Blinded by the onomatopoeia
Chad Van Gaalen (CvG) is clearly a pretty prolific artist. Many people are familiar with the native Calgarian’s credentials as an animator, graphic artist, producer, and — obviously — a musician that perennially appears on the Polaris Prize list. To those familiar with the records released under his own name this latest release, under the moniker Black Mold, shouldn’t come as too much of a shock.
The Black Mold record, Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz, is born of his obsession with multi-track recording and experiments in layering different sounds; not just instrumental music but an incredibly wide range of sound effects and synthesizer noises. On previous albums released under his own name CvG showed a proclivity for noise (the end of Soft Airplane, for example) and the layering of sounds and different noises here is similar to what he brings into his other albums. With those records CvG blends these types of sounds into the mix with varying degrees of subtlety, but generally they’re used to accentuate the excellent live instrumentation. Its a great effect when they come together well and those records deserve the praise they’ve received.
Snow Blindness runs 19 tracks and nearly 70 minutes in total. On some level it makes sense that CvG would have accumulated this glut of material, considering that a lot of experimentation would be needed to take such a wide range of sounds and combine them so successfully on those three LPs and three EPs. Clearly that is the case here and then some.
It’s been kind of tough to review the record as a whole because the tracks swing across all kinds of different spectrums. Some are short and odd, others are more fleshed-out with a subtle interplay between the elements. On the whole it seems like totally random experimentation, like he has been trying to find the perfect combination of instrument and electronic but winds up losing focus at varying stages.
Snow Blindness begins with “Metal Spider Webs,” which opens with an intriguing string duo that is in short order ruined by electronic beeps and static. This really sets the tone for the album, which features some very nice musical elements (oboe, guitar, strings, etc) that are most often overpowered by layered noise and sound effects. There are some very melodic moments and some that sound like the Super Mario Bros. soundtrack being reproduced by an 808 machine.
There is much to like here, but unfortunately it comes in short bursts and is all too often intertwined with many additional layers of sound that muddle and obscure what was originally intriguing and enjoyable. Nearly every track has something beautiful to offer amongst the complexities, so it’s easy to see how the more subtle elements of his other LPs are developed. While the overall effect is a little overwhelming, there are some great interlude tracks for mix tapes, some tracks you can groove to very nicely, and some that are wholly repulsive. This is very much a grab bag.
To me there are two ways to look at this record. You could view it as a representation of a vital aspect of CvG’s method of producing masterful rock records. I always find it interesting to get a view into how artists do what they do and on that level this could be seen as an important record and, as I said, there are a lot of elements to like. On the other hand if viewed on it’s own it is a somewhat unnecessary album that may not appeal to anyone but the most hardcore of CvGs fans.
Black Mold - Metal Spider Webs [2:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Black Mold - Memes [3:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadChad VanGaalen quite literally has the most austere website of all time, but you can find his physical albums and projects he’s tangentially connected with via his very own label’s webstore. They also wisely run their own digital store.
