The
Fortieth Day is the duo of Isidro Reyes and Mark Solotroff, both key
players in the power-electronics outfit BLOODYMINDED, a unit known for
its confrontational live shows. The two also record primitive
minimal-synth music, exclusively for Wierd Records [NYC], as A Vague
Disquiet. In The Fortieth Day, Reyes and Solotroff utilize guitar,
bass, and synth to improvise "sustained, withering blasts of
high-pitched noise that are as distinct from one another as spotlights
sweeping across the night sky; jackhammer clatter, jet-engine whines,
and forlorn keyboard melodies dart in and out of those huge sounds with
the grace and impunity of plovers picking a crocodile's teeth" [Bill
Meyer, Chicago Reader].
This
CD contains the remastered, 61-minute-long version of the complete
recordings from the "Syria: 638 AD" sessions. Diophantine Discs
previously released an abridged version of these recordings
[approximately 36-minutes in length] as a deluxe, white vinyl LP,
housed in a black and silver, screen-printed, die-cut sleeve, limited
to 300 copies.
For
"Syria: 638 AD," the duo took a different approach than on their
previous releases, channeling their shifting and disorienting
psychedelic and blackened noise into sustained walls of bass-heavy
sound, knowing that the material would be pressed into deep vinyl
grooves. Not unlike Solotroff's six-hour-long 1996 collaboration with
Sshe Retina Stimulants, "Excellent Manipulation of Distorted Tape
Death" [re-visited on two related BloodLust! CDs in 2008], which has
been re-evaluated by some noise fans as a direct precursor to the
militantly static harsh noise walls [HNW] subgenre, the "Syria: 638 AD"
sessions saw the duo take full advantage of available bass frequencies,
creating monumentally glacial sweeps of low end, highlighted by analog
synth sequences and distorted guitar washes that slowly surface in the
mix.
Re-mastered
by Salvatore Dellaria for the digital platform; professionally
duplicated CD, single panel, double-sided insert; black and white
artwork; in jewel box with shrinkwrap; released in 2009