Scissorgun:
Assault Two EP:
10" + CD:
LTM/AA:
Taking time out from steering sonic Factory post-punksters Crispy Ambulance, principal member and vocalist Alan Hempsall has teamed up with fellow noise-maker David Clarkson of Triclops to form this indulgent but interesting and experimental project.
Named after an album by the aforementioned Crispy Ambulance, Scissorgun appears to be an outlet for Hempsall's pent-up emotions, desires, dreams and nightmares, an aural assault in more ways than just the title. Opener Caballero demonstrates the pairing's interest in human voice and otherworldy rhythms with sampled vocals and almost glitching beats, before the unsettling and disorientating Bastard Son presents itself like an early Aphex Twin jam laced with somewhat bitter commentary.
Your senses are likely to be battered once again with the powerful and insistent Sahara Dream before things chill out a little with the blissed-out and spiritual The Searching and soundtrack-in-waiting Kahutek (CD only). Sahara Dream gets mutated through the mangler for the dystopian and industrial album-closer Night Flight, all of which leaves the listener in no doubt that Messrs Hempsall and Clarkson are not well and in dire need of some relaxtion tapes and a stiff shot of something triple-distilled.
In summary, the inner sleeve picture of the intrepid duo lounging around in the bathroom with inqusitive dog on guard says more about this music than any biog or review ever could. It's a bonkers yet engaging collage of the unexpected but yet not too far from what Crispy Ambulance have been issuing in recent years.
8/10
Assault Two EP:
10" + CD:
LTM/AA:
Named after an album by the aforementioned Crispy Ambulance, Scissorgun appears to be an outlet for Hempsall's pent-up emotions, desires, dreams and nightmares, an aural assault in more ways than just the title. Opener Caballero demonstrates the pairing's interest in human voice and otherworldy rhythms with sampled vocals and almost glitching beats, before the unsettling and disorientating Bastard Son presents itself like an early Aphex Twin jam laced with somewhat bitter commentary.
Your senses are likely to be battered once again with the powerful and insistent Sahara Dream before things chill out a little with the blissed-out and spiritual The Searching and soundtrack-in-waiting Kahutek (CD only). Sahara Dream gets mutated through the mangler for the dystopian and industrial album-closer Night Flight, all of which leaves the listener in no doubt that Messrs Hempsall and Clarkson are not well and in dire need of some relaxtion tapes and a stiff shot of something triple-distilled.
In summary, the inner sleeve picture of the intrepid duo lounging around in the bathroom with inqusitive dog on guard says more about this music than any biog or review ever could. It's a bonkers yet engaging collage of the unexpected but yet not too far from what Crispy Ambulance have been issuing in recent years.
8/10