The Sounds of Disaster

Sounds of Disaster delivers just what it implies: a mishmashed sputtering of cacophony that could very well represent a melting down of rock music, if not the world. With titles such as "Countdown to the End," "Ruin Anyone Anywhere Anything," and "World Went Down," Charles Peirce (aka End) puts together a delirious mix of sampling and genre-diced electronics, supposedly inspired by a fire alarm going off while a rockabilly band was playing. Some of the tracks simply implode on themselves while others are just purposely haphazard. "World Went Down," for instance, seems to unintentionally fall into static before returning with a techno-hyper synth, a whirlwind collage of confusion and a trumpet set in the '40s. Another sound of disorder, "Mr. Guns," has a big band backdrop underneath gunshots and quick, percussive synth. The theme of death and destruction is a little much, though Sounds of Disaster's ideas are challenging and by no means conventional. ~ Kenyon Hopkin