Fire-Toolz

FIRE-TOOLZ (Warp Records, Hausu Mountain) is producer/composer/multi-instrumentalist ANGEL MARCLOID. Though her output emerges in many distinct aliases—from the 80s jazz prog of NONLOCAL FORECAST to avant noise outfit YAPPING PORTAL to the slushwaves of MINDSPRING MEMORIES—FT remains the central focus of the prolific artist’s musical universe. The compositions draw power from constant juxtaposition & progressive forward motion. Passages of hyper-detailed synthesis & keyboard performance glisten alongside excursions into chiming guitar arpeggios & autumnal melancholy of Midwest emo. Brain-scraping harsh noise static & distortion-soaked screams segue into smooth jazz workouts as often as expanses of consonant new age drift. The signifiers we use to describe genre after genre fall flat on the page compared to the auditory reality of putting on FT in your headphones at full blast & letting Marcloid lead you through the twists of her winding holographic labyrinth. FT testifies to the depths of effort & self-education that one person can channel into their craft to produce truly overwhelming art, rich w/ sonic details & guiding memories that speak to a lifetime of sincere love for the transportive powers of recorded sound. Intensity in art must not always invoke violence. In Marcloid’s mind palace, what could be perceived as the grisly & extreme elements of FT feel comfy in their honest expression, possessing the catharsis of a beatific surge of bliss.