Listening Diary

 

Listening Diary

Absurd Exposition

Mo*Te - Throw A Stone (2023)

Cassette tape

The time has come to dive into Mo*Te. Having been intrigued by this project since its mention and feature in an episode of the Noisextra podcast I’ve long delayed getting one of Mo*Te’s tapes but finally the time has come to dive into his works and I start with this tape reissue of Throw A Stone released on Absurd Exposition in 2023. A tape with an LP length presentation of sonic goodness we will examine straight below. 

Listening journey

Throw A Stone is a mostly successful journey through quite meditative Noise soundscapes which are often a bit more extended in both playing time and textural layering and panning. Fumiyuki Nagura of Mo*Te brings us a lot of immersion into droning, vibrating, clanging and crunchy textures that boil in between our ears. Most pieces follow an excellent type of stream of sound approach which lets you fully dive into the richly layered sonic imagery which often includes hidden layers of music, voices and screams mixed into dense layers of distortion, buzz and at times spacey effects. I really like how regardless of the at times diffuse pictures painted within these tracks at times melodic, although scattered elements can be heard and how most of the piece actually feel like the Noise equivalent of Drone music being based around continuously held tones and subtly vibrating resonances. This pulsating aspect of the music gives Mo*Te’s works a very personal artistic touch that feels very intentional rather than chaotic and makes for a very rewarding listen although I admittedly was a bit disappointed by the rather repetitive and oddly forceful beat pushing forward final track Out Cry/X Remix in a direction that feels a bit more compromised than balanced but I do admire the progression and melodic elements embedded in this remix. Throw A Stone is a great tape for sure.

You can get the digital download of this release here: https://absurdexposition.bandcamp.com/album/throw-a-stone