Burning Star Core

It has been purported that this release on the mighty No Fun imprint finds the estimable C. Spencer Yeh at the very summit of his powers, making his finest, most complete statement yet. As with the other Burning Star Core release from this week (Operator Dead... Post Abandoned on No Quarter) Yeh is joined by Robert Beatty, Gameboy records noisenik Mike Shiflet and Trevor Tremaine on drums. While Operator Dead is characterised by a near-ecstatic interpolation of krautrocking dynamics and wide open free jazz, Blood Lightning has a more intense, teeth-rattling severity to it, more of an inward-looking record than the explosive, vivacious No Quarter release. 'The Universe Is Designed To Break Your Heart' is a monumental opener, delivering a steady buzz of boundless synth drone, while Yeh scrawls all over it with his itchy, angular violin strokes. Next, two shorter, more vehemently experimental tracks fire up: 'A Curse On The Coast', a hypnotic incantation dissolved in acidic distortion patterns, backed up by the fanciful sound designs of 'Deaf Mute Spring Resonator'. A final half-hour or so is split between the far loftier ambitions of 'The Universe Is Designed To Break Your Mind' and '10-09-04 Horible Room, Lexington, KY'. The former piece sounds like a surge of magma, a solid wall of compressed sound that eventually dissipates into a witchy vocal breakdown, while the latter segues nicely into the No Quarter material, conjuring up an almighty, anything-goes typhoon. A monstrously good record...

nice review on SentireAscoltare (ITA)