Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Holy Filament Sounds

Holy Filament Sounds is the experimental/noise project of Andrew Consiglio, damaging ear drums and providing soundtracks for avant-garde dreamscapes since 1999. I became aware of his work through the message boards at Noise Guide, and i was quite ecstatic when i figured out that he was my neighbor to the north, right across the river in Vancouver, Wa.

With tracks dedicated to Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson, Jandek, Tom Waits, and Harley Quinn, and a whole slew of music for free download, i knew i had found a kindred spirit. Anyone that can hear the commonalities of Consumer Electronics terrorism, freakish free folk jazz, and Tom Waits is family; i began a tireless listening campaign, providing the soundtrack to any number of misty, somnambulent northwestern rainy afternoons, staring out the window at featureless grey skies. This is always my favorite kind of music, where you feel like you've slipped into some nether-dimension, or a lucid dream. Like yr a ghost, haunting yr own house. Everything is quiet, the rain falling on the porch outside, the computer is making some infernal shriek, and there's a peace here, a meditative quality.

This is music to be listened to, appreciated. It will never be on the radio, anytime before 3 a.m. anyway. It is a mystical transportation device, and its very format, its instrumentation, the way it is distributed, ensures that it will be pure of heart and intent.

When i was younger, and just getting into the noise scene, it was so esoteric, so hidden, like Marco Polo's middle-east, with me drunkenly stuck and stupefied in rural Indiana. The ability to know, to correspond, to help spread the work about quality artists, and have them living so close, geographically, is endlessly invigorating; it keeps me up at night, listening to Pierre Schaeffer collages and sharpening my literary claws. It keeps me driving, and biting, and fighting.

'Black Holy Ceremony - Approaching the Altar of Baal' and 'The Throne of Belial at Dusk' are good places to start, for a dreamier, drearier vibe. 'All My Neighbors Hate Me' is a quick powernoise sugar bump for yr day. 'The Piano Has Been Shooting Ketamine (Not Me)' is an eloquent free jazz excursion that is bumping into john cage/twelve tone territory, and shows that Holy Filament Sounds can play, has chops, and is well versed in tradition.

This music makes me ache, makes me crave, leaves me wanting more; it unfolds like a hallucinogenic indigo lotus in my frontal lobe, the visions are starting to flicker even as i type. The fact that he gives it away for free astounds me! Go pounce!



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