Opaque
A Lancaster-based 3 piece band (guitar/drums/bass) who improvise, swapping instruments as and when they feel like it. Their music is dark and intense based around repeated phrases / loops which grow and evolve, usually culminating in a high volume wall of sound.
Aside from several singles, eps and albums released on small labels all around the world, they were also selected by Fat Cat to appear on their "No Watches No Maps" compilation - and by mrw44 to appear on "No ReWind"...
some of what was said about their previous releases:
"Now I don't know if their intention was to drive the listener over the edge but we do think this release should come with some kind of health warning. Do not operate machinery whilst listening to Opaque, do not try and do anything because they're pushing you right to the edge with their high pitched minimalist repetitive scratchy drone and riff cycles that slowly builds up in to delicate plate smashing rage music. Sparse post-art instrumental guitar sound sculpture that's not far off musical water torture. They manage to jar so much with so few sounds. There's an Eastern flavour as that bass drones underneath guitars that sound like mechanical wind chimes and really I don't think I can go through the whole thing again, it's like finger nails on a blackboard, they almost defy you to keep listening... enough! Turn it off!!! An excellent single." Organ magazine about "Temporary Lifestyle"
"The kind of thing you'd expect to find accompanying black and white film footage projected onto a demolition site in downtown Dresden as part of some art installation or other, Opaque's two improvised tracks beguile with a mixture of Warser Gate's quieter guitar scrapings and Ochre records' knack for spinning meaning out of no sound whatsoever" Robots and Electronic Brains about "Temporary Lifestyle".
One new track on "No ReWind" (September of...)
£5 / €10 / $10 - also includes previous No ReWind compilation (August of...) for free
Listen to "What if, ok?" (streaming audio)
Buy CDs