Voltage – Building the Bass Castle, Vol. 1 / 2005 Flameshovel / 8 Tracks / http://www.voltage.camp-gay.org / http://www.flameshovel.com / Reviewed 13 November 2005

The music on “Building the Bass Castle, Vol. 1” is not really intended for easy breaks. The first track (oddly enough entitled “01”) melds seamlessly to the second (“02”). Breaks nearly occur in the midst of track, but this instrumental act moves much in the range of classical compositions. Voltage is not trying to create a specific sound with “Building the Bass Castle”, but rather wants to a story in a more vibrant way than even the most accomplished author. Any inclusion of lyric or vocals would necessarily draw away attention from the arrangements; listeners would not be able to hear each interaction between the drums and guitar on “02” and understand what they truly mean. “03” is a different act for the band, as it looks back to the rhythm and blues sound most often associated with the “Hot For Teacher”-era Van Halen.

Now, I’m not saying that Van Halen created the genre (or were even around fifty years after the style started), but that the structure of both “Hot For Teacher” and “03” draw upon a much earlier tradition. The most interesting innovation on “Building the Bass Castle” has to be the slowed-down noise attack on the track; it is a normal-speed interpretation of a Locust-like track. The result is something that is simplistic but emotionally effective; the reduction of distortion on this track puts the outward sound of “04” aurally in the electro-indie camp, even if all the spirit is firmly grounded in noise rock.

Moving onto “05”, the band moves into a near-comatose state. Voltage vacillates between a sedate style and a much more drive type of instrumentation that leads into the first major incidence of vocals on the disc. The vocals are not lyrical in composition, but rather are instrumentally used to punctuate the silence between the two halves of the track. Even though the disc weighs in on the somewhat short side (it ends after thirty-five minutes), the experience that one draws from “Building the Bass Castle” transcends time itself. Eons could go back before an individual can truly “get” what Voltage came up with on this album. The instrumental use of vocals and silence alike ensure that this is an experimental album that has as its family albums like “Bitches Brew” and “Here Comes The Warm Jets”. Even the post-modern naming of the track gives the album a cohesion that few albums have, and this forces listeners to really construct their own interpretation of the disc.

Top Tracks: 03,06

Rating: 5.5/10

[JMcQ]