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“Trümmerlärm” is a pummelling, bleak & crude slice of walled noise from the French black bag wearing master of un-changeable ‘n’ battering HNW. The release comes in the form of a 3inch CDR, and offers up a single track of unflinching & inescapable walled noise.
“Opiate” is just under an hours worth of dense, swirling & searing walled noise that perfectly fits the heady yet body battering & devastating narcotic of it’s title. Foul is a long running dark & brutal HNW project from West Virginia, and it’s that’s all the work of J. Cadle (White Torture,...Massacre, Oasis Of Fear & HCV).
“Untitled II” is the second release from this dense, battering & slightly sleazy Swedish HNW project that has a very unhealthy interest/ obsession with US teen actress Chloë Grace Moretz whose appeared in both big budget & cult movies such as: Kick Ass, Let Me In ,Hugo & Dark Shadows.
“Nure-onna” is the 5th in series of twelve monthly three inch CDR releases that are to been put out through-out 2012 by Ireland's Bored Bear Recordings. Each release in this new series offers up a debut release from one of twelve new projects that are been put together by highly influential & respected Texas noise artist Richard Ramirez.
The charmingly entitled “Show Me Your Stomach Contents” is the fourth in series of twelve monthly three inch CDR releases that are to been put out through-out 2012 by Ireland's Bored Bear Recordings. Each release in this new series offers up a debut release from one of twelve new projects that are been put together by highly influential & respected Texas noise artist Richard Ramirez
Consecration of the Whipstain is Pat Maher's second album for Type under his Indignant Senility alias, and fits in nicely with the label's recent focus on harsher sounds.
Thousands of bands release music every day. Out of those thousands maybe a hundred get a decent review. Out of those hundred good reviews, maybe half that get to be heard (yes even in the days of the internet), and out of that half only a handful are remembered. All that leads us directly to Nachtvorst latest release Silence.
Yet again we delve into the world of experimental noise. Here we find Ohio-based Mike Shiflet with his latest offering Merciless. Happy was the surprise of hearing this release. While it is based in noise, it’s a appealing fusion of drone and ambient. Cassette manipulation, guitars and other instruments and yes noise are all mixed into a delicious broth of sound. Since 2001 Shiflet has released a slew of cassettes, cds, cdrs and vinyl by himself and with collaborators. Merciless is a limited edition vinyl pressing from Type Records.
Pulseve is an up and coming duo of drummer and bass player who have just released their 1st release, "Magnet", somewhat of an EP, containing 4 songs 5-8 minutes in length. Their sound is a groove oriented, mid-paced instrumental 'math rock', most notable for its heavy use of harmonizer effects for an icey, synthetic sounding 'melodic' bass, certainly a pleasant sound with a liquid beauty to it, though it lacks the expressive range of an electric guitar. Harmonizers tend to mask vital aspects of an instrument's tone, and though the one used here is high quality, this is no exception.
This split release from the Austrian experimental noise label Steinklang contrasts two stalwarts from the Japanese underground, both of which started releasing their wares in the late eighties. But while little has been heard from Tomo Kuwahara’s Vasilisk for the past twenty years, Dissecting Table (AKA Ichiro Tsuji) seems to have released at least one album per month ever since, building an incomprehensively vast discography typical of the noise scene.
It's official: Matt Elliott has finally become Leonard Cohen. 'The Broken Man'. It's even a title he would use. Sorry, it's a lazy comparison, perhaps, but it's definitely what came to mind when first listening to the album. The deep, brooding vocals, the gently plucked classical guitar, the dramatic backing arrangements, the sense of inescapable doom. It's all there.
Comprising one of four works in a series entitled Centre and Edge (curated by the heady Gruen label), The Maker explores the ever-curious nature of spaces. In particular, this series inspects the intersection of man-made and natural spaces. The object of this pastiche of field recordings is to “defy linear time” through the observation of the “vertical relationships” between these two disparate kinds of spaces (artificial vs. natural).
Jute Gyte (Adam Kalmhach) is a quietly prolific member of the slowly encroaching horde that practices crossover noise rooted in black metal. In these extreme outsider realms, the DIY approach is taken to extremes (out of necessity) as sole proprietorship over a project’s direction and content is often necessary along with heading up the label imprint to validate and distribute such work. In the case of Jute Gyte, this may also be chalked up to the relative lack of stimulating artistic opportunities in the state of Missouri.
Any child who grew up in the ‘70s was exposed to a turntable at a fairly young age and almost immediately discovered the joy of playing records recorded at 33 rpm—or better yet, 45—at that common but mostly unused 16 rpm setting. The result sounded like the demons of hellfire coming to lunch on one’s parents, no matter whether the original source was Shaun Cassidy, Barry Manilow, or the Rolling Stones. The concept of pitch may be extremely basic physics, but something about it captivates us instinctively at that age. We’re simply not cerebral enough to know that low, deep sounds aren’t inherently rooted in power and evil, and we end up carrying this illusion with us for the rest of our lives.
This is a release that looks like pure gold before you even play it. Beautifully packaged in a thick cloth bag -which has the Frailty Of Angels symbol screen-printed onto it - the cassette also comes with a sticker (of said symbol) and insert. On top of this, the insert tells us that the tape has one track on each side, both of which are around the ten minute mark. So, before you’ve even pressed “Play”, the ingredients are there for a truly accomplished, concise release.
"Froid Et Sang”( Cold & bloody) is a very apt title for this third release from this French HNW two piece, as the lengthy & brutal walled noise battering with-in feels like the audio equivalent of been stuck half dressed in a freezing ‘n’ skin battering winter hail/rain storm.
Daughter of Darkness is a rather mysterious HNW project that takes it’s name and theme from Category III movie (Asian Culture's equivalent to a NC-17 or extreme 18 rated movie) "Mie Men Can An Zhi Nie Sha"( aka Daughter Of Darkness).
“Space” finds Uk walled noise project Small Hours firmly in ANW territory with two slices of moody ‘n’ drifting ambient noise that are themed around the first Ridley Scott Alien movie.
Fan Service is a HNW project that’s themed around the kinky & the more sexualized side of Anime/ Manga. “Part III” is specifically themed around Mannyu Hiken Cho- which is meant to be one of the most over-the-top larger female breast obsessed anime series ever made.
Daniel Menche's abrasive, disruptive sound sculptures are always utterly uncompromising, and deeply, unapologetically difficult. There is rarely any sentimentality or obvious emotion in his music, and he employs a monochromatic, limited range of tone color. With this 70 minute album "Guts", he reaches new levels of unpleasantness, however, employing textures which even fans of noise could find irritating and unlistenable. These are the sounds of "abused and thrashed piano guts", according to the liner notes, and it is a razor sharp cacophany.
Sleep is perhaps one of life’s most taken for granted components - unless we don’t get enough of it. Its essential place in our everyday lives has obscured its more mysterious elements in our thoughts about it, although it (and the dreams which occur during its unavoidable spell) has fascinated artists, philosophers and deep thinkers long before recorded history. Regardless of your interest in changing consciousness (via chemicals; spiritual practice; sensory deprivation; repetitions in behavior, sight, and sound; etc) sleep is the one common altered state we all share. Sleep and dreaming are a place for the absurd, and acceptably so. It is with these ideas in mind that one can see the motivation behind the act which takes sleep as its namesake.
Grumbling Fur, now down to the duo of Daniel O'Sullivan and Alexander Tucker, return with this EP, and a move to a poppier sound.
This cd, on Utech Records, is very nicely packaged indeed; in fact, as far as I can see, Utech Records is a label that takes great care over the physical appearance of all their releases. Its all presented very sombrely and elegantly: a card slipcase with a black on grey print, and a similar design printed onto an folded, olive insert. This design is a swirling, nebulous black cloud; very intricate and beautiful. Its the kind of image that could easily be titled “Chaos” - and this, for me, illustrates my essential problem with the album.
This Polish vs American CDr (it's spray painted - haters of this media be warned!) split comes in a slim dvd case and comes on Rez Epo's own label Chaosynod, accompanied by a black and white artwork that is just ok. Mind that "Just ok" will be the keywords for this review.