The most understated of Canada noise legend Alan Bloor’s projects, Pholde encompasses his experiments with the sonic properties of metal in a more meditative, ambient context than the extreme amplifications of Knurl or full-throttle distortion of Pyrox. Following 2022’s Deprive of Power, The Central Core is his second tape on Vacancy and fits right in on the Niagara label’s roster of homespun sound art. When Bloor performs live, he usually rakes handheld files against either tined sculptures of his own creation or manufactured components like grill grates, looping and layering the resulting sounds to construct hypnotic tactile drones. The visual dimension isn’t here, so while it’s likely that he made these recordings with the same hands-on approach, they are so patient and methodical that they could easily have come from motorized contraptions operating of their own accord. “To Rule Against” especially evokes a forgotten machine still running in the depths of some cavernous industrial sanctum, its lonely revolutions echoing against the walls. The appeal is similar to something like Small Cruel Party—the simple pleasure of materials making contact—but the scale feels much larger, just as intimate but with more space to breathe. After decades of honing his craft, Bloor has exceptional control of pacing and dynamics; “The Lower Level Is Obtained” slowly swells like an open ocean wave, complete with tortured high-pitched scrapes like wistful whale calls.
Noise Not Music 