White Hills/GNOD - Aquarian Downer

Rocket Recordings’ Record Store Day offering (alongside Double Date by Goat) is a re-release of the 2008 tour CDr collaboration between GNOD and White Hills. It is out on Deep Space Blue Swirl vinyl.

I have no idea who’s doing what here so let’s just get down to it. Belonging fades in on a nasty, crashing drone, damages your hearing for three minutes and then fades out. It’s rather like something Faust might have found at the end of a tape in the 70s. Hard Butter Reality is equally Faust-like as Free Jazz bells and rattles compete with reverbed piano. Quiet explosions of noise break through every now and then creating the sense of two great beasts circling each other waiting to see who will attack first. But instead a kind of rhythm is found and with it, some kind of focus. Bongos appear and the feeling is still very stoned and ‘1970s in a forest in Germany’. After eleven minutes it all finishes with a short effects pedal drone.

The droning weirdness continues on Resolve. Surprisingly for a collaboration between such mighty acts, this LP thus far has been fairly calming. The guitars and drums do come out for the excellently named Aquarian Downer. This is classic, no solo, jamming. Just pounding drums and weird noises coming from unknown sources. The eight and a half minutes pass in a monged second. The feeling is still pretty Kosmische, with Ash Ra Tempel and Guru Guru joining Faust as possible influences.

A low drone starts When You Are Old. It’s soon joined by whooshing, bleeping space electronics. The drums come in, but struggle to make themselves heard over the gathering storm. What sounds like a train starts up. This is fairly exhilarating, edges of sanity stuff.

Aquarian Downer is a fine example of Kosmische collaboration and ego-less jamming. And someone plays bongos. There are some quiet, meditative sections and it finishes in a barrage of White Light and White Heat. This is a great opportunity to pick up on what was originally a very limited release.