CONTRASTATE
I got introduced to this project in mid 90's when Tesco / Functional released their work. It sounded strange. Not very noisy compared to all the other stuff label had to offer. I liked what I heard, but it took me some more years to become "obsessed" to the degree I needed all their stuff. It wasn't until quite recently when I finally decided to invest money to buy original 1st & 2nd LP. I would say were about the best 30 euro/each investment I had paid for this year!
Reviews welcomed. It's not long ago since I listened the 2xpic LP and the 12" on tesco. 7" reviews previously posted on noisefanatics.com
We know Segerhuva is doing Mort Aux Vaches on LP soon. Impatient for it, since never got the CD. How is the last cd from 2006?
Discography
Seven Hands Seek Nine Fingers (LP, Ltd) Black Rose Recordings 1989
Seven Hands Seek Nine Fingers (CD) Fin De Siècle Media 2005
Album starts in great way. Short introduction piece in experimental sounds layered on top of eachother is in couple minutes transformed into minimal metal banging loop. Just short like 1 second long "clang clong", "clang clong", "clang clong", "clang clong" keeps repeating so long that first time I listened this I wondered did it end up in lock groove?? Little by little they start to tranform the mood to add subtle drones on the back, the further you go, little scraping and carving sounds rise from behind. Like dragging knives, or some tools on metal, wood, floor or whatever. Suddenly in exactly middle of the side, the rhythm loop stops. Machine like music transforms into experimental dark sound. Multi layered humming, sounds that remind you of axe or knife being sharpened, synthesizer drones. It is just hard to descibe how natural and amazing the flow is. It is not like they'd just throw shit over eachother. And it's not like things would just start and stop. All transitions seems planned, all sounds seem blending eachother. You can't really know what to expect to happen in next 2-3 minutes. There can continue in route you thought, or they will make totally unexpected thing. Before end of the side, suddenly rises tones of organs and commanding voice almost like Führer ranting from the balcony. It last just few seconds, before more abstract approach goes on. And it doesn't sound misplaced. It doesn't sound like pasted on, but just something what needed to be there. In end of track level of noisiness grows. Very organic sound instead of metal junk or something.
On b-side gloomy tones of keyboards with spoken word on the top. Very simple piece goes on for long time. Tones of keyboard has strange slow vibration what makes it almost out of tune, and the impact of each chord is nearly percussive. I would really like to know how they made it. What was used to make this sounding tones. Track ends to industrial noise loops. 2nd track on b-side starts with ethereal keyboards with physical sounds layered under. Water, some kind of throwing things around. This is the way it also ends, but between was unexpected noisier moments.
CD had bonus? I think so. (MA)
A Thousand Badgers In Labour (LP, Ltd) Black Rose Recordings 1990
A Thousand Badgers In Labour (CD) Black Rose Recordings 1995
Great 2nd LP. Eerie exprerimental drones, very naturally shifting, occasionally goes to moods what I'd say could be there English "world serpent'sih" thing, with simple chords of acoustic guitar with out of tune male voice. Not really "folk", just highly echoed distant music.
A-side is filled with tones of organs, heartbeat like pulse on the back, side ending with spoken word over similar atmospheres like album started. B-side is darker. Experimental droning sound with something that sounds almost like processed sounds of wind and low end hum of keyboards, then transfers into very obscure echoing sounds slowly shifts into sampled laughter rising over sound. While track proceeds forward, it becomes darker and darker. Distant screams, howls, whispers, multilayered noisy (but not noise) sound craftmanship. The very last track of LP is almost pure industrial noise. It sounds as if something like old school clock was being contact mic'ed, but multiple layers of feedback noise on the top. So many layers are applied, that it sounds more like the infamous screeching sound of Ferial Confine for example. It has slight rhythm, but sounds as if not clock, but actually loops of banging piece of metal pipe. Very distant lo-fi & distorted choir sounds become audible only in very last moments of song. Otherwise they blended perfectly in mix. Making you not really hear them, but FEEL that there is more in this track that what appears to be.
Maybe not their best album, but like all their work: essential. I guess CD has couple bonus tracks? I just have the LP. Any comments on bonus?? (MA)
I (Cass) Direction Music 1991
I (CD, Album) Functional Organisation 1993
A Live Coal Under The Ashes (CD + LP, S/Sided) Tesco Organisation 1992
A Live Coal Under The Ashes (CD, Album, RE) Tesco Organisation 2008
I Am A Clown Collecting Moments (And Other Chocolates) (7", Ltd) Dying Earth Records 1993
Band that is quite hard to put in category. While they have this name, which gives very industrial feeling, they have releases on such labels as Tesco Organization (this 7" happens to be out between "A Live Coal Under The Ashes" (tesco) "i" (functional) and Throwing Out The Baby With The Bathwater (vinyl: Tesco & cd: Functional), they are very obscure. Somewhere in experimental soundcollage. They may present you moments of impressive industrial echoes and sonic obscurities, but soon buried under clip of old jazz, spoken word or something. I first played the other side on wrong speed (33 instead of 45) and the jazz clips sounded haunting and dark, it was kind of unfortunate to realize that while track otherwise improved with correct speed, some moments would have been better if slowed down...
One of the Contrastate guys was running Black Rose Recordings responsible for Coil/Vortex Campaign/TNB cd, releases of Z'ev, Francisco Lopez, RLW, Band of Pain,...... basically tastes of the label show the direction of Contrastate as project. It's hard to say whether you could file it under innovative industrial or merely sound art collages. But whatever it is, it is good. Old release from 1993, but hardly a collectors trophy. Therefore possible to find for very tolerable costs.
English Embers (EP) ◄ (2 versions) Drone Records ... 1994
English Embers (7", Ltd, Pin) Drone Records 1994
English Embers (CD, EP) Dirter Promotions 1996
Throwing Out The Baby With The Bathwater (Album) ◄ (2 versions) Tesco Organisation ... 1995
Throwing Out The Baby With The Bathwater (LP, Ltd, Pic + 12", Ltd, Pic) Tesco Organisation 1995
Throwing Out The Baby With The Bathwater (CD, Album) Functional Organisation 1995
Mort Aux Vaches (CD, Album, Ltd) Mort Aux Vaches 1996
Goodbye Great Nation (CD, EP) Black Rose Recordings 1997
Under The Line Laying North (7", Ltd) Fourth Dimension Records 1997
Todesmelodie (CD, Album) Noise Museum 1999
Extract No. 10 (7", Ltd) Outsider Records 2000
While ago reviewed another 7" of them. It's equally good, although different. After 3 rotations today, I can say this is great. First side starts with relaxing looped "melody", which is soon driven over by short loop of bassy pulse and other sounds, which makes it sound almost like eching distant train (which it isn't). In half of the track sound has been stripped down merely consisting this looped "beat". And that's when the track finally really starts. Great panning on spoken word samples, slowly approaching synth tone... experimental industrial atmosphere, which doesn't rely on distortion or roughness, but machine like repetation with enough control & artistic touch with good skills of composition.
B-side is darker. Slow sweeping synth waves, low pulsating sounds (which this time could be a distant train!) and heavily echoing deep voiced speeches and even distant orchestral fragments on the back. There is abundance of subtle details and ongoing layers on all levels. Song slowly evolves and flows towards end of it's short 4 minutes playing time. Never noisy, but just amazingly well put together, without becoming "real music", or "keyboard ambient", nor "art music" (in negative sense).
It's another great release of Contrastate, and dates back to 2000, which means this must be their last materials they recorded? 2 CD's after that is just collections of old rarities. Even if cover says 45rpm, this plays at 33. In case you get copy without the later added sticker.
False Fangs For Old Werewolves (CD) Fin De Siècle Media 2005
Handbags & DADA (CD) Fin De Siècle Media 2006
I have been excited about this group ever since I got the "Throwing out the baby with the bathwater" vinyl set in 1996. They have a rare sense of "story-telling" atmosphere and often I think the music would fit very well to both theatre plays and dancing shows. A very special sounding group with music that just is not made these days. The themes are very often quite political, though not in a very clear way - actually the "Mort aux vaches" CD perhaps has the most straightforward politically charged vocals ever during their existance.
The last album is "Todesmelodie" from 1999 - the "Handbags and dada" CD from 2006 is made up of the material from the "Festival Karlsruhe" tape set on Tesco plus a extra long live track recorded years later. I can write something about "Todesmelodie" this weekend as I accidentally had it in my Discman today!
Todesmelodie (CD, Album) Noise Museum 1999
I'm assuming the title refers to being the last album of Contrastate - but it also serves as the end of the line in regards to their ordinary subjects of the decline of England etc. I wouldn't necessarily call this album complex but it has a stranger structure to it than most other Contrastate albums. The main thing here is that it lacks a bit of engaging sounds and natural evolution for album.
Starts out with long, slow organ (?) tone with incoming accordion tones, followed by delayed female ululating and eventually a bit cheesy rhythm. Spoken words with guitar comes into the rhythm and makes interesting composition. Second track background rhythm with additional sounds on top - strange choirs, cut-up vocals and film samples. End goes on for too long but otherwise good. Third track "Cutting the cancer" is again more "folky" with simple guitar lines and double vocals in the beginning, transforms into rhythm and loops then back to same style as beginning of track, then forth and back again. Last track is very long, like 25 minutes. Starts with a bit delayed choir, evolves into psychedelic synthline loop then to slow percussion, simple piano into harbour/trainstation sounds (the title "The suitcase or the coffin" is right on target here). My guess is the idea was to make a track which should show the feeling of being lost between countries - not feeling at home anywhere and the pain of leaving and entering something uncertain.
Not bad at all but I think this album is very "studio made" in the sense that the live feeling and progression is lost - maybe the vocals "I'm tired of fighting, I want to come in. It is time for human warmth." on track three sums it up pretty well - the gentlemen are old and tired, time for the youngsters to take over? But of course no one did...or maybe I am unable to see or hear anything like Contrastate in the years after?
I really adore Contrastate. Listening to Perhaps It Comes Out of the Black Sea from A Thousand Badgers in Labour I simply cannot avoid the thought that the whole of Coil's Astral Disaster is based on this. Or maybe it's just a coincidence.
I was living at the house of Outsider Records in Lincoln when they released the final Contrastate record "Extract No. 10". Unfortumately on release Meixner and co disowned the release saying that tey did not like the pressing, even though they had approved the test pressings. This left Mick of Outsider Records with boxes full of records that he found hard to shift. Contrastate were advising people not to buy the 7". Mick probably still has boxes in storage somewhere in Lincoln. I have the single and a test pressing, not the finest Contrastate release by a long chalk but certainly a worthy document from one of the best projects of the 1990's.
Bought some of the missings CD's.
Been listening "Goodbye Great Nation" mCD ( Black Rose Recordings 1997) today few times. Little below 21 minutes would perhaps make perfect side of LP? Maybe getting this much bass would be hard? Well, whatever I say, would be probably repeating myself. Contrastate is unique, and this one is another great blend of industrial, experimental collage of loops, haunting deep voices, calmy spoken vocals with... but since this is actually not just Contrastate recording, but collaboration with The Tiger Lillies, in about 12 minutes you will be probably taken over by surprise when suddenly everything transforms into kind of nostalogic musical entertainment with band instruments and female vocals with lyrics fitting the title. They do blend in the experimental / industrial amazingly well. One could wonder if some could be achieved by Grunt featuring Jari Sillanpää with folky approach? Perhaps not! But here, the masters do it. They can switch the atmosphere into music, and get it back to reverb drenched colossally crashing industrial sounds. Recommended for slightly openminded listeners!
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on February 04, 2010, 07:30:12 PM
...not just Contrastate recording, but collaboration with The Tiger Lillies... with band instruments and female vocals with lyrics fitting the title.
If it's the regular Tiger Lillies vocalist, it's a guy singing. Haven't heard this collaboration, but heard plenty of Tiger Lillies on their own. It's an acquired taste, but I've grown to like them.
Quote from: Ritual on February 04, 2010, 08:36:13 PM
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on February 04, 2010, 07:30:12 PM
...not just Contrastate recording, but collaboration with The Tiger Lillies... with band instruments and female vocals with lyrics fitting the title.
If it's the regular Tiger Lillies vocalist, it's a guy singing. Haven't heard this collaboration, but heard plenty of Tiger Lillies on their own. It's an acquired taste, but I've grown to like them.
It is their regular singer. I did not like that record at all first but since then I've come to really like it. I've been listening a lot to Contrastate and (srmeixner) in the last couple of weeks and they are as Mikkos said masters. Being invovled in the reiusse of Mort aux Vaches is a dream come true.
Black Rose Recordings still have copies of Goodbye Great Nation (I just love that title... so British it hurts...) so it is pretty easy to get.
Quote from: bogskaggmannen on December 15, 2009, 10:54:51 AM
Todesmelodie (CD, Album) Noise Museum 1999
Not bad at all but I think this album is very "studio made" in the sense that the live feeling and progression is lost - maybe the vocals "I'm tired of fighting, I want to come in. It is time for human warmth." on track three sums it up pretty well - the gentlemen are old and tired, time for the youngsters to take over? But of course no one did...or maybe I am unable to see or hear anything like Contrastate in the years after?
Just listened this one too, and have to say Bogskaggmannen nailed it all. Don't have to say anything, than agree with all descriptions and especially this conclusion. I think that the lack of "live progression", kind of feeling of hand tweaked live effects etc is a loss. There are a lot of great moments and a lot of great sounds, but too many of clean drum machine loops clean electronics sounding as if they were merely loops edited on computer screen... Still most definitely recommended if one likes the band.
Quote from: Strömkarlen on February 04, 2010, 09:49:24 PM
Goodbye Great Nation (I just love that title... so British it hurts...) so it is pretty easy to get.
Oh yes. I can't fully capture what all is being said there, but you pick up the british accent, disappointment and failures of great nations and what's the thing about skinheads they keep repeating? Whatever it is, adds good wibe on the release.
Contrastate would likely make my top 10 all-time experimental acts. I can't really add much to the conversation. I've managed to leave my unbridled adoration as just that. I haven't given great thought into why, or how, I enjoy them to the great level I do. I just do, and I allow myself that great luxury. Maybe that's it right there: they ARE luxurious in nearly every way experimentalism can be; yet they are obviously not just candy or shallow. If you want to experience them as fine silk or plush velvet, you can. If you find that headspace to be moved into emotions or profoundness, they deliver on subterranean plains as well. I suppose that doesn't seem entirely unusual...until you've listened to a couple of their albums in a row one afternoon, and they've managed to reshape your thinking for a few following days. I personally don't find that with too many groups.
The Tiger Lillies thing worked well, but I haven't found any value in the other Tiger Lillies material I've heard.
The English Embers CDEP of the Drone 7" has a bonus 9-minute track on it, and I don't believe it is available elsewhere. Note to the completists.
Wish I had that live track from Handbags & DADA right now. I'm in the mood for something from them that I haven't heard.
I've always wondered what a Militia/Contrastate live collaboration would be like. They're all bright enough and skilled enough to avoid the train wreck and create something extraordinary beyond their own signatures.
I (Cass) Direction Music 1991
I (CD, Album) Functional Organisation 1993
The overall theme of this third Contrastate album is based around the birth of the self and is for the most part pretty calm ambient material. First track "I Just Am", which occupies side A of the cassette is comprised of backwards guitar and synthesizer drones and choirs which fades into other parts birds noise and other reverbed sounds. Here it's evident that much of Contrastate's strength lies in the melding together of different atmospheres and structures. One may think that parts of the sounds used feel a bit dated now, but I have no problem with that as long as the overall production holds great value. Second side starts with more ancient feel, like invocation of spirit and strength, with drums/percussion elements coupled with Jonathan's chanting, then comes again synthloop and reverbed guitar/harmonica on top and added deep choir sounds eventually. Track two on side B is perhaps the most challenging experience here, based only around clear voice of Mark J. Hamilton, going from both very high frequencies to deeper ones in very traditional British "song" layered as a full scale choir. I'm sure most here would hate it, but the structure of the piece is nonetheless intriguing and a welcome break from the albums otherwise pretty non-intense feel. Last track on the tape "Locked Inside A Dying Horse" is perhaps more standard dark ambient with a lot of echoing, almost new agey at times in a elemental way. The CD has two extra tracks. The first one being a pretty simple one with its delayed acoustic (?) guitar strummings and growing background guitardrone, more in soundscape way. Second one more into calmer, darker drone, much like early Mirror or such. A good album overall, while not their best.
There is a new Contrastate CD I got couple weeks ago, but not yet time to listen. Meanwhile have been rotating over and over again
SRMeixner / Band of Pain split 7".
Not sure if SRMeixner should have topic of it's own, but he's one member of Contrastate. I was very much into his CD on Segerhuva. Somehow unique concept and take to whole sound crafting.
This 7" is not that different. Blending tasty sonic elements together, with some tonal musical elements. Including electronic, acoustic and animal sounds (frogs at end of track!?).
Band Of Pain also some of their best stuff for my ears. No sax, no soundtrack music, more experimental.
7" sounds great. 45rpm. Even if tracks are less than 5 minutes each, they have such a great composition style, it always feels like proper (and much longer) piece, not just out-takes of something longer. Ltd 250 some years ago, color vinyl, printed transparent cover, but you can still grab it for decent price.
I haven't heard any of those SRMeixner CDs. I'd forgotten about them. So, there is now a 4th?
Contrastate
2012-11-17
Mannheim, 7er Club
25th anniversary of Tesco Germany - Day 2
total time: 41:26
I'm listening to this recording now (shared at the Dime tracker). It's quite nice, both in content and fidelity.
Quote from: Zeno Marx on June 03, 2013, 09:08:53 PM
Contrastate
2012-11-17
Mannheim, 7er Club
25th anniversary of Tesco Germany - Day 2
total time: 41:26
I'm listening to this recording now (shared at the Dime tracker). It's quite nice, both in content and fidelity.
Don't know what a Dime Tracker is, where is thi avaible, since its exactly what i want from Contrastate, since the Concert was Fantastic, but the Recordings aren't as good as the Concert
Quote from: Goat93 on June 04, 2013, 04:35:19 PM
Quote from: Zeno Marx on June 03, 2013, 09:08:53 PM
Contrastate
2012-11-17
Mannheim, 7er Club
25th anniversary of Tesco Germany - Day 2
total time: 41:26
I'm listening to this recording now (shared at the Dime tracker). It's quite nice, both in content and fidelity.
Don't know what a Dime Tracker is, where is thi avaible, since its exactly what i want from Contrastate, since the Concert was Fantastic, but the Recordings aren't as good as the Concert
http://www.dimeadozen.org/
Ah, Torrent :(
Never used.
If I hadn't known, I would have thought this to be the opening sequence to a Contrastate album.
https://littlesomebodyfamily.bandcamp.com/album/dawn
Contrastate - False Fangs For Old Werewolves CD
My goodness is this ever a fantastic collection. It plays like an album proper. "The Birth Of Zarathustra" caught me by surprise in the best of ways. Even though they just released an album last year, I miss them. Quality by the tanker load.
Quote from: Zeno Marx on January 23, 2018, 03:31:00 AM
Contrastate - False Fangs For Old Werewolves CD
My goodness is this ever a fantastic collection. It plays like an album proper. "The Birth Of Zarathustra" caught me by surprise in the best of ways. Even though they just released an album last year, I miss them. Quality by the tanker load.
Noticed the discogs note for this CD :
"The hidden track "Backwards Diva" can be found by rewinding track 1."
Not sure I understand?
Quote from: throneheap on January 25, 2018, 03:32:17 AM
Quote from: Zeno Marx on January 23, 2018, 03:31:00 AM
Contrastate - False Fangs For Old Werewolves CD
My goodness is this ever a fantastic collection. It plays like an album proper. "The Birth Of Zarathustra" caught me by surprise in the best of ways. Even though they just released an album last year, I miss them. Quality by the tanker load.
Noticed the discogs note for this CD :
"The hidden track "Backwards Diva" can be found by rewinding track 1."
Not sure I understand?
will try to explain: sometimes when you burn a cd you can choose to put a gap between songs. The machine reads this as a negative amount of time added to a track. If the first track has negative amount it will not be read by the machine unless you use the reverse play/rewind to hear the "track 0" as it's sometimes called. They first did this on the xfiles soundtrack CD (I think)
Edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_in_the_Key_of_X:_Music_from_and_Inspired_by_the_X-Files
Thanks! Never came across such a hidden track.
Quote from: throneheap on January 25, 2018, 01:37:32 PM
Thanks! Never came across such a hidden track.
That, you see, is because it was hidden.
I've had buncha SRMeixner off and on the last few months. Will drop by to drop some musings next session.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on January 30, 2018, 05:11:58 AM
I've had buncha SRMeixner off and on the last few months.
Well it may be bit much to dub the handful to date released "buncha" but here go the (abbreviated) musings...
The shortest description I could offer of SRMeixner is obvious single-person continuation of (some of) the papa project's preoccupations. Much more mixing desk studio attentive, less prone to statement grandiloquent grandiose. Other words previously encountered in this topic were "live", "dark", even "luxurious". SRMeixner demonstrates the skills necessary to the achievement of such descriptors, but never tries. The work is much too thought-out and through-composed to go "live", the atmos too cold and clinical to register "dark" of the fleshly persuasion. There is certainly a certain beguiling depth and intrigue to consistently belie strawberry-frosted strands of glimmering, occasionally sumptuous, underbellies. Meixner is hardly the only voice involved in any one effort, each release calling up a very Contrastate-esque cast of characters. Perhaps the most successful in this regard is the most recent, the already several-times namechecked Segerhuva disc. In comes a broadened cast of familiar faces, thrown into spaghetti western that serves as nice metaphor for the speghetti-mess-like strands strung out across a wide open, sun-baked, palate. Less through-composed statement, more exploratory and, me sez, more successful. I am encouraged that this is the most recent "solo" offering to date, discouraged that such a number of years has already intervened.
There was in the meantime a collab with RLW which I very much like, but which is also of the through-composed clinical disturbed-Nursey atmos. Thus first hard to call SRMeixner proper and second far from lapped in luxury.
There's a collab with Scott Tayler that looks very good but which I've yet to indulge. (Hopefully to be arriving soon!) Discogs credits Johnathan Grieve with vocals on the closing ditty so my Contrastate-ly hopes are high.
There was something called Intravene with the Band Of Pain guy. Floating atmospheric loops burnished by half-hidden depths. Haven't listened in some time, but recall as kind of slow burner slash grower. Will definitely need to re-apply the ears.
That collaboration with RLW has to be good. Didn't know it existed. Need to hear that. I've been remiss with SRMeixner. I think I've only heard one of his solo deals? Not good, but it also means a ton of joy is left on the table. Maybe he's hanging out with Zoviet France if he's toying with spaghetti western vibes? Or at least an idea was sparked? Cool to hear Johnathan Grieve is working with him. Not many can pull off what he does. Have to admit I don't get the "gothic" label they got because of him. Call him something, but gothic?
Contrastate - A Breeding Ground for Flies 2012 - beautiful album, as I'd expect - some great ambient and sonics.
V/A "Your Reality Is Broken" LP
A compilation of covers, reinterpretations and/or transformations of Contrastate tracks in celebration of their 30th anniversary. The inivitation to participate was limited to a select few artists. Basically if you have followed Contrastate, it is no surprise line-up has Band Of Pain, Genocide Organ, RLW, Troum, Etat D'Urgence... There are couple tracks I don't care for. Little glitchy technology involved, but all in all, very calm and very much Contrastate feel to it. Not even Genocide Organ really mutilate extra dosage of power to their contribution, but rather just additional heavy electronics synth throbbing on the texture of Contrastate track.
I've talked to band about possibly have interview in SI#11. 30 years behind now, could be interesting!
The one SRMeixner I'm less inclined to readily embrace is Dictatorship Of The Viewer. Probably because it goes so far against my (initial) expectations of a Contrastate illuminus. But also that it seems thematically designed to resist embrace. Remote, clinical, synthetic electro-drone divided neatly into several short pieces, flowing easily into each other. Over the nineteen course set the unrelenting... throb... conspires to instill a persuasive, discomfited feel of unsettled paranoia.
The atmosphere in the above is reprised to an extent in the RLW collab. Detached, clinical Nursey-ness, brought home via collaged voice, deformed fragments of "
German schlager cruelties" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjvROXRPkLc) and a general sense of, um, sinister whimsy for the wretched. What may pass for "humor" in some quarters. The artwork too strikes as vaguely Nursey. Then there's this exchange quoted on the Monotype site
QuoteRLW (Dec 2010) ...Some weeks ago I did a horrible dj-set for a 75th birthday celebration, including Heino and other German schlager cruelties. it was so terrible! maybe I'll go back to the pieces i used for this event some day. This stuff is awful enough to make another use of it.
SRM (Jan 2011): I have been thinking about your description of German schlager cruelties and how horrible it was and awful enough to do something with. Maybe there is a possible project there?
Perhaps to go down as one of those projects that "had to happen". But a very well-realized one, so I'm glad it did.
I've talked to band about possibly have interview in SI#11. 30 years behind now, could be interesting!
[/quote]
I was thinking this would be a good one...
Quote from: throneheap on January 25, 2018, 01:37:32 PM
Thanks! Never came across such a hidden track.
This is also done on the Agoraphobic Nosebleed release "Altered States of America".
Quote from: HONOR_IS_KING! on February 02, 2018, 09:10:29 PM
Quote from: throneheap on January 25, 2018, 01:37:32 PM
Thanks! Never came across such a hidden track.
This is also done on the Agoraphobic Nosebleed release "Altered States of America".
and both discs of the ANb's "PCP Torpedo" reissue from '05 or '06. Autechre did it several times as well. super fucking annoying in my opinion.
I don't remember caring for the Intravene disc a whole lot. Need to listen to that again. I probably haven't heard it more than a couple times, and you haven't heard it once until you've heard it thrice.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on January 31, 2018, 05:26:46 PM
There's a collab with Scott Tayler that looks very good but which I've yet to indulge. (Hopefully to be arriving soon!) Discogs credits Johnathan Grieve with vocals on the closing ditty so my Contrastate-ly hopes are high.
First of all, let's just quash those hopes shall we? What vocals JG apparently contributes are processed to a buzzing oblivion. Second, let's salute another fine work from SRMeixner & co! Perhaps, as ever, the "co" should get a bit more due. And perhaps they are so entitled in opener "Kirschner Wind". Kenneth Kirschner piano droplets plunked into deep booming reservoirs, their spare reverberations the centerpiece to a cavernous array of more upfront metal on metal scraping, faintly protesting brake-squealage, distant patter of rain (credited to MA Tolosa) slowly washing to the fore. Very physical sounding, at least compared with the more electrified manipulations Meixner has elsewhere offered. The physique I might credit to Scott Taylor, at least in reference to the smattering of Taylor I've encountered. The suggestion is further amplified in the fully-flavored low frequency hoverings to underscore the second ditty, which could be an alternate mix of the first sans piano and rain and stitched with fragments of drift n drone. In "The Sound Of X", the bass heavy underbelly is back yet again as the barest suggestion of Mr Grieve huffs and hisses through the carefully spaced echoing of wide-panned clinks and clanks, compressed into tinny burbling snicker before breathing to a life of massed droning layers, a finale worthy of such a grand effort.
Their Festival Karlsruhe tracks are amazing. They could just as well be mentioned in the ritual threads. Apropos for this time of year, too. When they go into their chanting/vocal manipulations, it's uncomfortable, visceral, powerful, and beautiful.
Quote from: bogskaggmannen on December 11, 2009, 01:21:55 PMA very special sounding group with music that just is not made these days.
This really cannot be stated boldly enough. Being so theatrical and dramatic, I wonder how much, or if at all, they were influenced by Crass. Their visual aesthetic is at the opposite end of the spectrum, but maybe?
http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=10215.0
http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=7674.0
http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=6527.0
http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=3716.0