Packaging Analysis & Review: Rod Cooper/Chester Masangya A.I.N. Sessions

Split releases are a good way to present the works of two bands or artists to new audiences and scenes. It’s a collaborative project that unites both of their audiences and opens them to new music outside their listening habits. Or it can also be the perfect way to discover new artists highly recommended by both.

Rod Cooper and Chester Masangya: Masters of Construction/Deconstruction and Harsh Noise/Power Electronics

In the case of this collaborative album, it features two artists from the same world of power electronics and harsh noise; Rod Cooper, an established Australian noise/experimental veteran from Melbourne who creates both music and physical media art using different found and constructed industrial materials, and up and coming noise nomad and international deconstructor Chester Masangya, who has performed and released under the names Francesco Terrini and Jaw Surgery. He has also released a series of vinyl records and multimedia for Fossa Magna, Coalminer, and several other projects in the past 4 years.

Both have a slew of renowned releases, out on vinyl, CDs, and cassettes, and in the case of Rod, very limited, constructed physical media from USBs, custom instruments, and art projects. For this release, it’s a limited edition collaborative cassette with metal and wood materials specially created for this collaboration entitled A.I.N. Sessions (August 2023)

Recorded and released during Chester’s Australian Tour as Jaw Surgery in August 2023, this limited edition release was quickly snapped up by noise/power electronics fans across Australia, so there could be no more copies left at the time of this review.

Nevertheless, THC Zine presents this product review in two parts: the actual item and packaging and how to release the cassette from its unique wood and metal packaging, and the actual music in it.

Rod Cooper/Chester Masangya A.I.N. Sessions: Packaging and Instructions

1. The minimalist approach of this tape’s packaging only consists of a plastic sleeve that holds the woodwork platform with metal screws and the tape itself. It provides no visual accompaniment like the typical release with full artwork.

This is where “the medium is the message” is in full effect just like other legendary noise releases where the owner has to interact with the packaging before listening to the album.

This unique experience forces the listener to interact with the album by removing it from the wooden platform secured by two specific screws per hole. It is the perfect collaboration of organic and industrial elements. It also represents the content within, but more on that later.

2. You will need a standard size Philips screwdriver with an + pointed end to release the cassette from its packaging. Carefully unscrew both metal bolts from the wooden platform.

3. The tape is now ready to play. Notice that the cassette is a plain gray/cream color combination that belies the heavy noise/power electronics/industrial/ambient chaos to disintegrate unsuspecting listeners. The artists intended it with an unassuming presentation.

4. With the tape separated from its interactive packaging, you are left with the metal and organic elements separated as well.

You have two options for its later storage and display: You can use the same bolt position and configurations that will hold the cassette firmly in place. Or you can use two of the other spare bolts included to hold the tape but leave it removable while holding it in place as well.

The woodworking, configuration, and overall design of this release is simple and effective. It is also interactive in a way that demands your attention from opening, to releasing, to listening to the album.

The wooden and metal elements are perfect in aesthetic and execution, thanks to Rod Cooper’s hands-on approach to this and other many releases he’s done over the years. A perfect, unassuming package that will not prepare you for the coming onslaught of this WRECK-ord.

The unique packaging may dictate the mood and vision of an album, and this ultra minimalist but interactive packaging with high quality woodwork is a fusion of earth analog (wood) and metal screws that may symbolize the collaborative elements of Cooper x Masangya’s aetheric and physical elements filtered through their combined frequencies and manipulation of powerful electronics, melded by their mind energies.

Rod Cooper/Chester Masangya A.I.N. Sessions: The Music

This collaborative album will please harsh noise wall/power electronics/industrial and ambient music fans with its heavy earth rumbling drones and low frequency electronics mixed in within the drones.

The first side incorporates grating electronics and drone atmospherics that sounds engaging. Like the packaging and physical representation of its art, it is both warm organic and cold steel, tapping into the Australian continent’s natural habitat and filtering the energy through them and their noise instruments and electronics in chaotic sync.

Side B features a more layered noise ambient approach instead of the warped and heavy soundwave bath of side A. Heavy and more meditative, with about 70% of the heavy drone brain massage still present, it nevertheless corrodes onward and goes further into strange territory to warp your mind.

Deconstructed layers filled with electronics are presented, with warped and bent drones. Then, dirty and charred sublayers all appear and fade as the album slowly lets its grip slip away upon your neurons before finally letting you go.

This freeform approach works in conjunction with its visual representation and harnesses different frequencies for an engaging listen. Both sides work well in presenting a good collaboration of earth analog frequencies from Melbourne, and the heat-layered tropical extremes of The Philippines.

Hails. – R
(presented by THC Zine, review & photos by R Ibanez)
special thanks to Rod Cooper & Chester Masangya