[no subject]

LOPEZ, FRANCISCO Untitled 104 (Alien8) cd 14.98
I kid you not. This is the album where Lopez goes
metal. Not the recording of sheet metal resonance, not
the amplified vibrations of metal molecules, not even
the inactivity of two pieces of sheet metal
thoughtfully sitting alone in a room with nothing to
ponder but their own existential (in)audibility. The
normally sedate Lopez goes metal like Emperor, Slayer,
or Cradle of Filth.
If anybody has recently witnessed the cascading power
of Lopez's recent live shows, then "Untitled 104" is
certainly not a surprise. Of course, Lopez sets
everything up with 4 minutes of his usual silence,
before a tumultuous assault of sampled metal blast
beats destroys any semblence of serenity. Lopez layers
wave after wave of rhythmic clatter that reveals an
incredible amount of textural noise. One blast beat
takes the aural center stage, and you find yourself
asking "Huh? Is this Cannibal Corpse? Or was that last
one from Morbid Angel? I don't know." (Actually, we
suspect that all the samples are from one band, but
even the metal minds here at AQ haven't confidently
guessed which one.) Lopez could have unwittingly
devised the ultimate trivia contest for metalheads to
name the sample. 35 minutes pass (35 head spinning, if
not head banging minutes) and then the metal rhythms
stop. Ten more minutes of silence provide the coda.
While this record is really fucking good (indeed, it's
one of Jim's favorites of the year along with Reynols'
"Blank Tapes"), it is also another example of the
academic / art world colonization of metal. Like
Matthew Barney's awe-inspiring image in "Cremaster 2"
of Dave Lombardo hammering at his drum kit behind the
sound of swarming bees, Lopez's "Untitled 104"
effectively translates the pure masculine power of
metal to an audience who may not care for the, uh,
aesthetics of metal. Fortunately, it appears that
Lopez and Barney do not approach metal with a snobbish
irony (like Harmony Korine's reprehensible
photo-enlargements of black metal album covers that
sold for tens of thousands of dollars), but such
appropriation nevertheless marginalizes metal as
nothing more than a texture or an attitude, far from
the vibrant and deviant culture that it is.
Rant aside, if this record causes one fan of Bernhard
Gunter to get into Burzum, then, as far as Aquarius
Records is concerned, Lopez has succeeded.
Recommended.

Realaudio:
http://www.aquariusrecords.org/audio/franciscolopezu104.rm
(I can't confirm that the link works. Realaudio hasn't
worked correctly on any of my computers in years. Each
"upgrade" gets worse. The newest one doesn't play
music but does play tv commercials when I don't ask it to.)

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