About Me
"This album, one of the first full-lengths from Southern Tier (New York State) noise artist Tom Bennett, is an uncompromising foray into the realm of experimentation where John Cage meets Whitehouse. Tinnitustimulus employs a variety of pedals, acoustic instruments, battery-powered radio sets, and a hell of a lot of tinfoil in the direction of this cacophony. My favorite tracks are the ones where a noise-ambient approach is explored, such as "Double Freemartin" and "Dead Leaves in Ice," though the pure assault in tracks like "F*** You Love Life" and "Airplane" is intense and well-executed.
Something of a prodigy in the Western New York noise scene, Bennett composed this album before graduation from High School, and despite living in the relatively remote town of Bath, NY, he has succeeded in playing live shows alongside such acts as the Arthur Doyle Electroacoustic Ensemble and Pengo. Definitely a project to watch develop; he has a keen sense for composition, and has a poetic voice using long phrases of sound, which is a characteristic I really admire in noise composers...."from bit rot reviews
from smooth assailing:
akathisia
[2007, dollfullofrivets]
thankfully, glenside, pennsylvania's tom bennett had his noise moniker before shitty websites started using tinnitus-inducing to describe every fucking harsh noise release. really people? c'mon.aside from being the name of this album, akathisia is a state of restlessness. that's pretty appropriate for these three tracks (twenty-nine minutes).
after slowly easing us into grilltoface (perhaps a nod to nkondi with the no space in the track title thing) with the slow howl of feedback and then a bit of clamor, he'll dive headfirst into the chaos; dense, blaring, room-clearing noise and it's a thing of beauty. while the power of tom's project is abundantly clear, i'm liking the more nuanced aspects of his approach, like periodically segmenting the noise with rises of feedback, which turn into mini-drones, before he resumes his onslaught.
the title track begins with light static and frequency modulations, but the static will quickly go on to play a more prominent role, providing a nice density to the foundation as squealing electronics play on top of it. i don't think there's a howl, shriek, moan, gurgle, screech, hum or sputter that's spared in these seventeen minutes. the track's name does go along with restlessness, and true to form, it refuses to congeal for any extended period of time, exhausting several means to get to one end: looooouuuud. this one's sure to induce... oh, nevermind.
infantile opens with soothing lullaby chimes from a music box, which, slowly, become more and more amplified until their lulling notes turn against us and stab us in the eardrums with an icepick. as much as it makes me wince a little, i love how he uses a beautiful sound, and through manipulation, contradicts it with itself. after the music box succumbs to noise, there are still some great tones that cry out from the distorted squall. unexpectedly, infantile drops to a rolling hum with prickly static lightly draped over it. as soon as the static begins to swell, the track will dip down ever further into minimalism for a brief respite before blasting off anew.
i'm impressed with akathisia. tom demonstrates that he's capable of being engaging as well as abrasive. overwhelming someone with sonic discord is okay, but if you can do it in a manner that makes me want to return to your particular style (rather than innumerable others), that's when you're onto something.
another website of tinnitustimulus
