NW006 - UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER - STERILE GARDEN

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Zip Archive Wav and Mp3 445mb

WHEELS OF CONFUSION

SWIMMING IN CRACK 1

SWIMMING IN CRACK 2

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER



Published 5/6/21 during Covid-19 Pandemic

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I put out a tape of Sterile Garden way back in 2015 on Obfuscated Records Miasma

Artist Statement:
Electronics and tape in wild free zones, editing processes and sequencing on other tracks of some juxtapositions of 14 year old source tapes weathered into near unrecognizable shapes. some four track edits on the harsher tracks, "Wheels of Confusion" being all single source (bicycle wheel) through extensive tape deformation treatments over the years. "Unconditional Surrender" is also assembled of a couple recording sessions throughout the years.
The lyrics deal with gentrification and the inability to escape the cycle.
Artist being the vanguard of gfentrification of neighborhoods as well as aesthetics.

[FAP]

If there’s anything I can empathize with, it’s the challenging, nigh-Sisyphean task of wrangling older material together into something acceptable to your present-day standards. That’s why I have to give SG credit for actually making Unconditional Surrender a reality, even if it’s not very good.
The meat of the album (“Swimming In Crack” parts 1 & 2) consists of AM radio fuzz and squelching electronic feedback, with the occasional dull scrap abuse tossed in for roughage: very low-key. Honestly, I could see myself enjoying this more if I were in the right mood, though I’d still think some parts were arranged rather haphazardly.
The bookends to Unconditional Surrender do little to improve my opinion of it: “Wheels Of Confusion” just sounds like some tapes thrown in reverse, while the self-titled closer is a very average, almost reserved pseudo-power electronics piece. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say the thematic impetus for the album (“gentrification and the inability to escape the cycle”) was largely derived from this track alone. I think if you wanted to make a statement through the medium of an experimental music album, or really any album, it would help if the messaging was more obvious and pointed throughout than some hackneyed Whitehouse impression tacked on at the end.