The Wire
(Dec. 2005 U.K.)


The long awaited debut release of Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra aka Mattin (guitar,
vocals and computer feedback) and "       " (real name Tim) Goldie (drums) [+vocals,
disc, chain and bird whistle] comprises 15 tracks recorded between July 2002 and
November 2003. It includes one truly scary field recording made by Zoe Broughton at
Huntingdon Life Sciences back in 1997, where she was working undercover for a Channel
Four documentary to expose the notorious animal research facility's appalling cruelty
to animals (see www.shac.net/HLS/exposed/broughton.html).
 A concert or album of unrelenting ferocious noise, whether by Hijokaidan,
Borbetomagus, Merzbow or The Dust Breeders, may be a highly enjoyable rush of pure
adrenaline, but it's no longer exactly a surprise. Mattin and Goldie can burst eardrums
as well as the above - watch your speakers on the apocalyptic "Submucosa" - but they've
learnt their lowercase lesson well, and use disturbingly quiet passages and slow
menacing drones to equally devastating effect. Mattin is as unpredictable as ever,
lurching from the kind of delicate laptoppery that graced his Grob release Building
Excess with Klaus Filip, Dean Roberts and Radu Malfatti, to blasts of unmitigated sonic
terror that will melt the fillings in your teeth.
His guitar work and vocals are just as extreme, especially on the splendidly titled
"It's Not Your Fault You Are The Authentic Version Of What The Rest Of Us Can Only
Imagine", apparently recorded live (listening to the screams of terror and the vicious
thudding of heavy chains I'm glad I wasn't there). Goldie's drumming is savage and
ritualistic, from the isolated explosions of "Humiliated" to the all-out blitzkrieg of
his solo offering "Lacguage = Noumenal Sarcoshyce" (a whole page of similarly
impenetrable logorrhea adorns the 6" x 8" album cover), but it's refreshingly far
removed from both free jazz and Improv percussion cliche, even though I suspect his
collection includes a fair number of Eddie Prevost albums.
Luxury is an album of awesome intensity, one that deserves to be blasted mercilessly
from a 40,000W PA outside Huntingdon Life Sciences every day until the torture ceases.
Dan Warburton.







by NICK HOBBS

very rad, impressed by the silences and use of soundblocks rather than much resembling
playing, the screamy parts (and publicparticipations) are harrowing, dont know quite
how to digest those asa listener, as music, those parts especially cross
into performance art, probably you should perform naked and spill bodyfluids onto your
instruments (i'm not joking), maybe while mattin retained a full-body cool cloak of
clothing, i don't know if your boldness, angst, and variously directed irony-free
loathings, want toenter into diamanda galas territory of staging the sound, and
stagingthe performer, so that the look of it all integrates into the psychotic
soundworld, but i could imagine that, you'd probably belocked up, but what the hell,
would be worth doing enough times forthe forces of cultural order to take note - and
then drop it and gopastoral


and the vid would be a gem of violent sound-porn, the SM fantasies conjured up are quite
rousing, not enough to make me leavemy respectable monogamous and intermittently
delightful life but anyway enough to disturb me with visions of fucking you in public
overa drumkit


i've been considering aesthetics of ugliness lately, in my lecture on flamenco
especially, but flamenco (even in its most extremeand raw forms) is musical, your
territory seems somewhere ratherother, inviting iraq into the kitchen while spewing it
out and cookinga stew


track 1 is unlike anything i've heard, congrats especially fort hat, also track 10
stands out, it reminds of the chapman brothers,and track 13, a swam of b52s over a hot
desert, track 14 a firingsquad with a well-developed sense of sadistic job-rush (would
theystill shoot if some blonde bombshell tugged off their breeches and sucked them
bone-dry? is that all it'd take to salvage utopia?)


i tease myself with idle questions, who are the goodies and badies? are we all schizoid?
is the way out of hell via catharsis, oris that the way in?


long live pasolini and bill burroughs but accursed be genesis porridge




Diskunion (Japan)

狂気のノイズ感染!! バスクの奇人マッティンが率いる数多いバンドの中でも狂気度トップのユニット。物音系のジャンク・ドラマー [sic] Goldieとのディオ・ユニットで、ほとんどノイズと物音で構成された狂気の内容となっている。ノイズ・コアのようでもあるが、そうは聞こえない。ほと んどフィールド・レコーディングのような録音も手伝って、檻の外から珍獣を眺めている雰囲気でもある。意味不明の極地。素晴らしい!!



Touching Extremes
(Nov. 2005, Italy)

Under these peculiar monikers hide percusssionist (and yeller) "      " [sic] Goldie and Mattin, working intently in a "Borbetomagus meets Morphogenesis" nihilist sonic assault through an array of instruments including percussion, guitar, chains, bird whistle plus electricity and feedback. This is one of those records belonging to the love/hate category, as Goldie literally rapes drums with devastating rage while Mattin provides most of the scorching-burning-piercing-corrosive materials, destroying any notion of conventional guitar playing while leaving ground noises and feedback to dictate their own law. All tracks are a no-overdub collage from live improvisations and the audience response - when audible - is pretty enthusiastic. Amidst a bliss of distortion and furious acrimony, sometimes a silent or more tranquil fraction appears unexpected, reinforcing the shocking power of the duo's eruptions. Like it or not - I did - there's no question that these guys are for real. Massimo Ricci

Blow Up Magazine (February 2006, Italy)

A entrambi.
Senz’altro meglio la collaborazione col percussionista “ “[sic] Goldie,
a nome Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra: una serie di improvvisazioni
primitive e brutali tra feedback e batteria, per sedici fratture
scomposte che, pur non disdegnando di ammutolirsi in silenzi a
singhiozzi, dipingono quadri di grande tensione. Molto, ma molto
interessante. (7) Valerio Mattioli


The Broken Face
If Herman Hostia is a bit surprising then Deflag Hamorrhage/Haien Kontra’s (AKA Mattin and Timothy Goldie) Luxury is closer to what I’ve come to expect from Mattin. Things start on a quitely intense note but that’s seemingly just to trick us to stay on board their vessel to free jazz/noise/computer feedback hell as things only get more and more extreme the further the album continues. When we’ve reached “Submucosa” you’ll find yourself in the midst of the sort of shrieking laptop/feedback mayhem that just a few of you will enjoy. But in the midst of the unalterable noise Mattin and Goldie also leaves some space for quieter lowercase sections and drone fragments. I can’t honestly say that I will listen to this disk on repeated occasions but I love the fact that I continue to be surprised by this very demanding sonic stew all through its 73 minutes. Mats


Metamkine (Nov. 2005 France):

'Luxury'... Où il s'agit d'improvisations (duos et solos) de Goldie et Mattin. Batterie, ordinateur, guitare, disques, voix. Sens du spectacle, joie communicative de et dans l'improvisation, amour des espaces (déclarés plus ou moins franchement) bruitistes et des lieux réverbérants. Un CD où l'on devine leur intérêt pour la scène et ses matières, 'live act'... Insolent, vif! Et amusant ! Ouf! Enregistrées entre 1997 et avril 2003. Mastering réalisé par Daniel Beattie.


					   ============
VITAL WEEKLY
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number 492
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week 37
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Two new releases on the W.M.o/r label, run by Mattin, and he plays on one of them, being the one by the oddly called "     "[sic] Goldie. He or she is a drummer, who also plays occasionally bird whistle, chain, voice and disc. Mattin plays guitar, computer feedback and voice on a few tracks. All tracks are recorded during improvisations in 2003, except track twelve, which is also not credited to the artist, but says 'Field Recording At Huntingdon Life Sciences 1997'. The first few tracks sound relatively normal in terms of improvisation, but once he starts adding bird whistle, things become extremely noise related, with lots of feedback, cable hum and hectic distorted drumming. Beyond this point, track seven or so into this release, things are furious as hell. With sixteen tracks it's a bit long for such a chaotic and heavy release, but lovers of true free-jazz noise know to appreciate this in its entire length. I prefer a smaller doses at certain times.


Phosphor Magazine(Oct. 2005-Berlin)

Deflag Haemorrhage / Haien Kontra: Luxury CD

Behind those strange artist names hide Goldie and Mattin. Those two composers present something one would not expect from them, if one is familiar with their previous material or after opening the beautiful package.
Timothy Goldie and Mattin Artiach come up with a collection of robust and raw improvisations. Mattin's heavy guitar feedback and Goldie's intensive percussion make that the listener is confronted with a primitive musical struggle. It's like creating with a punk or Fluxus attitude and pushing things to the edge by means of screaming and terrorizing the audience with high volume and deteriorating outbursts. It's emotional, full of energy, but not mentioned to leave a long-term impression. The first shock might be sufficient enough though!


discography

w.m.o/record label
desetxea net label
www.mattin.org