Radio Free Ul-quoma is the somewhat imposing name under which Andrew Gladstone-Heighton of Gateshead, England, posts his material at his soundcloud.com account. Perhaps the “Ul-quoma” part is intended as a reference to Ul Qoma, the twin city of Besźel in China Miéville’s great novel The City & the City. Gladstone-Heighton’s most recently uploaded track, “Codeine,” is a rich, slow-motion wave of what appears to be guitar-based improvisation and tonal exploration. There is a foregrounded chordal guitar whorl, like Glenn Branca cooling down at home after a night of intense guitar-multitudes frenzy, or Lou Reed testing out a newly arrived effects pedal with dual the intent of clearing pigeons off the roof. Emanating from that rough noise is a sonic after-image, a combination of dense echoes and hazy feedback. It’s the heavy metal equivalent of chamber music, a fuzz etude.
Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/radiofreeul-quoma. Come upon thanks to a repost in the SoundCloud stream of Jmmy Kpple.
