Gunk Slack Montage (KIRIGIRISU RECORDINGS kgr053) – a highly descriptive album title – was created by Cody Brant & Carl Kruger and may have been recorded in parts of America in 2024.
Maybe not prolific creators, but they have appeared before on Chocolate Monk and one other label. There’s a hint in their press that they produce sounds by treating short video clips stored on a smartphone, but this may refer to a planned project and I’m not sure if that applies to today’s release, which is a highly perplexing gumbo of unknown elements, wodged together in a crocodile blender and salted with wings from honey bees. Whisked from diner to airport runway you will be.
This duo aren’t avoiding music in favour of field-recording and phonography collages, but they don’t seem especially interested in foregrounding their strange and minimal tunes, which are often pushed to the cardboard background, allowing other dancing transparencies to distract the ear and eye. It’s like taking a walk through a familiar shopping mall, except everything we see is upside-down, out of focus, or shimmering in a troubling manner. Any attempt to buy a pair of socks at a counter is met with unexpected results; the people behind the counter are able to change a dollar bill and validate your parking, but you walk away with a set of miniature dolls-house furniture in your bag.
Enjoying the “informal” vibe from this one; not taking themselves too seriously, they seem to delight in sticking together ill-fitting elements with badly-torn edges, in a vivacious try-anything manner, and aren’t afraid if their playful attitude results in occasional wackiness. (17/02/2025)