Juice Machine – Sparkling Water
5.2.17 by Mike Haley

A Google search for “Juice Machine, Sparkling Water” will mostly bring up Soda Stream and for-the-home, luxury juice making device related links. But if you keep digging deeper and deeper, all the way into the subbasement of Google (where they keep the really weird shit), you may finally happen upon a freshly squeezed C30 from the Portland duo Juice Machine called “Sparkling Water.”

“Sparkling Water” is the second release from LA-based label Steady Hand Records, it’s sounds extremely detached from refreshing sips of a carbonated Mango-Tango. On this recording the Juice Machiners – Heather Chessman and Roger Smith – anxiously fidget, pushing out primal electronic squeal and clanging metals, almost making noise in contention with each other. As if one member is playing Checkers and the other Guess Who (on an official noise table no doubt), the pair’s improvisations tumble together into a frustrated, low rent jumble. The battle for gnarled-psychedelic space is all in good fun, their ammo of twisting knobs is friendly fire after all, no matter how damaged the sounds become. And they get pretty damaged. Sonic stammers bounce all over this damn cassette, throwing themselves at low end galloping clunks and general nonsense. Noise!

If you hear this tape through the speakers of a beverage serving mall kiosk, run. Either towards or away – your call. In the meantime, head on over to Steady Hand and buy a copy.