- Willie Burns and Ron Morelli team up for a raw techno EP.
- I would love to be a fly on the wall when Will Burnett (Willie Burns) and Ron Morelli are in the studio. The friends and label heads both have no-nonsense attitudes and deadpan humor honed behind the counter at New York record shops. Burnett and Morelli take bold approaches to dance music, making their new Strange Birds collaboration an exciting proposition.
Its five tracks—"Birdshit 1" to "5" in non-sequential order—were recorded at Morelli's home studio while Burnett stayed during a tour around three or four years ago. The duo leapfrog from one oblique style to another. "Birdshit 3" most closely resembles Burnett's Black Deer project, which I'd describe as incantatory, Kraut-influenced electronics. "Birdshit 1" is a hilariously brutal assemblage of high-pitched synth scree and blown-out techno drums. It's some of the gnarliest music Burnett has ever been involved with, though Morelli has demonstrated a consistent yen for demonic sounds. You can picture him watching the levels redline with a wry grin.
"Birdshit 5" sounds like a Miami bass record that's been used as a lint filter. The record's most intriguing track, "Birdshit 4," is also its shortest. It's just a minute and a half, but it feels like the middle-ground between Burnett's delayed-bass fixation and Morelli's scum electronics, the bridge being an obscured, repetitive chorale sample. From the splotch of bird shit on the 12-inch cover to the EP's titles to the cartoon bird on back, this isn't an EP that takes itself too seriously.
TracklistA1 Birdshit 3
A2 Birdshit 4
A3 Birdshit 1
B1 Birdshit 2
B2 Birdshit 5