Ferial Confine and similar

Started by LIFE, September 09, 2013, 07:26:03 AM

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LIFE

I tried a search and didn't find anything too specific about this.

Ferial Confine to me is sort of the ultimate combination of sounds and ranges from abrasive to concrete and the sound is heavily processed but in a way that is organic, confusing (in the best way), and cerebral. All vague words that could apply to experimental music at its best, but fans of FC should know what I mean by this.

The first track on Side B of "Full Use of Nothing" might be the best example of what I mean. Everything lends itself to the vinyl perfectly and you have concrete sounds cutting into the mix naturally without taking away from the crazy processed sounds.

What other stuff would you put in this general category? I think this area of true NOISE meets concrete sound is probably the closest thing to perfect for me and it's rare to find something that has that wild edge without going into total scrap metal banging, etc.

acsenger

I got The Full Use of Nothing recently and while it's organic and unusual, I feel the tracks are too similar to each other... Only the last track that features piano is somewhat different. That said, I'd like to hear their other releases and might track down the Siren Records reissues (since they're affordable).

I'm also curious as to what other similar music is out there.

Bloated Slutbag

Naj. Short-lived but very satisfying project of one Darius Ciuta. Multi-tracked concrete elements play against, and occasionally merge with, straight-ahead electronic molestations. I suspect there be buttloads of naj doing rounds in various locales, but the only things I've encountered were via RRR/Pure and Xerxes. Absolutely ridiculous. I console myself with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzGXamH8_s
Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag

Bloated Slutbag

Freudwerk. Also deserve mention. Also, like Ferial Confine and naj, exceedingly short-lived. Short but sweet you might say. Personal fave would be their track off the seminal World Record comp (Alchemy), but the below-linked, from the Noise War comp, delivers the goods quite nicely:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQXBK8ziWmg

Mnemonists / early Biota start to approach something along the lines... the supreme densities would at least seem to hint at the potential for so much sweet racket.

And though I'm almost afraid to mention their name around here, I thought TNB's recent "Das Zerstoren, Zum Gearen" - evidently a live recording - pretty goddamn solid.

Will add K2 "We Destroyed Barcelona". Rather less cut-up, more relentless, allowing feedback to compete with, and often inundate, the usual metal junk excrements.
Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag

Henrik III

Full Use of Nothing is also a big favorite here. Not exactly similar style but the old Confine tape i]Meiosis [/i] (originally on Broken Flag) has just been reissued by Siren.

acsenger

Thanks for the tip about Naj -- I just ordered their Fixthemeteronthezeroposition tape (mint condition) for $10 on Discogs.

Bloated Slutbag

#6
Inspired by this thread to dig out the Macronympha/K2 split/collab, Biometrics (RRR). Quite a good listen, though my attention was to be especially reserved for Macro's K2 remix... and yes, we may have a winner. If the idea of K2, multitracked and fed through way too much echo doesn't appeal to you, no worries. There are plenty of ripped and ragged Macro flavors filthing up the proceedings, and the metal junk never dominates as it does on the remainder of the slab. Kind of harsh metal junk ambient hell, well put together, full-flavored and full-on. All noise remixes should sound like this. I'm tempted to pull out all the other Macro collabs I've got...

EDIT it occurs to me that I have heard this kind of thing, several times before, on several proper Macro releases, but these tend to be episodic interspersals and often overwhelmed by the patented Macro crunch. Still sound of the sort is to be found in there, often, amid all the messy mounds of macroblubber.

Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag

Steve

I remember getting the same feeling as Ferial Confine whilst listening to the early releases of MNEM.I strongly recommend the self released CDR "Arkaeo" and the two LP's on Segehuva; "Golyma" and "Engrama". They have the same kind of orgasm in a wind tunnel type of sound!

tinnitustimulus

David Jackman ‎– Up From Zero

Early works of Jackman, a bit more recognizable sound sources, with a car crash loop on Threshold track, broken glass loops and cymbal bowing on the title track. Other tracks on the album sound a bit different.

Ferial Confine's album, First, Second And Third Drop pretty much sounds like Organum so it is probably not surprising comparison to make.

TNB used Ferial Confine recordings in The Final Recordings Gesamtkunstwerk, and TNB Est Mort! I only heard TNB Est Mort! but it is one of my favorites.

Nine, an Andrew Chalk project used in the Morality Broken Flag Comp is more of an exercise of multiple tape echos feeding into each other, no scrap metal but has the same form, feeling and probably a skeletal version of FC works.

If there is any Musique Concrete work that FC reminds me of, it is Xenakis' Bohor, though that has more clanging then screeching, but has high frequency range textures and a looming deep bass drone as a base.

Bloated Slutbag

#9
Golden Serenades might squeak, or rather screech, in. Perhaps a bit more straight-ahead, puritannical, than what this thread is about. But in any case to be highly recommended. I am particularly enamored with The Swan (Abisko), full-on metal-cluttered clamor, certainly not one for relent.

...all that earlier rambling about Freudwerk and Macro had me pulling out the Telepherique & One Dark Eye collab (Solipsism), and.... well... not quite. Still very nice, cavernous industrial-strength factory ruckus, and does get a bit shriek-laden at intervals. Could sit well in a Vivenza/machines thread as this seems to be an attempt by Roemer to get a non-tranny-related fixation off his cock.
Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag

Zeno Marx

"the overindulgent machines were their children"
I only buy vinyl, d00ds.

cipher chris

Quote from: Steve on September 10, 2013, 05:34:19 PMorgasm in a wind tunnel type of sound!
Steve, that's some fucked up semen you have my friend.

tinnitustimulus

Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on September 13, 2013, 03:19:46 AM
Still very nice, cavernous industrial-strength factory ruckus, and does get a bit shriek-laden at intervals. Could sit well in a Vivenza/machines thread as this seems to be an attempt by Roemer to get a non-tranny-related fixation off his cock.

Funny I pulled out that recent One Dark Eye reissue of Manic Depression while thinking about this thread, I'm certain One Dark Eye is actually Rodger Stella (or rather he told me this several times in person). I'm not here for debate on this as much as looking at his material and his enthusiasm in tape manipulation would be worth mentioning in this thread. Manic Depression is a worthy example of comparison, as it is thoughtful tape music of unknown sources, with familiar but distant quieter mother savage rumble. Transmissions Of Fistulae Auris is another release worth mentioning.


LIFE

Great responses so far, thank you.

Obviously I'm a big Organum fan and TNB does hit on some of the same notes I'm talking about. I love FC's "First, Second..." but yeah I didn't mention it because it's different.

MNEM has been cool on the few releases I've heard though I can only remember the Golyma LP which had an organic and dark sound but was kind of relaxed from what I remember.

That Naj video is fun for a live performance once it gets going. Kind of random and spurty but I can enjoy it. I'll look into his recordings.

I am pretty hesitant to check out recommendations that fall too close to what people would consider the harsh noise "genre" but Macronympha and K2 definitely have moments that fall here. I think what I'm looking for is stuff that is aggressive and unquestionably NOISE but in a deeper grey area than that.

Keep any recommendations coming, though, even if they're just incidentally connected to what I'm trying to describe.

Bloated Slutbag

#14
Zeno, much thanks for the Nebris recommendation. Sometimes a link is worth a thousand downloads. I confess I was completely unfamiliar with the work of James Hamilton; found his Bandcamp, got Bleak Angels, halfway through the second track I realized I needed it all. I've since acquired everything I can, which from Bandcamp means over 10 items, several of them released in January of this year -- all excellent. Not particularly harsh, rather a controlled, painstakingly applied, tempestuousness, only the merest hint of boiling over. Mr Hamilton refers to it at one juncture as "power acoustics", but I can see where he's coming from. Sources include branches, stones, hailstorms, wind, bones, all brought to life with a compositional skill that is undeniable. I'm not sure I've ever heard anything quite like it; if so, not anything as well executed. Wonderful textural studies. Nebris has occupied the bulk of my listening over the past few days, in between Loud Louder Loudest sessions... it has been a very good week. Of most immediate relation to this thread, as they are of the slightly louder persuasion, I would recommend: Shear, Erg, Sarfa, Trace. In that order.

Listening to one F.Douris, tape with no cover, the inevitable fate of all special artwork releases. The aqua-blue side sounds like a field recording taken on a busy street corner, but with amplified noise – possibly the acoustics of the actual recording – almost completely submerging the concrete elements. The effect is that of said field recording being conducted in an heavily trafficked expressway tunnel, with what could be heavy machine noises fighting shudders of ill-tempered wind-swell. If someone told me this was an early Vivenza outing I'd readily believe it. The yellow side might be an out-take from his lp on RRRecords, but with much longer stretches of tape hiss punctuated with the occasional electronic fart.


S-Core. Don't think this guy needs much introduction. There's at least one SI thread devoted to him. I associate the material with 80's industrial / tape culture; but I think his best work, and that most applicable to this topic, comes in 90's, in the latter half of his career. S-Core could be my go-to unit for very heavy, industrial-strength atmospheres; low-key, grim, free of melodrama, certainly not hesitant to noise it up, and always willing (a bit too willing, perhaps) to experiment. Given that he tends to favor relatively short tracks, even the less "successful" experiments are interesting in their given context. Flavors of ritual "ambient", but a very peculiar kind of ritual, devoted to a god of decaying machinery, with an ambiance of rusted out sewage drains. My pick for Ferial Confine and similar would be Deformation (1993), in which harder-edged electronic scrapings attempt to scour their way through the densely forested confines of an unyielding factory machination. Or something. Shedder (1999) also up there. But most of the later stuff is stellar. Gush. Sediment. Tarnish. My Candle Has Died. Several highlights throughout.

tinnitustimulus, thanks for clearing up the One Dark Eye thing. Funny, but in all his rambling correspondence, Roemer never once credited ODE to Stella. The first time I remember specific credit being allotted Stella was in response to a review I wrote for Macro's excellent Crack tape – one of their better efforts from the period - in which I half-jokingly suggest that Macro were trying to steal Incapacitants' thunder*.

*EDIT Heh.
Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag