This DVD contains a sequence of three videos for the music of .cut, which is also known as Albérick from the releasing label, walnut + locust, and his usual partner Gibet. On the visual side, "Urban Exploration" shows three forms of urban decay, be it an explicit display or a much more abstract one. On the music part, the three tracks shifts as well between musical genres as well, with a diseased, powerful tone to it. The two Red Kross tracks are dealing with the color red a lot, while "Your naked dead body…" is a grayish portrait of urban remains; indeed naked, indeed dead.
Red Kross 1 is a menacing wall of sonic disruption, slowly giving birth to a rather emotional music. Those who know what .cut and Gibet are usually up to will be able to detect their touch throughout this mini album, although they manage not to fall into their old ways and repeat their music once again. Instead it seems that the duo has taken a journey from urban starting point and went on wandering. The visuals manage to grasp this musical behavior perfectly. A low tech light flares that burn the screen with crimson red pixels are revealing and hiding some sort of scenery. When the music becomes clearer you are already accustomed to the hypnotizing, shifting grids and blobs of light, and the surfacing voice samples almost give these lights a character and a soul. As the track becomes more intense you can almost be sure you can identify what you are looking at, but just as you think of it, it blurs away into the blood red amorphous stains of color it came from.
The second track begins with a war siren and a constant beep that makes the music stressing, as the beep rhythm beats a little above normal human heart beat, making your heart match the pace. The visuals are equally disturbing. A monochromatic red video of something that looks like a lip piercing that goes wrong in more than one way. Although the pictures are not too harsh (Trust me on this. Among my many virtues is the inability to stay conscious when seeing something as hard as a needle that pierce the skin or a mere drop of blood) but still, the distorted way in which the video is painting the screen, and of course the nerve wrecking music, are doing the job perfectly.
The last piece shows the naked bowls of the city, with its broken walls and household equipment, long forgotten and left to crumble. The music, more than anywhere else on this DVD, is very sentimental and reflecting the forlorn notion that could be best described with the catch phrase "Oh but if these walls could talk!". .cut and Gibet let the city release a long swansong before fading to black, showing the places that are neglected in order for other places to emerge.
Although it may look like a short release, "Urban Exploration" is a full and self fulfilling project that does not need any alteration. The three long tracks continue, contrast and complete each other into one great mini album.
Oren Ben Yosef -
www.heathenharvest.com - janvier 2010
