For those unfamiliar with the conceptual rabbit hole that is Jliat, "no good poppy no good" does little to guide you out of it. Based on Terry Riley’s "Poppy-Nogood", this 18-minute piece is more like an experiment in the futility of expectation. It’s noise, yes, but not in the Merzbow sense of sheer, overwhelming distortion - it’s a quieter subversion, an idea fragmented into sonic chaos.

Jliat (James Whitehead) is a philosopher in the guise of a noise artist, weaving conceptual traps you fall into without realizing. The piece toys with minimalism and randomness, but it refuses to reward your effort. Whether you interpret it as a nihilistic parody of Riley’s masterpiece or a deep homage to its hypnotic drones, there’s a wink here - a sly smirk as Whitehead plays with your preconceptions about what music, or art, can be.

Compared to Whitehead’s previous absurd projects - like randomizing Merzbow or using JPEGs as audio sources - this tape feels like another intellectual maze. It's a perfect fit for those who enjoy the intellectual provocations of early Fluxus artists or Cage’s whimsical unpredictability. Yet, the subtlety of "no good poppy no good" is what stands out: instead of auditory assault, it lulls you into a mental wrestling match, leaving you to question whether there’s anything "good" here at all - or whether the good, like everything else, is a figment we fabricate from chaos.

In short: not for the faint of ear, but for those who like their music buried in layers of post-modern irony and philosophical mischief.