Wolf Eyes/Black Dice

AMG Review of Wolf Eyes/Black Dice

Jason Nickey
All Music Guide

It was probably just a matter of time before these two put out a proper collaboration. Brooklyn's Black Dice have always seemed out of place amongst the dance-punk bands with which they're usually grouped; they're certainly the least danceable group to release a 12'' on DFA. They seem more in their element tweaking pulse generators and sculpting crackling digital sound detritus with Ann Arbor, MI's Wolf Eyes. With them, they've found their sonic soul mates. This vinyl-only release was recorded in New York and mixed in Michigan, and it sounds like the work of a single unit, a true collaboration, not like two bands doing their separate bits and later forcing together the results. Side A begins with a wobbly tone, then picks up a thudding pulse while a hiss slowly gathers. What could be a distant oboe warbles and disintegrates into an crackling echo, and then -- suddenly -- a loud high pitch, sonic palette cleanse. Each track proceeds in a similar fashion, starting simple and then accumulating debris and noise like a giant snowball rolling down a trash heap. One long track takes up Side B. It begins with a muffled pulse, like the neighbors two houses down blaring Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine," then slowly gathers force and volume as industrial squeals and echoing howls drifting in and out. A light cymbal splash marks an intermission before a more insistent ribal beat takes over, and the whole thing begins again. It ends with a thunderous pulse that continues to grow even as the stylus slips into the out-groove. Both groups are fully in character here, making it a good place to start with Wolf Eyes, and the logical next step after hearing Black Dice's Cone Toaster 12''.