Wolf Eyes: No Answer: Lower Floors

A veritable king of the American tape and CDR underground, Michigan noise act Wolf Eyes creates a ferocious hybrid of post-industrial clatter, free jazz spontaneity, and avant-garde experimentation. Involving a junkyard’s heap of effects pedals, tape loops, guitar, and saxophone, No Answer: Lower Floors sees the trio dialing back its vicious approach to modern noise for a controlled burn without losing its trademarked nightmarish visions. Opening tracks “Flies” and “Born Liar” set the tone for this new stance, with mechanical percussion pummeling a rhythm while whirring feedback clouds the babbled vocals. “Confession of the Informer” is a 12-minute suite of sparsely assembled bits of noise, making one of the most hauntingly captivating listens since Suicide’s “Frankie Teardrop.” (4 ut of 5 stars)