ANTITRADE is a ridiculously idiosyncratic slice of sound-art from London's Ash International (RIP), the label founded in 1993 by Scanner's Robin Rimbaud and MSCHarding (Michael Harding).Undulating and short-circuiting like a shortwave radio thrown in a bathtub, ANTITRADE is uneasy listening of the highest order, alternately disorienting and bewitching. The compilation is divided, somewhat abstractly, into three sections: Memory, Space, and Inner, each admirably distinct in tone and effect.
In "Memory," conceptual artist Leif Elggren contributes an strangely affecting recording of the Swedish talking clock, while the undulating sea of white noise and radio hash on Hazard's "Peenemunde" is a kinder, gentler analogue to METAL MACHINE MUSIC, all phantom harmonics and mesmerizing repetition.
ANTITRADE grows significantly more sinister and fractious in its middle section, entitled "Space." S.E.T.I. waxes paranormal on the UFO-citing "Aurora"; the unsettling bark of an unidentified processed voice loop ("I Don't Know") gives way to Disinformation's rasping, explosive electromagnetic radio noise.
Given its title, "Inner" is ironically the most organic and outward-looking segment, beginning with a location recording at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine (replete with wildlife sounds), Bruce Gilbert's earthy, textural short piece "The Book," and concluding with the distant fireworks and unassuming chatter of Guy Fawkes Night, London, 1987.
Foregoing every conceivable compositional rule, ANTITRADE demands to be taken on its own interior logic; As such, it's a rarely-seen window into a netherworld of unparalleled sonic mystery. Highly recommended.
