Arvio

The Finnish band Squamata can be best described as art-noise. This is due to the way they use noise itself: it is obvious that the band has made a choice to focus on structure, at the expense of raw power. Thus the material is intentionally thinner, more high-frequency than noise albums in general. But what's lost in force is easily made up by the compositional side. At Home With Your Kids has been constructed with a very clever rhythmic structure in mind, on the level of both single tracks and general continuity. It is full of good parts that form great wholes. Some of the noises are clearly machine-based, others are made of impressively echoing metal junk stuff. Kitchen 2, which uses a break-down rhythm is an extremely well running example of the former style, and Children's Room 1 a likewise great example of the latter.

Even the noise-saturate piano near the end of the album fits into this series of surreal scenes well. This is definitely not a record filled with "harsh" or "pure, unadulterated" noise, but a work of smart, composed-sounding noise. It nevertheless does not slip toward neighboring genres, despite having pieces reminiscent of Power Electronics, rhythmic noise or noise ambient. There's a price to pay for all of this, though: at no point does the noise really carry its listeners with it. It is rather stuff that gets observed, like a performance. This problem could of course be fixed with the use of compression, but that would steal something essential from the structures. The artists have known what they want out of their material, and that's just as it should be.

A damn good album.

Jiituomas

Squamata - At Home With Your Kids

.Kotimaista Squamataa voi pitää lähinnä taidenoisena. Näin siksi, että heidän hälynsä on selkeästi tehty rakenteelliseksi suoran voiman kustannuksella. Se on siis tarkoituksellisesti ohuempaa ja diskanttisempaa kuin hälylevyt yleensä. Rakennepuolella sitten löytyykin onneksi vastinetta koko rahalla. At Home With Your Kids on tehty taitavalla rytmityksellä, niin jatkumollisesti kuin kappalesisällöllisestikin. Se on täynnä hyviä palasia, jotka muodostavat hyviä kokonaisuuksia. Osa hälystä on selvän koneellista, osa komean kaikuisaa metalliromumelua. Edellisistä erityisen hyvin toimii hajotettavaa rytmiä käyttävä Kitchen 2, jälkimmäisistä Children's Room 1.	Artisti: Squamata Formaatti: CD-R Levy-yhtiö: omakustanne Julkaisuvuosi: 2005 Kokonaiskesto: 47:22 Kappaleita: 10
Lopun hälykyllästetty pianokin asettuu tähän surrealististen katkelmien sarjaan mainiosti. Tämä albumi ei missään tapauksessa ole "harsh" tai "pure, unadulterated" noisea, vaan fiksua, sävelletyn tuntuista melua. Se ei silti lainkaan hakeudu muiden genrejen suuntaan, vaikka siellä täällä mukana onkin PE:tä, rytminoisea tai noiseambientia muistuttavia pieniä palasia. Kyseessä on ehdottomasti rankka noise valikoivaan makuun. Hienoudestaan se tosin joutuu maksamaan sen hinnan, että missään vaiheessa melu ei vie mukaansa, vaan sitä seuraa kuin esitystä ikään. Kompressiolla tilanne totta kai muuttuisi, mutta samalla rakenteesta menetettäisi jotakin hyvin oleellista. Tässä on tiedetty mitä halutaan, ja hyvä niin. Hemmetin hyvä kiekko. Jiituomas

Takaisin - Kokoelmat - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - R - S - T - U - V - W - Demot

The Finnish band Squamata can be best described as art-noise. This is due to the way they use noise itself: it is obvious that the band has made a choice to focus on structure, at the expense of raw power. Thus the material is intentionally thinner, more high-frequency than noise albums in general. But what's lost in force is easily made up by the compositional side. At Home With Your Kids has been constructed with a very clever rhythmic structure in mind, on the level of both single tracks and general continuity. It is full of good parts that form great wholes. Some of the noises are clearly machine-based, others are made of impressively echoing metal junk stuff. Kitchen 2, which uses a break-down rhythm is an extremely well running example of the former style, and *Children's Room 1* a likewise great example of the latter. Even the noise-saturate piano near the end of the album fits into this series of surreal scenes well. This is definitely not a record filled with "harsh" or "pure, unadulterated" noise, but a work of smart, composed-sounding noise. It nevertheless does not slip toward neighboring genres, despite having pieces reminiscent of Power Electronics, rhythmic noise or noise ambient. There's a price to pay for all of this, though: at no point does the noise really carry its listeners with it. It is rather stuff that gets observed, like a performance. This problem could of course be fixed with the use of compression, but that would steal something essential from the structures. The artists have known what they want out of their material, and that's just as it should be. A damn good album. Jiituomas