PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[FreakAnimalFinland]

American Band ”Low Fiction” LP
This starts surprisingly slow. First it is.. contact mic crackles and stuff like that. It gets gradually louder, and is harsh noise already on A-side. B-side starts full on blasting what reminds me of moment when seeing American Band perform at No Fun fest. It was one of the most intense and rough harsh noise gigs. Loud PA, multiple guys, doing massive noise wall. One guy with contact mic’ed raw animal ribs, hah… Unlikely to be much of sonic contribution, but it was great seeing huge guy screaming at the ribs. I have not heard most of new Jason Crumer stuff, so basically no idea what he is up to in recent stuff. One can always return the old and never be disappointed.

[Soloman Tump]

Shackleton – Departing Like Rivers 2xLP - Woe to the Septic Heart!, 2021
Haven't had much opportunity for noise and related listening, mostly sticking with other genres the last two months. I feel this is worth a mention here because despite being one of the most musical things I've ever heard, it's also very dark, weird, and hard to categorize. For anyone familiar with the last 10 years of Shackleton's work this isn't a huge curveball or anything. It's within his trend of "proper" albums where one track oozes into the next and each album is a cohesive whole in feeling/visuals/message, but somehow this feels like the next big step forward. Syncopated rhythms collapse into themselves, giving way to disembodied vocal transmissions and clinks and clunks of metal, alien instruments, thick bass swells envelope forward momentum, a nude descends a staircase in the dark. And shit, this all happens in the first track. Imagine the Aural Hypnox crew at their most adventurous, but with a fevered rainforest vibe and it might get you close. This album is absolutely restless, moving from one interesting idea into the next but it's done in such a way it doesn't feel like dicking around with weird sounds for an hour, but some kind of otherworldly manifesto. Potentially my favorite album of the year.

Great to see this review here - I am a long time fan of Shackleton.  I have the 2LP release of this (and it is getting a repress) - the artwork from long time collaborative partner Zeke Clough is fantastic as always.

This album is such a trip - polyrhythmic drums, deep and dark trancelike passages... it feels like a culmination of his past 10 years work as a solo artist. True, he gained initial popularity in the dubstep era, but he was always an outsider there.  His Skull Disco label never became part of the dubstep explosion and the discography remains credible to this day.  He has taken ever darker and explorative paths ever since.

I highly recommend last years collaborative album with Waclaw Zimpel, https://samshackleton.bandcamp.com/album/primal-forms
3 long pieces that push his sound in really exciting ways. 

[Theodore]

Smell & Quim - Quim De La Quim , tape reissue on Industrial Coast. - From the recent wave of S&Q reissues i caught this. Original is not old, a 2014 release on Zincken's Stront label. Personnel is Srdenovic and Gillham, joined by R.Rupenus and Wharton on two tracks. I say two cause as it is easily noticed by track titles / order / credits, Side B is the material of Side A in reverse, literally. Dont know what to think about this. Would i prefer it empty ? Or shorter duration tape ? Well, i had listened Side A some days ago. Good stuff ! Very good ! Today i listened Side B. Good noise remains good noise even if played in reverse. Maybe better ? I feel it noisier, for sure messy-er. Tape seems still available for anyone interested : https://industrialcoast.bigcartel.com/product/smell-quim-quim-de-la-quim . Worth your money.

[Zeno Marx]

Autoerotichrist - Bondage Morningstar - possibly my favorite reissue (collection) of the year - pure pleasure.

I see they took down their bandcamp page.  They were active again.  Hope all is well.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Contagious noise?

I have watched my Netzach ”collection”, that basically consists two LP’s, for long time. Thinking that this "Altitude Of Thurs" LP with early stuff, Ex.Order split material + unreleased, from 1993, was so brutal in its repetition that it is more in tradition of industrial music DIFFICULT experience than enjoyment. I had postponed returning to it for years and years. Live LP, has pre- Propergol, but equally disturbing Hollywood smash-hit movie sampling in it. But contagious noise? Listening to latest Noisextra episodes, it made me want to re-listen Netzach. I have feeling this may not be as good as tape they’re talking about, but kind of gutsy move to make SO repetitive, so primitive, almost unchanging loop torment… and then reissue it on LP! I can’t see anyone doing the noise, nor doing LP these days. Challenging and difficult sound, indeed. Not a instant hit.

Another Noisextra episode, John Wiese. I actually have quite a lot of Wiese stuff, and perhaps than to doing reviews & zines for nearly 30 years, many people, including Wiese, sent his first 7” to me. Trade, review, some sort of contat, can’t remember. But one day long long ago, very first Wiese 7” landed in my mailbox, and still after all these years, listening his works…
Contagious - of course! Being reminded, being inspired to pull out something from shleves. So thanks to noisextra for these couple things, even if not exact same.. Soft Punk LP was playing here, and some stuff is very good, other stuff is somewhat "computer electronics" vibe to it. Not bad, but instead of hard noise, its like colorful... ehm.. pink noise, haha..

[MT]

Theologian / STROM.ec - Hubrezine

Weird how little is written of this collaboration album. Maybe it is not the flavour of the week type industrial, or heavy hitting power electronics, but certainly a good album with inreresting aspects to it. Delicate soundscape with familiar elements from STROM.ec and Cloama. I am not that familiar with Theologian so I could say what he is bringing to the table. Surprising elements such as the melancholic guitar passage at the end of "Ubik". Vocal bursts of Toni/Theologian (I assume), but they are handled with more 'grace' so to speak. Album starts with "Involuntary Dilation" which introduces very delicate and detailed sounds, crisp and piercing in the own subtle way. Title track Hubrezine has more of the guitar from Ubik, painting a dreamy soundscape which slowly transformates into a heavy looping with furious vocals, song totaling near 20 minute behemoth. "Exegesis" offers a breather after, crips synth work accompanied with Toni's trademark vocal fury, kind of an odd couple but works. "World War Terminvs" is an ambient piece, floating in the air, sort of reminding of Cloama&Blutleuchte material but more straightforward and 'prettier' sounds. Excellent addition the arsenal of this collaboration, making listener attentive with change of mood and colour of the release. Final track "Flow My Tears" sounds like a malfunctioning synthesizer, left playing alone in an abandonent spacestation or nuclear missiles raining upon earth, your choice. Haunting, operatic vocals create a super eerie atmosphere.

Overall highly overlooked album, large cardboard packaging gives justice to artwork which has high detail, and of course traditional Neuroscan hexagon motifs.

[MT]

Lusters - Rock Music

After buying myself finally a pair of new speakers, this tape among others sound so much better. Two guys collaborating their skills. Nevethless a solid noise album with a bit of both creators elements. Kind of familiar sound from Edge of Decay but paired with more intensity and presence. Haven't seen much of writing of this either, definately worth picking up if you haven't.


Thor's Hammer - The Fate Worse than Death

A classic black metal album from Polish bad boy Capricornus. Not much to say, I was totally blown away how fucking good this is. Especially the title track has everything I could ask for from a black metal song. Synths, solid riffs and vocal work shredding. Production has this steel cold approach, if you can even call it production, more like the way it was caught on tape.


Grunt  - Early Years 93-94 / "040695-080895" cdr

Both releases give interesting look to Grunts early days, perspective how the sound has developed over the, now, over decades. From clueless how does this work, to Japanoise influenced harsh noise of 1995 cdr. I guess these were also released in a box set, but decided to get these. Got these among a big pile of noise/industrial/pe score, more about that later maybe.

[ConcreteMascara]

Theologian / STROM.ec - Hubrezine

Weird how little is written of this collaboration album. Maybe it is not the flavour of the week type industrial, or heavy hitting power electronics, but certainly a good album with inreresting aspects to it. Delicate soundscape with familiar elements from STROM.ec and Cloama. I am not that familiar with Theologian so I could say what he is bringing to the table. Surprising elements such as the melancholic guitar passage at the end of "Ubik". Vocal bursts of Toni/Theologian (I assume), but they are handled with more 'grace' so to speak. Album starts with "Involuntary Dilation" which introduces very delicate and detailed sounds, crisp and piercing in the own subtle way. Title track Hubrezine has more of the guitar from Ubik, painting a dreamy soundscape which slowly transformates into a heavy looping with furious vocals, song totaling near 20 minute behemoth. "Exegesis" offers a breather after, crips synth work accompanied with Toni's trademark vocal fury, kind of an odd couple but works. "World War Terminvs" is an ambient piece, floating in the air, sort of reminding of Cloama&Blutleuchte material but more straightforward and 'prettier' sounds. Excellent addition the arsenal of this collaboration, making listener attentive with change of mood and colour of the release. Final track "Flow My Tears" sounds like a malfunctioning synthesizer, left playing alone in an abandonent spacestation or nuclear missiles raining upon earth, your choice. Haunting, operatic vocals create a super eerie atmosphere.

Overall highly overlooked album, large cardboard packaging gives justice to artwork which has high detail, and of course traditional Neuroscan hexagon motifs.

Agreed, a very unusual but very good album. One might even say there are shades of cyberpunk to the sound, in the best way possible.

[MT]

Toteslaut - Daikukotennyo 10" mLP

There was some buzz over this release, but I was a quite disappointed with this. Saw the potential but really did not hear it, certainly has a distinct vision to it, but I think it needed something more to be worth the praise. Which brings me to...


Toteslaut - Strident Impurity CD
Since I didn't have too high hopes for this one, it really proved me wrong. This CD is where all the pieces click and it sure works. Has that bizarre, broken and rotten atmosphere first, and later tracks just burst into ripping mess of noise and shrieking vocals. Not bright in colour, just pure BLACKENED noise, heh! Spun the CD two times in row, it was that good.

[burdizzo1]

Toteslaut - Daikukotennyo 10" mLP

There was some buzz over this release, but I was a quite disappointed with this. Saw the potential but really did not hear it, certainly has a distinct vision to it, but I think it needed something more to be worth the praise. Which brings me to...


Toteslaut - Strident Impurity CD
Since I didn't have too high hopes for this one, it really proved me wrong. This CD is where all the pieces click and it sure works. Has that bizarre, broken and rotten atmosphere first, and later tracks just burst into ripping mess of noise and shrieking vocals. Not bright in colour, just pure BLACKENED noise, heh! Spun the CD two times in row, it was that good.

Yes, I got the 10", but wavered on the CD because I wasn't overly impressed with it. Sounds like I should reassess!

[Eigen Bast]

Joe Colley - Desperate Attempts at Beauty CD - Ground Fault 2003
The first time I listened to this was on a stereo, at low volume. That was a mistake! This is a meticulous, heavy, droning mass of slow moving noise that demands close listening. With a return to my 2 hour a day train commute, i figured this was a great opportunity to give this a close listen. Tracks vacillate between heavy, panning drones and more musique concrete style on tracks 2,5,6, which are recordings of ice in water, and water being absorbed into clay. One of the "coldest" recordings I have heard from Colley. Sounds wonderful through headphones. Evocative, pessimistic noise worth tracking down.

[MT]

Death Shape – Eschatology Through Deconstructive Isolate tape

I got this years ago and didn't really have any memories of it so decided to give it a spin. I can't help but feel with the concept, images, lyrics and sound, that Death Shape was heavily influenced by Deathkey at the time. Nice to have printed lyrics, because it is difficult to tell anything from the pitch shifted vocals. There also seems to be some sort of speed manipulation? I can hear the sound kind of detoriating at times when the slowing happens. But all in all a decent tape, not a highlight but I would give another release a change for sure.


Halthan - Live the (Dis)ease tape

Got this just recently, saw Halthan live only once. But the reputation of his gigs is quite well known and this tape captures that feeling in a way. Chaotic, definately not under control action and unpolished. Some tasty parts here and there, roaring vocals dominate the songs. The time I saw Halthan live he was playing alone, but on this tape he has another guy helping out. Can't say if it makes a lot difference in sound, but there seems to be more elements moving than the time I witnessed. Decent tape from the golden era of Filth and Violence.


Magnetic Tape Mouth Gag tape

Super tasty synth noise, I am a sucker for lower frequency synth lines and they always capture my attention. B side is much more noisier in approach with samples. Definately would like to hear more of this material, if there is.

[ConcreteMascara]

Prurient & Kevin Drumm – All Are Guests In The House Of The Lord CD - Hospital Prod., 2007 - it's been a little bit since I've given this album a listen but it's just as good as I remember it. One of my favorite Prurient releases ever actually. It feels like the collaboration with K.D. takes the elements I like from Prurient's moodier work and really elevates them in terms of complexity and composition. Nothing "goes on too long", frequency range gets overly abused and nothing feels haphazard. The first two tracks really fucking deliver. Starting with those quiet, slightly effected spoken vocals, disembodied voice samples flutter in, crystilne drones sit in the background. Proper bad vibes stuff, reminding me of the Ghosts of Niagara material. Then, after a swelling of horror strings, On This Slab kicks into gear and you're treated to classic Prurient screams over warped orchestral samples, distorted bassy synth surges, stuttering white noise scraping. It feels like the last 3 years of Prurient recording thrown into a food processer and this is the distilled essence. The intensity tops out there, but the bad vibes get worse and worse for the rest of the album which more than makes up for it. This is in the top 5 Prurient albums for me, and this listen was a pleasant reminder why.

[ConcreteMascara]

KSNK / Moozzhead / Mogao / Tyhjä Pää – Kolari IV CD - EI ARMUA, 2021 - this whole compilation series has been such a delight and a perfect, second and longer look at artists featured on the Terässinfonia series. This whole volume is just blistering harsh noise, with highlights being the wonderfully unhinged "Tuelessa" by KSNK and the fucking stormer that is "Löysässä Hirressä" by Tyhjä Pää. That fucking track, goddamn! Ripping, screeching, grinding, lopsided, hollowed out, churning, metal bending abuse. More please! I need to track down more Tyhjä Pää asap.

[Bloated Slutbag]

Elsewhere posted, some of them a bit back but I think not as yet here so

Tetsuo Furudate - Macbeth
About as baffling, bombastic and boldly overwrought as one might hope and expect. Now, I mean. Back then, at the time of first encounter, I’d have had little idear of what to expect. The only Furudate to which I’d previously exposed the earholes was a track on the Ne San compilation (Banned), which I distinctly remember as being the only comp submission that genuinely blew the proverbial goat.

So why in hells would I have bothered to pick this up? Take a look at the cast of characters on the cover, mofo. Reiko Azuma. Merzbow. Tatsuya Yoshida. Plus no-less-intriguing host of luminaries. It would seem clear, from the title, from the presentation, that, whatever that goat might demand, we’re in for something…well, something.

Scene 1 stretches over 36-minutes, breaking into six distinct parts.

I, Third Witch, and a gloriously lifted sample from Macbeth, the 1947 film by Orson Welles.

II, Lady Macbeth, with Reiko Azuma on soprano vocal and Furudate on “sounds sampled from Penderecki’s St Luke Passion”. Hold on, “sampled”? This is just straight Penderecki, lifted in whole, no edits, no alterations. Not even sure where the Azuma comes in. But this anyway sets the tone for… Furudate’s entire recording career. Not, presumably, as a master lifter of other people’s work, but as one so gloriously up for The Epic. This thing is, yes, large, almost unwieldy, with enough cooks to do some gloriously disgusting things to the outcome. Among the myriad highs and lows, an abundance of glorious WTF.

Favorite has got to be the Merz, whose “Raw Material for Furudate” is exactly that. Can’t blame Furudate for not trying to do anything with it. It’s brief, but perfect, plonked smack dab in the middle, raw as fuck, and fucking quite perfectly with the program…assuming it’s possible to fuck with a program so clearly expressed in the letters W, T and F. Macbeth, okay, but more I’d surmise as a point of departure into something completely other. Quote, “Existence of clear death, assertive, almost politic, growing without limits. Deprival of the meaning. Expression of the lack of understanding. Death of the trees.”

For the most part this 70-minute epic represents in the not unambitious corner of symphonic ambient industrial, with extended percussive Yoshida wig-out in the earlier going, going out with a bang courtesy Koji Kida, laying down slow, majestic, ritual-percussive bombast, of the sort which would come to feature prominently over a good share of the Furudate discog. Definitely not blowing any goat today. Oh well.


Kazumoto Endo - While You Were Out
This is one whose every contour has been grafted onto the neural fibers, speaking not to the arsewhoopidness but to the aggregate: all contour, definition, contrast, writ pornographic. Nor to speak to requisite virtues in my preferred shit but as far as this shit the shit is unambiguously the shiiiiit. Largely compiled from that period when Endo was the standout on every compilation graced, ie immediately after Killer Bug went on extended hiatus. All Bugger no fugger.


Romance - quality assortment
Finally copped the 2007 Putrefier-Romance collab from a local seller, now self-stoking with some prime nostalgia [Ed. still, three months later sitting in to-listen pile...] Here’s a project that shot up like a rocket, exploding over a scene already burgeoning with cut-up rrrrrippers jockeying for endocore supremacy. What sets the work apart is perhaps ironically where it cleaves most cleanly to the core- very sharp, kinetic blasts of metal-on-metal smash-bash-mc’crash, perfectly poised precision-guided furies angling against painstakingly plotted silent intervals so emphatically rrrripped into scorched earth oblivion. Even when not drilling into the harshzone, the quieter interludes are liberally dosed with muted TNB-grade acoustic clatter, as might befit a project that I believe would have hailed from Newcastle? Looks like the full-length (pictured, top-left) sadly fell through, though from what I gather all the tracks eventually found a home, some possibly re-titled, via a 4-cassette split on Harbinger (who would seem to have served a critical role as primary curator of the later work).

As far as the project disappearing, I recall from an interview that was something of an artistic choice, reflecting an aim less to be a project than simply to be, y’know, in there bangin’ away. Didn’t even know I’d more recently heard work involving the principal, via Halalchemists- a sorta all-star TNB tribute band…and a very good one!


ERG / MSBR / Das Synthetische Mischgewebe ‎– Geosynclines
In the mood for some MSBR, I decided to pull this out, though it would have to belong more correctly to the multi-appendaged body of DSM. Well, they (DSM) got the final mix, and a not coincidentally greater share of their signature dis-placed dis-position to duly saturate the precipitate. Frenetic, playful, jump-cut ‘n cutting, from mood to mood, though not in ways that seem particularly in-clined to drive you batty. Not for the most part. Not deliberately. Plenty of time allotted for concentrated exploration of each successive dis-vergence, perhaps at times to suggest a sort of Das Synthetische Mischgewebe presents ERG & MSBR.

I’d have to concede, I’ve got little in the way of ERG to compare any of this to, but at least from the collaborative works of two principals (MNortham & Jgrzinich), some of the more smoothly contoured in-clinations could find their due re-presentation. Thematically, at least, the geosynclinations of ERG would seem most at home in the precarious and fragile hearing of wind searching for form via enlightened splicing devices dis-locating the stultified body, covered with dust under a blazing sky, as it were.

To the question, whither MSBR? Probably lost and snoozing somewhere along one cline or another, and I suspect that’s just the way crunchcrunchcrunchrunch he likes it.


T. Mikawa / John Wiese ‎– Oblique No Strategy
Wiese channeling latent Incaps fanboy snuffalufagus into some proper Mikawa-Grade Scorch (tm). Mikawa in the foreground but I'd put all the strings and all the harsh in the hands of the chap in back. Fact is, there was nothing like this coming out of the Incaps camp, for days. For days none of them severely pitched puritannical blister-shriek squealies, none of them dis-hinged dental implements converging upon orgies of incisive cartilage-shredding sado-bliss.

Incaps never went away, nor did the HARSH, but at least as far as the studio was concerned- and for me all the real Mikawa n pal magic happens in the studio- certain of the less hinged brutalities were traded off for more plainly tech-specific derivations whose acoustic characteristics, while quite plainly interesting, were quite plainly, well, I wouldn't say plain, nor tamed, at least in polite company, but, perhaps, painted into a corner from which escape might only be hatched through a dis-progressive inverted yield curve distilling the full bodied primitivo force of earhole abrading quietus, drilling drilling drilling home to momma harsh. No risk no return amiright?

But this, this. This is, like, exactly what I'd have done in the same position. Exactly. Or tried to. Aimed to. Hoped to. This. This fuggin Wiese dude fuggin nailed it. The purest puritannical fanboy tribu-pooption par stenchalance.

Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffff. Whoo yes. Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffff-Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffff-inny-Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffff-Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffff. Yessir. Nothing oblique about it, reamed straight up the noise SHITTER.

Love me some ozones frying in the morning.