There is a thread in alternative music which combines extreme anger and often grating noise to make fast, energetic movement. To be honest, i tend not to like the sheer noise music as much, but i enjoy some noise in my music. (Sonic Youth is a good midpoint on the noise continuum.)
Touching God falls a little farther into the noise category than i normally like. Touching God is the project of Adrian (formerly of the punk band, Advertisement) and Sean (of the drone act, An Ant And An Atom), no last names needed here. I am unfamiliar with Advertisement, but An Ant And An Atom make music that drones along the border of noise.
So: the Touching God EP is harsh music. This is not easy listening, but in small doses, it is not unpleasant.
Listening to this EP i am reminded of a conversation i had at a concert with DJ Still, formerly of Dälek. Dälek are a noise rap act, and they made an EP with German noise band Faust. I asked Still how the EP turned out, and he said, "It's headache music." I asked if he meant it was good to listen to if you have a headache, and he replied, "No, it's the kind of thing you listen to if you want to get a headache!"
Touching God is like that. Noise music is like that.
Small doses.
The EP starts off with the unpronounceable song 0\/\1/\/<<<>>>\/011\/0. Who knows how you are supposed to say that out loud. I bet that Sean and Adrian didn't really think that people would be talking about their music all that much, which really begs the question of why they bothered to make it (but i digress). This track is based around a recording of a preacher from 1971 ranting in that hateful, angry way that some Christians seem to like, screaming about heroin and murder. The preacher is layered over drones and strange beats for a pleasant tack that recalls some mid 1980s Cabaret Voltaire, and others. (Angry old preachers are a gold mine for angry industrial music. Two great tastes that go great together.)
The preacher ends his rant and the music cuts abruptly to An Absolute at Large, where a guitar thrums under a ton of feedback and a voice screams and bellows. This reminds me of Atari Teenage Riot. The whole song is distorted and angry and fast and flowing by you at a breakneck pace.
Kind Wolf starts off with a bit of wavering drone, before some intense rhythmic hits come in, just a pounding noise. Everything is out of focus though -- the drone and the hits both seem about to disintegrate into fuzz as the hardware that makes them seems to be just about to short out. And then, echoed through distance, someone starts yelling. I can't really figure out what he is talking about, but the song is strange and intense.
Civilian is a squealing guitar and fast pace, just flying by as vocals scream and guitars are tortured and drum machines struggle to keep up.
And then finally the preacher sample is back for Messiah, Dismissed. Here, the preacher is layered over some steady beats and power chorded guitar.
This is about 20 minutes of intense listening. People who like noise will enjoy this, the rest of us probably want to stand clear.
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