The New Music

Black Mold Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz [Flemish Eye]

Calgary’s Chad VanGaalen has made his name over the last six years by making music that scours all over the map. Though he’s mostly recognized for his DIY ethic and vivid musical tapestries, his fondness for experimentation has certainly never gone unnoticed.

Back in 2005 when he signed to Sub Pop to (re)release his debut album, Infiniheart, the album appeared three songs and almost eight minutes shorter. Why? Well, the label felt that the original version (released the year before on Flemish Eye) needed some of the fat trimmed off. Or, if we’re being brutally honest, it didn’t want to keep all of Chad’s rambling electronic instrumentals that were peppered throughout.

Often what keeps most people from falling immediately in love with the Albertan, his late-night electronic “impulsations” became the basis for a side-project: Black Mold. Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz finds Chad indulging in his analog synths and sequencers to the nth degree.

Needless to say, if you were craving for those instrumentals on last year’s Soft Airplane, then Black Mold will give you your fill… and more. Over the course of a dizzying and umm, exhausting 19 tracks, Chad’s main focus is freeform manipulation of his analog arsenal and riding things out to see where the songs end up.

“Tetra Pack Heads” recalls something from Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James, a warm, dizzying attempt at drill’n'bass, while “Smoking Rat Sh*t” is at the other end of the Aphex spectrum: disorientating fits of uncontrolled knob twiddling. Elsewhere, “Gummed Desk” and “No Dream Nation” explore the possibilities of chiptune, as Chad eschews the usual 8-bit nonsense and adds layers of gentler instrumentation to ease up on the grating texture. The title track, however, is the best example of how Black Mold has potential to develop into something more than just loopy, loop-filled experiments.

Chad recently explained to Spinner that the album is “just kind of an experiment to get it out there and see if people are really into it.” And while it’s certainly of interest to hear what his other personality is capable of on its own, Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz is demanding to say the least. VanGaalen clearly worked with no boundaries and as the album wears on, well, it really does wear on you.

It’s difficult to say if anyone would give Black Mold a chance if Chad’s name wasn’t attached to it. However, it’s important to take into account that these songs are just a fraction of what trickles out of the overstuffed brain of this lo-fi wizard, and, well, that’s damn impressive.

I don’t think Chad expects Black Mold to advance his career in any way. It certainly isn’t a vanity project. But getting this side of him out there doesn’t seem detrimental at all. As we’ve all come to learn, he lets his creative juices flow so consistently that this would never get in the way of the next proper Chad VanGaalen album… which is just about due any day now, no?

Rating: C+

- Cam Lindsay