BILLY BAO - Accumulation

Heaps of noise and feedback, insistent arrhythmic pounding, and desperate hot screams coalesce into a textured, deeply layered wall of sound that is more compelling than any of its more-or-less revolting constituent parts on this new 7-inch by BILLY BAO. The concept behind the record is accumulation, as each track (uniformly 1 minute per track) adds an additional element--noise, voices, instruments. Accumulation is the engine of capitalism, and this record, which transforms accumulation into a sound, shows it to be as unpretty as one might expect. Perhaps the sound is meant to evoke the non-stop, bursting-at-the-seams chaos and disorder of Lagos, the place Billy tells us he began his journey. But of course no one, it is said, begins in Lagos; its a place where people end up. Its a city that accumulates people and detritus, or people as detritus. If Billy managed to escape, it was only physically--because judging by this record, his spirit remains in the clinking, scrounging fetters of the megapolis. Less metallic than the recent 10-inch, though still rather throbbing, this 7-inch is one of those uncommon records that you put on either to start or end a party, depending on what kind of party it is. Obscure referents: Demo-Moe, Z, Church Police, Agonia, SPK, Doden.--Stuart Schrader