Joe Colley
Desperate Attempts at Beauty
Auscultare CD

Available through the Helen Scarsdale Agency: $12.00

" SHOW US HOW WEAK YOU ARE AMPLIFY YOURSELF AS YOU ROT FIND THE LESSON IN THIS DISORDER NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING BUSY BUILDING MONUMENTS TO FUTURE FAILURES,"
reads the gloss white text on the matte white paper for Joe Colley's 2003 epic. Couple that bout of misanthropy with the antagonistic blast of furious noise that introduces this album, and Desperate Attempts at Beauty reads as a scathing irony of self-loathing and existential frustration. Colley's inquisitive research into cheap electronics and sound itself often betray his angst, as three of these "desperate attempts" are direct contact microphone recordings of ice melting and clay absorbing water. As objective observations, these recordings are incredibly compelling with all of their percolating details and scrabbling textures. While these connections to the realm of beauty may be questionable, Colley contextualizes such sounds next to profoundly ugly electric field disturbances, painfully loud digital explosions, and gut-churning low end frequencies. Rather than pursuing beauty through his work, Colley gleefully subverts its potential at every turn.