Skin Crime

[acsenger]

Any impressions about the new CD, Ghosts I Have Been?

[david lloyd jones]

Any impressions about the new CD, Ghosts I Have Been?

from the artwork on.
great album.
inclusive of recent tapes, there is a deep psychedelic quality to the sounds-as in cosmic horror that the covers relate to.
this is not a hippy bliss but darker, stranger in tone.hpl, as ever but also arthur machen and william hope hodgeson
can't wait for more of this type of stuff.

[acsenger]

Any impressions about the new CD, Ghosts I Have Been?

from the artwork on.
great album.
inclusive of recent tapes, there is a deep psychedelic quality to the sounds-as in cosmic horror that the covers relate to.
this is not a hippy bliss but darker, stranger in tone.hpl, as ever but also arthur machen and william hope hodgeson
can't wait for more of this type of stuff.

Thanks. I had the same impression when I listened to the sound samples I found on the net. Hopefully a European distro/Discogs seller will be selling it soon.

[impulse manslaughter]

Love the artwork. Looking forward to play this..

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I'm not big fan of artwork of the album. I appreciate artwork - if context would be for example horror book cover or comics etc. Definitely professional to that standard, yet as for "noise CD artwork", just doesn't resonate to me.
This is the new Skin Crime approach, which is very much the obscure and haunting sounds, bleak and hand made creaking and such... Yet, album far from best Skin Crime. I appreciate it to be different than for example glorious CD box set. It makes it worthy item, as it offers something different as addition to the past albums.

Yet, I'm sort of tempted to criticism that while it is different compared to past Skin Crime, what about a lot of recent other Self Abuse items? Lets say, listen to Hanged Mans Orgasm "Mystery" and "Secrets" tapes and Scar Crowe "A Gold Nights Death" and so on.... and it is like... hmmm... why the different projects, when each of them suddenly turn into seemingly same? I think sense of side projects is to explore things (sound or content, or their combination) that one could not feel to be suitable for the main project. With this case, each of the project seems to be taking pretty much exact same route of suffocating and haunting piezzo crackles and eeries sounds and eventually bursts of noise. None of them are bad. No. That is not my argument. What kind of bugs me, that there is barely possibility to say why and how each of the project now stands apart?!

I know someone can sigh what a load of crap coming from guy with dozen sex noise projects, hah... but to me best of Skin Crime is absolute blasting harsh greatness, while HMO and the rest has been... different. Now his other new project LP was probably better noise release than Skin Crime and different enough to stand as good addition to SC discography.

Nevertheless... None of these releases are something I'd sell away, at least not yet. Ghastly contact mic crackling and humming and sudden noises - in wholeness, still rather unique although not absolute masterpieces.

[acsenger]

How's the Skin Crime/Wilt LP+CD? I have high hopes for it based on the sound sample on Urashima's Soundcloud page.

[Theodore]

Anyone knows if this is another project of him too ? https://www.discogs.com/artist/4463271-TTitL . Sound so, like Scar Crowe / HMO, he has added them at Discogs and was the only seller.

Agree with everything Mikko wrote. I actually had a short discussion about this with another guy some time ago. I -or he, don't remember- was "complaining" about how these latest releases of Scar Crowe and HMO, without being bad, sound similar to each other to the point that if you have a couple of them you don't need the rest, they don't add much, if anything at all. I concluded with my guess that each of these releases is so limited, 30-40 copies [?] , that seem like a decision of instead leave much of material out and do a big edition of the best of it, release almost all of it in small editions. If that happened makes some sense since indeed all material is good enough, and i can't easily pick a fav from those i have listened.

If i push myself i can find small differences between the projects. Scar Crowe is the atmosphere. HMO adds some -little- noise on it. - Phocomelus is my preference, noise-pure-just. - Skin Crime new releases is the sum of all.

[impulse manslaughter]

How's the Skin Crime/Wilt LP+CD? I have high hopes for it based on the sound sample on Urashima's Soundcloud page.

Listened to this yesterday. Personally i was not very impressed after first listen. More atmospheric drone stuff. Have to give a few more spins..

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I have only listened LP, not the CD yet. It is indeed more subtle dark ambient works. Logical assumption would be that WILT does the keyboard tones and Skin Crime does his current quiet/eerie scratching sounds and acoustics on the top. It's not bad, but just seems very very easy. Not like tones would be somehow adventurous and experimental, and Skin Craft role is... just as I commented few messages back, doing what he is currently doing. Nevertheless, it's decent thing to put on background, and at least B-side works better than A-side, so perhaps CD will be further advanced...

[MyrtleLake]

My take on the current output:

Skin Crime = Patrick O'Neil working with various other people.  All other listed projects are Patrick working alone.

Phocomelus = Intricately composed noise work, in studio, no (at least, identifiable) field recordings.

Hanged Mans Orgasm = Field recording work overlaid with various elements of noise.  Atmospheric... almost an "ambient" take on Skin Crime.  The most current work, "Dissociation" (2018) adds a subtle element of synth or melody far back in the mix... perhaps a development influenced by working with Wilt.  More intentionally composed works in relation to Scar Crowe, albeit with the same quiet, haunting, atmospheric underpinning.

Scar Crowe = All but entirely derived from field recordings.  Very minor additions of manipulated elements in comparison to HMO.

*The only release that doesn't really fit my assumptions is "Unknowns," listed as Prurient / Hanged Mans Orgasm.  There are multiple artists involved in that release, including Alberich.  This makes me wonder how involved in the final product Patrick was as opposed to providing material that was then worked over without much direct input from Mr. O'Neil.  Thus, HMO instead of Skin Crime.  I have no idea; this is all conjecture on my part.  The Hospital Productions album, "Ghosts I Have Been," and the other recent (earlier, 1998) release, "The House on the Cliff" contain no credits at all.  If Skin Crime derived from others' input there than solely Patrick, we are left to guess.  Only SI Clark is credited for the artwork.

Skin Crime X Wilt. "The Horror of Fang Rock" 12" w/ CD:
The vinyl recording has a more subdued sound than the CD overall.  In fact, the recording is so minimal on the vinyl that I consider it more of an object, with the inevitable cracks and pops of playback being an intentional, meaningful aspect to the listening experience.  Please do not misconstrue that statement to mean that the pressing is poor.  My turntable falls somewhere between professional "hi-fi" setup and "junk." I spend far more time playing records on it than meticulously cleaning them or obsessing over the needle.  Cracks and pops are inevitable due to my habits.  The vintage aspect of the artwork's time period fits into the gramophone sound concept.  The "Horror of Fang Rock" is a 1977 episode of the British television show Dr. Who set in "the south coast of England in the early 20th century." (Wikipedia)

The CD, on the other hand, is more about the recording—the composition; the subtlety in atmosphere, ambience and sounds.  I find it far more engaging than the vinyl recording, and it climaxes into the last track on the CD where the tension finally breaks loose and the volume opens to full, noise splendor.  The catharsis after nearly an hour of playback is welcome and resplendent.

A question, though...  hmmm... does anyone else with the CD have digital artifacts on playback of the last track??  Mine does.  They ruin the entire experience.  Disappointing.

[bitewerksMTB]

In an email from Patrick, he told me that each project varies in recording methods and that the SC material is all from past sessions. I assumed they were recording new material.

I haven't heard anything from HMO other than a lathe 7" from a long damn time ago...

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Prurient / Hanged Mans Orgasm LP
Hospital Productions

This is probably the best Skin Crime related materials of recent times. Not sure who it is to thank to - or just all the parties involved. Field recordings are thanks to Patrick, not sure who did all the extensive short-wave radio sounds. Vocals, synth tones and such of course thanks to Prurient. Somehow this managed to be better than Rainbow Mirror, or HMO's own stuff, and also way better than WILT/Skin Crime.
Sticker says it is "produced by Kris Lapke", so not sure if he is the guy responsible to make it sound very good. Multi-layered, but in perfect balance and tone. There is actual sense of composition, but also to fine detail of each sound element.

Starts with radio signals, slowly emerges bassy tone behind everything and strongly reverbed whispering vocals, that seems like attempt to escape the typical rhythm of Prurient vocal delivery. Composition of the side is simple, but good texture that operates on several level, keeps minimal composition interesting.
B-side is equally slow, yet building colossal physical noise rumbles to finish the album. It happens after long piece of droning synths, voice loops and radiosignals.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Skin Crime X Wilt. "The Horror of Fang Rock" 12" w/ CD:
A question, though...  hmmm... does anyone else with the CD have digital artifacts on playback of the last track??  Mine does.  They ruin the entire experience.  Disappointing.
[/quote]

Hmm.. what type of digital artifacts? As this material seems to use quite a lot of "glitches". Some of it first sounded as if it was clicks and pops of badly burned CDR, but soon you'd notice they are actually part of track, including echoes and such applied to them.
Last track has plenty of contact microphone crackles what I mentioned before. There is plenty of that in new Skin Crime and related stuff.
Last track is the noisiest and best of whole set. In general, LP is way less interesting than the CD. If cut down to 60 minutes in total, I feel this 40 mins LP + 74 mins CD would probably have much better impact.
At least on my CD player, there isn't any skipping or such things.

[Zeno Marx]

Check the bandcamp page(s).  Might be possible to reference those tracks there.

[MyrtleLake]

Hanged Mans Orgasm. "Dissociation" CS
Self Abuse Records

Side A:  A slow, measured breathing.  The blowing of air over a microphone.  The sparkle of tiny, flittering stars through electrical sparks.  A creaking, muffled, fizzling whimper of electrons drowning.  Behind it all, a lilting, unifying synth line...  repeated over, and over, and over—sometimes warbling as if affected by the wind.

Scratches, not disruptive but curious.  What is it?  They?  Is something moving in this barren, nighttime scene?  The earth is breathing life into the landscape and the bugs, the rocks, the dirt achieve equal life.  I am reminded of crickets—sometimes cicadas—in a communicative collusion which does not involve me.  They interact despite my listening. I walk upstairs.  The breathing, the bass rumble, is akin to my house's foundation come alive.  It is a perfect analogous pace to a calm, thoughtful breath.  Returning downstairs to the stereo, I find this relaxing with an implication of magic in its composition.  Side A ends.

Side B:  The second side opens with a larger void.  Sounds of emptiness as filtered through the language of dark ambient.  Contrarily, the rhythm is faster paced.  More mechanical than electrical or sentient.  Soft, vintage sci-fi sounds flutter into the musical lyric.  More metal, electric groaning lost in the underlayment.  Flittering sounds that bring to mind insects unseen in the night.  The source recording material bears no direct relation to such things, I am convinced.

Muffled electro-acoustic music concrete which impresses that something, somewhere out there, is moving amidst the atmosphere.  Sounds with vivid relation to mental imagery to my ears.  At times, perhaps the electricity is trying to communicate, or move its rusting boulders intentionally.  It wishes to uncover itself in fleeting, clearer, louder enunciations.  The messages and intent is ambiguous.  Not malicious but unsettling to those who do not comprehend the play.

The cassette closes with the distorted sounds' obscurity lifting a shade.  A cautiously uplifting, pleasant synth line signals the approaching, comforting, dawn twilight.