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Baker's Dozen

The Pleasure Of Discomfort: Siavash Amini's Favourite Music
Jennifer Lucy Allan , August 26th, 2020 09:07

Siavash Amini discusses his 13 favourite albums with Jennifer Lucy Allan, including the power of romanticism, weeping over the death of Leonard Cohen, and why Nils Frahm has a lot to answer for. Photo by Selma Pour-Amin

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Kevin Drumm – Sheer Hellish Miasma


On the back of this, is an electric guitar and a trumpet. You start the album – the name should have been a hint – it's a noise album, but the back cover reads like a jazz album! It even says crank it up in vertical. What can I say, I got duped! But the visceral and the physical impact it had on me – I couldn't stand up for 30 minutes after I finished it listening to the album. I cranked it up!

It's different than other noise albums that I heard like KK Null or Merzbow, or other Japanoise albums. This one lures you in – it starts with a very even toned drone, and it beats you up until you're dead. It never lets go – it's like a very well trained torturer. This was the noise album that convinced me noise could be compositional, as well as visceral, and sometimes improvisational. And have an impact, and actually be an interesting listen from start to finish. It still is the standout noise album for me – nothing comes near. It's mixed very weirdly, every time I hear it – it's like, can speakers do that without like breaking up? There's this sounds that come out that you don't know your speakers can make.

The sensibilities in that – especially talking about compositional noise –seems like something I hear a lot in your music. Did this inform it?

It absolutely did. It's, it's if you can trace it to something. It would be this one.