Karjala (which is absurdly expensive on Alko, I need to hit the ferry as soon as possible) and a few shots of Yrttisnapsi tonight..
GRUNT - Recycled (Tape, RRR, 2005)
I was actually going to review 'Myth of Blood', which I recently bought on a mighty fine vinyl, but since my vinyl player has broken down it will have to wait. I've owned this release for ages, but for once there will be none of this "I thought that this was that, but in fact it was this" bullshit. I remember pretty much exactly how this tape sounded when I last heard it, it still sounds just the same, and it's fucking awesome. One side Grunt-style Power Electronics, one side brutal, noisy junk abuse. As most probably know, the Recycled tapes are just that - recorded on old, often commercial, tapes dubbed over and decorated with brown tape and black marker. The only information original to this release is scribblings of "Grunt" and "Recycled". I have to say I was never impressed by the concept as such, but in this case it gets the job done. The material is really great, and one advantage of this model for making releases is that this tape is (as far as I can tell from the RRR Records homepage) still available, eleven years later, to anyone who wants it. And it's a mere $4. My copy was constructed from an old The Yoopers tape, and for some reason I still haven't checked The Yoopers out. I should. If they are even half as good as Grunt is on this tape (which I am sure they are, though the style might be slightly different), it will be worth it.
KOSMODROM - Destination Moon (Tape, Geräuschmanufaktur 2016)
When it comes to the whole HNW thing, I've come into the genre rather late, and with the tired and bored eyes of an old(ish) man. Still, I noticed quite early that DEAD BODY COLLECTION had done some stuff with the genre, at least conceptually, that went beyond the cookie-cutter, nihilism and/or fetishism clichés. Principles such as "pure wall noise" or "no dynamics" makes sense for VOMIR and a select few, but it can't really keep a whole musical subgenre interesting. Enter KOSMODROM, the successor to DBC. I think this might be the beginning of "Harsh Noise Wall with content", which may always have existed, but probably not this explicitly. On this tape you will find a wall of rather soft-spoken, slightly digital, harsh noise, but there's also very intentional, elaborate synth work going on. These notes and sections express the tape's specific Sci-Fi concept, otherwise presented in the very attractive, pro printed full color cover, complete with a reading list. Much like the elder Aesir slew the giant Ymir, and fashioned the world from his flesh, Kosmodrom has slain the asshole beast of HNW, and created a small cosmos of its flesh. It is not perfect (I might have preferred a wee bit more crunch in the wall'o noise itself, for instance), but it's still great stuff, and somehow innovative.
KOSMODROM - Battle in Outer Space (Tape, Mask of the Slave, 2016)
The second release of Kosmodrom, inspired by a fresh list of movies, songs and writers listed in a nice full color cover. "Battle in Outer Space" is somewhat less wall-y than the debut tape, but basically continues the same pattern of HNW-ish noise, complemented and sometimes broken up by psychedelic synth sections that bring various 50s Sci Fi movies to mind. I can't really shake the feeling that something new is being done to HNW here, which might alter the genre for the foreseeable future. Given that lyrics and samples are scarce in HNW, and seldom meshed with the actual noise wall, some common HNW concepts, like various sexual deviations, have never been believably transferred into the actual music of most projects. Kosmodrom has actually managed to integrate sounds that connect with the concept of the project in an intimate fashion, and once again produced something I would label "HNW with content". I could still do with a wee bit more crunch, but on this tape there is a quasi melodic, electronic fundament that makes this less important than on the first one. I am very much looking forward to what this project, which will probably be fairly prolific, will come up with next. Harsh Noise Wall was never quite this exciting.
