Children of the Black Sun

“Noise”, drone, ambient, spooky, avante. Long looping soundscapes. Boyd Rice is still crazy after all these years (almost 30). In performances in the early 80’s he would piss off audiences by placing a tape recorder on a table, mic it, push play and walk away (which is really no different than watching a hipster sit behind a laptop today, making BR a true pioneer…). Boyd Rice/NON played a good part in “popularizing” noise, being one of the finest harsh drone masters ever, leading the way for Japanoisesters and others (mind you, drone noise has been around since the 50’s, formerly known as “electronic music”). Over the years, for whatever reason, he has been an idol of the goth/death sect, along with the likes of PTV and Current 93, Death in June, Zoviet France. Not sure where his dicey white supremicist neo nazi image/leanings fit in. I personally chose to ignore his inane “politics”, his CDs with text/narrative, and rank his drone as my favorite of the genre of all time (kzsu has a vinyl copy of Blood and Flame). This newest one stands right up there. All tracks stupendous.

1) starts w/ church-like organ deep in depths of reverb with drones and becomes more drony and ambient
2) a pleasant drone, symphonic in higher registers
3) a lower, more old-school drone becomes pierced with tones
4) metal squealing swirling ambience
5) pure drone, mid-high register, hypnotic
6) pretty spacey with crackling fire-like sounds, environmental
7) brief orchestral looping symphonic w/ backwards masking “scary” voiceover