When the U.S. moved into pandemic-motivated lockdowns, people relied on technology to replace and augment many aspects of our daily lives: concerts became streaming events, movie releases became websites, and in-person conversations became video calls.
In his new release, A Waste of Red Meat, Peter J. Woods insists that this is not a new state of affairs. Woods, a Milwaukee-based noise artist and concert producer, has a storied history of high-concept albums and experimental theatrical work. From film releases to live performances, Woods’s work has challenged expectations about what concerts, noise music, and live shows can be.
A Waste of Red Meat is similarly challenging: the album is broken into seven parts, each beginning with Woods reciting a text with various implements in his mouth, from cloth, to food, to fists, and more. Stylistically, this is typical Woods—pushing the body (particularly the mouth) to do something bordering on impossible, an athleticism that Woods regularly deploys (“Hunger,” a release on Woods’s 2018 release Today is Horrible features Woods stuffing his mouth full of metal chains, then regurgitating them into a bucket).
Elsewhere on the record, Woods explores a new noise aesthetic for himself. The album is sparser than Woods’s previous releases. It features quiet electrical buzzing, immersive soundscapes, and what sounds like a jagged radio stream that can’t focus. Woods’s signature of harsh noise is still there, but it is joined and complimented by these puzzling, leaner sounds.
Overall, the shape of the record is quite formal. Each category of sounds (radio noises, electrical hums, walls of noise, digital clicks, the occasional sludge of distorted bass) is treated methodically, being swapped around as a sort of shell game as we progress through each of the seven sections.
Woods’s commentary that technology has always been a mediator of human expression comes through here: though the structure changes repeatedly, the message remains the same, whether heard through water or fabric. Listeners familiar with Woods’s previous releases will find this album’s explorations novel. New listeners will find the album a gentle introduction to the world of noise.
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A Waste of Red Meat releases on July 30, 2021, on Bandcamp. The album is available both as a digital download and a compact disc from Flag Day Recordings.
