SD26
VEYOU - S/T c20
cassette with hand-drawn labels, stamped insert, and photograph
Released 2008
25 copies

Basementronics by Nick Hoffman + Stephen Holliger


Auxiliary Out (Drew Dahle) Review:

Veyou is a duo of Hoffman and Stephen Holliger (Swim Ignorant Fire) and as far as I can tell this tape is the first of, what I hope will be, many more releases. Like Katchmare, bouts of silence and quick cuts between sounds play a big part here. Once the tape starts rolling there are quiet guitar plucks, trudging machinery, shimmering synth tones, and a big echoing Jabba the hut type growl are floating around being manipulated, repositioned and mashed together. Sharp drone galvanizes everything around and a single chiming bell enters at semi-regular intervals before backing off and dropping back to a mess of sounds a la the beginning of the side and without warning I’m thrust back into more intense drone proceedings that alternate between being pleasant and uneasy but always riveting. After a brief period of silence, there’s an absolutely perfect ending which initially echoes some of the previous sounds but instead washed out and distant, then there’s a 20-30 second bit with a catchy, looped techno melody. Bizarre, awesome shit. You gotta hear this stuff.
The second side starts up with a number of competing textural tones before a filtered drum machine or something like it falls into a lurching rhythm. The bell from the previous side makes an appearance along with some acoustic percussive jangle and I think there might even be a cymbal in there somewhere but maybe it’s a sample or something. Unlike the last side, this piece moves pretty linearly accumulating an assload of cool sounds into its maelstrom before dropping out leaving a sine tone and more percussive sounds. An ascending/descending synth melody applies a bit of pressure and slowly takes over the track, though insubordinate shards of feedback and synth squelches undermine it. This side strikes a delicate balance between fluid, full-bodied drone and unpredictable, manipulated noise dynamics. It just builds and builds to a wonderfully dense cacophony before being sent on its way by a spacey synth tone. Let me reiterate what I said before, this is great shit. You gotta hear it.