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  Eric La Casa / Jerome Noetinger 
  Off Tracks
  (erstwhile) 


  
   review by Jeph Jerman
  2026-03-19
Eric La Casa / Jerome Noetinger: Off Tracks (erstwhile)

An exploration of emptied spaces by two of the foremost practitioners of acoustic drift. Eric La Casa has been wielding his microphone for nigh on 40 years, and I recall seeing Jerome Noetinger's name floating about for just as long. It's no surprise then, that this disc contains a fascinating set of assemblages.

Industrial hum and thump, footsteps in empty rooms, cracks and crunches heard through walls, voices (far off and heavily on-mic), the focus here is constantly shifting, layered and manipulated. Mics get jostled, tapes get pinched and low-end booms emerge under whispery air movements. At times everything drops away and tiny details surface as your focus is re-directed.

I've listened to this disc a number of times now and I'm always surprised at some turn of its events. It's non-narrative flow, its alien edits and juxtapositions feel somehow natural, perhaps due to the quotidian hang of its sources. One could probably pontificate endlessly about what's going on here intellectually, what these chap's motivations or aims might be, but I think it's much more fun to just sit with the sounds as they appear and follow the shapes and contours.







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