Jaakko Vanhala "Here be Lions" CS out now!

Started by sprachlos, July 01, 2012, 04:28:56 PM

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sprachlos



Jaakko Vanhala "Here be Lions" C27
[Sprachlos Verlag: Sprach 06]

While the use and abuse of found junk, the smashing of metal sheets and the recording of engines and mechanics have been regular features of industrial and experimental music since its earliest days, recent years have seen this particular aspect of noise morph into a highly marketable sub genre of its own. This, of course, can be linked to the general tendency of artists breaking down the vocabulary of experimental music into strictly autonomous segments – each requiring a new 'project' and a new thematic angle (often even narrower in its niche). At its imagined best, this process would lead the way into yet uncharted territories of minimalist art, but more often we see authentic content being replaced with more or less empty gestures. Rather than actually producing vicious anti music the listener gets some decent metal bashing connoting New Blockader style metal junk fetishism. Or, we are served with an ok reel-to-reel session more into the idea of the tape loop than its actual musical potentials.

When Jakko Vanhala self released his monumental Feral Earth album (subsequently reissued on CD by Freak Animal), its impact relied only in part on pure sonic qualities. Not to suggest this wasn't a severely harsh motherfucker of a tape – it certainly was – but equally important it showcased a rare honesty in its musical expression. Vanhala's adherence to the scrap metal aesthetic had less to do with current trends in industrial culture than with an interest in meticulous sound research, resulting in a refined artistic statement stemming from a deep understanding of the harsh noise vocabulary in all its multifaceted glory.

Not surprisingly, Jaakko is also a man serious about his junk. Source material for the follow-up was recorded on location in an abandoned Oulu factory – the results coming off like a frenzied Kuwayama Kiyoharu exorcizing his Rupenus complexes on a circuited fried porta studio. No distortion pedals considered; only the force fed analogue splendour of overdriven tape, filters, echoes and hiss. In whatever audio space left after such brutish manoeuvres, select streaks of psychedelic feedback work colour the proceedings, adding up to a complex, nuanced – yet profoundly crude – C27. This is true barbarian academicism from the coldest outskirts of the hellhole known as Finland. Buy it now or spend the rest of your life arguing with bulletin board Nazis over the current state of noise.

Pro-dubbed Type I tapes. Full color offset printed covers.
Sound samples here

Price: € 4.5 / 40 SEK + shipping (also possible to add the Nordöstra Malmö comp tape and the Altar of Flies/Mirorrs Are Black LP)
Get in touch at: peter (dot) henning (at) telia (dot) com
www.sprachlosverlag.com


eyestrain



sprachlos

The Sprachlos office will go on vacation next Wednesday (11/7), so the last trip to the post office will be Tuesday afternoon. Mail order duties will resume again on the 18th, but a little slower than usual until the beginning of August. This meaning: if you need your noise fix BADLY, place an order no later than Sunday (8/7). Otherwise, get in touch with Release the Bats (SWE), Järtecknet (SWE) or Lust Vessel (JP).