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White Rock is a collaboration between Brian and Nate of Mouthus and Maya and Mike of Double Leopards. Tarpit, their first release (although there is also a Heavy Tapes tape out there), is two twenty plus minute tracks, traversing the axis mundi to create heavy, tripped-out shamanistic drones. The first wallows in the electronic grit and grime, sounding more like Mouthus than Double Leopards, as two heavily distorted guitars create distinct tones, the first creating repetitive, industrial fluctuations, pounding like a hammer beneath the dust cloud created by the hazy, floating second guitar. The two guitars start off almost at odds with each other - a game seeing which trajectory into the cosmos will be the one taken - but as more percussion enters, heavily thickening the sound, a common thread is found, and the two guitars start lurching forward like a mobile castle. Eventually, the beat is refined, becoming a persistent 4/4 crunch, as the band speeds forward to the song's climax. If the first song is the band's voyage into the cosmos, the second song captures all the beauties of the heavens that they find at the end of their journey, as it is much more peaceful and serene. Soft keyboard progressions start the song, creating a lush garden of green plants and blue water. As the keyboard progression fades, screeching feedback and a dark, swampy, primordial bass hum take over. After a few minutes, the hum starts to build in volume, building tension for a few moments with clacking nonrandom noise, before relenting, and taking the song back into the prehistoric marsh. Collaborations are rarely equal to the maximum part, let alone the sum of their parts, but this release is just as essential as Loam or Halve Maen. The group manages to create just as thick and rich an environment without losing any of the focus and purpose of their pared down lineups.

White Rock at Amazon & Insound