by Aaron Cole

Your Nervous Energy Makes Me Wanna Throw Up by Rurnt, a long-time East Tennessee purveyor of harsh noise, is a harsh noise tape of seven tracks released in May of 2023 on Forever Escaping Boredom.

Those are facts.

It’s a good tape. I enjoy listening to it. I enjoy looking at it.

Harsh noise is a performative art form, and therefore it is best witnessed being performed. Rurnt is best witnessed being performed. Watching and hearing Rurnt you get a sense that you are on Rurnt’s time. A Rurnt set is like looking at a painting in a gallery and knowing that the artist didn't produce it for you. The art is the art. The artist did it for themself. Yet, they're more than happy for you to witness it.

YNEMMWTU captures the essence of a harsh noise artist in his element, delivering rich textural harsh noise directly at you. Directly at you. This isn’t an offering or submission but instead a release. Rurnt is getting something off his chest, and you get to be there for it.

The tape really picks up with "Crisis Understudy". The track opens with a warbly vocal sample that remains constant but quickly devolves into a crackling, high-pitched, falling-down-a-flight-of-stairs racket.

"Last Know Photo" is nervous energy in auditory form. Three brilliant minutes of pure harsh noise deliver what is akin to a beautiful sunrise.

"The Wink" is a palette cleanser for the sixth track, "Water Board Me With Tactical Bath" -- a classic harsh noise track full of the ups and downs one would expect to find. Power and release. Disorientation yields for brief moments, allowing you to reach for a handrail only to snatch it away just before you get a firm grip, tossing you back on the floor.

The last track, "G.L.M.F. IV", is a nightmare-ish track of found sound and out-of-body tumult. While disorienting in its own right, given what you’ve just been through this track is calming and puts your feet firmly back on the ground.

You will wanna listen to this twice.

Snag a limited-release cassette!

Aaaaaron

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