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Fuck Patrol is an transatlantic harsh noise collaboration between two gay ‘n’ proud noise artists, and “contact” is the projects first sonic fruits. The two piece brings together Texas noise legend and multi project linked Richard Ramirez, and Irish based Mark Ward of quirky harsh noise/HNW project Where is This & owner of excellent Irish noise label Bored Bear.
“Yeren” is the 8th in the series of twelve monthly 3 inch CDR releases that are been released through-out 2011 by Irelands Bored Bear Recordings. Each release in the series celebrates, pays tribute and chronicles one of the many projects of highly influential & respected Texas noise artist's Richard Ramirez.
For some reason Machinefabriek often remind me of Gavin Bryars around the time of Jesus Blood and Sinking of the Titanic. There a sadness and mournfulness that comes over in Machinefabrieks work and that impression is reinforced for me on this reissue of an album of live pieces recorded between 2006 and 2008.
First impressions whether we care to acknowledge them or not, strike a chord with us either consciously or unconsciously. Seeing the cover of Envenomists 2011 release Bound Dominions did so for me. Loathe as I am to admit it, hammerhead sharks scare me to no end. So upon seeing this I was already apprehensive for what lay inside the cd cover.
This self-titled debut is a re-release of a severely limited cassette that Forma, a trio from Bushwick, New York, put out earlier in the year to serve up highlights from their synth jams. Apparently, working duties get divided cleanly between melodic and rhythmic dimensions where Mark Dwinell and Sophie Lam get to play with most of the exhibits in their museum of old synths covering several Rolands and Yamahas with a Moog and Farfisa added for good measure, while George Bennett sticks to a couple of old drum machines.
This album from Portuguese purveyors of the weird Brobdingnagian, has been brought to the public’s attention via a triad of labels, namely; Universal Tongue, Rusty Axe Records and Perpetuam. 'Pretty Magoo Cancer' is Brobdingnagian’s second official LP, the first of which was released by Rusty Axe back in 2008 and just as the album title suggests, they wield an unearthly sense of the bizarre and unconventional...sitting somewhere between all out noise, black metal and psychedelic experimentalism.
I've known and respected Lea Cummings' Kovorox Sound label since hearing a couple Noma releases a few years back, but my experience with the label founder's personal musical output was hitherto limited to his freeform harsh noise project, Opaque. In utter contrast, this new release entitled "The New Astrology", the third volume in his "Revelations From the New Silence" series, is six tracks of consonant, pure and reverent chordal drone, not too dissimilar to Noma's "Mara" album.
Pulse II” is the second release from the ultra minimal textural noise/ambient project of uk based James Killick(of Katy Perry influenced HNW project Love Katy and owner of the great uk based HNW label Sweet Solitude).
This self titled split c60 brings together a side long track a piece from two great euro based HNW projects. Side ones taken up by Croatia based Placenta Lyposuction, and side twos taken up by ghoulish & grim French project Bördel Noïr. Each project offers up a thick, crushing and unrelenting ‘wall’ of HNW.
Here’s a very professionally presented tape from Sweat Lodge Guru, with dapper inlay artwork, inlay printing and on-tape printing. The sounds inside are evidence of a lot of effort too. The cassette has nine tracks (spread across both sides) of dark, eerie sound-scapes. I wouldn’t personally consider them to be particularly akin to soundtracks, but that should give you a sense of their territory.
On 15th July 2010 a call for submissions went up on the Chondritic Sound forum asking for contributions from “non-heterosexual noisicians” to form a “queer noise” compilation cassette. Come February this year 100 copies of the resultant C100 were released, named Silence=Death after New York’s gay activist group of the late eighties, boasting eighteen artists mainly from USA and Europe.
Steinklang Industries have unearthed this recording of Satori’s performance in Salzburg on the 10.10.2008 and it successfully captures this duo’s work in its rawest and most intense form. For those who are unaware, Satori is made up of Neil Chaney (the man behind the old-school industrial/noise project ‘Pessary’) and Justin Mitchell (head honcho of the highly respected Cold Spring record label) and together they deliver to the listener a terrifyingly rich sonic tapestry, sometimes ambient in texture or sometimes deeply crushing in its heaviosity, but certainly always dark as the pits of hell itself.
Nurse Unit is a Texas noise based project that has being active on & off since 1996- the project mixes up a perversely seared mixture of often active HNW, ear scalding Harsh noise and overloaded industrial attacks. Nurse Unit conists of Richard Ramirez(Werewolf Jerusalem, Black Leather Jesus, An Innocent Young Throat-Cutter, etc) & Alison Rowe (Rinne, Wasp Honeymoon & Human Cobras). “Detox” brings together the first four highly ltd tape release by the two piece in a wonderfully thought out and designed four tape box set.
This self-titled long player from Mamuthones, released on the Italian Boring Machines label, brings founding member Alessio Gastaldello together with Jennifer Gentle’s frontman Marco Fasolo and veteran drummer Maurizio Boldrin.
“Tissue Damage” is a seared & extreme medical/surgery themed HNW collaboration between US Texas based three piece Ascites, and ghoulish/ brutal one man Serbian based project Dead Body Collection. Each project offers up two sets of original track source material, which the other project gives a final flaying & boiling mix to.
“Wall Reaper” finds this hard hitting yet creative Iowa based HNW project offering up a single track of thick ‘n’ crushing walled noise matter. The track literal grinds ‘n’ tears you through over it’s near on forty minute runtime, then spits you out at the other end.
Fatalistic artwork, a compelling story and imaginative music; put all three together and you are presented with False Mirrors’ 2010 release Derelict World. Tobias Hornberger (the architect behind False Mirror, with help from Axel Baune, Tarek Mansur, Dieter Trustedt and Bjorn Springorum) carefully and intricately creates and manipulates sounds to match the story within.
“Consolament Bruitiste Part 1” finds the black bag wearing master of French unmoving and crusty walled noise offering up a c40 worth of fast paced, urgent and lo-fi battering walled noise.
Seth Horvitz is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, and designer whose work revolves around the perception of sound and the idiosyncratic behaviour of machines performing sound. Horvitz is most known for his innovative & creative techno project Sutekh which mixers elements of funk, dub, free jazz , noise, musique concrète, and classical minimalism into a techno & glitch sonic frame work. “Eight Studies For Automatic Piano” finds him creating modern classic works that are played in a live setting by machine operated piano's. The albums tracks mix together beyond human precision, detailed note patter-nation, and often harmonic/rewarding sonic detail.
Portland's Eternal Tapestry are adherants to the time-honored tradition of improvised, delay-laden space rock which has included such diverse groups as Phish, The Acid Mothers Temple and The Legendary Pink Dots. The journey of their latest release, "Beyond the 4th Door" begins deep within an open, slow moving trance-space (the first 3 doors already far behind), only to conclude even further into the distance.
This transatlantic collaboration is presented on a limited edition tape, and it’s presented without title or track titles. This serves as a noticeable contrast to the colourful imagery of the artwork: a tied up bear with a enormous penis on the front, and an insert decorated with chat-line adverts. Four tracks of ugly noise are spread across the cassette; one long piece and three shorter ones.
“Library Music 1” offers up eighteen tracks of fairly short but creative & varied mock library music from Swedish composer & multimedia artists Marcus Fjellström, whose most know for his mixing of classical & electronic elements on albums such as Exercises In Estrangement , Gebrauchsmusik & Schattenspieler.
“Haldor” is a charming, melodic and memorable collection of Germanic folk songs that mix in elements of lite indie guitar textures, pop and folk rock elements.
“Not Available” is the 5th album released by the musical art collective, derange pop and genreal off the wall sonic collective know as The Residents, who have been mixing and blurring the lines between musical genres for the last near on forty years. This album original appeared back in 1978, but it’s claimed it was recorded in 1974 just after the bands unhinged début “Meet The Residents”.