PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[NerveGas]

Anal Drill - Stimulating The Masochist CS

Crushing Ramirez noise. Not wallish or static. Occasional phaser sweeping and warbling laser beam feedback. Active and exciting. Plenty of range while still remaining heavy and punishing and possessing the perfect amount of analog tape crud sound. Some brief agonized vocal sounds in places even which are super welcome. Tasteful use of vocals in harsh noise? Never a problem for me if done correctly! Overall monster of a release. Classic!

Absolutely fucking essential Ramirez !! The absolute best of his in my opinion !

It’s definitely one of the best in my mind as well. Really exciting release.

[Manhog_84]

Rudolf Eb.er – Om Kult: Ritual Practice Of Conscious Dying Vol. I-III

This has been on a heavy rotation lately. High pitched squealing, drone, rumbling, distorted voices...All tracks flow to each other smoothly. I used to have the Joke Lanz split LP. Brown record that had to be played from the center to edge. I sold it but regret now! Maybe I thought it had too much air in it...long pauses with nothing and then suddenly weird noises. Om Kult is a lot different and it's probably my favorite recordings from the artist. All in neat digipaks. I have mainly listened this while working remotely and there doesn't seem to be much difference between the records, but it's easy to listen these in a row. 

Rudolf.Eb.er - Meditation on a Broom Stick

Lot more aggressive than Om Kult. There is one extremely annoying track but otherwise this is great. Love those screaming parts.

Lunar Womb – The Sleeping Green

When I read that this is some sort of dark keyboard music from the 90's, released by Hospital and nice green covers, it got my interest. Well...it's a bit too cheesy fantasy music. There are some nice parts and it has a sort of medieval atmosphere. Last bonus track is quite awful and doesn't really fit in.

[morbid_dyspepsia]

PLAYLIST 26-11-2022

Not that it matters - STAR and WORTH are in their own league and should be acknowledged for that...

Aside from that my playlist has been; Snobb Slakt, Kerno (GR), Merzbow "Solonoise", Pain Appendix sources, Psychward Sources, Macronympha "Baroque", Frank Zappa & The Mothers, Atrocious Madness "Total Control", Kano, The Germs "Let's Pretend", Xantotol (POL), Fukkheads (AUS), early Suzanne Ciani, Forbidden Temple (BEL) "Demo II Promo", Sleepchamber "Succubus" multiple different versions

[Zeno Marx]

Ah Cama-Sotz - La Peste 1997

If there is a thread on more deserving of interest, this guy should probably be mentioned.  I know there is one for Japanese noise, but in a larger sense?  I never listen to Ah Cama-Sotz.  In my mind, they're a comp project that is most notable for being associated with early Ant-Zen and Hands.  Those comp tracks are often good, if not very good, but it's still not a project that sticks in my associative block chain.  Part of that is albums that go all over the place.  You know, like Coil and Controlled Bleeding.  I don't have a problem with beats, or even dancy rhythms, but when you're rolling along with quality ambient/death industrial/industrial work, and then you toss in something other, it often loses me.  Though, I'm more forgiving these days than I once was.  I'm more willing to roll with it.  All to say that AC-S is loaded with quality material.  There must be at least 30 albums.  Maybe they're more revered in the rhythmic noise world than in the industrial?  I could hear fans into Deutsch Nepal, Hybryds, Rapoon, Megaptera, Stratym Terror being into them.

[-NRRRRK-]

Merzbow - Animal Liberation (Until Every Cage Is Empty)
Loving the title and artwork so it was a quick process to decide to order the new Merzbow album. Five tracks, clocking in at about 50 minutes total. Tracks are kind of similar, with a rumbling, darker layer in the background. Mostly made from synth-loops or maybe even some "musical"-loops. The dark stomping sounds evoke some pictures of slaughterhouses, so the maybe that was the intention? At least they provide a somehow structured foundation to add some higher-frequency layers on top. Distorted electronics and feedback, fed into a filter for movement and dynamics. In some tracks there seems to be some sheet-metal work too. Listened to it a couple of times during the weekend and I still enjoy it a lot.

[Keruben]

Ho - Fucked to death by a horse,c30 (IOPS)
Guess this title alludes to the mythical Mr Hands, who was fucked to death by a rutting stallion in 2009 according to the Gregorian timeline. Going beyond the theme, I have to say that this is one of the best releases on cassette this year. Cutting sharp-harsh noise that makes the eardrums truly agonized. Even from a distance, I hear dead souls tormented inside a calculator. Squealing, pounding, hard. Total support.

[aivosumu]

Bizarre Uproar - Pakkosyöttö 2xCD

Relentless harsh noise album. Not having tracks separated on the reissue is certainly fitting for this kind of thing. Funny part on CD1 where volume goes much lower for some minutes and rumbling/gagging sounds are playing, makes the listener want to raise the volume to hear better, then suddenly snaps back into max volume harsh blasting. NK and some other tracks from this were among the first BU material i ever heard when discovering the project ~5 years ago, so this one is crucial for me. Great to finally have it in shelves as proper double CD.

Worth - Sacred Violence Noise CD

Third or fourth time listening to this, I haven't really been able to get any kind of grip of the album as a whole. I don't mean that as a negative comment, there's just so much to take in, different interesting sounds, field recordings, harsh noise ear candy... gonna have to dedicate many more listens to properly explore this one. Interesting liner notes describing the creation process and concepts.

[Stipsi]

Evening trekking with hope by merzbow.
Heavy mid 90s merz vibe on this.
Really like it.

[Baglady]

Re: the discussion in the WCN pod thread about the scarcity of in depth discussion on noise and releases: very glad that this Now Playing thread is seeing more frequent lengthy posts again! Keep it up, please. Even when it's mostly stuff I wouldn't even let near my doorstep, it's always a good read. Encouraging!

Edit: scrolling back a few months, I realize that most of the releases brought up are already in my shelf or would be most welcome there. Duh.

KYOSHI MIZUTANI - Works 1989 - 1991 CD (Povertech, 1999)
The DLP reissue of Inferior's Betrayal (1994) should arrive tomorrow, so, excited about that I took this CD out. First half is the 1990 LP The Same Thing Makes Always Her Laugh (ZSF Produkt). A strange mix, mildly out. First track "Cross Off", is a spars affair of wire, synth and field recording patterns played backwards on tape, bouncing against eachother. Sort of inbetween minimal early industrial and ye olde art world. "Guitars On M.T.L." is dissonant free-form guitar and drumkit skronk. Quite a leap! "Character Assasination", layers of different types of feedback; raw screech, electronic pulses, guitar, "bolts and nuts", radio buzz with voices and music drifting in and out. Amazing stuff! The following three tracks were picked from three early Mizutani tapes which, again, shows alot of variety. The "Exfoliation 1" track is particularly good - makes me wish for that tape to be reissued as well. Some parts on this disc don't really do it for me though, but it doesn't matter. As a whole it's such a great statement of the inventiveness and creativity of the artist. Adventurous restless explorative noise!

With all this said, this disc is all the Mizutani I've ever heard. Been thinking I should pick up something else, something more recent, but years go by and I'm still stuck with this (fine) CD (and a DLP come tomorrow). How are Mizutani's work from 1994 to present day? Any choice picks to seek out?

[NerveGas]

Re: the discussion in the WCN pod thread about the scarcity of in depth discussion on noise and releases: very glad that this Now Playing thread is seeing more frequent lengthy posts again! Keep it up, please. Even when it's mostly stuff I wouldn't even let near my doorstep, it's always a good read. Encouraging!

Edit: scrolling back a few months, I realize that most of the releases brought up are already in my shelf or would be most welcome there. Duh.

Agreed. It’s one of my favorite threads and a big reason I check the board frequently. Even if releases aren’t personally that interesting to me I’m happy to hear people’s thoughts on them. Keep the reviews and discussion coming!

[-NRRRRK-]

HÖH/Violent Shogun - Untitled (Narcolepsia)
My first encounter with both projects. A-side has some beautiful lo-fi tape-loops and in-between-stations-radio. Very organic flow and a wonderful oldschool, murky sound. B-side sounds a little more refined and "musical", while A-side had a more collage-like character. B-side even features some almost hi-fi sounding synth drones. Some tracks feature loops with speech samples and some classic music in the background, which gives them a little martial/industrial touch. Unfortunately I cannot compare the tape to any other material of those projects or even make out who contributed which elements. Nevertheless enjoyed it very much and played it a couple of times back to back.

A little addendum: there seems to have been no mastering or only light compression in post production. Tape levels are rather low, but there are some great dynamics to be found. Compliment on that.

[Theodore]

HÖH/Violent Shogun - Untitled (Narcolepsia)

A little addendum: there seems to have been no mastering or only light compression in post production. Tape levels are rather low, but there are some great dynamics to be found. Compliment on that.

I was listening this yesterday. Yeah, oldschool way. Obviously 'mastering' was done on tape. You can tell that from the characteristic sounds between some tracks. Love the fact that these wasnt removed. HOH sounds like HOH. Violent Shogun, i havent listened his most recent works, but he goes steps towards to HOH here. I was wondering if he is 'remixing' / using HOH sounds. J-card has no info and the stamp with + symbol on tape suggests [?] this is a collab, maybe ? - I wouldnt say levels are low -at least not on my copy- . Side A is a lower than B indeed, but around 0. There is a channel inbalance in this side, 2 meter bars / ~5dB , typical of HOH, hah. I for sure remember another tape by him like that. Oldschool. Side B rises up to +6, with more stereo action. It's not C30 BTW. Definetely not. Close to C50 i would say. Not full. 19+23 min. Somewhere around that, by memory.

Now Playing : Meteoryt - Przezroczyste Królestwo Dymu CS [Heavy Meditation] . First listening. Label's name is a perfect description for this. Recorded in 1976, Poland ? Are you joking us mr. Haare ? This sounds like you !

Edit : OK, i just relistened Meteoryt without browsing and typing. With full focus, and i feel i can safely say that this is a diamond. Who are they ? Are there more recordings ? I googled the 2 polish names listed on the j-card. Nothing relative came up. It's a pity this tape is so limited, and i rarely say that cause sometimes those willing to take a 'bet' should win something. Yes, i scored ! But material here is too good for just 27 copies.

[FallOfNature]

Cervical Smear - S/T
Gnawed - Harm
Agonal Breathing - the new one

[Bleak Existence]

Bastard Noise - the human waste chronicles

[-NRRRRK-]

Now Playing : Meteoryt - Przezroczyste Królestwo Dymu CS [Heavy Meditation] . First listening. Label's name is a perfect description for this. Recorded in 1976, Poland ? Are you joking us mr. Haare ? This sounds like you !

This sounds interesting. Is it still available?

And good points on the HÖH/VS tape. There is indeed a very audible noisefloor in between tracks. Haven't checked the time while listening, but I think you might be right that this more than a C30. Levels on the deck I listened are at around -2 to -3 bars with peaks reaching 0 at times. So one might say this is indeed a very good transfer, but compared to most other noise tapes I play on that deck, levels are much lower. But as I said, it preserves dynamics and sounds very good anyway.