WEAKENER

mjeanes

With the current unknown status of the Scorn moniker, Mick Harris has kept himself busy with various side projects like Matera, Lull, and now Weakener. Unlike the previous two, Weakener stays close to Scorn's traditional (meaning, post-Logghi) style of dense ambience and beats. The beats, however, is what separates it from Scorn...unlike Scorn's more rapid, hip-hop centered beats, the ones on Weakener are slow, droning, and full of echo. Comprised of seven rather long tracks, the disc begins with "Spotter", a low, churning concoction of slow dub hop beats, weird sounds coming in and out at irregular intervals, and enormous sub bass rumbles. "Closed Door" continues this formula, but the rhythms sound almost like the beginning to a hip-hop track that just never gets started and picks up speed. "Know Nothing" is a bit more minimal in it's ambience, but continues with the slowness. The rhythm on "Pinging" builds up to almost Logghi speed, which is a good thing, along with some spacy bleeps in the background. "50 Route" features some unique sounding panning cymbal work, and some almost chiming background synth sounds. "This Place" also picks up the rhythm a bit, even throwing in some hints of jazz into the ambience, while still maintaining the expected dark, oppressive ambience. And it all ends with "Silent Dust", another slightly faster track that calls to mind the Scorn disc Zander. Plus, all of these tracks feature Harris' signature "propel small animals significant distances" sub bass that is present on most of his work. Scorn fans, especially those of Zander and Whine persuasion should just eat this puppy up. Others should try and borrow a friends copy, to see if the repetitive nature of the music works for you or not.

Overall - 7/10

Creaig Dunton (courtesy of the False Prophet Campaign website)

Yes, another Mick Harris project. One that is particularly well-suited to the Wordsound stable. More throbbing, almost throttling beats, so thick and painful continuing is barely an option. But press on, I must.

Harris is the indisputable master of crafting electronic beats and making them speak for themselves. His problems almost always come when he tried to match those beats up with some sort of accompanying music. Here, he really doesn't bother. There are some nice keyboards and bass work, but strictly tied to the beat. No fucking about.

Which leads listeners deeper and deeper into the dark. That is, after all, what this journey is about. How far will you go. How far can you go? Do you dare at all?

When he focuses on the beat, Harris is at his best. The Weakener is almost single-minded in that approach. Ipso facto, dinnae dunno, you get the idea. Now boarding.

Jon Worley (courtesy of the Aiding & Abetting website)

SCORN is dead, but MICK HARRIS is very, very much alive, and with this, the first album under what hopefully is an ongoing project title, reaffirming his position as an innovative soundsmith. As admirable as his work in uncomfortable rhythmic music was, it's good to see him working in a more controlled format again. For those of you who lost the plot along the way, this album is very much a return to those other-world rhythms last heard around the "Logghi Barroghi" album, and he's learnt a lot while travelling through the experimental netherworlds between. The drum rhythms here are as slow & ponderous as ever, surrounded by the cornucopia of noises last heard on the "Off" track on the "Leave It Out" 12" - electronics full of bizarre wonderment, all cycling around the drums and sub-bass like insects attending their Queen. His percussion is skeletal, tightly gated and bright, perfect for the sounds which drape like Christmas decorations around the core. Often surprisingly subtle, this collection of tracks hearkens back to the Ambient Dub of earlier days while being a sound unique to post-BULLEN SCORN - use of DDL is not overblown, but often very present in the sound. Changing his working title was obviously cathartic for the man - this could arguably be his best album so far. HARRIS is a perfectionist, and the uncountable hours he spent crafting this have paid off in spades. It's a delight to listen to, and promises great things from the future. This could be described as being dedicated to the Man's First Love - the love of Sound for it's own sake. Antony Burnham (courtesy of Metamorphic Journeyman website)