Mike Metlay’s body of work has always included abstract noisescapes, a passion he’s enjoyed for nearly three decades. (A recent example is JNN014, The Redundancy Of Suicide by mindSpiral.)
Mike’s main noisescaping device is “Thing One”, the Oberheim Xpander analog modular synthesizer he has been playing for 25 years now. Currently, as for the past 10 years or more, he uses Thing One primarily for self-modulating noise textures that can be manipulated in real time with broad control gestures. Mated to the Alesis Wedge digital reverb, Thing One has been creating sonic environments for a decade’s worth of live shows, Internet concerts, and studio albums.
Each of the two pieces on this release uses one such sound, manipulated for 30 minutes without edits or overdubs. FMSHRIEK (shriek) has been in Mike’s repertory for over 20 years and takes its inspiration from Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music. TRANS-EK (void) was created in 1998 for the Beneath Stars concert by Team Metlay, and is an homage to the open-textured longform ambiences of Steve Roach.
Listeners familiar with Mike’s previous body of work should be warned that “this is something different” is the understatement of the decade. Listening to this record at high volume under headphones will almost certainly cause irreparable brain damage, or at least a severe nosebleed. A word to the wise is sufficient.
![[JNN025] Metlay! - Shriek.Void](/img/work/nomencl/m_432.jpg "[JNN025] Metlay! - Shriek.Void")
