Wolf Eyes and Anthony Braxton-
Difficult Messages Vol. 5 Live in Los Angeles
(Self Released, 2024)
Wolf Eyes x Anthony Braxton –
Live at pioneer works, 26 october 2023
(ESP Disc, 2025)
By Nick Ostrum
Disclaimer: I absolutely loved Wolf Eyes and Anthony Braxton’s 2006 live
release Black Vomit. It was a monster. Seeing the erstwhile
collaborators were at it again, I simply had to listen.
As you might expect if you’ve followed Wolf Eyes’ hundred-plus releases
over the years (or if you just pick up an album intermittently here and
there as I do) Difficult Messages Vol. 5 Live in Los Angelesis a
different beast from Black Vomit. (Of course, the same could be
said in relation to Braxton’s extensive catalog.) Wolf Eyes, now shorn to
the core duo of John Olson and Nate Young, are still pummeling away into a
noisy abyss, but they have evolved over the last twenty-years. The
harrowing metal is gone. The wall-of-black-noise is pushed to the
background in favor of clanky DIY electro-atmospherics. For his part,
Braxton wails like rending steel as Olsen and Young catch, manipulate and
layer his lines, apparently in real time. (Braxton’s long-term relationship
with Supercollider doubtlessly prepared him well for this.) At times, such
as the end of Difficult LA Three, the music sounds howling overlain with a
dirge to some long-lost group of passengers caught in the steerage of a
sinking ship. They have to be lost in this case, as the foggy steampunkt
aesthetics take what could be punch-in-your-face harsh noise and rein it
back to something more subtle, less assaultive, and less clear. The sound
evokes something of memory, or the past, or some haunting present. (As I
wrote that, I just heard Braxton mimic a fog-horn 3:51 into Difficult LA
Four, then again and again, breaking through the hiss and thud that form
the backbone of the track. There must be something to this idea of mental
haze and the struggle for clarity.) At a concise 25 minutes,
Difficult Messages
leaves the listener wanting more.
Live at pioneer works, 26 october 2023is that more, ranging from
the smoldering ambient textures to ferocious and abrasive flareups. This
one, like Black Vomitbefore it, made my ears ring, but only at
points. Much of this comes from Wolf Eyes, who has long basked in that
extreme, though with less fervor lately. Braxton contributes his singular
toolbox of clucks, honked overtones, and tight and uniquely spiny
scale-runs. He also spends a lot of time off his horns, listening to the
dark Lost-in-Space environments Olsen and Young scape. Olsen and Young are
credited with electronics, vocals (Young) and pipes and harmonica. The
latter two must account for some of the additional saxophone lines that pop
up in various places to counter and complement Braxton’s. The ultimate
effect, however, is much like that in Difficult Messages, wherein
someone seems to be capturing and redeploying snippets of what Braxton has
played. The result is disorienting, transportive and, well, cool.
So, that’s it. Two more albums from a collaboration that was likely
conceived of two decades ago as a one-off event. It worked the first time,
and it works on these recordings, as well, just with less abrasive
combativeness. That can happen over time, as flavors settle and deepen,
heads calm, and attentions shift from shock to nuance. And, as these albums
attest, that evolution can be a good thing, especially when the aggressions
of twenty years ago are not entirely abandoned, but, as here, harnessed and
transformed.
Difficult Messages is available as a download from Bandcamp. At some point, a hand-painted box-set of four hand-cut picture disc 7”s
was available, too, but those enviable days have unfortunately passed.
Live at pioneer works, 26 october 2023is likewise available on
Bandcamp as a CD and download. (The LP of this release, albeit in a less
elaborate package than Difficult Messages, is already sold out on
Bandcamp, though other outlets seem to have copies.)