It seems that everyone and his leather-clad dog in Salt Lake is a "noise band" these days. As you may have experienced, half of these follow the "turn on machines, wave hands around, tweak knobs in an angry fashion, call it a piece of music" aesthetic.

Local Reviews: Ghastly Hatchling

By
April 30, 2013

Local Music Reviews

Ghastly Hatchling
Writhe
Red Light Sound
Street: 02.22.08
Ghastly Hatchling = Black Dice + Sissy Spacek
It seems that everyone and his leather-clad dog in Salt Lake is a “noise band” these days. As you may have experienced, half of these follow the “turn on machines, wave hands around, tweak knobs in an angry fashion, call it a piece of music” aesthetic. Not so with Aaron Zillionaire’s (ne� Smith) Ghastly Hatchling project, as his work reflects a masterful, patient human interaction with his instruments. He carefully guides his meager sonic source, the grinding skronk of a dump truck shifting gears despite a blown clutch (or so it seems), while paying attention to tension, release, form, harmony, settling into and exploring the pitch of each screech before moving onto new ideas during the near-22-minute “Ergot, Belladonna, and Cakecrumbs,” and six-minute coda “Laminated Testicles and Blown Fuses.” On Writhe, Smith shows that he understands development, augmentation, cadences, intriguing soundscapes and everything else that makes for interesting music.