The Rubber Room column is a weekly look at recent and notable releases that don’t fall into the rubric of traditional reviewed material—namely 12”s, EPs, and MP3 only releases.

Wolf Eyes
Lost Sockets 3” CD-R
[Chondritic Sound/Hanson, 2004]
{6}

This disc is three untitled tracks recorded in 2001, around the time of Wolf Eyes’ breakthrough with Slicer, and it’s a nice low-key offering from the Michigan noise kings. The first track is a meandering mess of squeals and electronic debris, but the second track offers the punishing rhythms and harsh outbursts that we’ve come to expect from the Wolves; it’s lots of fun, and great fodder for your next industrial disco. And the third track is more of the same, except slower building and with even greater tension. This is like one long intro to an atomic bomb explosion, the beats spread out real far at first, then slowly coming closer together as the noise-scape surrounding them becomes increasingly frenetic and agitated.
[Ed Howard]

Method Man (feat. Ludacris)
Rodeo (Promo)
[Def Jam, 2004]
{2}

Did the lyrical advisory department at Def Jam demand commensurately juvenile lyrics from both Meth and Ludacris? It’s a shame that Jahmal Gwin’s Hammond and guitar full of beans beat is used to back a collection of blowjob and “thick ass” anecdotes. It’s not that this track is any more demeaning than a typical Luda sex joint, just that it’s reminiscent of bad public toilet graffiti; albeit graffiti that rhymes. If this is any sort of indication as to the strength of lyrics on Tical 0: The Prequel then U-God is looking to get shifted from his number one spot as the creator of the worst Wu solo LP yet.
[Scott McKeating]

Lawrence English
Ghost Towns
[room40, 2004]
{5}

Those interested in largely untreated field recordings are herewith directed to Ghost Towns, an eighteen-minute abstract sound collage from Australian Lawrence English. The sounds of rattles, animal cries, insect buzzing, shuffling noises, and percussive strikes appear with little alteration, but the best part is as the piece nears its end, with the emergence of fierce buzzing sounds that grow to a massive, seething drone. A reasonably satisfying sonic tapestry of rich natural textures that invites formal appreciation more than visceral.
[Ron Schepper]

The Game
Fuck You
[G-Unit Radio 7: King of New York Mixtape, 2004]
{5}

Another attempt by this G-Unit affiliate to prove he’s the saviour of West Coast Hip-Hop using Kanye’s “Two Words”. He’s sounding pretty impregnable here as the gruff, belligerent gangsta but I can’t help filtering all this through the fact that he was recently destroyed on mic by Joe Budden. He needs to drop some outstanding original material ASAP.
[Scott McKeating]

Baikonour
Hot Milk
[Melodic, 2004]
{6}

Last heard from on 2003’s excellent Melodic comp Tracks For Horses Baikonour returns with Hot Milk, a four-track remix of the 2002 EP Bake Your Tape featuring new versions from Amon Tobin (dark techno-izes “Coca Sun”), Imitation Electric Piano (a fairly convincing Stereolab impression on “Zap 210”), Topo Gigio (dreamy treatment of “Calimero Renegade”), and Gavouna (“Oben Beg” turns into bright, chugging disco). All told, the EP’s a pleasingly diverse set, although the remixes only hint at what the originals sound like.
[Ron Schepper]

Bacillus
Re-emergence 3” CD-R
[Chondritic Sound, 2004]
{7}

Bacillus returns to noisemaking after five years’ absence, with 19 minutes of skull-crunching harsh noise beautifully packaged with surgical mask and DIY art. The noise ain’t too bad, either: vocal samples and snatches of “real” music obscured in the onslaught of deeply textured granular crunch. These eight brief tracks heave with a hidden life that seems to lurk beneath the surface as artfully as the bacteria that seems to obsess this sickly musician. Distorted music burns up out of the chaos, and it all rushes by fast, leaving behind only a blurry and surrealistic memory, like the remnants of a fever-dream.
[Ed Howard]