May 8, 2016
//an interview of Be the Hammer’s Raoul Puke//
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//an interview of Be the Hammer’s Raoul Puke//
::another review::
Everything has merit—every creative endeavor dares us to step outside of what we know or have come to expect from within the confines of our own specific set of beliefs, preferences, and aesthetics. And when it comes to music, Noise and Ambient projects are sometimes best at jarring us out of our comfortable spaces to experience a wider scope of what can be considered meaningful and important. Tangled Mass by Be the Hammer I do have to admit, however, that I was taken aback by Be the Hammer’s Tangled Mass album. The Belgium-based duo’s unabridged, dissonant, and obscure six-song epic is a constant wail of mangled industrial tones and steely, haunting echoes. But with a careful listen, these resonant sounds emerge impactful, well-imagined, thoughtful, and even well-composed. “For the debut album, Tangled Mass, our initial idea was basically to use the Theremin in a 'non-musical' approach, to create atmospheres, noises, drones, and soundscapes,” said Be the Hammer’s Raoul Puke. “We really let the instrument guide us and influence us through the first phase of the process (improvised recordings). Since it's such an unpredictable instrument, it can always surprise you and take you to new places—that's what's so exciting about it.” The Theremin is an early electronic instrument that can be played without “physical contact; ” Raoul first discovered the device when collaborating with Be the Hammer’s Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock. “I asked Van Cappellen-Waldock, whom I knew from her other bands (Von Stroheim, Baby Fire, Keiki), to record Theremin-based improvised sessions together […], I built the final tracks using a multi-track production software based on the material we had acquired by selecting the best parts then by heavily editing, layering, and processing them.” The result of the effort is the duo’s Tangled Mass album, a collection of harrowing din and ambient noise. “At the beginning, we didn't have a completely defined/conscious idea of how the album should sound like, except that we wanted it to be a noise album,” Raoul said. “But then, during the second phase (the computer-based production work), the process became much more calculated, as I had to select the parts that were the most fitting to the tracks/the project's aesthetics […] This is when the different sounds and atmospheres we recorded were chosen and manipulated in order to create a specific mood (basically, a nightmarish, oppressive one). We named the tracks, wrote the lyrics, and recorded Dominique's voice for the tracks ‘Beast’ and ‘A Knife's Tale,’ and defined the overall concept of the album.” As for the future of the project, Raoul expects to explore myriad more sounds and textures on subsequent albums. “I'd like to invite different contributors to join me in the studio for each new recording, […] so I [can] explore a different path on each album… but at the end of the day, we'll simply see where it takes us—time will tell!” … Fans of ambient Noise-and-Industrial outfits, such as Throbbing Gristle, Lustmord, Merzbow, Control, and Slow Slow Loris, will find Tangled Mass an interesting and inventive endeavor. You can check out Tangled Mass at Be The Hammer’s official Bandcamp.com page at BeTheHammer.BandCamp.com, and learn more about Be the Hammer through the band's official Facebook.com page at www.Facebook.com/BeTheHammer.
6 track album
Greetings, fellow noise addicts! Be the Hammer's debut album, Tangled Mass, is now available for free via our Bandcamp page.
If you enjoy this release and would like to grab it on the format of your choice, please do it from this link, not from the one that was published last month.
The so-called label that initially promised to release the album was just a big fraud and didn't even get the records printed, so don't give them your money, get the music directly at the source, and for free!
First feedback from our friend Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst) on his Unexplained Sounds Facebook group: "Tangled Mass, the debut release of Be the Hammer is a solid industrial work. Produced by Dominique Van Cappellen and Raoul Puke, it's a release full of apocalyptic and oppressive atmospheres, enriched by the use of processed theremin. It's a noise attack, but with a cinematic soul. Recommended."
Excerpt from the album Tangled Mass out in October 2015. Video teaser edited by R. Puke. Be the Hammer is a collaborativ...
Excerpt from the album Tangled Mass, out in October 2015. Video teaser edited by R. Puke. Be the Hammer is a collaborativ...