Your Meat in Their Grinder

FNU Ronnies were from Philadelphia. Now, it seems that some of them have moved from there. Hard to say exactly where these guys hail from or what they plan next (though there is word of a full-length LP coming out on Fan Death soon), they enjoy that whole cloak-of-mystery thing that only seems to benefit noisy collectives such as these. Initially the solo project of James Vail, the band has become fleshed out with additional members (in a way similar to John Dwyer's Thee Oh Sees, about whom I wrote a couple of weeks ago--though lest you see some sort of connection, there is no recorded evidence of Mr. Vail's solo dalliances...) and gone on an aural killing spree, having released some very odd documents.

So far (to this writer's knowledge, at least), an even dozen songs have surfaced, with a sound varying from hardcore that decays as you listen to Chrome-gone-ambient/slow core. That said, there's BOY HOWDY a lot of variety and invention to be found here, and if we're to believe these boys' own words, then a lot of the non-hardcore shit is improvised. While consistently sounding like they're stuck in a blender set on "MANGLE", and despite the off-hand nature of these recordings, they manage a range of atmosphere that conveys much while still substantially sounding like soup (but each hiss and snarl is unique, godmotherfuckingdammit). Aside from some random demos and compilation tracks, four of the songs released thus far come from the 7" MEAT EP on Richie Records, which is half hardcore-style froth, the other half is miniature distortion-soaked collage terror. Three more songs came out on the one-sided GOLEM 12" on Night People (also released on CD and Cassette via Skrot Up), which were reissued as the Golem Smoke EP with the exceptional addition of the 17-minute "Golems Sympathetic Nervous System" as its b-side on Fan Death last year.

As their interviews show, these boys know their music, referencing esoterica such as Parson Sound and D.R. Hooker, while embodying very little of that comparatively laid-back aesthetic. That said, while their faster-paced fare usually draws from hardcore, and their slower pieces from a wider range of genres (industrial, ambient, kosmische, noise, metal, drone, etc.), they show a greater knowledge of musical history than many of their peers, simply through their lack of boundaries between sounds. For example, the tape hiss that dominates MEAT has become a part of the instrument sound on Golem Smoke. Vocals that were unfiltered-yet-indecipherable before (due more to processing than fidelity), are now rendered clear and creepy, but distorted and tweaked to the point of near-merging with the vomitatious background synth doodles--all done while leaving the fidelity artfully scuzzy. While Golem Smoke still has layers of noise, it comes from the distorted nature of the instruments themselves rather than the seeming to be the nature of the medium. That said, MEAT is not particularly lo-fi (or at least not much more so than Golem Smoke), it just uses an approach more typical of lo-fi.

While I'm drawn to a lot of music that mirrors the sludgier end of this spectrum, what is really unique about FNU Ronnies is their ability to switch aesthetic on a dime--from slimy synth sludge to guitar splatter--but always in the weirdest places. Who knows if this approach will hold up over a full-length? Really, how could it not? So far, Golem Smoke is an album-length document that holds up well when compared with more seasoned now-defunct noisemakers such as Yellow Swans or the local Clockcleaner. It's also a refinement of those bands' own somewhat single-minded approaches, trading in distorted shouting for phased creepy moans, and saving the drum destroying for the short tunes, using longer tunes to engage in more spacious sense-obliteration. While the EP showcases more sprawled-out arrangements than the 7”, half of the tracks are still somewhat claustrophobic in their lack of cohesion (not that this is a bad thing, mind you). The opening “Watchful Eye” starts out with heavily-delayed ping-ponging drum machine, then blossoms into a Brainbombs-type creeper after a minute and a half of burbling gibbering, and the side one closer “Herb Alpert” screeches with feedback like a dialup modem (think Throbbing Gristle’s “I.B.M.”), while going just enough places to come off as more than just a throwaway doodle—but if not that then what, exactly? Then there are the other two tracks: the lumbering “Golem Smoke”, which sounds like Flipper played through speakers made of rusty lint, and the closing “Golems Sympathetic Nervous System”, which chops and regurgitates little bits of side A, among other detritus, resulting in a suite of crackling, shuddering massacre.

Their sound ends up being parts industrial, punk, surf, noise, psychedelic, and yet somehow amounting to something beyond that, as if all the diversity manages to culminate in fullness-beyond-genre, something previously aimed for by bands such as Sun City Girls. However, while the Girls used exotic textures to conjure images of pan-ethnic, yet non-generic World music, FNU Ronnies paint with a palette closer to home, managing a nationwide pan-extremism. No matter what they’re playing, it’s hard to imagine they’ve invested much thought into the slaughter of perceived sacred cows, more likely they’re just cranking up to 10 and having fun throwing around creepy distortion bombs. So far they’re getting a lot of mileage out of the resulting carnage. Check out their Golem Smoke tape on Fan Death, it’s only $4, and who doesn’t want to be decapitated?