Nate Young – Regression LP Ideal Recordings

Over the past few years, iconic noise artist Nate Young has been carefully crafting his own signature solo sound, as evidenced through his progressive recordings and performances with American experimental music staples such as Wolf Eyes, Stare Case, Demons, and Moon Pool & Dead Band. After the completion of his recent Regression trilogy (part one being the self-titled disc on Ideal in 2009; 2011’s “Stay Asleep” LP on NNA as part two; and part three “Other Days” on Japanese label Rockatansky in 2012), Young begins a new chapter in his personal sound world, and it is perhaps his biggest leap forward musically thus far. Regression “Blinding Confusion” enters a new era, retaining the techniques and studies from his previous work and raising them to new levels. Intense compositional building and structure seep through each track, traversing new ground melodically while still upholding Nate’s patented over-bearing weight of dread and slow-burning darkness at all the right moments. Deep, percussive brutality and pulsing neurosis mesh with somber burial hymns, held together by Young’s technical prowess and mastery of his chosen gear. Each frequency is given it’s own unique role and characteristic voice, deeply chilled by the arid space of decay via tape manipulation/disintegration, howling its way through the grooves of the record like a cold wind of dead space that billows throughout, unrelenting. Atonal, morphing, and modulating bass lines pulse and plod their way through, like the unseen presence of the undead ascending a creaking stairway, leading upwards toward a nebulous void. This establishes a truly horrific atmosphere while honoring primitive technology, refined with a thick dose of originality. Self-recorded at Burning Log Studios and M.U.G. in Young’s native zone of Detroit, Michigan, combined with high definition mastering and cutting by Lupo at Calyx in Berlin, Germany, make “Blinding Confusion” the defining artifact by one of the United States’ most talented voices in noise and experimental music.

Regression ‘Blinding Confusion’ by Nate Young