Menstruation Sisters 'Holy Africa' 7"
Within seven minutes, Menstruation Sisters are able to reverse the past ten milleniums of musical progression.
Grumbling and jumping about like neanderthals at the first sight of fire, 'Holy Africa' reads like an ancient letter
dictated by the animals at the swamp. For those in need of a contemporary reference, try to imagine if the members
of Hair Police were all 6 years old and had to share one distortion pedal, or if Gollum mated with an alien and
the pre-birth fetus sang for a language-less tribe. Menstruation Sisters bark forth the harsh sounds of nature,
calling out for every unknown mitosis process occurring deep within the soil.
There are 6 test pressings, each hand-numbered, with regular hardstock covers, and including the original hand-made
artwork for the center sticker and cover art. There are 303 copies on black vinyl, each with
a folded hardstock cover and sealed poly-bag.
01 - Rwanda
02 - Down For The Count
03 - Sistersucker
Dusted Magazine:
The Chunder from Down Under return to melt on your turntable and make a big mess; primordial sound scrape
that will make you doubt that conscious minds created it. These three tracks flow light elements of a nightmare,
where notes, beats and even the spoken word can’t coalesce into something more tangible than the raw need to
exist. When “drums” come in, it’s mixed in such a way that sounds like a force cannon is willing it into existence
against the other elements of sound, only to have it recede back into stasis. Count “Rwanda” as extra crispy,
and the two tracks on the flip as boneless. Untainted by structure but married to restraint, Menstruation
Sisters have found a way to devolve past music, past communication into something perhaps only they can
understand. 303 of us will be able to witness this via ownership of the records the sound is pressed onto.
Indie Workshop:
This is a favorite 7” release of 2005, which is not coincidentally one of the weirdest I’ve picked up all year.
First off, you have some great artwork and layout made possible by the always interesting White Denim label.
Then you have the music and what to make of it. Does it play at 33 or 45 rpm? Not sure, it works either way.
There is a “vocalist” who sounds like Sméagol or Yoda passing a kidney stone. There is someone, or something,
kicking what sounds like a guitar towards an amp in hopes of feedback. And there is Oren Ambarchi, now well
known for his abstract electronic releases on Touch and Staubgold, prodding some deceptively expert free
textures from a drum kit. This is descended from Ambarchi’s prior noise-rock exploits in Phlegm and their
ties to Japanese legends like Hanatarash. Way limited but still available!
The Wire:
What a delight to have a new excretion by Oren Ambarchi's most deranged musical project, Menstruation Sisters, named
'Holy Africa' (White Denim 7"). This brain-snipping Australian duo creates more havoc in the space of three
tracks than most of their brethren could conjure up in a ten CD box set. It's an intensely joyful splatter
of percussion run amok, squealing high tone gleebs, and gargles with pure molten vinyl. Things coalesce like a halo
of cicadas then move off in about 66 directions at once. Which may make your neck hurt quite a bit, but it'll be
a happy kind of pain.
Blastitude:
A couple years back this madcap Australian duo released an LP that was one of the more sustained pieces of
vicious psycho alien gibberish dressed in the flayed skin suit of 'duo noise improv' that I've ever heard.
If anything, the approach has now gotten even more primordial, and reduced down to the length of a 7-inch
it's practically over and out before the first rumble has even sounded -- a total head-scratcher, a really
large question mark practically visible in the air near your stereo speakers. This is the sound of a pool of
bubbling ooze before the first bubble has even surfaced. It's like cave-painting in pitch black dark with someone
else's toenail while the shadows are moving all around you. Or, as drummer Oren Ambarchi said in this fine
interview: "The Sisters come from a place where there is no language and no technique. One-string, Minnie
Ripperton, a footprint, intuitive chants, and two tree trunks." Other than that, I have no idea what's going on here.
Released June 2005
