VOTD 1/19/2023

 Nurse With Wound: Trippin' Musik (United Dirter)

Purchased new at Attic Records

There was a time when I'd buy everything I could by Nurse With Wound. NWW is the long time project of Steven Stapleton, with a cast of collaborators along the way. My interest began in 1984 with the EP Brained By Falling Masonry, and continued with a passion into the early 90s. 

What happened at that time? A couple of things I'd say. One is that maybe I got a little burned out on NWW's output. Maybe also, as the work entered into the digital age in both realization and delivery, I started to find it tp be less interesting and cooled off. The latter might not have been fair to the work. Add to that the sheer number of releases, and I stayed away for quite some years.

What do you get with a NWW album? It could be many different things. The short answer is that the works as a whole are a kind modernized extension of what began with Pierre Schaeffer and his musique concrète. The primary basis of the compositions (if you can call them that, which I would) is the compiling and manipulation of recorded sound. Stapleton's interests also lean hard into Surrealism. I think that's an overused word, but I he would confirm this. 

Truth is, you often don't really know what you're going to get from a NWW album. Often there's little information included in the package, such as who helped create the album (as is the case here). Much of the works are in that surreal musique concrète mode, often with an emphasis on voices and frequently mysterious or frightening. Some of it's downright funny, such as the culture-in-a-blender album The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion. Alternately, there's the lyrical electronic droning of Soliloquy for Lilith, or the low-intensity noise ambience of Space Music. 

Additionally, Stapleton is responsible for the imagery that for each NWW album. Once again, it's largely surrealistic, often employing collage techniques. But that's not always the case, as in the austere package for Soliloquy for Lilith, a black box with concentric golf circles.

When I say this is a strange one, what does that even mean?

It's three LPs, at least in this packaging. Each is colored vinyl, in day-glo green, orange, and red. There are no titles. There no side numbers, not even on this inner grooves. Clearly, you're meant to listen to any side or record in any order. Each side has a single track. There's a fold-out insert, with more of Stapleton's collage imagery. Of the 500 in this edition, the first 200 had two printed acid blotter page inserts included. Were these really soaked in LSD? Really? 

The music is repetitious, playing out simple ideas over a side length. Sounds are processed, escalate and recede. At times it feels claustrophobic; would this music really be a good idea if you were on hallucinogens?

I can't say I have much in the way of experience with psychedelics. I've been told by someone much more experienced that the promise and idea of a psychedelic trip is far more appealing than the reality of one. This album is interesting, I guess I enjoy it, but I don't know about what the combined experience of listening and tripping might be. 

Or is that even the point? The creator(s) are noticeably quiet about the intention of this album. Is it for tripping, inspired by tripping, meant to be an aural representation of tripping? I'm not sure.