artist: Various title: 'Texture' format: CDR label: Lake Shark Harsh Noise Lake Shark Harsh Noise: http://bakurita.blogspot.com/ review: J. Hamilton

Lake Shark HN is a new label run by Sam McKinlay, better known to noise devotees as The Rita, and it seems that with the launch of this new venture his previous label venture, Militant Walls, has been put to rest. Nonetheless, the single-minded approach to noise found on this generically-packaged compilation certainly continues the obsessive focus of MW. Aaron Dilloway turns in the most dynamic contribution, 'Nicaraguan Bull', which begins with his trademark tape stutters before escalating into a massive high-mid frequency blast, then shatters into various combinations over the course of over thirteen minutes.
Further into the 'harsh noise' spectrum than we've come to expect from Dilloway, but as strong as anything else he's done recently.
One of my personal favourite contemporary noise artists, Hum of the Druid, contributes a crackling low-frequency mass that rarely changes but has every bit of the sheer elemental force of his more 'progressive' recordings. The gritty texture is like being scraped along a stony riverbed by a punishing current (by the time it's over I feel like I should check for gravel embedded in my face), but the periodic breakdowns into low bass frequencies give a little room to breathe.
Mike Shiflet's piece is almost a photonegative of HOTD's, a constant electronic burbling occupying the higher end of midrange with absolutely no progression. This tactic doesn't really pay off, as there seems to be less fine detail to explore, and the piece is weak as a result. In last place, Richard Ramirez, recording here as Manplug, pulls out all the stops in a huge, heavily saturated noisewall that moves very slowly through several tonal shifts, with the low-end crunch building massively towards the finish.
An intense and rewarding listen, well worth seeking out.