PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

Started by GEWALTMONOPOL, December 15, 2009, 09:30:59 PM

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ConcreteMascara

V/A - Soundtrack For The End Of The World CD (1994)
Inspired by the Noisextra episode on the "Music Should Hurt" comp, I dug this one out and gave it a proper dedicated listen. I picked it up maybe 2 or 3 years ago, felt underwhelmed on my first listen in my car and haven't really listened to it since. Part of the issue was misplaced expectations. I often think '80s and '90s comps will be more brutal or aggressive than they are (Noise War and Americanoise aside), and I'm not always in the mood for the variety these old comps offer that's so often praised now.

So that being the setting, I went into this with an open mind and total dedication to listening to it all and doing nothing else. I think the first thing to note is the lack of crunch and bass, in comparison to more modern noise/industrial/etc. A lot of these tracks flutter in a mid-frequency range with some highs and lows but nothing that would wreck your speakers. Native X open it up, a Hafler Trio related project that delivers some really nice unsettling industrial-ish stuff. Then Taint comes in and gets really ugly. Insect synths, looping samples, feedback, metal abuse. It would fit nicely on Indecent Liberties or Justmeat. I'm a bigger fan of his Sex Sick/Whoredom type material but I'm not complaining either. Con-Dom delivers one of the most aggressive tracks on the comp, and maybe the only one with proper vocals. The pace is slow but the sound is fuck you and in your face while being simultaneously disorienting given that the sounds are hard-panned on either channel. Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock's track is too weird for me. Constructed on a bed of weird samples, it goes on about 5 minutes too long for me and was the hardest track to listen to attentively. I'm no Macronympha expert by a long shot, but I felt their contribution was slightly unusual. Extremely broken sounds with just absolutely piercing mid/high tones, a mix of feedback and beeping tones of extreme unpleasantness. Minimal crunch, but lots of modulation. Just damn unpleasant, sort of like getting a cavity drilled. Then the Haters come in and deliver one of the very best tracks on the comp. Hard-panned looping sounds, the left channel glass breaking and cars crashing, the right channel a burning fire, wood crackling, and this ripping and tearing sound. Four and half minutes of perfection. Admittedly I have basically zero experience with Aube outside of comps, but this track is a ripper. Utterly fucked sounding synths over fast paced heavy noise. Lots of activity, lots of modulation, total bleeping insanity. It's reminds me of MSBR's "Ultimate Ambience" at times. Lengthy and unrelenting, it's a really nice mid-way palate cleanser.  The rest of the comp is pure gold to my ears. S*Core delivers what I expect, mellow but heavily textured and murky noise. Skin Crime's "Not Soon Enough" is a pleasant blend of bullets fly, explosions, death gurgles,  I'm pretty sure the Godzilla roar and unsettling noise, like a knife scrapping a cast iron skillet. Diesel Guitars then go on to give one of the most bass heavy tracks that's also one of the most "straight forward" harsh noise tracks. Love it. And it all ends with the one-two punch of Violent Onsen Geisha delivering ten-minutes of extremely unsettling noise/industrial that I wound up listening to repeatedly after my uninterrupted listen. And then we get an ending very similar to the opening, cavernous sorta-kinda dark ambient with crystalline tones and building dread. So if this compilation is any indicator, the apocalypse will not be a whirlwind of destruction but a weird series of mutant plagues.

Final thoughts, I'd recommend this compilation. It's a nice mixture of lesser and well-known names, with a pretty wide variety in approaches and sounds. Highlights for me are Con-Dom, The Haters, AUBE, Violent Onsen Geisha, and Diesel Guitars.
[death|trigger|impulse]

http://soundcloud.com/user-658220512

Zeno Marx

Quote from: ConcreteMascara on August 05, 2019, 06:10:21 PM
Part of the issue was misplaced expectations. I often think '80s and '90s comps will be more brutal or aggressive than they are (Noise War and Americanoise aside), and I'm not always in the mood for the variety these old comps offer that's so often praised now.
Those comps represent the time.  Experimental music culture, then, having no clear lines and not really being fractured at all.  The high-focus is a Millennial phenomenon.  Which, I feel, is related to what FreakAnimalFinland was saying about nobody now doing what the likes of Soldnergeist did, as an example.  The influences aren't there.  The wide-spread interest isn't there.  The diet of everything and anything isn't there.  Less dimensional.
"the overindulgent machines were their children"
I only buy vinyl, d00ds.

Spectral Burn

Richard Ramirez & Skin Crime - Pleasure, Commerce and Disease (CD, Troniks/PACrec) - Ramirez reworks classic era SC tapes into sizzling, static laden miasma. The opening track, "The Smell Of Hospitals", may go down as an all-time favourite. Incredible release.

GX Jupitter-Larsen/Widow's Bath/Permanent Outlet - Split (CDr, Rainbow Bridge/Burial Recordings) - The GX piece... really isn't that great. The WB and PO tracks are far more interesting, and match the spacey album art perfectly.

Damion Romero - Patch (CDr, Troniks) - Possibly the most minimal release I own. A single synth patch provides the sound source. Descending/ascending oscillations with some ultra-deep sub bass. Lots of silence. I love this one.

The Haters - Loud Luggage Booming Baggage (CS, Banned Production) - Harsh Suitcase Wall? Not my favourite Haters release, but good nonetheless. Side two in particular is great, but is unfortunately left channel-centric.

K2 - In The Monotonous Flowers (CD, Ground Fault Recordings Series II) - Kimihide disregards his usual ultra-harsh approach to sound, opting instead for less jarring cuts & clear, recognizable sources. He still utilizes his thousand-cuts-per-minute style, but in a much more straightforward forward way. Check this one out if you haven't, it's phenomenal.

K2 - Iron Kulture (7", Self Abuse Records) - A classic 7", a perfect companion to The Rust. Kimihide is still using junk/metal as his main sound source, though at times it sounds like machetes/knives are used. The cover art on this thing is a work of art in itself. Beautiful metallic green embossed "K2" on the front, green/black screenprinting on the back. Question to anyone who owns this: does anyone notice clicking/clipping sounds throughout it? It doesn't sound like surface noise, and it's especially prominent on the first side.

K2 with Aube - Noise Tournament Vol. 5 (7", Banned Production/Kinky Musik Institute) - A perfect noise release. The A-side, "Junk In The Electro-Fortress" (fantastic title), is searing, classic mid-nineties Japanese noise brutality. The B-side, "Mindscraper", is a quintessential track. Pummeling low-end throb & tons of stereo panning. You can still get this for very good prices on Discogs. I'd highly suggest scoring it if you don't already own it.

RyanWreck

Quote from: DecemberMan on August 05, 2019, 05:53:25 PM


I lurk this thread exclusively for your reviews.
[/quote]

Well damn I kind of feel bad. December Man is a fitting name, I haven't wrote a review since the dark ages.


FreakAnimalFinland

Quote from: Spectral Burn on August 05, 2019, 11:33:09 PM
K2 with Aube - Noise Tournament Vol. 5 (7", Banned Production/Kinky Musik Institute) - A perfect noise release. The A-side, "Junk In The Electro-Fortress" (fantastic title), is searing, classic mid-nineties Japanese noise brutality. The B-side, "Mindscraper", is a quintessential track. Pummeling low-end throb & tons of stereo panning. You can still get this for very good prices on Discogs. I'd highly suggest scoring it if you don't already own it.

Noise Tournament series would be absolute killer to be on CD compilation. Most of the vinyl is easy to get still today. It is perhaps due format that people don't care much. Some of these 7"s are among very best of both, K2 and the collaboration partner he teams up with.
E-mail: fanimal +a+ cfprod,com
MAGAZINE: http://www.special-interests.net
LABEL / DISTRIBUTION: FREAK ANIMAL http://www.nhfastore.net

acsenger

Quote from: Spectral Burn on August 05, 2019, 11:33:09 PM
K2 - Iron Kulture (7", Self Abuse Records) - A classic 7", a perfect companion to The Rust. Kimihide is still using junk/metal as his main sound source, though at times it sounds like machetes/knives are used. The cover art on this thing is a work of art in itself. Beautiful metallic green embossed "K2" on the front, green/black screenprinting on the back. Question to anyone who owns this: does anyone notice clicking/clipping sounds throughout it? It doesn't sound like surface noise, and it's especially prominent on the first side.

I've listened to my copy and I didn't hear such sounds.

DecemberMan

Quote from: RyanWreck on August 06, 2019, 05:05:13 AM
Quote from: DecemberMan on August 05, 2019, 05:53:25 PM


I lurk this thread exclusively for your reviews.

Well damn I kind of feel bad. December Man is a fitting name, I haven't wrote a review since the dark ages.


[/quote]

Just bring back H.E.S. or something. JK, I know how life can be.

bitewerksMTB

Last two nights was Whitehouse "Total Sex" 2LP- classic. Love the vocal effects; it's like he's in a electronic cavern.

Soloman Tump

Saw Soft Issues at Supernormal festival over the weekend, amongst many other quality acts (and also missed loads. Wanted to see Justice Yeldham as never seen him live before but I was helping out on one of the other stages).

So I picked up their self titled album at the Merch tent and after an initial listen it sounds very good indeed.  never know what to expect with Opal Tapes but this is raw, aggressive and "punk as fuck"

https://opaltapes.com/album/soft-issues


Lazrs3

#7494
Quote from: Soloman Tump on August 07, 2019, 01:14:27 PM
Saw Soft Issues at Supernormal festival over the weekend, amongst many other quality acts (and also missed loads. Wanted to see Justice Yeldham as never seen him live before but I was helping out on one of the other stages).

So I picked up their self titled album at the Merch tent and after an initial listen it sounds very good indeed.  never know what to expect with Opal Tapes but this is raw, aggressive and "punk as fuck"

https://opaltapes.com/album/soft-issues



Yes, I heard it too very recently and loved it. I thought there was lots going off on the album, it shifted around a lot. Not seen them play live yet.

Premature Ejaculation - Parts 1 & 2 . Revisiting the very early Premature Ejaculation that came out on Malaise in 2010, really liked the early soundscapes and primitive noise assaults.

Niku Daruma - split with Goreshit (Dough Girl) - harsh noise from US, early days of project, released on Fusty Cunt too. I think the project is promising and love what they have done so far, this one gets nasty and sharp.

Comicide - Moral Improvement - Live recordings from supporting Con-Dom, Very Industrial, synths and guitars with shouting. Pre Tunnels of Ah and Head of David project. Oddly enough this live recording is from the same concert as one of the recordings off Con-Dom's Calling All Aryans tape.

Suffer In April - Pomona Odd French Power Electronics, sometimes mild with other stuff going on, sometimes full on assaults, this tape is on Corde Raide, seems to like putting albums on Youtube then releasing them. Other album I heard 'Femme Fatale' had that Cremation Lily angle that it seemed to take off from, this one was even better than Pomona.

Ordeal by Roses - ST. Bleak, mournful Welsh Power Electronics, been raiding the Bandcamp a bit as I am still not over that tape on Outsider Art, sorry to keep jizzing over that one...

ConcreteMascara

Grunt / Montage - Ultimatum / Destruction CD - Monotype 2005 - I feel like I've written about this one here before, but who can recall? Anyways, Grunt delivers some absolutely beefy tracks with a nice balance between heavy crunch, fierce piercing feedback, shrieked vocals and crackhoeconfessions samples. It's a nice companion to the material from the Prurient split. While it doesn't hit the ultimate high of that one ("Long Lasting Happiness 4"), it's more consistent and brutal. "mastered" fairly loudly to for extra kick. Grunt's material is not as ambitious as his last 4 albums, but it's damn satisfying. Montage delivers some of his heaviest material here. the tracks are absolutely packed with squalling distortion, bass movements and computer generated vocals. it's fairly composed sounding, but that crushing distortion squall really harkens back to '90s Japanese noise. album highlight is Montage's "Dressed to Kill" which starts massive, breaks down and ends with a slow stop-start bass crunch and vocaloid thing that's so good. Highly recommended! still available and cheap too!

Zyklon SS - Racial Superiority CD - Freak Animal 2019 - ZSS keeps getting more refined and colder. the first thing I can relate it to is Genocide Organ's "In Konflikt" album but this is even less aggressive. almost entirely menace, never really getting into explosive aggressive territory. which I guess ZSS doesn't really do except in the live setting. I guess I'm complaining? Let me say the album sounds great on all levels but I've really got to give this one some more listens to form a more eloquent opinion.

MBD - S/T Cassette - Angst 2019 - sorry to say but I was pretty disappointed with this one. After seeing MBD do two different killer live shows in the past year and hearing his more recent material, this one felt a lot less developed. Especially the a-side which has some weird synth-y sound running through it that's unusual, but doesn't really go anywhere. the b-side is harsher, almost like a trash/junk collage that works a lot better, but doesn't feel like anything special. apparently this is material from 2014, so I can say that Andrew has gotten leaps and bounds better over the past 5 years.

Hatsune Kaidan ‎– ベスト - Alchemy 2018 - picked this up in June and still wrapping my head around it. I love Hijokaidan, I like Hatsune Miku but together it just doesn't amount to much. I actually prefer the tracks were Hijokaidan add more ambient noise sounds rather than the heavier stuff, but the main problem is it almost always just sounds like a Hatsune Miku track with Hijokaidan quietly overdubbed with no interaction between the two pieces. it would not shock me if it was just two different tracks imported into Audacity and then exported as one track. BUT track 11 "エレクトロ・ワールド (Unreleased Remix Version)" is so catchy I can't help but listen to it once a week.

Worth - Black Medicine - Wonderland Media LLC 2019 - First let me say, I love plastic clam-shell packaging for tapes! been sitting on this tape for months. finally got to play it last night. more "traditionally" harsh than I was expecting, though still weird and broken sounding. but immediately satisfying. I like that everything Worth has released since the LP has been top-tier and all sounds like Worth, but each release has its own thing and stands alone easily. shame there wasn't more copies of this tape available. but that's probably because of the clam-packaging :S

[death|trigger|impulse]

http://soundcloud.com/user-658220512

Baglady

MACRONYMPHA - Relentless Agony C60 (Art Konkret)
Judging from the discogs rating (as if that's a reliable indicator) this is hardly a fan favorite. But it is a favorite of mine. What it might lack in impressive execution (compared to the more well known works), it makes up for in atmosphere. Although this is from 1994, before Stimbox had anything to do with Macronympha, I come to think of his better stuff, and also a whiff of Crack from the year after. Psychotic nightmare panic noise. Someone is clearly not right in the head here. All the usual time typical Macro ingredients are here, but filtered through a veil of high fever and sick sweat. And the samples; the 911 call sample in "The Hatred of Death" and the distorted-to-splinters opera sample in "Coal-Mine Structure Collapse". Bad bad vibe noise.

Soloman Tump

Another great discovery from Supernormal Festival,

Kinlaw & Franco Franco - Mezzi Umani Mezze Macchine


Industrial crunchy noise bass meets distorted hip hop vocals.
A few copies of the 12" still available - https://avonterrorcorps.bandcamp.com/album/mezzi-umani-mezze-macchine

They were far superior to Dalek who were also on the bill.
Probably helped that they performed in a packed hot tent rather than on the outdoor stage.

monster ripper

Quote from: Baglady on August 09, 2019, 09:26:09 AM
MACRONYMPHA - Relentless Agony C60 (Art Konkret)
the distorted-to-splinters opera sample in "Coal-Mine Structure Collapse". Bad bad vibe noise.

Pretty sure that's Roemers mom singing, she was an Opera singer in her younger days.

whiteheatnoise

Quote from: Baglady on August 09, 2019, 09:26:09 AM
MACRONYMPHA - Relentless Agony C60 (Art Konkret)
Judging from the discogs rating (as if that's a reliable indicator) this is hardly a fan favorite. But it is a favorite of mine. What it might lack in impressive execution (compared to the more well known works), it makes up for in atmosphere. Although this is from 1994, before Stimbox had anything to do with Macronympha, I come to think of his better stuff, and also a whiff of Crack from the year after. Psychotic nightmare panic noise. Someone is clearly not right in the head here. All the usual time typical Macro ingredients are here, but filtered through a veil of high fever and sick sweat. And the samples; the 911 call sample in "The Hatred of Death" and the distorted-to-splinters opera sample in "Coal-Mine Structure Collapse". Bad bad vibe noise.

Perfect assessment of this tape. I love Macronympha but I really don't like listening to this one just due to the overly menacing vibe of the whole thing. The 911 call freaked me out after I heard it the first time.