HR083 - Minóy - It's No Game - C60 — 1988
Side A:
It's No Game Side B: Philadelphia Street (Memphis, Christmas, 1975) |
|
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
The late Minóy (recording alias used by Stanley Keith Bowsza) was a true sound ‘sculptor’. He was a maestro with a tape recorder, sometimes employing several machines to construct his works. The It’s No Game cassette album is a stellar example of Minóy’s ability to create audio ‘experiences’.
The entirety of Side A is taken up by the title track. The piece opens with cavernous soundscapes that, within the first minute, rise to mercury bursting levels of caustic and grating, yet seamlessly flowing intensity. It’s an oddly alluring blend of whirling bandsaw, rumbling drone-howls, and spacey atmospherics. Minóy offers no quarter throughout, maintaining volume and ferocity, with minutely evolving shifts in pulsation, drone blasts, and spooky machine shop roar. I felt like I was strapped to a conveyor belt and ferried through some Hellish factory or mill production line, never knowing if I would arrive safely at the exit or meet an unpleasant fate. The closeness of the bandsaw put me on edge at times!!
Minóy was based in California throughout his active recording career, but I didn’t know he was from Memphis until Harsh Reality label boss Chris Phinney informed me. Side B consists of ‘Philadelphia Street (Memphis, Christmas, 1975)’, which is a different experience than Side A. It’s all creepily disembodied howls and ghostly glacial effects on the one hand, and chattering, laughing voices on the other. I felt trapped between the hallway of someone’s house and the gateway to ‘the other side’. Or maybe its people working their way through a Halloween fun house in space? Some of the laughter gets pretty hysterical, as if from the Reefer Madness soundtrack. A cool and strange mix and mutation of contrasts.
The late Minóy (recording alias used by Stanley Keith Bowsza) was a true sound ‘sculptor’. He was a maestro with a tape recorder, sometimes employing several machines to construct his works. The It’s No Game cassette album is a stellar example of Minóy’s ability to create audio ‘experiences’.
The entirety of Side A is taken up by the title track. The piece opens with cavernous soundscapes that, within the first minute, rise to mercury bursting levels of caustic and grating, yet seamlessly flowing intensity. It’s an oddly alluring blend of whirling bandsaw, rumbling drone-howls, and spacey atmospherics. Minóy offers no quarter throughout, maintaining volume and ferocity, with minutely evolving shifts in pulsation, drone blasts, and spooky machine shop roar. I felt like I was strapped to a conveyor belt and ferried through some Hellish factory or mill production line, never knowing if I would arrive safely at the exit or meet an unpleasant fate. The closeness of the bandsaw put me on edge at times!!
Minóy was based in California throughout his active recording career, but I didn’t know he was from Memphis until Harsh Reality label boss Chris Phinney informed me. Side B consists of ‘Philadelphia Street (Memphis, Christmas, 1975)’, which is a different experience than Side A. It’s all creepily disembodied howls and ghostly glacial effects on the one hand, and chattering, laughing voices on the other. I felt trapped between the hallway of someone’s house and the gateway to ‘the other side’. Or maybe its people working their way through a Halloween fun house in space? Some of the laughter gets pretty hysterical, as if from the Reefer Madness soundtrack. A cool and strange mix and mutation of contrasts.