Beastieshopbeach - Beastieshopbeach (1999)

The Berlin duo Beastieshopbeach (Olaf Rupp and Gotz Rogge) released its first real album on the German label Grob in 1999 (a CD-R was previously released, also on Grob). This album presents a dense collage of electronics, distorted guitars, rhythm loops, and real-time sound manipulation. In brief: improvised music somewhere between noise, electronica, and audio art. The influence of Merzbow is not very far, but in a sense Beastieshopbeach's music is a little poppier (although a few tracks like "Am" would indicate otherwise). Sound quality is brutal: The album has been entirely recorded live and directly on two tracks. It sounds like a basement recording, which it probably is, but then again the coarse means of recording serve the music right. All in all, Beastieshopbeach doesn't bring anything new to the noise/electronica vocabulary, but it remains an interesting item for a fan of the genre. - Francois Couture, AMG