Be Careful What You Wish For

The noise rock trio Ramleh's final release, 1995's Be Careful What You Wish For, is a remarkable slice of abstract drones by guitarist Gary Mundy, occasionally colored by Philip Best's barely audible, mantra-like vocals and Stuart Dennison's extremely minimal (often beat-free) drumming. Extended and loosely evolving, but not entirely formless, the 12 widely varying pieces range in length from a mere 100 seconds to nearly ten and a half minutes and explore an impressive variety of sonic textures and tones, from the delicate harmonics of the almost pretty "Boston Concept" to the increasingly aggressive frenzy of "Houston Water Angel" and the overprocessed, tinny shrillness of "Philadelphia Mountain Lion." A few tracks, most notably "Alice in the Cities" and the closing "Blues for Herb Mullin," use manipulated but often still recognizable tape loops as elements in Ramleh's intriguing, sometimes unsettling (and occasionally deliberately annoying) explorations. Those who think Nine Inch Nails are the ultimate sonic terrorists will be scared silly.