Disquiet

The folks at the Bronson Unlimited record label have upped the ante for tribute albums. Once upon a time, you simply got a dozen acts to cover a dozen songs, and if more than three of the new versions were memorable, then you’d done something of note. For its tribute to Nurse with Wound, Bronson got 25 musicians, most of them drawn from the ranks of a Nurse with Wound discussion group on Yahoo (group information here), to not only contribute tracks, but to relinquish their copyrights. It then packaged the resulting music on six 3″ CDs, and boxed it in an elaborate wooden container (further details of the set’s extravagance here). This box is more than just a pricey collector’s item; only one was made, and it was sent to Nurse founder Steven Stapleton in time for the holidays. For the rest of us, there’s a webpage (here) packed with one-minute samples of the 25 tracks. Best to just download “Exquisite Goat,” a single file that meshes the various samples into a 25-minute sequence of varied noise art, rich with found sounds, chattering vocals, moments of stunning stillness and of willful confusion, all of it true to Nurse with Wound’s decided influence on sound art and industrial and ambient music. Though the project was heartfelt, much of the resulting music is not for the faint of heart.

By Marc Weidenbaum