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“Unchained” is the second reissue of the classic and cheesy muscle bound metal by Thor on the Finnish label Ektro which is run by Jussi Lehtisalo (Circles Bass player). Thor are a Canadian heavy metal band who are fronted by ex body builder and former Mr. Canada and Mr. USA Jon Mikl Thor. “Unchained” originally appeared way back in 1983 as just an ep, but here it’s boosted to a full length with five extra tracks.
“The Pyre” is an audio/visual project that brings together Ex Anticon, hard hitting and mould breaking rapper Sole. And Denver based poet-painter, sculptor, film artist and activist Ravi Zupa. The release is made up of a 72 page booklet and a full length CD- the CD features Sole’s epic poem put to music, and the booklet takes in Sole's words illustrated by Ravi Zupa.
Taken from a series of live recordings from the Noise Destruction Syndrome Tour, this limited edition cassette consists of 9 tracks from the French three-piece Mourmansk150, who started blasting out their blistering, misanthropic, anarcho-nihilist music in the late 1990's.
Pregnant Spore and Dementia and Hope Trails are just two names among many others that Baltimore’s Justin Marc Lloyd records behind, rapidly releasing seemingly improvised experiments with electronics, sampling and guitar over the past three years or so. This bulky brick of a release by Side A Records, resembling those learn-a-language-in-two days tutorial packs of yesteryear, houses two 46 minute tapes, one for each nom de plume, demonstrating a strong contrast in styles between the two.
Multifaceted industrial vocalist Blixa Bargeld and uncommonly musical glitch artist Alva Noto may seem to some minds an odd pairing, but apparently the two have admired each other's work for years. Both have certainly thrown the full force of their artistic intensity into their hugely ambitious first full length collaborative effort under the name ANBB, titled "Mimikry", which somehow manages not only to live up to expectations, but to be more than the sum of its parts.
16:9 is the debut cd from Glasgows Stuart Sweeney. For the past 20+ years Mr. Sweeney has been a talented musician, songwriter for film, advertising and television and performer with South Bank Centre’s London Philharmonic. An enviable list of work and on this his debut we are given a peek at just how diverse an artist he is.
Technical Drawings are a duo who utilise prepared electric piano and a lot of shiny processing equipment and electronics. They use these to create looping and percussive blocks of sound; or, to be crass about it, something that sounds like electronica or good old-fashioned dance music. To some extent, this is an exercise in maximalism - getting the most that one can out of an often minimised set-up; for example, a guitar, a loop pedal and a microphone, a prepared electric piano and a computer. This is fine in itself; to some extent the whole of free improv is based around this notion, and Aube’s entire career has revolved around it. However, having chosen to maximise this minimal set-up, Technical Drawings have then further limited themselves to structures and constructions clearly derived from electronica/IDM/etc; or at least aiming at them. This is a reasonable and brave venture, but not without problems.
“Procession” is the third full length release from this French one man HNW project. The projects very much obsessed with African tribal culture, myths and magic. This CDR offers up four untitled tracks & just short of eighty minutes worth of static and bass lined voodoo ‘walls’.
“Pulse” is the first release from the new ultra minimal textural noise/ambient project of uk based James Killick(of the controversial Katy Perry influenced HNW project Love Katy and owner of the great uk based HNW label Sweet Solitude).
“The Rack” offers up two just over twenty minute tracks of thick,detailed and textured static noise sculpturing. Any new work by this harsh noise and HNW innovator/originator is always worthy and creative, but “The Rack” stands as one of my favourite works by The Rita(aka canadian Sam McKinlay) thus far. And it’s also one of the finest examples of textured static you ever likely to have come across.
“Scrapyard” is seen as one of the classic recordings of mid 1990’s American Harsh noise scene, and it originally brought together two tracks from Richard Ramirez and one lengthy twenty plus minute track from Black Leather Jesus. This reissue adds on an extra new track from Mr Ramirez.
Black Snow Epoch is the second release on Cold Spring UK from the collaborative efforts of Goatvargr (Swedens Nordvargr and Goat from the US). Taking inspiration from each others prolific artistry of industrial, noise and dark ambient they unite in creating a malevolent, unforgiving world.
Le Sang d’un Poète was a film by the French avant-garde writer Jean Cocteau of 1930. Despite denying that he had anything at all to do with the surrealist movement, the film was financed by Charles de Noailles, the same producer of Buñuel and Dali’s infamous L’Âge D’Or of the same year, and shares a similar, pioneering approach to spectacular experimentation unhindered by plot. And like many surrealist works before, it explores the relationship between art and dreams, initially focussing on an artist who manages to wake a statue who duly sends him through a mirror to explore an unusual hotel, and so forth.
Nascitari is an Italy HNW project who call their brand of noise ‘Black Static Funeral Noise Wall’ -which I think rather nice describes what’s on offer here. So if you dig tar black, very dense and total unforgiving walled noise please read on.
“Cycle” offers up two three inch cdrs- one featuring the noisy talents of Italy based Fukte, and the other the more droning yet still dense of noisy work of Japanese based Soma.
For me, the letters DAF will always stand for Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, but the Dead Air Fresheners, a free-spirited, generally experimental outfit out of Seattle/Olympia/Portland, do no disservice to the acronym. Armed with an array of cheap guitar pedals, suburban neo-dadaist cheekiness and an irrespressible drive to press on into new realms of thought and sound, they make up for what they lack in professionalism with their abundant enthusiasm and lack of inhibition. Evidently believers in power of spontaneous and even accidental creation, most of the band's music is free improvisation with varying electronic setups.
If I’d reviewed this after the first listen, I think I would have slated this album; purely down to personal prejudices and disappointed expectations. Fortunately, I’m contractually bound to listen more than once…
I’ve been listening to this album every day for a week now both in the house and also outdoors on an I-pod and I still don’t know if I like it or not. It’s a fascinating album and one I keep revisiting but it’s not because it’s catchy or because I like the way the sounds are put together or I like the production it’s more that I’m intrigued by the processes and intentions behind it.
GOG is the drone/doom/ambient project of Michael Bjella (with help from friends here and there). Heavy Fierce Brightness… is their second release for Utech records. What GOG presents to us here is a slow slithering colossal slab of doom tinged drone, all wrapped up in a lovely package with artwork by Locrians’ Terence Hannum.
“Pedestrian X-ing” is 5th of 12 monthly 3inch CDR releases that are going to 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.
The wonderfully named Suncarcass are a HNW project from Illinois, USA who have been putting out releases in dribs ‘n’ drabs since mid 2009. "Naked Unwanted" is the projects second full length release, after a few splits on various labels, and this CDR releases offers up two hypnotic and rewarding slices of twenty minute plus walled matter.
“Stockings Bloody Stockings part II” sees highly prolific and deeply brutal Serbian based Dead Body Collection offering up a single just shy of eighty minute wall of rapid, extreme and moorish walled matter.
“H^2” is the second full length release from Swedish sound artist and composer Hanna Hartman. And it finds her offering up a collection of tracks that mix together cleverly edited field recording elements with stripped musical and rhythmic textures.
‘Underground’ is around the thirtieth release of 2010 (out of at least forty) for Norway’s Andreas Brandal, who’s been recording in one shape or form since the late eighties and heads up the noisy experimental label, Twilight Luggage. This, though, is released on Florida’s Rotifer Cassettes, and features six mainly ambient tracks across its 40 minutes, all built with haunting properties.