noahstas is the moniker of Bence Barta visual artist, member of the art collective MŰTŐ. noahstas transofrms artistic ideas into sound structures since 2014, started as a sonic offshoot of their visual art practices.
Noahstas researches methods of musically express the dynamics between repression-breakout, control – loss of control, infinite loops and degradation; genre wise “melodic, narrative noise” somewhere between power electronics, rhythmic noise, drone, musique concrète and post-industrial. Their latest record was released digitally and on cassette earlier in this year by a local label EXILES.
The latest album of the artist is called Black Bile. Black bile is a bodily fluid – one among the four Hippocratic humors (together with blood, yellow bile, phlegm). In this theory the imbalance of these fluids could cause illness and disease: black bile was considered to be responsible for depression and melancholy.The album is centered around self-repression: the disturbing mental states which indicate unsolved tension in one’s psyche, the hopeless urge to control these torturing inner dynamics, in vain. Exhausted in this process the subject dissociates and collapses. Then, by mobilizing a significant amount of willpower the psyche is ready to stand up from the breakdown – only to repeat the cycle.The material was recorded live at one take during the lockdown in an empty art space – it was captured using tape loops, drum machines, analog synths, lots of feedback and a microphone to give it a spatial atmosphere.
Five tracks filled with obscure, introspective sounds. The EP is characterised by an imposing intensity of eerie distortions and crawling melodies. The unpredictable frequencies and modulations confuse, disorientate and paradoxically centre the listener.
Released February 3, 2022
music by Bence Barta
mastered by Roland Nagy
artwork by Lőrinc Borsos
‘Tájidegen Test’ video by Nimova Projeckt
Tales of Psychofonia 