YZBL
Hermaphrodite
Feral Crone Recordings
It’s tempting to compare recent records by YZBL and Ash Barrett; both take a grimy approach to post-industrial which draws on neighboring heavy and experimental genres, both have seen release on Lana Del Rabies’ new Feral Crone label, and of course, both are the first LPs from former members of stylish Arizona industrial/goth outfit Tassel since its dissolution. But scratch at the rusty patina of any of Hermaphrodite‘s brief pieces and you’ll soon cotton on to YZBL’s modern spin on some classic templates.
Hermaphrodite quickly reveals itself as a decidedly rhythmically focused record. Sure, based on YZBL’s Tassel tenure one might read the licks of high feedback guitar which scrape about at the top of “Androgyne”‘s register as classic goth, the record’s overarching undertow draws the ear towards the doomed drony synth, which makes the track feel like a brief precursor to the more explicit pummelling bass of the subsequent “Scissor”. Similarly, the double kicks which seethe pensively at the bottom of “Patterns” end up reframing its sludgy riff, rendering it more controlled and menacing rather than loosely stoned.
It’s with all these elements and moods in place that the saturnine shadows of Justin Broadrick and Mick Harris can be felt in the corners of Hermaphrodite. The gruelling crawl of “Piston”, in which serpentine bass weaves its way through rat-trap percussive snaps slow enough for its texture to conjures vintage Godflesh, while the downtempo breaks and dub influences of opener “Lobotomy” and closer “Shinigami” take a page from Scorn.
Despite the legacies of these giants, YZBL’s personality is never lost in the record. Both the vocal fragments which are stabbed into the tracks with the same apparent chaos as the guitar feedback – sometimes screamed, sometimes muttered, sometimes heavily distorted, often all of the above as on “Loins” – and her compositional mix of noise, beats, and riffs managing to assemble and dissociate in the span of a couple of minutes keep Hermaphrodite fresh and on edge.
