With all the year-end and decade-end lists pouring out at the moment, it seems only fitting to at least throw out there that the “Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box”, which Last Visible Dog released back in 2005, has to go down as one the definitive documents of the whole underground free drone/noise/folk/whatever movement of this past decade. It undoubtedly provided a massive overview of some of the key players and highlighted the many international connections forged.

This collection also introduced many to the work of Mudboy, whose contribution “Terry Shiva”, with its alien circuit-bent organ tones and death dub textures, was one of the clear highlights of this brimming box set. While there have been numerous Mudboy releases since, the material on his latest actually dates back to not long after that initial burst onto the scene. “Mort Aux Vaches”, Staalplaat’s on-going series of live sessions from Dutch radio station VPRO, was recorded back in November of 2006.

Packaged in cleverly assembled wooden panels, this 5-track, 30-minute offering shows Mudboy working through a fairly wide array of sounds, supplementing his modified organ work with various manipulated field recordings and vocal effects. The second track “B.O.G” is a stereophonic head rush, with spacey organ tones percolating and panning from channel-to-channel, while whispered demonic vocals weave around a frolicking rhythm preset. Rain-soaked field recordings drift in and spill into the following track “Osandways”, where it is slowly inundated with rhythmic organ fuzz that rises and falls amidst a rather soft psych-like organ melody. The titles of the closing two tracks, “Beebbub” and “Shantysea”, are fairly suggestive of their sounds, with the former sounding like an angry swarm of mechanical bees converging on a yelping Italian and the latter playing out like a swaying psychedelic sea shanty.

Why this live session is just being released now is a bit of a mystery, though is frankly of little importance, as Mudboy’s brand of sonic alchemy is as potent as ever on “Mort Aux Vaches.” 8/10 -- David Perron (16 December, 2009)