Aaron Dilloway is one interesting guy. Recording music since he was 16 years old, former member of seminal Detroit noise / power electronics band Wolf Eyes, he left that band in 2005 to live in Nepal. Whilst there he obsessively recorded everything happening in the streets around him. Since returning to the states and relocating in Ohio he has released a variety of CD-Rs and cassettes on his own Hanson Records imprint.
Modern Jester was originally put out on Hanson as a CD-R in 2008 but has apparently been completely revised and expanded for a 2012 re-release. I'm not sure what the original tracks, re-edits or new pieces are but it doesn't really matter on a record this damn good.
The album covers a wide range of disciplines, textures and tripped-out avantisms; eerie tones on 'Tremors', eleven minutes of sheer digital loops on 'Eight Cut Scars', smudged tape loops on 'Labyrinths & Jokes', then a brilliantly blown-out tract of dishevelled drones and blooming amp distortion sculptures on 'Look Over Your Shoulder'. Nothing here is wasted, every inch of sound and space is used and twisted into constantly evolving shapes over the entire course of it's 83 minute plus running time. I'm sure I can hear threads of those precious Nepalese field recordings at times too - dogs, water, wind, bells, animals, speech - but nothing on this record is that explicitly obvious. It requires a healthy dose of concentration to appreciate what's actually going on and that's why this is so much more than just another noise album.
If you like your music by turns adventurous, loud as fuck, disconcerting, soothing, odd, painful, confusing but always interesting and thought provoking, then you need to check this one out as soon as possible.
Seriously, a masterpiece.
Footnote - If any album cover sums up the oddness, confusion and possible revulsion of it's contents better than this then please do enlighten me!
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| Aaron Dilloway Live in 2010 |
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