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Claudio Rocchetti's "The Carpenter" is a mix of many genres electronic and otherwise, but perhaps firstly it is one of those 'guitar and noise' records, in which conventionally melodic guitar playing exists in harmony alongside loops, noise, feedback experiments and a generally freeform avant garde feel in many places. I'm not sure if there's yet a name for this genre, though I can name others who are playing much the same kind of music - Alastair Galbraith, for one.
“Machofucker” finds these long running Texas noise ‘n’ sleazy merchants inflicting you with two extremely dense, battering, noisy yet higly enjoyable sides of 12 inch vinyl that mix together: Extreme noise, old school & grimy industrial steel abuse and haywire sometimes almost harmonic electronics.
Holy space ships. In the ongoing history of cinema and radio plays, extraterrestrial life, be it identied or unidentified, flying or not quite so, has been given a range of voices, from the stereotypical mad banter of little green men to the zooming and whooping of flying saucers. Yet all those sounds sound suddenly mundane and this-wordly when Chant, the opener to the Fred Bigot collection Mono/Stereo, kicks in.
It’s been four years since this atmopmospric and progressive Romania Black metal collective wowed the world their fourth album “Om” which was clearly their most prefect, realized and magnificent work that far. Now “Vîrstele Pãmîntului” appears with two or three member departinting in the interim between “Om” and now, and I’m afraid to say this is one of weakest & drab records of the bands career….I guess it’s true what they say once you reach perfection there’s only one way to go.
Split album, collaboration, or tag-team competition? I had a hard time picking just one of those labels to describe this joint effort, so I’ll cop out and use all of them. I don’t think they’d mind, since there’s elements of all three approaches on this disc, and the end result is diverse and engaging enough that no one of those labels really matters. The cover art (horror/trash movie stills) and leering track titles made me fear this would be yet another grinding slog, but like the Kenji Siratori et al. split disc I looked at the other week I was happy to be proven wrong.
Flesh Puppets was the first ever project of HNW innovator and highly prolific multi project linked Harsh noise legendary Richard Ramirez(Black Leather Jesus, Werewolf Jerusalem, Vice Wears Black Hose, An Innocent Young Throat-Cutter, ect). "Medusa" was the projects first release that was recorded back in 1989, & then released orignally on Ramirez’s own Deadline Recordings label in 1990. This reissue is the first time the album has been available since then.
Mass Graves is a HNW project that’s themed around Ghosts & paranormal activity. The man behind the project is Missouri USA based Jeff Landgraf whose also in the more straight forward horror influenced HNW project Oblive. “They Wait..” is the projects first release and it's theme from an abandoned orphanage near where Landgraf lives in St. Louis- that’s purported to be haunted by the ghosts of many dead children.
‘in the privacy of your own home’ was presumably recorded in the privacy of Mark Ward’s residence in Dublin, Ireland in 2007, who only got ‘round to mastering it for release on cassette last year.
“The Sixth Hour” finds Canadian based Harsh Noise Wall project Gomeisa offering up C60 worth of decaying, stop starting, to thick and head crushing 'walls' that are themed around Franz Kafka's short story, "In the Penal Colony," which ‘describes the last use of an elaborate torture and execution device that carved the sentence of the condemned prisoner on his skin in a script before letting him die, all in the course of twelve hours.' A Fine and grisly subject for a HNW release
“Pro-Life Message” is the first release from Louisiana based industrially caustic Harsh Noise wall project Slaughter-Fetus. It offers up a C50 tape worth thick, murky and industrial weaved HNW texturing and extreme caustic drone matter.
This comes from the deepest, most nonverbal corner of the id, wastes no time. Desperately blasts out of the speakers. Among the fiercest. You hear this noise and you know why. An animal violence. A serious 3" with the meat of many full lengths. How much hell can be raised in 18 minutes? Also it's functional. Use for catharsis for yourself. I like Moke's name.
Troubled Sleep #1 is the first extreme noise paper zine from the Portugal based Narcolepsia tape label which is run by one Manuel Pereira- whoes put together, designed and did all the interviews in this first zine. He also does all the design, layout and production for all of the tape releases too- so it’s a really one show.
Ethan Rose and Laura Gibson are both from Portland, Oregon but ‘Bridge Carols’ is their first collaboration, inspired by a desire to find new ways of working.
This untitled spilt brings together two sharp and short HWN shocks from Norway’s Hour Of the Wolf which is Andreas Brandal(Flesh Coffin, Drevne Bolesti, solo work, ect) more static wall noise project. And the highly prolific German based HNW project Ptomain.
’15-Tet Oakland’ finds Sissy Spacek moving further away from their noise grind cut-up origins, and it continues further down the noisy, yet highly controlled improv path. This album offers up tow length slices of seared yet highly rewarding improv with each track having an amazing 15 people involved in it’s twisting and edgy sonic construction.
‘Face the Sea of Darkness’ is this Swedish four piece’s debut album. And with it the band lovingly recreate the vibe, spirit and sonic character of the likes of Goblin, Fabio Frizzi and Riz Ortolani, and the late 70’s and early 1980’s soundtracks they composed for various classic Italian gore movies.
The best comparison I can make for this disc is that it's a very good Dissecting Table album, except that Dissecting Table had nothing to do with it. Instead, we have three folks -- one I'm familiar with, two I'm not -- turning in 15-20 minute knob-twisting workouts that do a remarkable job of emulating Mr. Ichiro Tsuji's nerve-battering assaults of noise and percussion. It's no ripoff, more of an "okay, here's my take on this" approach, and that's part of why I ended up pleasantly surprised.
Noma's "Mara" towers, majestically, It represents that of the beyond which has the power to call me. The drone musick of the spheres herein is heavenly pure. This record proves again that the purest of energy always takes the most simplistic shape. The structures of this album are transparent and perfect. The warm, buzzing music bubbles with youthful immediacy and energy, glows with a strange alluring light that sometimes becomes deceptively friendly.
‘Zone Sensible 2 / Dundee 2’ brings together two lengthy, rewarding and creative pieces of sound art and electro texturing from Frenchman Éric La Casa- who’s become one of most respected figures in modern Musique Concréte and sound art composition.
Diable Amoreux are a mysterious one man(or woman) project from Tasmania who make difficult to define and at times highly unhinged music. ‘Within The Circle’ finds the projects create this dense and spiralling twenty minute track that takes in elements of droning psychedelic guitars, lo-grade synths and organs. Overlapping and wavering orchestration, discordant piano tinkles, seemingly random field recordings, weird and sinister alien chatter, and all manner of weird sonic flotsam and jetsam they fancy throwing in a long the way. And in general the album has quite a dark gothic, yet unhinged feel to it in.
Hatchet For The Honeymoon are a Texas based male & female duo who make rewardingly detailed and textural moving HNW matter. The two piece project consists of: Ella Einsmire(E.E.E., Femme Under Plastic, S.S. Electronics, Viking Movement, Watch Me When I Kill) and Jonas Teunissen (RapeCity & Massacre In Dinosaur Valley).
Bloodcraving is the pummelling, unforgiving, spatter and gore movie influenced HNW project of Ron Cannibalo- who’s most know project is the 70’s and 80’s Italian cannibal film obsessed Cannibal Ritual, through he's is also in And You'll Live In Terror & Evelyn, as well as running the Disturbing Scenarios of Dying label too.
This $67 box set contains 2 CDs and a large, colorful, nearly 100 page book, all documenting the installation work of Mika Vainio, an artist most known for being half of the Finnish ambient electronic duo Pan Sonic. This package is by all appearances up to the usual high quality standards of the Raster Noton label, although I cannot say for sure as I have no physical copy of the set. It's important to note that, in total, there's only 2 disks of music here, some of which is reissued material, so you're mostly paying for the book when you buy this.
‘Vampyr: Light Of The Beast’ is the new slice of deeply horrifying, uneasy and dread filled death industrial, blacked ambience and general unsettling horror cinematics from Columbus Us based project Luasa Raelon which is the deformed and creepy sonic baby of one David Reed.