Shutting down this blog for the moment...
...as the subject line says, I'm stopping posting to this review blog. It has obviously been over a year since my last post -- and I've been a while out of the noise scene. Personal and professional reasons, et al. So in any case, thanks to everyone who has sent me material for review, and I love to see how the noise scene keeps growing and flourishing.
Cheers,
Ben
Review: Prurient -- Black Vase (Load Records, 2005)
Prurient's 2005 opus
Black Vase on Providence's
Load Records is one of the most violent exercises in feedback manipulation ever recorded. Well, that's just the first track, "Roman Shower"...overall, the album is just all-around a collection of monstrously harsh tracks with a disregard for genre. There's the vocal abuse Dominick is most well-known for, a great deal of pitch-shifting feedback, and the surprising addition of live and electronic drums on a number of tracks. "Silent Mary," the first of these drum collaborations, was the preview track on the Load Website, with a slow doom-metal drum loop. You can download it here:
Silent Mary MP3The title track brings together these styles, beginning with silence, a fading wave of ambience, screaming feedback and then a judiciously-spaced drum part. This song is worth the price of admission itself; a 17-minute exploration of sub-bass frequencies, cymbal rolls, Dominick's wails, and ear-cleaning skree. Also of note is the exemplary final diptych, "Lord of Love" and "Myth of Love." "Lord of Love" is a straightforward exercise in brutality, recalling portions of Prurient's
Ground Fault CD
Shipwrecker's Diary. "Myth of Love" involves, of all things, organ synthesizers. Plus all the other goodnesses that make Dominick of force of nature in the noise world. Note that the drums and synthesizers were played by Providence-based recording engineer Kris Lapke.
Review: Gnostic Rocket -- A Eulogy for History (Umbrella Noize Collective, 2006)
This album from Toronto's
Gnostic Rocket is available on the net-label
Umbrella Noize Collective, run by Oklahoma City's
Ctephin. A quick note -- Ctephin submitted an awesome track for the
un_ravel compilation on
my label, burlap_records. Unfortunately, it didn't fit in with the other tracks on the comp, so I had to cut it...with much regret. So I just want to give some credit here to a solid experimental loop composer who is also doing a great service to the noise community by hosting such an array of free-download albums by small projects.
As per this
Gnostic Rocket album, first thought -- beautiful cover art. I don't know much about the painting other than what GR has supplied (info on the artist Karl Briullov and the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" is on his blog
here) but the artwork complements the atmospheres herein. This isn't noise music, to be clear -- it's a mass of ambient dub, with excellent spacing and clear vision for where each track is going. The first track, "
Null Hypothesis," begins with only a reverb-drenched guitar, and seems like it will be progressing in that vein...but slowly, the tone of that guitar begins to shift into a synth tone with just a little bit of grit. Excellent atmospheres are created in these minimal but beautifully composed sounds. The album overall bears some similarity to
Dead Hollywood Stars' "Gone West" album with its combination of bottleneck slide and small doses of industrial loops, especially in the last track "
In the Margins."
My favorite track, "
Syria, 1921," is a dense, melodic bass odyssey, with harmonies interacting in all sorts of ways. Little clouds of static and rhythmic self-oscillation bubble up, and these beautiful whirring melodic tones come out of the background. Overall a very satisfying short release from this new-to-me artist. Alan Bloor (of Knurl) has an ambient side-project called
Pholde, which performed at
the Ambient Ping last month, and I unfortunately missed. Now I see another excellent Toronto ambient artist, who also performs at the Ping, and I am really wanting to head across the border one of these Tuesdays for their weekly live ambient/experimental events. Great, great music.
Review: Praying for Oblivion -- The Love Generation (Radio Obsolete Recordings, 2004)
There's not much of a scene here in Buffalo for straight-up, unapologetic power electronics -- I believe
Praying for Oblivion, the P.E. project of Andrew Seal, is the only artist currently active, as far as I've become aware. This album was originally recorded in 1999, and released in this format in 2004, and features the full array of PFO styles. Some tracks, such as "Bloodletting" and "The Great Serpent," are composed as waves of layered harsh noise, while others like "Collapsing God Pts. I and II" are thick-drone vocal P.E. I will admit that my tastes run toward the more chaotic in noise recordings, but this breed of drone and distorted vocals can be engaging in a different way. The Whitehouse and Brighter Death Now influences are definitely there in this recording, but I also hear a lot of Lockweld's "Industrial Requiem" album in these tracks. This is P.E. that is cold and foreboding, but not a brutal sonic assault like some acts out there in the genre (Grunt or Taint, let's say). There is a developed sense of drone active in these tracks, a constantly shifting activity that keeps its tonal range tight but ever-oscillating. A track that epitomizes this is the instrumental "Monochrome," my favorite track on the disc. If you like your vodka with a splash of vodka, this is the stuff...no nonsense, just hardline power electronics.
Now what I'd love to hear are some splits he did with
Government Alpha, Eugenics Council, and Hermit...Andrew's been around for a while, and we're lucky to have him here in Buffalo. As a side-note: tentatively, he and I will be doing a collaborative set at Nietzsche's in Buffalo on August 3rd as part of the
2006 Buffalo Infringement Festival. If you're in the area, check it out!
Review: Phroq -- Collapse (Ground Fault, 2005)
I purchased this CD as soon as it arrived on the Ground Fault catalog last year, but haven't listened to it nearly enough... This is a hard-to-categorize album, in that it is certainly not a harsh noise release in the tradition of anything Japanese. Francisco Meirino, the sound sculptor behind this calculatingly violent recording, composes meticulous layers of ear-piercing feedback at different levels of volume, with short bursts of rolling static, grinding sounds, and a cruel sense of harmonic dissonance. The buildup of fluctuating feedback tones is almost too much to take...even for me. I had trouble listening to the album much after its purchase last year, and I can't really say why other than it was just too painful. The title track has so many movements over the course of its 11 minutes that I'd consider this, in parts, an avant-garde composition rather than a popular noise release. But track 4, "Music for French Writings" marks a return to roiling harsh noise, albeit a complex digitally-recorded incarnation. "Psychotest, Last Attempt" is my favorite on the release, with its glitchy, minimal textures, rolling seafoam, and insect- and bird-like expressions. Overall, a solid, endlessly varying release. It's my first Phroq acquisition, and it has really grabbed my ear with its clear sense of vision. Those who believe harsh noise shouldn't interact with computers need to hear this thing. The most blistering tracks, "Pulse and Impulse," "Music for French Writings," and "The Litigation," are as chaotic and violent as you could ask for. And there's a lot of quiet time, too...
Review: Knurl -- Scyamine (PACrec, 2006)
From the first blast of reverberating thrum, this new album from Alan Bloor's
Knurl project does not rest before getting down to business. What will you find on this disc? Pure noise fury: intermittent percussive blasts, waves of bass, and a high-end assault of masterfully-crafted metallic textures culled from stainless steel. As he has been doing since 1994, Bloor constructs hand-made instruments from metal parts, sometimes from scrap and at other times from fresh, unsullied materials. I'm not certain which is the case here, but the sounds are crisp and distinct (it's mastered with an excellent ear, as with most
PACrec releases) so I get the impression of a glistening construction at the center of the mass of sound. This is a sobering vision of uncompromising cruelty, a "Soilent Green" directed by a machine.
High points are hard to pick. Each track has a very different compositional structure, though they use the same sound source. The unyielding waves of "Exteroceptor" are harsh noise purity at its strongest, and the more rhythmic title track exhibits a range of ideas that layer and weave seamlessly...my favorite might be "Entrosyme," an exercise in stark contrasts and conflicting rhythms that is complex (listen for the harmonies that emerge after the 3-minute mark) but manageable. In albums like this, where there is so much going on in all directions, I like to hear the tracks where movements can be clearly extracted.
The last track, "Panasomiasis," is as true a vision of "industrial music" I have heard, with its pulsating sound floor and vaguely rhythmic layers of contrasting metallic slide and crunch. I came to noise music through the industrial path, seeking more pure, non-dance explorations of the aesthetic explored by the first wave of Throbbing Gristle, Einstuerzende Neubauten, and SPK. Certain artists, like Knurl and Cleveland's
Lockweld, really bring the stark, post-political worldview of the industrial ethos into realization. But that's not all Knurl does -- he brings a level of sonic art to every track, exploring new materials, rhythmic ideas, and dynamic changes. This is essential listening; nobody does harsh better than Knurl.
Review: Mutant Ape/The Rita -- Armed Combat Collaborations IV (2006, Turgid Animal Recordings)
I will repeat what has been said many times before: wall-noise artists need to be listened to at very high volumes for the full effect of the sound to carry through to an audience. The sound can fast become an ambient sleep-inducement if you play it quietly. With attention, you can push the heavy rumble of the foreground to the side and reach in to the harmonic movement that can be found behind. Many of the artists out there, though, don't seem interested in this conscious layering so much as the subconscious effects letting the noise wash over you can cause. The pure physical pressure of two gutter-diving wall fiends,
Mutant Ape and
The Rita, piling layers on layers of viscous crunch and roll, is overwhelming.
On this disc, the initial "warning shot" of feedback clues you in to the area of space you'll be reaching out to for harmonic consolation, elusive as it is, in finding the meat of this collaboration. There are great metallic textures at play here, and melodic elements that scream between the speakers. There's a sense that a small force, being overwhelmed by an army, is blasting away with everything it has in its arsenal, and comes ever-so-close to overpowering the machine. But in the end the underdog loses. It's a vulgar display of brute force played out in sonic allegory, complete with screaming civilians, sharp streaks of incoming fire, and enough machismo to rival
Stallone's entire ouevre.
Brand-spankin'-new from the U.K.'s
Turgid Animal Recordings. Already sold out from the label, but George says that copies should be available from
The Rita himself (Militant Walls, Canada) and
Molehill Records (Japan).
Review: Mutant Ape/Torturing Nurse -- Armed Combat Collaborations III (2006, Turgid Animal Recordings)
This is an absolutely brutal, take-no-prisoners barrage of rhythmic rumble punctuated with layers of foul, vaguely tonal feedback. This top layer, the "melodic line," if you will, is hard on the ears and gets a little redundant after a while...but come the halfway point (circa 14-15 minutes into the single track of the collaboration) the feedback becomes a concentrated, unyielding squeal which lasts for over two minutes before a rest. Surprisingly, a shift occurred for me as I sat through this dose of excess: the other sounds present on the release began to move forward in my field of observation. What I believe is Mutant Ape's contribution, the roiling background, is understatedly complex and required multiple listens for me to get my head around. The second half of the relese is just as unrelenting as the first, but seems to feature more vocal textures in the upper layers. Very satisfying noise, even with (or perhaps because of) its gross excess of feedback, which clears the air for the developments on the ground.
I'm looking forward to hearing more from Turgid's
Armed Combat Collaborations series...this is some great material.
Review: Hum of the Druid -- Trials (2005, Barbituarian Media)
This easily made my top five releases of 2005, and a lot of others' lists as well.
Hum of the Druid (HOTD) is a recent addition to the West Coast noise scene. The distorted textures on this disc are of the heavy-crunch mold, buut the compositions are anything but the sort of wall noise expected from the likes of The Rita. These HOTD tracks employ massive amounts of reverb and dynamic shifts to chart a very distinctive path. The sound is tectonic, neanderthal...there's a sense of something human in there, but it's buried under the weight of a world both earthy and simultaneously cold, alien. At some moments in the track "Civil," I become aware of a likeness to Sun Ra's "Atlantis" composition, another epic story in experimental music.
Trials is noise that, even played at extremely high volumes, is far from unlistenable for the untrained ear...it's menacing, powerful, yet captivating. There's a dramatic edge to the developments here, a buildup and release that demand your attention.
Copies are
still on sale from the artist at
http://druid.thekatana.com/order.html for the insanely low price of $5 postage paid...this is a album that you'd be foolish to miss. Check out the review on
Aversionline as well...they write excellent noise, metal and hardcore reviews.
Review: Directbrainstimulation -- Nephropexy (SI Recordings, 2006)
From the starting moments of track 1, this Directbrainstimulation release is far-removed from the lo-fi, one-take improvisation of
Neurostimulator. Nephropexy is a crushing experience, a calculated expression full of twists with an appreciation for space and anticipation. It showcases DBS' ability to distill a coherent sonic plotline and radically differentiate tracks in advancing that motion. These are tightly layered compositions, isolating patterns of different ranges and positions in the stereo field. The landscape produced has a sense of rhythm which is harsh and complex. Especially of note is track 4, "Crimson Executioner," which is an interesting departure. Ambient layers and slow drum pattern evoke comparisons to Megaptera, Control, and others in the death-industrial fold, then it develops into a spinning whirr of noise that is distinctly DBS. Fantastic release -- those interested in the underground sound of noise music in the US should definitely snag a copy.
By no means am I saying that there can be a national noise sound...that's just silly. The idea's been being thrown back and forth ever since the Japanese-American Noise Treaty disc) but I will say that differences can be distinguished between the noise scenes in different countries -- even ones as geographically close as the U.K. and Belgium. All have excellent points going for them, and demand exploration.
I open this topic because I've realized that I need to review more materials outside the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Japan. There are killer projects active in Europe and South America that I've hardly touched on. The main countries from which the largest number of harsh noise acts seem to emerge are Japan, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and France/Belgium, but there are emergent scenes all over the globe which just need to be discovered. If you know of some great material from other countries, post a comment or email me. India or China anyone? I know Torturing Nurse, but is anyone else from mainland Asia?
Review: Damno Te -- The Wizard's Birthday (Farfromshowbiz 2006)
Brand spanking new from Alberta's
Damno Te is an MP3 release on the
Farfromshowbiz Netlabel. My first impression: wow, that's some terrible cover art. Other Farfromshowbiz releases, like DCLXVI's
Enoch, have some VERY impressive artwork, but this Damno Te release is nowhere close to that caliber. In any case, I won't judge the visual aesthetics too prominently. If you haven't heard Damno Te before, check this album out -- it's a brief but eclectic foray into the swirling pedal manipulation Mark explores. Fans of delay pedals unite! I wouldn't put it up as one of his
best releases ("27 KM Below" is more to my taste), primarily due to the extremely short length of several tracks. Seven of the fifteen tracks are under a minute in length, which is not nearly enough for an artist whose sound centers in the "wall noise" style. What
is here is very entertaining, however. It's
free to download at http://www.archive.org/details/ffs89; give it a listen.
Side note (and plug) -- Damno Te's track "Green Magic" is featured on the
Burlap_records compilation "un_ravel" -- I finally have all of the artist copies out, so about 30 remain for sale!
Email me to check availability, and payments ($7 ppd US, $9 int'l) are accepted by PayPal to
benhockenberry@gmail.com.
Review: Wilt -- Lies the Path of Doom (Chondritic Sound, 2005)
Originally posted on 6/27/2006 to Washtublibrarian
This 3" release is a mix of three live performances over the course of three months in 2004, and exhibits the powerful complexity of drone that
Wilt's ambient outings are noted for. There's a great sense of space in this composition, as each sound is accorded its own place in space and time, from the sparest sound of a footstep to a crunching wave of distortion. "Lies the Path of Doom" swells and recedes like a fever, and the conclusion converges with blasting steps on a small, fragile place like the onslaught of industry.
Too much poetry for a CD review. But that's Wilt -- complex but spare, with elements that contradict each other in the process of forming a whole that is full of portent and character. This is album is very alien in its textures, but it places the listener into the middle of a scene and asks--no, demands--that you play the part of the tiny animal walking down this path.
Now, my last point in this review has nothing to do with the music. I love Wilt, we know this. I also love the artwork that
Chondritic Sound packs into the liner notes here. The interior photograph of three small cherries on a branch is a mesmerizing portrait, a perfect complement to the sound.
However, I almost wasn't able to
hear the album because not only was the top of the CD spray-painted when the CDs were made, but
so were the sides. Chondritic has a good aesthetic sense to the way they spray-paint the CDs, but I think Greh should make sure not to spray either the sides or the inner circle of the disc. While the paint doesn't touch the sensitive side of the disc at all (great job) it changes the width of the CD and causes it not to spin correctly in some CD players. In fact, many CD players. I tried the CD in three players, and it worked in none; thankfully, it spun correctly in my computer and I was successful in ripping it to MP3. So I burned a copy and keep the Chondritic release in my CD tower with the rest of my Wilt collection. This is not an isolated incident -- my copy of
Pengo's "Beaten Back to Infancy" won't play on standard CD players either...it goes spinning out of control. I haven't purchased any Chondritic material since the Pengo disc, so I don't know if they've remedied the problem, but it is an aggravation. I really want to get some more of Chondritic's material, as they release some of the best textural noise-ambient out there...the label's run by Greh Holger of
Hive Mind and
Black Sand Desert -- two projects you should know in the world of underworldly music.
Back to Wilt -- a fantastic album.
Review: nkondi -- themoonisaharshmistress (XDEY, 2005)
Originally posted on 6/25/2006 to Washtublibrarian
X Died Enroute Y (XDEY) Records outdid themselves on this release's packaging. I ordered it last year having only seen the packaging and never having heard nkondi's work (since, I've sought out many other releases). It's in a small handmade sandpaper package of good craftsmanship, with a band of lighter-shaded fine grit sandpaper as a nameplate. Inside is a paper spraypainted insert with typed track titles. Beautiful package, suiting the gritty sonic explorations within.
Side note: the XDEY Records Website features the cruelest use of pastel colors that I've seen on the web. The page settings are even established so that when you use your cursor to highlight the text, you can't see the text well -- the highlight color is pale yellow on pale blue. It's like an Easter egg hunt with the demonic bunny figure from Donnie Darko in charge.Played at high volumes, the feedback tones on this release will kill your cats and cause malign results in developing children; at low volumes, it's incredibly musical. The tracks are harsh, and many explore a pitch-shifting feedback foreground over a disorienting noise background. There are many change-ups in style, though -- tracks 4 and 5 take an exceptionally low-intensity apprach while allowing the atmosphere to build. Though the sound is contiguous, something in the feel of this recording gives me a sense of R.H.Y. Yau's theme of sounds spaced with silence. Perhaps this nkondi album is like a Yau record with the silence extracted...but the musicality of feedback in themoonisaharshmistress is in a class all its own. This release is
highly recommended, though hard to find -- it was a limited release of 25.
It's not often that I pick up a release for the packaging and end up loving it for the sound. Case in point --
Radio Shock's new album on Pink Triforce Tapes (which I don't intend to review other than saying here that it's terrible) which I snagged for the burlap-and-buttons packaging. Again, terrible terrible album--then again, I ain't no
"noise-party music" fan, um, that is, if there are
any out there. Cute packaging, though.
Review: Nothingisttrue/Acin -- Heil the Coming Apocalypse (Absalom Recordings 2005)
Originally posted on 6/25/2006 to Washtublibrarian
I haven't investigated much Nothingisttrue material yet; in fact, I'm having trouble finding out much about the project on the net! I know the project has been around for years, and may be based in St. Louis, MO. They've released a lot on Freak Animal Records and they've done split releases with a lot of major artists (Haters and nkondi among others).
In any case, the three NIT tracks on this
Absalom Recordings 3" CD grab my attention. Thick layers of reverb-drenched power electronics are here in full effect, with a healthy dose of warbling bass alongside ear-piercing ranges of harmonic feedback. The vocals are well-placed in the mix, far back enough to become part of the textural weave. Definitely need to hear more from NIT.
Every time I write NIT, I keep thinking of
Navicon Torture Technologies...not the same project, though both in the PE vein. I digress.
The final track, Acin's "Evil Seed of Adam," is a throbbing mass of harsh noise with a thunderous bass rumble and a heavy midrange crunch. This Rochester-based artist sent me copies of a good number of his Absalom releases, and I look forward to reviewing more of them. Also, mention must be made of Mike's other musical project, the brutal, Incantation-style sludge-grindcore project
Venereal Messiah, who are playing several gigs this month around Rochester.
Review: Macronympha -- Bulk Density 2xCD (Harshnoise 2006)
Originally posted on 6/13/2006 to Washtublibrarian
Just got a shipment from Harshnoise, a great label that produces quality noise releases for cheap. I'm slightly annoyed, as usual, with the way jewel cases always seem to break in the mail. I bought two releases, one being this 2xCD set and another being a single CD, and both jewel cases arrived cracked and with the center hub busted. 
Those little teeth/nubs that hold the CD in place always crumble off, and once one falls off, all the rest just go like dominoes. Cardstock sleeves and digipacks are the wave of the future, kids.
But I digress: time to review this brand-new release from Macronympha, one of the big guns in American noise history. He's been active since the 1980s, and just recently began playing live shows again at such festivals as the No Fun Fest and the No Future Fest. Bulk Density is everything you'd expect from Macro -- a full onslaught of layered harsh noise, with not a break in sight. There are a lot of different textures here ("bulk density" it is) but to me, it seemed to be lacking a little in the lower register. Don't get me wrong, this is no high-pitched feedback spree, but there's a noticeable lack of bass in much of this recording. However, I enjoy it a lot; the prominence of midrange frequencies emphasizes timbral texture without relying on the crutches of heavy bass or high-end skree. Overall, a very satisfying purchase; clocking in at 50+ minutes per CD, this is nearly two hours of engaging sound for the low low price of $12, postage paid. Powerful: I give it a 4 out of 5.
Review: Knurl -- Nervescrap (Pure, 1994)
Originally posted on 6/8/2006 to Washtublibrarian
Six years before I began listening to noise music--which is ten years before I started Locust Sympathizer--the Canadian sound artist Alan Bloor, better known as
Knurl, recorded the nine-track metallic noise opus Nervescrap on the
RRRecords sublabel
Pure. This album is the essence of what I've wanted to create with my noise project: it is complex but non-academic, intense but comprehensible, resonant, and textured. Knurl, though a North American project, bears a lot of similarity to Japanese artists of the period, like K2, Incapacitants and Killer Bug. Knurl uses hand-crafted metal boxes, springs and wire constructions as instruments, exploring the sonic possibilities of different metals as processed through electronics. Note, however, that he uses no computers or other digital post-processing -- this is all pure analog noise.
In Nervescrap, Knurl explores not only the textures of sounds, however, but the tones that can be coaxed from the materials. These are not synthesized tones matching specific frequencies--that would defeat the purpose--instead, the irregular, natural harmonics escaping the metal surfaces interact between layers in each composition to develop a dare-I-say "melodic" core.
While possibly too involved and harsh for a new inductee to the genre, I would recommend Nervescrap to anyone who hasn't breached the surface of the world of noise. Where many are introduced through the works of Merzbow, Sonic Youth, or more recently Wolf Eyes, I think Knurl is an excellent way for someone coming from the less extreme side of music to see what noise is all about. It's not about black-metal theatrics or ear-bleeding volume, it's about an uncompromising devotion to the aesthetic of sound.
Review: Directbrainstimulation -- Neurostimulator (SI Recordings, 2006)
Originally posted on 6/1/2006 to WashtublibrarianThe noise scene today is kept alive and vital through the same primitive economic technique that has maintained the Grateful Dead -- the trade. Rick Winn, a prolific musician from Illinoise, operates a largely "trade-only" label called SI Recordings, primarily for the release of his Directbrainstimulus project, but with other artists featured at times. I got a shipment of CDs from him a couple of months back, and haven't had much opportunity to listen to the material more than once or twice. Today I saw the box sitting--all black, ragged, and ominous--by my amplifier, and decided it was time to write up.
Make no mistake about it: Directbrainstimulus is raw, chaotic, and lo-fi. This is gutter pedal tweakery to an extreme. The EQ is haphazard and the cuts between effects are jagged.
That said, I love this CD.
The single 50-minute track was recorded in a single session without edits or overdubs, which shows not only in the aforementioned rawness but in the sheer volume of musical ideas expressed. The disc starts off with a midtempo high-frequency machinery loop, which is perhaps the slowest rhythm on the whole thing. This is the sound of an active mind at play. I love the environment created in a composition realizing itself over a span of time, then radically shifting gears and forcing itself into a new experiment. This type of composition is where the so-called "junk-noise" genre shows its strength -- hearkening back to the playful anarchism (though not necessarily the spiritual philosophies) of John Cage, the post-Neubauten school of sound experimentation does more with less. But this isn't academics, it's punk. This is that weird guy down the street with the t-shirts from some metal band nobody's ever heard of, who plays around in his basement with a bunch of amplifiers and a curling iron.
Oh wait, that was me last week.
Okay, this review's getting away from me, so I think I'll leave it at that. In some ways, there's nothing to write home about on this DBS release; but if you're in the frame of mind to explore a terrain of sonic improvisation, it's fascinating to experience.
Review: Arctic Crash/The Cherry Point -- Split C16 (Stentorian Tapes, 2005)
Originally posted on 5/22/2006 to WashtublibrarianStentorian Tapes: great label. So many awesome projects have been released by them in the year they've existed -- and they released a Locust Symp C-10 as well, so I can't say anything but praise. [grin] Seriously, though, this album is an exciting collaboration between two very different projects. Arctic Crash is Stentorian Tapes' headliner, and he explores the deep resonant atmosphere at the cusp of noise and dark-ambient. The layers of delay-pedal tweakery contrast and harmonize beautifully, creating a feel in the vein of later Lustmord at several points. The first minute of the track gives me the image of a caged animal in a laboratory...fascinating atmospheres at play here.
Side B features the far-less subdued Phil Blankenship under his moniker
The Cherry Point. The approach taken in the TCP track "Excite Me Gently" blends with the Arctic Crash model of reverb saturation, and adds several healthy doses of fuzz distortion into the mix, resulting in a monolithic storm of sound. Emerging from the background is an unsteady wind, providing a point of focus in an otherwise disorienting wall of violent static. The Cherry Point demands your full, undivided attention.
In other words, this split is
highly recommended. I'd say the same about the whole Stentorian back catalog -- I'll review a few more of their releases later.
As a side note -- this is the first time my organization's internet blocker has stopped the category "Tasteless."
Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.
Reason: The Websense category "Tasteless" is filtered.
URL: http://www.bloodmania.com/The "Tasteless" category -- HI-larious. But a warning to all y'all out there in Library-land, don't pull up the TCP site on your work computer or you may just be fired.
Review: Tinnitustimulus -- Tom Bennett's Album (Deaf Culture Music, 2005)
Originally posted on 5/22/2006 to WashtublibrarianThis album, one of the first full-lengths from Southern Tier (New York State) noise artist Tom Bennett, is an uncompromising foray into the realm of experimentation where John Cage meets Whitehouse. Tinnitustimulus employs a variety of pedals, acoustic instruments, battery-powered radio sets, and a hell of a lot of tinfoil in the direction of this cacophony. My favorite tracks are the ones where a noise-ambient approach is explored, such as "Double Freemartin" and "Dead Leaves in Ice," though the pure assault in tracks like "F*** You Love Life" and "Airplane" is intense and well-executed.
Something of a prodigy in the Western New York noise scene, Bennett composed this album before graduation from High School, and despite living in the relatively remote town of Bath, NY, he has succeeded in playing live shows alongside such acts as the Arthur Doyle Electroacoustic Ensemble and Pengo. Definitely a project to watch develop; he has a keen sense for composition, and has a poetic voice using long phrases of sound, which is a characteristic I really admire in noise composers.
Unfortunately, you'd be HARD-pressed to find a copy of this album; Bennett releases these albums in extremely limited editions. Random Tinnitustimulus albums can be obtained via mailorder from
Carbon Records out of Rochester, NY.
New Album Online at Archive.org: Locust Sympathizer - Bathsheba
Originally posted on 5/17/2006 to Washtublibrarian
Review: Wilt -- Wither (Crionic Mind, 2001)
Originally posted 5/12/2006 to WashtublibrarianAnother mine from the
Industrial.org database -- here's a review of one of my all-time favorite purveyors of harsh ambient (sic) noise. This is another 2004 review. Now he's in Chicago, doing a more harsh soundscape style for many of his limited edition releases. I'll post a bunch of my Wilt reviews soon...I have about 15 of his releases on various formats. Great guy, James, by the way -- he's on the compilation I put together for (hopeful) release later this month, and seemed really flattered that I'm such a fanboy. I'll get you your promo copies of the comp soon, James!
A Wilt recording that takes most of its source material from natural sounds found around James P. Keeler's new (as of 2001) home in the countryside of upstate NY, this is a very dark album with roots in dark-ambient, but a style that frequently pushes out into the noise/power electronics direction. Forceful ambience? Track 3, "Soiled," is an incredible example. The sound is fluid but textural, billowing and dissipating. Near the end of the track, a wave morphs into animal growls. A field of static releases short bursts of these growl-like tones, outlining a jerky, staccato rhythm. From the hard noise of"Shivering Spine" and "Mud" to the dripping ambience of "Still, Violent Waters" (not to mention the eerie transformation of bird wings to military drums in "Taunting the Raven") this is an album not to be missed. The album is full of fairly short, recognizable loops, fields of static and drone, and interesting experiments that fit a very cohesive vision. Miles away from the cold, claustrophobic atmosphere of 2000's "The Black Box Aesthetic," and signalling some of the direction to come on his later full-lengths "Amidst a Spacious Fabric" and "Radio 1940", Wilt here produces a vibrant environment that has a definite sense of space to it. An experience the whole ride through.
As a side note, anybody here in Buffalo want to take a trip to Chicago soon? I missed the Wilt/Oscillating Innards show a few months back, but he plays there all the time and I
need to hit a show.
Review: Umbra -- Unclean Spirit (The Rectrix, 1999)
Posted on 5/12/2006 to Washtublibrarian.
One of my noise reviews from two years ago -- I'm mining my old posts at
Industrial.org for the good reviews.
So here we have a ten-track album by
Umbra, which is a collaborative project between Scott Candey of Gruntsplatter and Stephen Petrus of Murderous Vision. My old review (with MASSIVE factual incorrectness...don't know where I got the idea they were from Poland! IDIOT.):
This dark-ambient release from Poland fills out a space with the grind of teeth and the pulse of protruding veins. Flowing textures melt over sheets of sonic sandpaper. That said (pardon the poetic crap), the sound is not as distinctive as some other bands in the genre, unfortunately; it's a good blend of ambient industrial soundscapes, with a vibe that seems more like the American end of the genre rather than the Eastern European death-industrial sound, but it doesn't have the distinctness to stick in my head. Nonetheless, fans of Wilt or Gruntsplatter will enjoy this--it fits right in next to their work. Released: 2002, out of print and stock at the label, but some distro still has copies: try www.carbonrecords.com if you're interested. That's where I got mine, small distro that has some obscure stuff (and they're based out of my hometown).
So, to clarify: released in
1999, not 2002. And they're stateside, dude, not from Poland. Man -- I don't know where I got that information from.
Review: Tourette - Eroboros (Truculent Recordings 2006)
Originally posted on 4/27/2006 to Washtublibrarian
This is a sweeping album, consisting largely of airy ambient textures which devolve into hearty doses of static. The transitions between movements on this cassette are jarring, as a swath of soundtrack-style ambience fades to silence to be interrupted by a massive wall of texture, feedback and cut-up sound. Like other
Truculent releases I've mentioned, this calculated attack of virile noise is perfectly composed. Prior to buying this cassette, I had only heard Tourette on their
Harshnoise release "Parmi les Pierres Eclatees", where the project seemed to be getting its legs but not quite achieving its desired sound. While far from lo-fi, the approach is still minimalist, with a single-track approach to the sound. Here, the digital sound-manipulation gets full production and a respectful dose of modesty while keeping the hard edge alive. Awesome tape that runs a little short for my taste but exposes the development the project has gone through.
Review: Pedestrian Deposit - Volatile (Truculent/Hospital Productions 2004)
Originally posted on 4/19/2006 to Washtublibrarian
First off, a quick note that I love Truculent Recordings CD covers. I have several Prurient releases on Truculent, and they have this beautiful minimalism and tender photographic treatment that really gives that extra human edge to the material therein. I just got a copy of Volatile, by Pedestrian Deposit, one of the most high profile harsh noise artists hailing from the left coast. The artwork consists of just a female neck with slightly frizzy hair dangling from what might be a bun, with the woman wearing a soft black blouse, her face in shadow. The paint treatment looks very Baroque, but the extreme closeup renders the immediacy of a moment while keeping to soft curved lines. The remainder of the CD cover is a harsh red/pink with grey-blue text that would boggle the colorblind. Awesome.
Oh, the music. It's what should be expected from the first full-length pressed CD from the project -- terrifically harsh cut-up abrasion with a sense of mercy. There's a lot of near-silence (track 4, "Naomi/In and Out of Consciousness", is 15 minutes of very quiet sound) which makes a delicious contrast with the bowel-wrenching pedal noise characterizing much of the album. PD's noise approach is riveting in that it has elements of spasticity but maintains an artistic sense of balance, much like the aforementioned Prurient (though their techniques in creating sound are on opposite ends of the spectrum). In any case, glad I bought it, and it hasn't left my player in a week. I'll try to review Tourette's "Eroboros" next, also from Truculent.
Review: K2 - Panellinki Antartiki Organosis (Bawler Productions 1997)
Originally posted on 2/22/2006 to Washtublibrarian
Hey all, Jenn will probably be reading this post and remarking on why I'm not still writing that metadata policy for the Fire Museum Digital Library...but I decided to take a break and review the noise I've been rocking out to for the last half of the policy-writing bull. And I'm partaking of a fine scotch (well, a cheap single-malt, one of the $22 bottles, nothin' too fancy) so I'm a little wobbly and ready for a break from metadata.
K2. Nuff said.
Don't know why I haven't reviewed his stuff before. But here's a quick review of Panellinki Antartiki Organosis, a cassette that's a little over 15 minutes to a side and simply rocks your socks off the whole time.
But anyway, this album is genius. One of K2's earlier works from the mid-90s, it brings to the forefront all of the fantastic elements that have made K2 an enduring name in noise music. It might be because I have it rigged to play through my big bass amp, but the depth and breadth of the sound quality is so intense...the K man blows the roof off with blasts of blistering harshness, cut up by bass drones and pitch-shifting passages with no transitions to speak of. I could imagine this to be a progression of 45 tracks per side of the cassette, with all the schisms cutting up the sound. Overall, just an awesome release; hard to find in its original format, but the cover art is awesome as well.
Review: Skin Crime - Desecration (Self Abuse Records 1993)
Originally posted 2/17/2006 to Washtublibrarian
Beginning with pure silence, a small clatter, and a hiss of static, a magnum opus of beautifully composed noise grows. Skin Crime is undoubtedly one of the most creative groups composing in the idiom--their layering is subdued and insidious, but uncompromising. Layers of purely digital sounds, vocal noise, hiss and scree, counter-rhythmic motives, and pedal tweakery pile on top of one another to build an incredible cacophony that is hideous and breathtaking. This release is essential to anyone who loves sound, in all its incarnations. Fascinating.
Review: The Rita - Magazine (Abisko, 2005)
Originally posted 2/17/2006 to Washtublibrarian
A concept album from the Canadian rumble-core master, this two-cassette set is a document of harsh-noise purity, specifically designed to annoy critics and some fans alike. The four sides get progressively more monolithic in approach; if you want variation in the rumble of oversaturated clipping, stop after the first side (which is actually a great piece of Rita-style improvisation). The rest of the tapes is solely intended for the purists out there. That said, I found a lot of pleasant variation even through side 3. Side 4 could almost be a 20 second loop, drawn out for 20 minutes...again, if you don't want to hear it, don't listen to it. But compared to other non-artists working with this sort of sound, The Rita have a fleshed-out tone that makes even this last side, titled "Obsession", listenable and (dare I say) enjoyable.
Tags:
The Rita,
Noise,
Record Reviews
Review: The Rita - Sea Wolf Leviathan (Solipsism 2004)
Originally posted 2/17/2006 to Washtublibrarian
The trademark rumble of The Rita is here in full form, with screeching layers punctuating the rolling sea of chaos. The tone of the main layer shifts constantly through "Wolf Pack", the first 30-minute track on the disc. As the track comes to a close (in the 20- to 30-minute area) the chaos grows more and more layered, with the start-and-stop sound of power tools, high-intensity feedback, and total rhythmic decentering. The second track, "Blechholler", is more subdued in some ways, as the Rita Rumble (tm) takes front stage for the first part of the track, with comparatively quiet contributions from Mania, who collaborated on the track. There are many tasty moments in this track...a really nice section begins a little before the 10-minute mark. It slows down (tempo? sort of) halfway through the track, with the bass tones taking the foreground.
Overall, this is an excellent album in the expanding scene of harsh noise. The Rita has a style that can be considered to be an extremely loud form of ambient music--depending on how you listen, it can be an avalanche of sound that pummels and crushes you with no release, or a wall of serenity with just enough punctuation to keep you listening. If you're into The Rita, find a copy of this album. If you haven't gotten past the armored underbelly of the harsh noise scene, give it a listen, and adjust the volume to wherever you find it suits your taste. For those who have heard some of the stuff in the subgenre and aren't yet convinced it's more than just a pedal loop and a mixer without an artist shaping the sound, check it out.
Tags:
The Rita,
Noise,
Record Reviews
New Home of Washtublibrarian's Noise Reviews
Greetings. While it's been an entertaining run over at
Washtublibrarian, I'm marking a schism between my main categories of postings. Noise reviews will now go over here, at
http://BitRotReviews.blogspot.com. Over the next couple of days, I'll be transferring my old review posts over to here, then I'll be posting all new noise-related content on this blog. I'll be posting aggregate lists of reviews on Washtub every few weeks, though.
Hey all, Jenn will probably be reading this post and remarking on why I'm not still writing that metadata policy for the Fire Museum Digital Library...but I decided to take a break and review the noise I've been rocking out to for the last half of the policy-writing bull. And I'm partaking of a fine scotch (well, a cheap single-malt, one of the $22 bottles, nothin' too fancy) so I'm a little wobbly and ready for a break from metadata.
Beginning with pure silence, a small clatter, and a hiss of static, a magnum opus of beautifully composed noise grows. Skin Crime is undoubtedly one of the most creative groups composing in the idiom--their layering is subdued and insidious, but uncompromising. Layers of purely digital sounds, vocal noise, hiss and scree, counter-rhythmic motives, and pedal tweakery pile on top of one another to build an incredible cacophony that is hideous and breathtaking. This release is essential to anyone who loves sound, in all its incarnations. Fascinating.
A concept album from the Canadian rumble-core master, this two-cassette set is a document of harsh-noise purity, specifically designed to annoy critics and some fans alike. The four sides get progressively more monolithic in approach; if you want variation in the rumble of oversaturated clipping, stop after the first side (which is actually a great piece of Rita-style improvisation). The rest of the tapes is solely intended for the purists out there. That said, I found a lot of pleasant variation even through side 3. Side 4 could almost be a 20 second loop, drawn out for 20 minutes...again, if you don't want to hear it, don't listen to it. But compared to other non-artists working with this sort of sound, The Rita have a fleshed-out tone that makes even this last side, titled "Obsession", listenable and (dare I say) enjoyable.
The trademark rumble of The Rita is here in full form, with screeching layers punctuating the rolling sea of chaos. The tone of the main layer shifts constantly through "Wolf Pack", the first 30-minute track on the disc. As the track comes to a close (in the 20- to 30-minute area) the chaos grows more and more layered, with the start-and-stop sound of power tools, high-intensity feedback, and total rhythmic decentering. The second track, "Blechholler", is more subdued in some ways, as the Rita Rumble (tm) takes front stage for the first part of the track, with comparatively quiet contributions from Mania, who collaborated on the track. There are many tasty moments in this track...a really nice section begins a little before the 10-minute mark. It slows down (tempo? sort of) halfway through the track, with the bass tones taking the foreground.
