Our second old school review of the day is the cassette release by RNL, a three-track album titled 'Conquering King Kong'. Jesse Farber (from Germany), the man behind RNL describes it as "an openly collaborative and solo project for experimental sound, art, and ideas." It was begun in the early '90s, focused on tape experiments, collage flyers, and performative actions. Little of the work was shared outside of the handful of group members, most of whom never even met each other. Jesse describes 'Conquering King Kong' as a 45 minute trail through mental states and thought patterns, an abstract audio film that unspools with the logic of a dream."

The first track - "Eyeholes" is nearly 31 1/2 minutes long in 8 parts (Autopoiesis, Edict, Eyeholes, Weft and Warp, Remember, Charge - Discharge, A Sword Within A Sword, Death Without Decay). Each part is somewhat different. There are ambient sections, rhythmic sections, unusual electro-acoustic sections, electronic noise segments, a real potpourri of audio experimentalism. Some of it is intriguing, some of it is annoying, and some just passes by without raising any eyebrows whatsoever. "Intereggnum" is a little 1:16 interim track with a squeaky melody and metronomic rhythm. "Chopping Off Every Finger" (OUCH!!!) is another multi-part piece (Chopping Off Every Finger, Phyllotaxis, Humineral, S. S. Saturnia, 1950, and Everything Ends in Success) with a duration of 12:50. As the title might indicate, this work is a bit darker than what preceded it, but at least you won't hear any screams of victims having their fingers chopped off. Mostly it is submerged in the murky waters of the subconscious with little chance of fighting its way to the surface. Even when a rhythm gets going it sounds more like the monotony of a factory in purgatory than anything that would make you want to tap your feet. Before you know it, it's over and you're back in your own real world, whatever that is.

It's hard to really appraise something this diverse, as there are positives and negative throughout. There were parts I really liked, and some I didn't care for at all. Maybe one needs to listen to it a good number of times to get the most out of it but for me, 'Conquering King Kong' wasn't as triumphant as I might have hoped. Perhaps I should try destroying Godzilla instead?