Wolf Eyes

There's a revolution of underground amateur noise artists, and Wolf Eyes has in large part inspired it. They have just about reached the pinnacle of success for a group that sounds more like a study in the art of electrocution than what most people would call music. Despite this, they...

By Michael Chamy

November 23, 2006

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There's a revolution of underground amateur noise artists, and Wolf Eyes has in large part inspired it. They have just about reached the pinnacle of success for a group that sounds more like a study in the art of electrocution than what most people would call music. Despite this, they continue to spotlight their homemade oscillators, generators and rudimentary percussion on small-run CD-Rs and cassette-only endeavors, including a blistering live set (Black Vomit) earlier this year with sax player Anthony Braxton. Their second Sub Pop effort, Human Animal, may be their most powerful statement yet. They have ditched much of the measured aggression of 2004's Burned Mind, harking back to the raw voltage experiments of late '60s groups such as AMM and MEV. The execution is flawless, with twittering chirps and rumbling bass commingling with Nathan Young's primal roars to craft an ominous soundtrack to slow decay. Then suddenly, everything explodes on "Human Animal" and "Rusted Mange," the sound of tortured, searing flesh at the brink of insanity after a nuclear holocaust. Mercifully, there are just two minutes of this, followed by more patiently unfolding atmospheric interplay so alien that it makes no sense to read about it. The only thing to do is experience it.

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