GILGONGO RECORDS

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SISSY SPACEK - "Fortune" 7" (GGGR-032). - out of print.
An on going project of prolific artist John Wiese, SISSY SPACEK has taken many forms: intricate collages of the small, quiet, details that trickle through in between “sound”, drums spliced and severed, 18 piece “noise” orchestras, performances that included nothing but the act of shattering glass as source sound to ones that result in broken basses and bleeding throats, etc. You never know how overblown and explosive or incredibly quiet and intricate one specific release might be. On “Fortune”, Wiese has assembled a trio with Charlie Mumma (drums) and Corydon Ronnau (vocals): crafting 26 songs of grind-core noise (like a Crossed Out playing with malfunctioning gear). Corresponding singles also released on A Dear Girl Called Wendy (Italy) and Ketchup Cavern (Canada). MP3: 1/2 of "Fortune"'s B-Side.

select reviews:

Auxillary Out:
I reviewed Snow storm's debut full-length a while back, 12 songs crammed onto a 45rpm 7inch and I thought I'd seen it all. That is until Sissy Spacek put out this 7inch which ups the ante to 26 songs at 45rpm. Though calling each a track a "song" is a questionable proposition, the band seems to even think so too as they give each side it's own umbrella name. In their defense they do name every single track as well and when I saw them play a year or two ago Pete Swanson assured me each blast of noise I heard was a different song. But that's enough of my meaningless ruminations, I'll try to get one or two meaningful ones in here instead. This Spacek line up finds John Wiese joining up with Corydon Ronnau on vocals and Charlie Mumma on drums. The first side, "Fortune" sets the tone of the record. Breakneck, machine gun drumming, and a blur of processed guitar(?) noise and wild-eyed vocals. It brings me back to those early Black Dice records which I dig a lot, occupying the exact midpoint between hardcore and free noise. The songs are maybe 9 seconds long and I do find myself wishing they were a bit longer. But the sensation of accelerating and stopping, accelerating and stopping each time a song finishes and a new one begins is intentional I'm assuming. Sissy Spacek is trying to give me whiplash just by listening to their record! Spacek's frenzied sound isn't just the product of speed either; I accidentally played it the first time at 33rpm and it's just as savage and violent slowed down 12rpms. The second side "The Eyes of Men" is pretty similar to the first. It is interesting how all the songs fit into the larger dynamic framework of a side. The songs are often arranged in a way that creates what seems like a natural pause in the overall "song." Definitely a strange record and definitely a Sissy Spacek record. They do their thing like no one else I know of.

Still Single:
As far as deconstructionist hardcore/BM goes, there is an interesting, subverted dynamic at play here: across 26 tracks, evenly split and banded on sides that play like a live set, with few breaks, Corydon Ronnau’s vocals are completely manipulated and obscured by John Wiese’s electronics, and flattened so that Charlie Mumma’s drumming (single-minded in every sense, the same blast beat against barely variating tempos) can sound like pieces of flash against the static and gnarled forms of the noise. Any personal dynamics in this band are viewable only in their mechanics: dominant (noise, amorphous power), submissive (voice, human weakness), voyeur (drums, engaged occupant). Musically there is little to gain from listening at any speed, but in the perspective of game logic and hand signals, employed by improvisers in the post-bop era – and, for that matter, Crom-Tech – it is rare and of note to hear anyone playing within the realms of hardcore acknowledging the possibility of getting it right on some entire other level. Anything that divisive is at least worth knowing about, because somewhere down the line, someone is going to make some adjustments to an approach like this, and shatter the world. And since Wiese’s been at this Sissy Spacek project for ten years and running, it could still be him who does it. (http://www.gilgongorecords.com)
(Doug Mosurock)