Emaztegaiak / PHLGZ - S/T
An older split release from E.C.T Recordings. A split between two noisy power-electronics acts called Emaztegaiak and PHLGZ. Emaztegaiak being translated to brides in English from Basque, and PHLGZ?... I don´t know what that means. Both acts are from the Spanish town named Bilbao. I know the people behind Emaztegaiak, since I have reviewed numerous recordings by them on Kalteldur (Various projects with various sounds/styles etc). Two members are Miguel A. Garcia and Enrique Garoz De Diego if you all should know. On the other hand, PHLGZ is a solo project by JL Rey. A Spanish drummer in extreme metal bands (and horror/sci-fi illustrator as well!). The album artwork is (just) a cool-looking vintage-sort-of photo of some sort of electronic power-box. The cassette album comes in a shiny black cassette box, and inside you will additional album info and a nice and nifty-looking E.C.T Recordings flyer. The thing is limited to 50 copies.
We start with the A-side, and the A-side is with Emaztegaiak. The first track with them is called Dorrea, which means tower in English. A heavy ambient factory-feeling atmosphere hums from the cellar, with some really demonic screaming vocals underneath it. Very spacy and almost surreal power electronics with lots of moody reverb. It´s not your typical kind of power electronics, being something quite else. Think you can compare it to the early Whitehouse with a touch of Nurse With Wound on top.
The second track is called Zure Begien Barruan (Inside Your Eyes). Following the same sounds and mood as the former track, running like a kind of one-take session. The vocals are more alien sounding here, with some heavy added sound effects. Some of the background sounds kind of have that... church organ sort of sound. It´s all pretty brutal and surreal at the same time. The sound of some sort of... Lovecraftian god crawling and screaming out of the portal.
The third and last track with Emaztegaiak is called Maitasuna (Love). The whole thing sounds like torture or hell. Constant surreal organ sounds with the sound of someone being in some torturous machine of some kind. Strangely disturbing piece for some reason, the most intense track on the A-side without a doubt.
We flip the cassette and continue on the B-side with the project called PHLGZ. The first track is called Quantionism. The sound of cosmic horror streams out of the speakers the very instant u press play. Sound of 1000 humming insects, strange dimensions, eldritch lifeforms, and stretched-out sounds being sucked straight into a black hole. Very surreal material here, and very evocative!
The second track Autovolscient intensifies the experience further by adding heavier sounds with additional distorted noises. We´re still experiencing the horrible birth of an entire galaxy. Giving me that feeling that my stereo has turned into a far-reaching radio, and getting contact somewhere... out there.
I think (maybe) that we have gotten into track 3?. Tracks 2 and 3 are sort of... mixed together. It´s called Theorybrok, and so far it's the weirdest and most chaotic track. Far-reaching stuff with far-reaching material. Action-driven ambient noise is at its best here.
The fourth and last track Deanimaliz contains angelic (high to the ceiling) ambient drones, random computer sounds and looped noisy recordings. Feels like being sort of... stuck there. Between two worlds, parallel universes? Everything sounds... out there. Great tracks by PHLGZ!
And there we have it ladies and gentlemen! Brutal surreal cosmic horror to make Lovecraft choke on his morning coffee! Lots of space, lots of imagination, and lots of room for thought. Plenty of reasons to return to this Spanish split-album. These two great projects deliver something quite new! Great fusion between extreme styles in electronic music.
Discogs (Emaztegaisk):
Bandcamp (PHLGZ):
Facebook (label):