Speaking of Michel Henritzi (see previous review), how about a spicy solo disc called Flowers Of Romance (BR-D46), a title to indicate his passion for Public Image Limited and all things post-punk, including the ravelled sleeve of Killing Joke and the false noses of Delta 5 (I could be inventing most of these facts). Released on another French label Bruit Direct Disques, whose motto is “For Brick Throwers Worldwide” and whose catalogue presents a juicy array of unknown noise leopards, this one exhibits Henritzi blasting through the walls of a bank vault on one side, using only his guitar and effects, and recorded so doing in 2021 by our good friend Leandro Barzabal, the friendly Argentine who is setting Paris on its ear with his guitar monkeyshines – you recall the anarchy of Bris De Clôture and the playful mayhem of Worst Guitar Playing.
Slow and saturated in the “classic” Henritzi way, this A side may take about ten minutes before we reach full heat-death mode, but after that point, duck and cover. The audience were advised “be somewhere else” as savagery ensued. Sizzling bacon for the lower limbs…on the flip side we’re back in 2013, Hamburg, where his old sparring water-bag Rinji Fukuoka (one of many memorable clobberthons they limned together was the Descent to the Sun LP) took up the engineering cudgels and captured this slice-a-gon of heavily motorised rock riffs, a one-man MC5 show right there at the Rota Flora. Feedback, distortion and mindless arm-chopping stir up a remorseless pot of honey mixed with lethal doses of “hot” plutonium…health warnings mandatory…
After this, Berlin signed up to the worldwide treaty to ban dangerous guitar players from live performances, and Henritzi’s name is at the top of the list! (04/09/2023)
thanks so much Ed for your support. Im very honored by your interest and funny reviews