As a key player in the New York noise scene, Carlos Giffoni has yet to impress me with one of his solo albums. Surely he?s on top of the experimental, cutting edge music scene in organising the world?s most awesome festival, No Fun, which establishes him as someone with a thourough vision of what?s happening in today?s thriving underground culture. His solo albums always lack the power of his collaborations with other key figures in the same scene.

?Eternal Noise? is his latest ?real? cd release, a follow up to last year?s ?Arrogance? which somehow left me untouched. Too gentle, laidback, in spite of the album?s challenging title, which felt like a guise for a gentler personality than maybe he would?ve liked at that moment.

The title of this new album, ?Eternal Noise?, though, is simple but relevant, adequate and fitting. Giffoni here makes a vow to stick with noise until the end and that, as a noise freak myself, is something I feel perfectly comfortable with.

On previous solo efforts Giffoni?s never been keen on the role as the dramatic, abbrasive type. Opting for low end buzzquakes moreso than the piercing feedback attacks launched by fellow New Yorker Prurient. The album?s title track keeps a steady electronic purr that should be played at high volume to detect every detail present. Giffoni layers his synth sounds so delicately, it?s hard to notice every hypnotising detail when the volume is too low. Towards the end the track shifts from the warm and steady buzz to something more aggressive and similar to his methods as part of noiserock destroyers Death Unit.

The rest of the four tracks presented could do with some of that vigor. During the nine minutes of pulsing synth that?s ?II? and on the following ?III? Giffoni barely keeps things interesting enough to not grab my copy of Prurient?s latest opus, ?And, Still Wanting?, ironically released on Giffoni?s own label Not Fun, to satisfy my needs.

Luckily though, ?IV? somewhat restores my faith in Giffoni?s noise making as the track brims with volcanic synth washes, proving his darker side is much more interesting than his urge to keep things hypnotising and?.(luke)warm. 6/10 -- Joris Heemskerk (18 March, 2008)