4.22.21 by Matty McPherson
Pulse Emitter has conjured up an omnibus amount of zones over a fifteen plus year career. Yet, when he opened his proverbial Disney vault was anyone quite expecting Voids, a collection of 2008 material, as the result? Despite the fact that a release of this material may have fallen through at the time, good ‘ol Pulse Emitter has been keeping them on stand-by. Now, if the title, nor the image of astral craters seemed to imply it by now then I’ll say it: this album could (sonically) qualify as an answer to the Family Feud category “albums about stoned astronauts having a bad day.”
Voids’ tense, subconscious blankness stem back to 2k8, the result of vinyl releases that fell through. Pulse Emitter stated on his bandcamp, “These are not scraps but the best material from that era,” and while I’m not one to hand out blue ribbons, I would at least argue that this material successively opts towards a desolation that none of the other sounds of Pulse Emitter’s 2k8 era invoke. That is not to say that, he was not dabbling in droned obliqueness– on the likes of Oppressive Nature’s “Oppressive Nature 3” and Decaying Ships’ “Decaying Ships 2,” both tracks are brimming with space, just as much but both of which are charged with shocking jolts of spine-shattering noise. Voids actively negates that, in favor of pure tonal space pleasure.
Over Side A’s “Void Engine 1” and “2”, Pulse Emitter takes your ears (and by default your body!) and submerges you within one of those sensory deprivation floatation massage gizmos. It is a sublime kind of desolation; wave after wave of machine crescendo noise almost to hit the fritz, only instead for it to flatline, returning back to an even deeper, blanker state. As devious as it might seem though, it truly does suck you down. Plopping in Side B. Pulse Emitter opens up for the “Lunar Orbit/Lunar Surface”, a damn fine continuation of Side A. Around the 4 minute mark, a single, droning note is conjured that seems to push past the blank state and right down onto a moon crater! Still though, it never strikes as startling. Just an everyday cosmic occasion. “Remix” is a thankful addendum that is closer to the other 2k8 material, with less emphasis on complete submission to a singular tonal space. Using the ominous, roaring machines that rumble in and fade out throughout the tracks, the remix has a haunted quality to it, like you just found the black box from a space vessel that’s out in dead orbit.
Speaking of, tapes are going fast — might wanna grab one before it too hits out on a dead orbit.
Edition of 75 from NAC available at the Pulse Emitter bandcamp page!
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