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This untitled spilt offers up a two walled noise roastings- one from the infamous black bag wearing French master of HNW Vomir, and one from Springfield, Oregon based Earthenwomb. The release comes in the form of a CDR, and each artists presents the listener with a fourteen or so minute slice of unforgiving & ear scalding walled-noise.
Hailing from Santa Cruz, CA, BL’AST were a legendary hardcore band. Their first full-length The Power of Expression, is perhaps one of the most influential albums to come out of the punk underground during the mid-80’s. While often overshadowed by other West Coast bands during the time period, most notably: Black Flag, T.S.O.L, the Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, etc., BL’AST were a hardcore juggernaut to be reckoned with. BL’AST displayed a musicality which set them apart from the “thrash till death” mantra that many of their hardcore brethren espoused. In that sense, I always thought BL’AST as being kindred spirits to southern hardcore outfit Corrosion of Conformity.
American harsh noise project Circuit Wound has constantly active since the early 2000s, and it's been ages since I last listened to any of his new material. From what I remember I quite enjoyed his stuff, so I approached this CDr with interest and expectation.
On its first airing, without going to the lengths of looking uptranslations of 'Fall Seliger Geister' or its individual track titles, there is a strong sense of the spirit world breaking through into our quotidian realm right across the release.
“Punishment Will Be Severe” finds Cory Strand in his extreme remixing ‘n’ reconstructing of female pop music mode. The CDR sees Strand (mainly) using “Bossy”- the 2008 dance pop/electro pop single from female Us pop artists & actress Lindsay Lohan, and deconstructing it into: stretched-out psychedelic tinged drone/noise cross-breeds, distant regal drone drifts, distorted & hazed sonic scaping that shifting into intense almost gabba like contractions, and road drill grinding walled noise.
“Hazy Light” is a collection of bleak to laid-back-yet-still- gloomy female led folk songs. The nine tracks presented here are mainly based around melancholic yet harmonic acostic guitar plucking ‘n’ strumming, and Marcella Riccardi’s (Blake/e/e/e, Franklin Delano, Massimo Volume) wordy, pretty yet mainly stark voice. There is some minimal backing on a few track, but mainly this is very much a guitar & voice affair.
“Supreme Nudity” is a CDR release that offers up three 15 minute plus slices of rewarding & darkly imaginative walled noise from this German project. Die Reitenden Leichen has been in existence since 2009, and behind the project is one Matt Nihil- who also runs HNW/noise label Monolithische Aktion, and is in numerous other noise projects such as MX Nihil, The 120 Days, etc.
This split CDR brings together two tracks worth of dense & inescapable Hash Noise Wall. Ones tracks from one of scenes most recognizable name- Vomir, the French black bag wearing master of fixed HNW. And the other tracks from scene new comer Kansas City based Abyzm.
Lasse-Marc Riek is a German composer of deep listening works, and a strong proponent of field recordings. He has released several albums, as well as co-founding the Gruenrekorder label, which specializes in field recordings. This album from 2011, "Saison Concrète", contains a single piece, 44 minutes in length. Like many such albums, it is a very quiet and subtle album. It is no use trying to listen to this album on your stereo: headphones and a quiet listening environment are required.
Here’s a two track cdr, on Altar Of Waste; presented to the label’s usual high standards. Liver Failure is a three-strong supergroup, with one member being Alex Nowacki (a name you might recognise from his Boar project and Breaching Static label), another being Jeff Landgraf (the person behind the excellent Oblive and Mass Graves projects), and lastly, Patrick Gilligan (I Like You, Go Home). The dvd case is covered with a gritty picture of some hands gaining entry to a body’s innards, whilst the inside has a creepy image apparently culled from a computer game. Both untitled tracks are just over the ten-minute mark, and both set their sights on surging noise.
Death metal veterans Abominant are back with their tenth full length release. Celebrating their twentieth year with Onward to Annihilation, this Kentucky foursome shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. You know a band is serious about their output and commitment to the craft when they get tighter and heavier with time. Some bands are content to rest on their laurels and do as little as they can to keep the wheels from falling off. As Onward to Annihilation shows, Abominant is firmly in the former category.
In Heaven is the new album by long-time French experimental/musique concrete composer Brume (aka Christian Renou). Before even diving into this album, it already had 2 things going for it. For one, it’s a Quasi Pop release….a label that I’ve been greatly enjoying the output from lately. Secondly, In Heaven is a homage to David Lynch’s Eraserhead. I should mention that David Lynch is one of my favorite directors, so this album is already tugging at my heartstrings. However, that also poses a big challenge and raises the bar really high. If you’re going to do an album as an ode to one of the most inventive, surreal films of the 20th century, it had better be a damn good album. Luckily, for Mr. Renou, In Heaven hits the mark and could be an excellent alternative soundtrack to the film.
Saxophonist Charles Gayle is a veteran creator of intense cathartic freeform jazz, paying homage to the likes of Albert Ayler and Eric Dolphy. Gayle's own prolific prime came in the 90's, 20 years after that of his influences. This CD released last year in 2012, titled "Look Up", is a previously unreleased recording of a live show from 1994 in Santa Monica, California.
This is another lavish affair from Tompkins Square: a three cd set with an accompanying, extensive booklet. (I am reviewing a digital version, just to be clear.) As with numerous releases on the label, “Live At Caffe Lena…” is a labour of love; with the curators tracking down hundreds and hundreds of live tapes recorded over many, many years. These (often reel-to-reel) tapes all bore witness to performances at Caffe Lena - the creation and legacy of Lena Spencer.
It’s been a little while since I’ve heard anything from this atmospheric & often creative Richmond, Virginia based HNW project, so it’s great to have this recent(ish) release. “Struggle & seduction” is a single track CDR which offers up just over 74 minutes of dense yet subtle morphing walled noise.
Moloch is a Ukraine based one man Black Metal project, who since 2002 has put out a vast amount of releases that move from: dark ambience, raw black metal, to slightly experimental and quirky blacked metal. “Sterben unter der Blässe der Unvermeidlichkeit” is CD compilation which brings together rare & unreleased tracks from between 2002 & 2012, and as one would expect with this type of thing it’s a little mixed in quality, but there are some blacked gems on offer here.
“Useful or Useless” is 10th in series of twelve monthly three inch CDR releases that were put out through-out 2012 by Ireland's Bored Bear Recordings. Each release in this series offered up a debut release from one of twelve new projects that had been put together by highly influential & respected Texas noise artist Richard Ramirez.
Prolific German sound artist Stephan Mathieu's newest release, The Falling Rocket, comes in a nice 2xLP gatefold via Dekorder. For this release, Stephan used a Farfisa VIP 233 organ, a mechanical gramophone, a Hohner Electronium, and a radio. The performing was all done in real time, which is quite a feat considering how densely layered the songs on The Falling Rocket are. What we're given is a solid 80+ minutes of spacey, electroacoustic drone.
Season of Mist presents a re-issue of Gog’s Ironworks album on CD and digital format (the release original appeared on Utech Records in late 2012, as a vinyl only edition of 300 copies). Gog is the namesake blackened drone/ambient/experimental artist Michael Bjella. Based out of Arizona, Bjella has been toiling in the experimental underground for the better part of a decade now. Despite his longevity, this is my first experience with this project. So I was quite excited to dive in.
“Ta bouche de fraise me rend si sauvage” finds Mr Perrot (also of infamous French HNW act vomir) adding retro synth texturing/ electronics, & haphazard percussive matter to his dada/ demented take on experimental folk music.
Primus were one of the most distinctive & original bands to come out of the early 1990’s alternative rock up-rising.With their mix of:gurgling & creative fretless bass lines, playful & rubbery cartoon like vocals, skittering avant punk & experimental rock guitar textures, and taut syncopation drum work- they really sounded like no one else. Their edgy & often urgent sound brought together funk rock, taut funk metal, prog rock, punk/new wave, and experimental rock
Elainie Lillios is a new music / deep listening composer whose full length "Entre Espaces" collects a number of her previously completed works ranging from 5 to 15 minutes length. The tracks could be described as close-mic texture studies that interweave electronic elements and digital manipulation with high fidelity recordings of nature and every day elements of civilization.
Here’s an unknown name to me, on a very well-known label. The ESP Disk label is famous for its more “out there” recordings, with a roster that includes Patty Waters, The Godz, The Fugs and, of course, Albert (and Donald) Ayler. Whilst it has folkier albums scattered throughout its catalogue, its the free jazz explosion of the sixties which remains it’s foundation stone: indeed, the label’s first recording session was the almighty “Spiritual Unity” by the Albert Ayler Trio.
“Death Came Through A Phantom Ship" is the second album from this horror & ghost story themed Dutch symphonic black metal three piece. It originally appeared back in 2010, this recent reissue offers up the out of print original album with a selection of three unreleased tracks, that take in new versions of older songs & rare demo out-takes.