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Vomir
HNW( Harsh noise Wall) is the most intense, and at times hypnotic of sound genres- and one of the most influential, prolific and unflinching brutal projects in the scene is Vomir. Since 2005 this project ,of Frenchman Romain Perrot, has released a steady-to-rapid flow of releases, and at present Discogs list around 304 release- but this probably doesn’t include ever Vomir release, as the project often releases on tiny labels, so I’m guessing the truly total must be moving towards 350. I first became aware of Vomir, and the wider walled noise scene, around 2007- and since I’ve followed the project fairly closely- to date we’ve reviewed 90 Vomir releases on M[m], and 12 years later the project's releases still remain as searing, crude, and oddly hypnotic as they always were- with one of the more recent and larger releases been a six-CD box set on Italian noise label Urashima. I caught up with Romain for his fourth interview with the site.
Kat Ellinger
Giallo stands as the more flamboyant and arty of horror film sub-genres; and in recent years there has been a growing interest in the sub-genre, with an increasing number of Blu ray reissue of classic, to lessen known films appearing. One of the key and respected commentators on the Giallo genre is Kat Ellinger- over the last few years, she contributed both fact-filled and impassioned commentary tracks and features to a host of Giallo reissues, as writing a book on one the genres key directors Sergio Martino- All the Colors of Sergio Martino. Kat kindly took time out of her busy schedule to give us an email interview.
The Early Years Of Allerseelen
For over 30 years Allerseelen has stood as one of the most innovative, genre-eccentric and creative projects within the European experimental & post-industrial scene. In the last few years the project has been slowly–but surely reissuing their early more crude, though no less distinctive and creative material form the late 1980’s to 1990s. I caught up with Gerhard Hallstatt- the projects forming member & key songwriter to discuss these early releases.
Leyland James Kirby (The Caretaker)
Leyland James Kirby has been a singular figure in UK electronic music for over two decades. He first came to prominence in the late 1990s with the resolutely out-there V/VM, and associated V/VM Test Records; putting out a range of bewildering and often confrontational releases of plunderphonics, electronic and experimental noise. The label also came to be known for humorous and usually abrasive takes on pop culture figures like Chas and Dave, Frank Sinatra and the Krankies, as well as tongue in cheek deconstructions of Aphex Twin. It was however the music Kirby put out under the Caretaker moniker, beginning in 1999 with Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom, that really caught the imagination and would occupy him long after V/VM was brought to a close in 2008. Like many of the releases on V/VM Test Records, the Caretaker's music relied on the manipulation of older material, in this case ballroom music from the first half of the 20th century. The original seed of the project - and its name - comes from those famous scenes in Kubrick's the Shining, where Jack Nicholson's character appears to fall between worlds, encountering a ghostly barman who utters the signature phrase "you're the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker". The early releases play on this notion of remembrance and haunted reimaginings of a forgotten golden age of glitz and glamour. The time degraded quality of the source records: monophonic, scratched, and suitably static soaked, formed an integral part of Kirby's compositional process as he would layer attenuated fuzz against looped fragments of melody which would emerge as if half remembered. The effect was striking, evoking feelings of melancholy and mystery. Cultural theorist Mark Fisher would later include the Caretaker among a group of artists, including Burial and the Ghost box label, he believed exemplified the concept of Hauntology; music which dealt with the fictitious reimagining of a lost past or lost opportunities. Since 2005 and the 6CD box set Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia, Kirby has increasingly taken the Caretaker project towards an explicit engagement with ideas around memory and memory disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. In addition, in 2009 he began releasing music under his own name, producing a series of records of ambient and experimental electronics, amplifying many of the themes present in the Caretaker, while developing his own signature style of playing. In 2016 he announced the final set of recordings for the Caretaker would be a six instalment project titled Everywhere at the End of Time. The final double LP instalment was released on his own History Always Favours the Winners label this year. Leyland kindly agreed to an email interview where he discussed the history of the Caretaker project, his working practices and creative outlook.
Stevan Mena
As any fan of the slasher sub-genre of horror knows- the key & golden age of the genre occurred in the early 1980s. Sure there where flurries of some effective enough slashers in & around of the release of Scream in 1996- but in reality the sub-genre has been very lackluster & mixed since the ’80s. One of the more worthy & consistent series to appear in the genre since the golden is the Malevolence trilogy- taking in 2003’s Malevolence, 2011’s Bereavement- Malevolence II, and last years Malevolence 3: Killer- the films took classic slasher genre elements- focused & strengthened them, and added in elements of the serial killer thriller. Behind all three films is New York state-based writer/ director Stevan Mena- Stevan kindly agreed to give us an email interview, discussing the trilogy, his love of horror & his other work
Michael Ridge
Norfolk Uk based noise maker Michael Ridge is one of the longer running denizens of the Uk wall-noise scene, been involved since around 2010. He may not be the most proflic in the worldwide scene, but he always puts a lot of time & thought into whatever he releases. His first project Acerbitas, run between 2010 to 2014- with all the projects fourteen releases been themed around tools of torture. After a few years away from HNW( though still active within the wider noise scene)- he returned in 2017 to the scene with his most recent project Norfolk Trotter- which sees him creating densely raging & subtle shifting wall making, with flint been used as the projects source material. I caught up with Michael for an email interview- discussing his wall career in general, and of course his most recent project.
Merzbow/ Merzbow & Balazs Pandi
On May 25, 2019, in Moscow, at the Station City Hall venue, a significant event took place - the performance of the legendary Japanese noise artist Masami Akita with his project Merzbow. The concert was organized by the Russian company Delta Mekong Concerts. Masami is perhaps the most famous figure on the world noise scene. Playing from the late 1970s to the present day, he normally records several albums a year. The Moscow Concert is the second and final show in a small Russian tour, which was held jointly with Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi, who is very known in wider experimental music. The day before, he played in St. Petersburg. This event was significant because Masami Akita had only played in Russian once before. It was back in 1988 in Khabarovsk, at the festival of jazz, improvisational, electro-acoustic and experimental music. And now, after almost 30 years, the Japanese genius of noise has returned to please his Russian fans. The concert was to consist of two parts. The first part was to be a solo set of Merzbow, the second one was a duo performance with Balazs Pandi.
Elsewhere Music label interview
Launched in June of last year, Elsewhere Music is one of the up & coming labels in the modern composition / modern classic genre. So far the label has put out six releases - moving from the 3CD release ‘Blurred Music’ that smudged the line between drone, modern composition, and improv, onto the sparse piano ambience of Melaine Dalibert's ‘Musique Pour Le Lever Du Jour’, through to the eventful & subtle surreal modern compositions of ‘Works On Paper’ - which brings together works from both Lance Austin Olsen & Gil Sansón. Shortly the label will be releasing three new CDs focusing on piano recordings. We caught up with the label curator/producer Yuko Zama for an email interview.
Damien De Coene
Damien De Coene, a relative newcomer to the wall noise scene, has made a name for himself through the quality of his prolific output, which covers a wide range of sounds from barely-there Drone to full-blown HNW, as well as a distinctive visual identity. Damien kindly agreed to give Musique [Machine] an interview.
Raison D'Etre, Desiderii Marginis and Creation VI
On March 30 2019, in Moscow, at the famous Cultural Centre "Dom", one of the key post-industrial/ dark ambient events of this spring took place. It brought together legendary Swedish projects Raison D'Etre and Desiderii Marginis, along with the well-known Russian project Creation VI- all organized with the support of Russian company Mist-crossing Division.
She Spread Sorrow
Since 2015's Rumspringa, She Spread Sorrow - the solo project of Italian artist Alice Kundalini - has become something of an unstoppable force in the industrial and power electronics scenes. With Mine (2017) and Midori (2018), both on Cold Spring Records, She Spread Sorrow takes a measured- even delicate- approach to sound, but is no less brutal and unrelenting for it. Musique Machine spoke to Alice to find out more about the project.
Stephen Thrower
Stephen Thrower should need little or no introduction to fans of gory, sleazy & heady cult/ exploitation film fare- he’s written lengthy tomes on infamous Italian gory maestro Lucio Fulci (1999’s Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci). American Independent horror films from between the 1970’s & mid 1980’s (2007’s Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents), prolific euro sleaze/ horror director Jess Franco- The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco vol. one & two - 2015’s Murderous Passions & most recently it’s follow-up The Flowers Of Perversion- which see him covering in detail ever one of Franco’s 180 films. He’s also appeared on a whole host of cult horror/exploitation documentaries & DVD extra’s for the likes of Severin films, Arrow Video, Blue Underground & many others. Stephen kindly agreed to do a email interview with M[m]- his third for the site- discussing his new book, his passion for Jess Franco, and his recently active sonic project UnicaZürn
Dave Parker
Dave Parker stands as one of the most likeable, down-to-earth, passionate & knowledgeable genre critics around- since 2010 he’s run his Youtube channel, which began covering just horror & extreme film fare, but in recent years he’s expanded his coverage to the wider cult genre. He started off doing short stand-alone reviews/ collection updates, but in recent years his format has switched to a longer weekly show with Screaming Toilet productions- with each show lasting between half an hour, to an hour. Dave is also an actor appearing in a host of underground/ cult film fare, he’s also a director too. I caught up with Dave with for an email interview
Uitgeschakeld
Dutch HNW project Uitgeschakeld may not be one of the most active within the often highly prolific wall noise scene- releasing around twenty-three albums, including splits since it started in 2014. However, each new release by the project is greeted very warmly and with great interest by HNW fans. Casper Van Der Veen, the man behind Uitgeschakeld and several other projects, kindly agreed to talk to us about HNW, noise and some other things.
Rudolf Eb.er
Since the 1980’s Austrian sound artist Rudolf Eb.er has been trying to disturb, challenge & unbalance listeners with his sonic creations that bring together strange body-sound collaring, psycho ambience, weird field recordings, and brain altering electro-acoustics. Over the last few months Rudolf has released the three volumes of Om Kult: Ritual Practice Of Conscious Dying- which really stand as some of his most unsettling & overtly troubling work thus far- the three CD series focuses in on ‘the occult knowledge and techniques for the transition from life to death, on the ejecting mind as well as on the decomposing human body’. Rudolf kindly agreed to give M[m] an interview- where we discuss his work in general, and of course the three CD Om Kult Series.
Jessica Cameron
Last years The Song Of Solomon not only blended in extreme gore into the possession/ exorcism movie in an original & effective manner. It also featured one of the most starling actress transformation in recent memory- seeing glamorous scream queen Jessica Cameron near unrecognisable as the lead role of troubled young women Mary- who goes through a frightful and at times brutal grotesque transformation. Jessica kindly took time out of her busy schedule to give us an email interview- discussing how she got involved with the film & Unearthered films- who released it. Her transformation in the film, as well as her favourite roles thus far & upcoming parts.
Buck Young
One of the more curious, varied & creative noise releases to appear in recent memory was lasts years Proud Trash Sound- the debut album from US project Buck Young. The project is centered on respected Oakland, California noise-maker Jason Crumer & NYC based Zoe Burke- with other collaborators dropping in along the way. Proud Trash Sound appeared on Jason own label No Rent records- and it’s noise release that’s literally knee-deep in sonic Americana. The ten track album is a scatterbrain, but mostly fairly coherent mix of formal noise elements such as jarring electro noise stretchers & sears, noise guitar chugs & sudden feed-back engulfed vocals elements- with all manner of western/ American sound elements such as a galloping guitars, yea-ha vocals( both male & female), pig grunts, yodelling, gunfight sound effects, horse glip-glops, speed-up 50’s easy listening music, etc. I tracked down Jason for an email interview- first discussing Proud Trash Sound, before later moving on to discuss No Rent, where the label's manager Rose drops into the chat.
Best Of 2018
Another 12 months past, and another year is near over so it’s best of the year lists for 2018. Below you’ll find lists of releases that made this year special for our writers. And in keeping with M[m] focus they span a large and varied selection of different musical & non-musical genres. On a few lists you’ll see the addition of a film list, and this is in-line with us featuring more & more film reviews on the site
My Cat Is An Alien
Since 1998 My Cat Is An Alien have been creating a distinctive & interstellar bound blend of shimmering ambience, deep-space guitar scaping, and star-licked improvising. Behind the project are Italian brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio- who have released so far around one hundred & fifty releases under the project banner, as well as a host of splits & shorter releases. we contacted the brothers for an email, where they discuss the projects 20 years existence, stand-out moments in their discography, and the future.
Vomir, Maginot, Red Hook Grain Terminal, Kenosist,
Last month, on Friday 23rd November, I made the trek up from London to Newcastle to go to a noise event put on at The Old Police House in Gateshead (also known as Workspace Gallery) where Vomir, Maginot, Red Hook Grain Terminal, Kenosist, Shurayuki-hime and Monocrete were all performing that evening.
Void Singularity Recordings & E.E.E.E. Interview
Set-up in early 2018 Void Singularity Recordings is a Uk based label specializing in walled noise/ HNW/ ANW, with the odd dabblings in more noise-bound experimental waters. The label has been CDR based thus far, and to date has released an impressive 28 releases thus far this year- taking in CDR’s from both more known wall-noise projects such as Vomir, Chier, & Dosis Letalis. As well as lesser known, yet equally worthy wall projects- all making it one of the labels to watch with-in the worldwide walled-noise scene. We got in contact with the man behind the label Tom Rushton for an email interview discussing both the label & his own personally HNW project E.E.E.E.
Klanggalerie
Since 1993 Austrian experimental music label Klanggalerie have released a wide & varied back catalogue of releases- going from early post-industrial & noise tape releases. Onto reissuing rarer/ classic albums from all manner of experimental artists such as avant pop artists The Residents & the Renaldo & The Loaf, ethnic ambient innovator Rapoon, and respected ambient sound artist Asmus Tietchens . Through to more recently new albums from ex Resident songwriter Hardy Fox, & former Coil Synth wizard & multi-instrumentalist Thighpaulsandra. Below is an email interview with the label's owner Walter Robotka discussing the labels twenty-five years of existence.
Cadabra Records
With its first release in 2015, Cadabra Records blasted onto the world stage with one mission in mind: release the best-spoken arts records on the planet. Focusing on classics of the horror genre, Cadabra has been on a relentless clip of recording and releasing gorgeous records in both aural and visual design. At M[m], we’ve reviewed most of the label's output, thus far- so it seemed a prime time to do an interview- so we tracked down one of the key minds behind the label Jonathan Dennison for an email interview.
Dmitry Vasilyev
On September 7, 2018, Dmitry Vasilyev tragically died. Dmitry was an integral part of not just the Russian experimental scene, but the worldwide scene. He was not an artist in the truest sense of the word; his art was the promotion of experimental music to the listeners and this he did with real passion & commitment- moving from publishing fanzines, onto running a respected label, through promoting shows, onto writing to the definitive book on Italian experimental music, and beyond