Matteo Castro is a name that may not be known to many, but to the few for whom it is familiar, you likely don’t need to read any more of this review to be confident that the latest Casa di Caccia material is absolutely superb. With both the inimitable Second Sleep label and his own diverse projects—Kam Hassah, Endless Sea, Drug Age with Francesco Tignola, Mercury Hall, Primorje with Giovanni Donadini, and of course Lettera 22 with Riccardo Mazza—Castro has always stood tall at the intersection of many different realms of experimental sound, bringing the same level of detail and commitment to quality in any context. That’s definitely true for Grand Totàl, the latest release from the duo with Gianluca Herbertson; it’s one of those tapes that obliterates from the very first seconds, the lush full-stereo intensity blazing throughout both ten-minute sides even as classic pedal-chain kinks like distortion panning and tension-filled brief bouts of silence keep things interesting. Any fellow fans of Negative Tongue or Lack of Attention will feel right at home for the duration of this jam-packed C21 (in almost direct contrast length-wise to the previous CdC release, one of two massive eight-cassette box sets released by Second Sleep earlier this year). At least in terms of my own retrospective thinking, harsh noise more so than most other genres/traditions in the avant-garde sphere grows and evolves regionally, and while the 90s may have belonged to the Japanese and the aughts to the North Americans, projects like this make a convincing case for the Europeans being the ones leading the charge post-2010.
What’s also great is that Grand Totàl is just one of a hefty handful of killer new tapes from Absurd Exposition; don’t miss Wasauksing Sniper, Discordia, or especially Moody Brooding.
Noise Not Music 