Low Point Review #5 : Last of the Real Hardmen - Darkness

Low Point recently put out two new releases, both of which are quite good. I will review the first one here, and the second in the next post. Both new releases feature a different sort of packaging from the usual Low Point CD-r, and really from any CD in general. There's some great creativity going on here:-)

Last of the Real Hardmen - Darkness
Chris Summerlin (of Lords and Felix) is a Nottingham, UK guitarist also known as Last of the Real Hardmen. His albums are improv-based, psychedelic, and often noisy. The latest one, "Darkness", was released by Low Point Records (Low Point 010) on an all black CD-r, in a fold-over card sleeve, also black on black. The image to the left appears thereupon, screen-printed in black ink, for a very nice effect. The whole thing comes in a plastic sleeve.

"Darkness" is a series of solo electric guitar improvisations that span 13 tracks. It could be said that they are mostly drone-based, but it is far from just a drone album. Many textures appear thanks to various articulations including glissando, bowing, plucking, striking, sliding, etc... which on the electric guitar create a dark, minimalist sound world, sometimes akin to Loren MazaCane Connors, sometimes sounding like Kyrgyz or some other Jewelled Antler improv group, and at other times even like Earth or Growing. Needless to say it covers a wide range of sounds and techniques.

On this album you will hear ambient noises, dissonances, overtones, feedback, reverb, and distortion, all in an avant-garde context that blends styles, but flows well. A coherent idea emerges, is exposed, and develops over the course of the album, and you could say that this idea is darkness itself as expressed through a guitar.

It's not easy to compare this to other existing acts, but perhaps the Bark Haze would be a good one (Total Joke Era in particular), but "Darkness" is more sparse and meditative than that. Summerlin relies very little on effects and processing, such as delay and looping, so the sound is much more direct. The extent of his equipment is an SG copy and 2 Fender Twin Reverbs.

It may be silly to compare this to a band as diverse as Boris, but some of Boris' more freeform, improv, feedback-laden moments would be very comparable to a couple of tracks here. Plus Boris always has that dark psych vibe that flows through this album too. On other tracks there's more of a loose, free-blues/psych folk vibe that approaches the Charalambides. Overall it features a wide range of improvisational styles held together by the guitar and a pervading dark atmosphere, all in a minor key except for the second to last track.

Limited to 100 copies, hand numbered. Available to hear from Last.fm: (click on the play buttons next to each track)
Last of the real hardmen – Darkness 1
Last of the real hardmen - Darkness 13