- Cooler, more conventional noise fans might shy away from Ad Noiseam. Sure enough, the boisterous Berlin label still pushes through the kind of aggy drum & bass and breakcore it might be better known for. But every now and then a deeper survey of their sound comes along. Recently that was Stavros Gasparatos's Expanded Piano, a commissioned sound-art piece that aimed to recontextualise the piano. And now there's Rust, Simon Hayes's third Swarm Intelligence album and second full-length for Ad Noiseam.
After a handful of EPs that toyed more closely with splintered and refracted breaks, all that frantic energy cooled off for a bit on Faction, leaving huge, creaking soundscapes in its wake. The results were far more potent and impressive than any of its breakneck predecessors. And Hayes has continued to hone these dramatic forays into noise on subsequent releases. The vistas have gotten tougher, cleaner and more defined by grinding gears and scraping metal. It's not crude, but rather very precise and calculated—both meticulous and menacing. Which is what makes Rust an about-turn of sorts: this is a dirtier, scuffed up Swarm Intelligence that feels much closer to the source.
There's a rich earthliness to Rust. Tracks are built from field recordings of "abandoned power stations and factories, corroded metal and found objects," which are overhauled into dense, booming techno ("Iridescent," "Barricade") or left in a bare state, free to roam in their captured sounds ("Demolition Ground," "Chamber," "Thierbach Demolish"). At times it can get eerily beautiful, like on the melancholic "Attic Spring." Some of Hayes's previous work can feel a bit clinical, but not here—everything's been unscrewed a little.
The last three Swarm Intelligence records were far from easy listening, but they were altogether fluid. That's not the case with Rust. This is, for better or worse, a much more disjointed album. By confining himself to a strict concept, Hayes may have cheated himself out of what made Black Iron Prison and Faction more memorable. But what Rust lacks in expanse it makes up for in quality. Feel free to start here, then backtrack through the discography for the full experience.
Tracklist01. Courtyard
02. Iridescent
03. Vibrating Wire
04. Excavator 288
05. Demolition Ground
06. Low Power Line
07. Barricade
08. Attic Spring
09. Chamber
10. Thierbach Demolish