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‘Mind Control’ is the third album by Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats following the ultra-limited CDr ‘Volume 1’ and 2011’s ‘Blood Lust’.
If the many and varied music styles presented here sound dated it is, in a way,testament to Konrad Plank's innovations in engineering and production. The vast range of music he recorded at his Cologne studios throughout the seventies and early eighties all bore his idiosyncratic enthusiasm for sound regardless of whether it was made on standard instrumentation, evolving synth technologies, or even using objects and field recordings (and sometimes combining all the above). While merging avant garde manoeuvres with rock and pop styles was certainly unusual in those days, time has normalised his approach to an extent. And so, just as Hitchcock's Psycho is hard-pressed to scare audiences as much as it did upon release thanks to its influence on pretty much every horror and suspense film that followed, this compilation goes some way to highlight how Plank has had a similar effect on popular music.
“Crimes Of Passion” is a four way HNW compilation/split that is themed around various murder cases. The c90 tape brings together Brazilian based Carrion Black Pit, Minneapolis based Lethe, Texas based Folter, and Mayfield based Hearse Fetish. Each project offers up twenty to twenty one minute track.
“Barbarella” is the new disc by Insomnia, co-released by Mandarangan Recordings and Rarefazioni Uterine (Italy). Truth be told, this is my first introduction to Insomnia. After a little investigation, it appears to be the harsh industrial noise project of Jason Vizmanos based out of Chicago. Chicago seems to be fertile ground for scummy electronics these days, and as someone who has an affinity for noise from the windy city, I must say I was intrigued to give this disc a spin.
Lifting their name from J.R.R. Tolkien's oft troubled Deep Elves, Noldor's latest release 'In the Woods of Elfes' continues to see their instrumental themes, inspired wholly by the fictional works of Tolkien, realised.
Comprising of the primal aspirations of members Deathkvlt Prayer and Human Antithesis, 'Thy Kingly Mask' is the first full-length release from Kvlt of Hiob.
'Rage inside the Window' is the first full length release by the solo artist, Rasalhague. Taking inspiration from the plight of Danielle Crockett who was famously imprisoned by her mother at a very early age into a life of festering solitude; cut off from society until her eventual release.
This split CDR brings together two European Walled noise acts- we have Russian based Light Collapse, and UK based Acerbitas. The disc offers up a lengthy near on half an hour track from Light Collapse, and two seventeen to eighteen minute tracks from Acerbitas.
“Dammi La Frondola” gives the listener just shy of 50 minutes worth of dense & encasing static bound walled noise, which has some effective yet subtle textural changes along it’s brutal & suffocating sonic arch. Ecoute La Merde is an fairly active/ prolific French HNW/Harsh Noise project that formed back in 2007, and have so far amassed just over eighty releases that take in a lot of splits, a few strand alone releases, and compilation appearances.
Dead Perfection is the HNW project of Italian power electronics project Deviated Sister TV. And “Found Dead on the Shore Of The Lake” is projects first full length CDR release, after a split & compilation appearances.
Ireland’s Altar of Plagues burst onto the post-black metal scene a couple of years ago with ‘White Tomb’, an album which got pretty solid reviews thanks to its convincing mixture of, er, black metal and post-rock, and somehow seemed to confirm that it was finally ok building one’s own musical mythology, however far removed, upon the original norsecore canvas. Its 2011 successor ‘Mammal’, though, didn’t quite fulfil all of the expectations shoved – unjustly perhaps – onto the band. So, is new opus ‘Teethed Glory and Injury’, released this year on Canada’s Profound Lore(and Candlelight in Europe) , a case of third time lucky for what many view as the Green Isle’s answer to Wolves in the Throne’s Room?
Philippe Petit's latest release on Utech records, "Una Symphonia Della Paura", has a grimey, desolate, monochromatic dirge rock sound encircled by fearsome howls of shrill distortion. Petit has released a truly impressive amount of work since his debut in 2009, and has previously been known as an 'ambient/experimental DJ', so this album appears to be a bit of a departure.
“The Snow Bunker Tapes” sees DIJ offering up guitar/Totenpop versions of the tracks that made up the 2010 piano based album “Peaceful Snow”. So on the surface this may sound like a ‘hardcore fan’ only release, but in reality Douglas P has managed to make this worthwhile beyond a fan pandering release, as he brings out different, often starker, & at times surreal nuances within each of the albums thirteen songs.
Collaborations between artists from different ends of the same genre often lead to disaster. Joseph Hammer (LAFMS) and Jason Crumer managed to overcome the odds and make a quality recording. Hammer is known for his mix of musique concrete and tape loops while Jason Crumer rocks more of a harsh concrete approach. While genre fans are more than likely familiar with both artists, one would assume they are confused by the collaboration. Fear not, friends. Hammer and Crumer must have worked with each other at length over how to approach this album, and it shows.
Markus Wormstorm, (born Markus Smit) is a South African electronic musician who received classical piano training at the age of 12. Moving from Pretoria to Cape Town at the age of 19, Markus has been constantly developing his potent blend of hip hop influenced beats, glitches and ambient atmospheric sounds coupled with his classically trained musical knowledge. These days Markus is a major DJ and his sets are as legendary as his history.
Death Jenk is an American harsh noise all-star band comprising members of Custodian, Gnawed and Grain Belt, apparently formed in 2010 during a tour. Knowing the aforementioned bands it's easy to imagine what to expect: nothing less than classic, massive, messy American harsh noise in the vein of Macronympha, Skin Crime or Black Leather Jesus.
“Conversion” is a collaborative venture between Danish artist Jacob Kierkegaard and the ensemble known as Scenatet. In making this album Mr. Kierkegaard wanted to re imagine some of his earlier works as an instrumental score. Mr. Kierkegaard has a penchant for unusual recording methods and settings. For example, the track “Church” on this album was originally recorded at an abandoned church in radioactive Chernobyl. In crafting this album, he wanted to avoid any deliberate musical or emotional intent. Some might interpret that to be bold, others pretentious. I tried to suspend judgement and dive right in.I guess you'd file this under experimental symphonic music
Taking its name from a Sanskrit word used to describe fire rituals and sacrifices in the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions, Havan is the new project led by Cyclic Law label boss and all-round artist Frédéric Arbour (Visions, Longing for Dawn), whose first album, ‘Yajna’ – another Sanskrit word with a very similar meaning –, has recently been released on Frédéric’s own imprint. Meant as a collaborative effort, the one-track, twenty-nine minute album sees the Montrealer join forces with fellow Canadian Harlow MacFarlane (Funerary Call) and San Francisco-based violinist and photographer Sarah Rosalina Brady (Amber Asylum) for, as they themselves put it, an exploration into the channelling of sonic energies. The album, which features analogue synthesizers, guitar, gongs, bells, voice and electric violin, was recorded during a live ritual in November 2012.
Since he was handed a life sentence in the early 1970’s Charles Manson has remained one of the most notorious figures in American culture- some see him as a prophet or anti-hero, while others see him as an cold bloodied killer & master manipulator. Over the years there have been numerous books, documentaries, films, different forms of art expression & even sonic attempts to portray & capture Manson’s particular brand of evil, but few have seemingly managed to truly do so. "Manson Ambient” is one of the few successful attempts, and it real mangers to create a feeling of both tangible fear, sun hazed cult submersion, and a feeling of real malevolent evil.
“Water Beetles of Pollardstown Pound” is a field recording based release that journeys into the alien & mostly unheard world of aquatic insects. Tom Lawrence was a wildlife sound recordist, musician and educator, who lived in Dublin Island- sadly he passed away in late 2011, but this release is a fitting tribute to his ability to capture the strange & unique sounds of wildlife, and in particular here insects.
"To Drown" offers up a bleak, lengthy & often airless/suffocating trip into deep & blurred grey drone territory. As the release's title suggests this is meant to recreate the hopeless feeling of drowning in a vast dark ocean, and I guess it does manage to do what it sets out to.
“The Grain” is the third release from this UK based doom-drone two piece, and once again they offer up a extremely eerier, earthy, unsettling & fairly distitive take on the doom-drone form.
This split release from last year brings together tracks from Italian suicidal walled noise project Nascitari, and Florida based HNW/Harsh noise project Vasectomy Party. The release comes in two different editions: a seven inch lathe cut vinyl that featured two tracks- one from each project, and a CDR that features extended versions of the tracks from the 7 inch, plus an extra Vasectomy Party track. I’m reviewing here the CDR version of the release.
The duo Dead Neanderthals play a style for which John Zorn coined the term "jazzcore", a combination of the timbres and impromptu structures of free jazz with the absolute speed and aggression of grindcore. "Jazzhammer / Stormannsgalskap" is a 20 minute release, with two tracks sporting the names in the title.