C.C.C.C.

Started by acsenger, March 02, 2015, 06:49:42 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

acsenger

Not sure if a C.C.C.C. thread already exists (when I did a search, 22 pages of results came up, so it was hopeless to go through them all), but if so, please let me know. I'm looking for recommendation about what to buy by them. Somehow I've never heard anything by them except for the Early Works 4 CD box which I didn't like much, to be honest. I appreciate its historic/documentation aspect, but these live recordings listened to at home just weren't very interesting for me. However, from what I've read, their studio work is meant to be quite psychedelic. What would be a good place to start as far as their studio recordings are concerned?

THE RITA HN

LOVE & NOISE has always been a good go-to album.
a really epic roaring harsh noise landscape of sound with lots of fast climbing and falling.

jadderly

I have the Early Works box but haven't put it on in awhile. Maybe they're just not to your taste?

Baglady

Amplified Crystal is a good one. About the Early Works box, I really enjoy the first and last disc. 2nd and 3rd are good as well, but not as distinct I suppose. As a guide from their early steps towards their trademark style I think it works great.

I picked up an affordable copy of Community Center Cyber Crash LP just a couple of hours ago at a record store here in Gothenburg. Haven't listened to it yet though. ANy opinions on that one? Comes rather cheap on discogs as well.

tinnitustimulus

Test Tube Fantasy 7" from Ant-Zen.

acsenger

Quote from: jadderly on March 02, 2015, 08:16:41 PM
I have the Early Works box but haven't put it on in awhile. Maybe they're just not to your taste?

In general I'm not a fan of live noise albums. They might work very well if you experience them live, but for home listening I find they're often not as exciting as a well-crafted studio album. No doubt this is due to the different possibilities when recording live vs. at home/studio. In addition, these are early recordings by C.C.C.C. and they might well have still been looking for their style, so to say. So while I'm not a fan of the Early Works box, I'm quite sure I'd like at least some of their other stuff.

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I just checked them and everything else that's not a live recording on Discogs and there's nothing below roughly $25, with some being way more expensive. Oh well, what can you do.

ImpulsyStetoskopu

Quote from: acsenger on March 03, 2015, 12:27:42 PM
Quote from: jadderly on March 02, 2015, 08:16:41 PM
I have the Early Works box but haven't put it on in awhile. Maybe they're just not to your taste?

In general I'm not a fan of live noise albums. They might work very well if you experience them live, but for home listening I find they're often not as exciting as a well-crafted studio album. No doubt this is due to the different possibilities when recording live vs. at home/studio. In addition, these are early recordings by C.C.C.C. and they might well have still been looking for their style, so to say. So while I'm not a fan of the Early Works box, I'm quite sure I'd like at least some of their other stuff.

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I just checked them and everything else that's not a live recording on Discogs and there's nothing below roughly $25, with some being way more expensive. Oh well, what can you do.


The "Early Works" box includes many live tracks which are better than studio works.

impulsemanslaughter

Quote from: tinnitustimulus on March 02, 2015, 10:44:13 PM
Test Tube Fantasy 7" from Ant-Zen.

this is my favorite! Harsh noise perfection!

P A N I C

Flash is my favourite, with Flash for Rotten Limit as what I consider CCCC's breath-taking harsh noise epic right in the vein of Modern, Romance, relentless Incapacitants releases, etcetera. Totally fucking amazing.

Otherwise I have Early Works (decent), split with Nocturnal Emissions (great too!) and Amplified Crystal (very nice). I've heard a couple others but can't recall anything specific. Flash is hardcore worth checking out though.

bile

Quote from: THE RITA HN on March 02, 2015, 07:54:09 PM
LOVE & NOISE has always been a good go-to album.
a really epic roaring harsh noise landscape of sound with lots of fast climbing and falling.

Great recommendation, I had heard other material from C.C.C.C. and it hadn't been sticking with me...this release has left a great impression. Excited to continue digging into it.

l.b.

been awhile since I pulled it out but Rocket Shrine was one of the albums that converted me to harsh noise


Bloated Slutbag

Quote from: P A N I C on March 03, 2015, 09:27:10 PM
Flash is my favourite, with Flash for Rotten Limit as what I consider CCCC's breath-taking harsh noise epic right in the vein of Modern, Romance, relentless Incapacitants releases, etcetera. Totally fucking amazing.

Totally fucking right. The be all and end all, and, if the liners are correct, the sole work of Mr Hasegawa? This would then have been CCCC just before it mutated into solo unit Astro, but what a way to go. Seldom has Astro approached such scorcheries- on album. (Actually, at a good number of live Astro performances, those presented by yours soddly and thus to feature principally only the harshest of practitioners, Hasegawa has significantly upped the harshitudes, perhaps to keep in line with the general atmosphere of the evento.) "Flash for Rotten Limit" was recorded in 1996, also incidently the year which saw the release of "PT Team, what's that?" from Incapacitants' New Movements In CMPD. Definitely a lot of shared air between the two tracks, at least to these decidedly scorched earholes.

The lengthy title track from Rocket Shrine is another fave. A true scorcher. This was released in 1997, but as the whole group is credited I would guess the recording pre-dates Flash.

Recently, I've decided that LSD is also to be counted among the better offerings, thanks in no small part to repeated name checking from Zeno Marx. I think what always put me off was that lazer-like analog synth wave in one of the two tracks. Never liked that kind of shit. Still the sheer aural density of the album cannot be denied.

One more I often name check: Gnosis. I don't see it mentioned much, I assume it has never been reissued? The title seems a bit tongue-in-cheek as the recording sounds like some kind of mystical drone gone psychedelic scorch. This kind of sound I like very much, and seems so obvious that I would guess numerous artists have made attempts in the vein. Would very much like to hear any suggestions. (The only one off the top of my head, aside from a few Yamaakago live sets which were to the best of my knowledge never translated into release, would be Aube – The Four Shrines, in which Nakajima mixes source material from Mikawa/Incaps, Gomi/PJerk, and Ohno/Solmania. More Aube than any of his mix subjects, obviously, but achieves the expected scorching densities quite nicely.)

Last but certainly not least, the track on the Howard 31 comp (Artware). A good eight minutes worth of LSD-level richness, so easily worth the price of admission (actually some pretty solid contributions from a good few contributors...)

To the person inquiring after Community Center Cyber Crash, the principle weakness is that it tends to come off more as kind of rough industrial collage, not so much the harsh psych-purity to be found on later recordings. The principle strength is that it tends to come off more as kind of rough industrial collage, not so much the harsh psych-purity to be found on later recordings.
Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag

Mikerdeath

Quote from: ImpulsyStetoskopu on March 03, 2015, 04:45:41 PM
The "Early Works" box includes many live tracks which are better than studio works.

Seconded.

I would say the first three tracks "Live @ Gospel 1-3" are some of their best material for sound and experimentation, before they have a formula for a sound.
Raw and visceral listening experience. Essential.

Bloated Slutbag

#14
Just gave Reflexive Universe a listen and the hit was harder than it's been in the past. A live recording dated September 15, 1991 - which puts it in between CD 2 track 2 and CD 3 track 1 from the Early Works box. The two Early Works tracks feature the trio of Hasegawa-Hino-Kosakai, but Reflexive Universe is just the duo: Hasegawa / Synthesizer + Voice ; Hino / Electronics. The result is quite frankly some of the harshest scorcheries I've heard from CCCC. Very straight-ahead searing whitewash sunk to very shallow depths, highlighted by smooth and clear psyche-ambient sheen, with (a mercifully few) breaks for synth sputter. I suppose it was just that little bit too straight-ahead - or two dimensional - to earn my faith early on, but today it sounds just about right.
Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag