesn’t stray too far from the truth. Allez Agripon! (Galerie Pache, 6 Bis Rue Pache, 75044 Paris France)
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