Government Alpha - Affective Imagery
Summer vacation can sometimes be a long and very boring thing. We´re all prober programmed into working and delivering something to the greater good, and then all of a sudden you are going on a 4-week long vacation. I keep thinking about that track with Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb I think the title was. Finding motivation for anything (with all that extra time) on your hands... can be hard. That´s why I told myself today, that maybe it is the perfect time to review an album by one of the big ones in Japanoise. Government Alpha has been active in releasing high pressured and multi-layered noise since 1994, and so far his album count is around... 100! Not one of the truly old guys in Japanoise, but har so far proven to be the next Merzbow. This album was made back in 2019 and has then been released by the French label Abhorrent Creation Tapes, limited to 500 copies. Still possible to get the physical release from the label itself, check the link below!. 47 minutes, 9 tracks in total.
The first thing I still take notice too is the cover artwork itself. Surreal collage stuff, a lot of stuff to look at while the noise explodes in your speakers. The first collage picture shows 3 people reading magazines, two of these 3 people's heads look... weird (not sure what it is). Behind them are 4 analog clocks, and some rubbery stuff being entangled altogether. To the right we have a bandaged leg and some other interesting stuff going on. 2 other surreal collage photos are also inside the booklet as well. I love it when the artist gives the listener something to actually look at (while you are listening). The same thing with the cover artwork by Nurse With Wound, you just look deeply and listen at the same time... and wonder. Keeps the imagination alive!
The first track on the album is called Stridor. Stridor means the sound that your throat creates when your throat is partially blocked. The sound of a lot of old-school alarm clocks ringing, with a mesmerizing and atmospheric synth drone in the background. Thumping and rhythmic distorted bass later on. A very calm and different intro to a Japanoise album, a cool ear-opener if you ask me.
All that changes with the second track called Invisible Area. High-pitched and tweaked harsh noise breaks in from some open dimensional gate, explosive and splintered aural attack on the senses. A Super energetic force of electrical currents of sound without any mercy. Lots of action and stuff going on, not just noise for the sake of noise. I know I have said it before, not a big fan of harsh noise.. but this I like. It´s pure Japanoise, the way it should sound.
In the third track Eternal Signals, it gets a bit spacier. I'm thinking about all those signals we keep transmitting into space now, noise and space right?. A very psychedelic noise track, not that far away from Merzbow´s Space Metalizer from 1997. Love the altered 8-bit´ish sounds here.
The fourth track Apnea continues the psychedelic sound brutality. A cool track that tricks the listener into thinking that we´re dealing with a non-action noise track. It starts like a typical harsh noise thing, but then it evolves into a tentacled monster of noise. Lots of action so far!
.gif)
The high pumping action gets turned down a bit in the fifth track called Sacred Tree. A strange psychedelic ambient-noise creature with a kind of... Japanese soundtrack-horror approach. Love the way how the sounds move up and down into distortion.
The fifth track was too short, we´re hauled back into the action-driven noise of the sixth track called Obstructions. Maybe the most aggressive track on the album so far compact atomic bombs inside! Everything sounds super fast here, and there is background as well... which I can hardly hear. But it makes the aggressive track more interesting, with a (hard to hear) background.
The seventh track In Equilibrium. Does not sound like something which is In Equilibrium, but more like something which is constant and chaotic at the same time. Moody noise with religious undertones in a way. Another cool track! My ears and my mind are getting a bit... over-stimulated now. Not enough that I wanna stop!
The eight-track Pale Idolum is a long and minimal one, not having that many layers like the other tracks. It is also the longest one on the album as well. A track that explores the very boundaries of sound that the artist can produce, through a minimal approach.
The last track Transience is the ninth track on the album (and the last). Ends with a monotonic wall of sound which evolve into chaos.
And there you have it. Abstract noise with an aggressive attitude. It´s a pure energy drink with (something else inside) all the way from the start and to the very end. I love it in the beginning, but later on, the noise gets a bit dull. More of the "adventurous variations" approach could help a lot. Action-packed material for sure, but sadly without the mood. The best track on the album was Stridor, Eternal Signals, and Sacred Tree.
Bandcamp (label):
Bandcamp (band):