I tried a search and didn't find anything too specific about this.
Ferial Confine to me is sort of the ultimate combination of sounds and ranges from abrasive to concrete and the sound is heavily processed but in a way that is organic, confusing (in the best way), and cerebral. All vague words that could apply to experimental music at its best, but fans of FC should know what I mean by this.
The first track on Side B of "Full Use of Nothing" might be the best example of what I mean. Everything lends itself to the vinyl perfectly and you have concrete sounds cutting into the mix naturally without taking away from the crazy processed sounds.
What other stuff would you put in this general category? I think this area of true NOISE meets concrete sound is probably the closest thing to perfect for me and it's rare to find something that has that wild edge without going into total scrap metal banging, etc.
I got The Full Use of Nothing recently and while it's organic and unusual, I feel the tracks are too similar to each other... Only the last track that features piano is somewhat different. That said, I'd like to hear their other releases and might track down the Siren Records reissues (since they're affordable).
I'm also curious as to what other similar music is out there.
Naj. Short-lived but very satisfying project of one Darius Ciuta. Multi-tracked concrete elements play against, and occasionally merge with, straight-ahead electronic molestations. I suspect there be buttloads of naj doing rounds in various locales, but the only things I've encountered were via RRR/Pure and Xerxes. Absolutely ridiculous. I console myself with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzGXamH8_s
Freudwerk. Also deserve mention. Also, like Ferial Confine and naj, exceedingly short-lived. Short but sweet you might say. Personal fave would be their track off the seminal World Record comp (Alchemy), but the below-linked, from the Noise War comp, delivers the goods quite nicely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQXBK8ziWmg
Mnemonists / early Biota start to approach something along the lines... the supreme densities would at least seem to hint at the potential for so much sweet racket.
And though I'm almost afraid to mention their name around here, I thought TNB's recent "Das Zerstoren, Zum Gearen" - evidently a live recording - pretty goddamn solid.
Will add K2 "We Destroyed Barcelona". Rather less cut-up, more relentless, allowing feedback to compete with, and often inundate, the usual metal junk excrements.
Full Use of Nothing is also a big favorite here. Not exactly similar style but the old Confine tape i]Meiosis [/i] (originally on Broken Flag) has just been reissued by Siren.
Thanks for the tip about Naj -- I just ordered their Fixthemeteronthezeroposition tape (mint condition) for $10 on Discogs.
Inspired by this thread to dig out the Macronympha/K2 split/collab, Biometrics (RRR). Quite a good listen, though my attention was to be especially reserved for Macro's K2 remix... and yes, we may have a winner. If the idea of K2, multitracked and fed through way too much echo doesn't appeal to you, no worries. There are plenty of ripped and ragged Macro flavors filthing up the proceedings, and the metal junk never dominates as it does on the remainder of the slab. Kind of harsh metal junk ambient hell, well put together, full-flavored and full-on. All noise remixes should sound like this. I'm tempted to pull out all the other Macro collabs I've got...
EDIT it occurs to me that I have heard this kind of thing, several times before, on several proper Macro releases, but these tend to be episodic interspersals and often overwhelmed by the patented Macro crunch. Still sound of the sort is to be found in there, often, amid all the messy mounds of macroblubber.
I remember getting the same feeling as Ferial Confine whilst listening to the early releases of MNEM.I strongly recommend the self released CDR "Arkaeo" and the two LP's on Segehuva; "Golyma" and "Engrama". They have the same kind of orgasm in a wind tunnel type of sound!
David Jackman – Up From Zero
Early works of Jackman, a bit more recognizable sound sources, with a car crash loop on Threshold track, broken glass loops and cymbal bowing on the title track. Other tracks on the album sound a bit different.
Ferial Confine's album, First, Second And Third Drop pretty much sounds like Organum so it is probably not surprising comparison to make.
TNB used Ferial Confine recordings in The Final Recordings Gesamtkunstwerk, and TNB Est Mort! I only heard TNB Est Mort! but it is one of my favorites.
Nine, an Andrew Chalk project used in the Morality Broken Flag Comp is more of an exercise of multiple tape echos feeding into each other, no scrap metal but has the same form, feeling and probably a skeletal version of FC works.
If there is any Musique Concrete work that FC reminds me of, it is Xenakis' Bohor, though that has more clanging then screeching, but has high frequency range textures and a looming deep bass drone as a base.
Golden Serenades might squeak, or rather screech, in. Perhaps a bit more straight-ahead, puritannical, than what this thread is about. But in any case to be highly recommended. I am particularly enamored with The Swan (Abisko), full-on metal-cluttered clamor, certainly not one for relent.
...all that earlier rambling about Freudwerk and Macro had me pulling out the Telepherique & One Dark Eye collab (Solipsism), and.... well... not quite. Still very nice, cavernous industrial-strength factory ruckus, and does get a bit shriek-laden at intervals. Could sit well in a Vivenza/machines thread as this seems to be an attempt by Roemer to get a non-tranny-related fixation off his cock.
http://www.discogs.com/Nebris-Bleak-Angels/release/1645058
Quote from: Steve on September 10, 2013, 05:34:19 PMorgasm in a wind tunnel type of sound!
Steve, that's some fucked up semen you have my friend.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on September 13, 2013, 03:19:46 AM
Still very nice, cavernous industrial-strength factory ruckus, and does get a bit shriek-laden at intervals. Could sit well in a Vivenza/machines thread as this seems to be an attempt by Roemer to get a non-tranny-related fixation off his cock.
Funny I pulled out that recent One Dark Eye reissue of Manic Depression while thinking about this thread, I'm certain One Dark Eye is actually Rodger Stella (or rather he told me this several times in person). I'm not here for debate on this as much as looking at his material and his enthusiasm in tape manipulation would be worth mentioning in this thread. Manic Depression is a worthy example of comparison, as it is thoughtful tape music of unknown sources, with familiar but distant quieter mother savage rumble. Transmissions Of Fistulae Auris is another release worth mentioning.
Great responses so far, thank you.
Obviously I'm a big Organum fan and TNB does hit on some of the same notes I'm talking about. I love FC's "First, Second..." but yeah I didn't mention it because it's different.
MNEM has been cool on the few releases I've heard though I can only remember the Golyma LP which had an organic and dark sound but was kind of relaxed from what I remember.
That Naj video is fun for a live performance once it gets going. Kind of random and spurty but I can enjoy it. I'll look into his recordings.
I am pretty hesitant to check out recommendations that fall too close to what people would consider the harsh noise "genre" but Macronympha and K2 definitely have moments that fall here. I think what I'm looking for is stuff that is aggressive and unquestionably NOISE but in a deeper grey area than that.
Keep any recommendations coming, though, even if they're just incidentally connected to what I'm trying to describe.
Zeno, much thanks for the Nebris recommendation. Sometimes a link is worth a thousand downloads. I confess I was completely unfamiliar with the work of James Hamilton; found his Bandcamp, got Bleak Angels, halfway through the second track I realized I needed it all. I've since acquired everything I can, which from Bandcamp means over 10 items, several of them released in January of this year -- all excellent. Not particularly harsh, rather a controlled, painstakingly applied, tempestuousness, only the merest hint of boiling over. Mr Hamilton refers to it at one juncture as "power acoustics", but I can see where he's coming from. Sources include branches, stones, hailstorms, wind, bones, all brought to life with a compositional skill that is undeniable. I'm not sure I've ever heard anything quite like it; if so, not anything as well executed. Wonderful textural studies. Nebris has occupied the bulk of my listening over the past few days, in between Loud Louder Loudest sessions... it has been a very good week. Of most immediate relation to this thread, as they are of the slightly louder persuasion, I would recommend: Shear, Erg, Sarfa, Trace. In that order.
Listening to one F.Douris, tape with no cover, the inevitable fate of all special artwork releases. The aqua-blue side sounds like a field recording taken on a busy street corner, but with amplified noise – possibly the acoustics of the actual recording – almost completely submerging the concrete elements. The effect is that of said field recording being conducted in an heavily trafficked expressway tunnel, with what could be heavy machine noises fighting shudders of ill-tempered wind-swell. If someone told me this was an early Vivenza outing I'd readily believe it. The yellow side might be an out-take from his lp on RRRecords, but with much longer stretches of tape hiss punctuated with the occasional electronic fart.
S-Core. Don't think this guy needs much introduction. There's at least one SI thread devoted to him. I associate the material with 80's industrial / tape culture; but I think his best work, and that most applicable to this topic, comes in 90's, in the latter half of his career. S-Core could be my go-to unit for very heavy, industrial-strength atmospheres; low-key, grim, free of melodrama, certainly not hesitant to noise it up, and always willing (a bit too willing, perhaps) to experiment. Given that he tends to favor relatively short tracks, even the less "successful" experiments are interesting in their given context. Flavors of ritual "ambient", but a very peculiar kind of ritual, devoted to a god of decaying machinery, with an ambiance of rusted out sewage drains. My pick for Ferial Confine and similar would be Deformation (1993), in which harder-edged electronic scrapings attempt to scour their way through the densely forested confines of an unyielding factory machination. Or something. Shedder (1999) also up there. But most of the later stuff is stellar. Gush. Sediment. Tarnish. My Candle Has Died. Several highlights throughout.
tinnitustimulus, thanks for clearing up the One Dark Eye thing. Funny, but in all his rambling correspondence, Roemer never once credited ODE to Stella. The first time I remember specific credit being allotted Stella was in response to a review I wrote for Macro's excellent Crack tape – one of their better efforts from the period - in which I half-jokingly suggest that Macro were trying to steal Incapacitants' thunder*.
*EDIT Heh.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on September 18, 2013, 06:26:48 PM
Zeno, much thanks for the Nebris recommendation. Sometimes a link is worth a thousand downloads. I confess I was completely unfamiliar with the work of James Hamilton; found his Bandcamp, got Bleak Angels, halfway through the second track I realized I needed it all. I've since acquired everything I can, which from Bandcamp means over 10 items, several of them released in January of this year -- all excellent. Not particularly harsh, rather a controlled, painstakingly applied, tempestuousness, only the merest hint of boiling over. Mr Hamilton refers to it at one juncture as "power acoustics", but I can see where he's coming from. Sources include branches, stones, hailstorms, wind, bones, all brought to life with a compositional skill that is undeniable. I'm not sure I've ever heard anything quite like it; if so, not anything as well executed. Wonderful textural studies. Nebris has occupied the bulk of my listening over the past few days, in between Loud Louder Loudest sessions... it has been a very good week. Of most immediate relation to this thread, as they are of the slightly louder persuasion, I would recommend: Shear, Erg, Sarfa, Trace. In that order.
Thank you as well. Just in the past couple of weeks have I started to include google bandcamp searches as part of my process to find and/or sample music. It's ridiculous that it has taken this long, but it has. Such a great tool for labels and artists both. I hadn't thought to check bandcamp for Nebris. Honestly, I thought the project was done and no longer of interest to him, and in thinking that, it gave Nebris a finality. It's great to see all this readily available and that not actually the case.
power acoustics indeed.
*and here's the bandcamp link: http://nebris.bandcamp.com/
Jason made me aware of the discussion going on here, just fyi nebris is dormant since 2009 but not necessarily dead, might continue if an appropriate way forward can be found. As it is I felt that it was beginning to repeat itself a little and other things (probably of little interest to most people in noise or electroacoustic circles) are taking precedence. When it gets to the stage where you have trouble telling your own compositions apart it's probably time to move on to something else. Anyway, thanks for the interest.
But to close this little derail, Ferial Confine. Not really much like those early recordings, apart, as was already pointed out, "TNB est Mort!" which is like an extended remix and which remains my favourite TNB recording. But some of the Hands To/Jerman things scratch the same sort of itch, if in a more primitive way. Some mid-late 80's Merzbow things also, when he disguises the sound sources a little. Apart from that, I hear occasional similarities in some the work of certain strains of composers like Iancu Dumitrescu, Ana-Maria Avram and so on (especially the former's use and abuse of the piano as source of texture). John Murphy's Ophiolateria thing I remember being somewhat similar too but probably not so easy to track down, and as with Jerman, not quite so refined in the execution/attention to detail.
And what about things like Giancarlo Toniutti's "Epigenesi"? Somewhat similar to FC in the approach to semi-cyclic, unsynchronised acoustic sound brought up to disorienting levels but in longer form, capable of inducing vertigo at high volumes on a good sound system. And of course Toniutti and Chalk would eventually collaborate on "Tahta Tarla" which is a great LP but much more subdued.
Quote from: spiritassembly on September 20, 2013, 08:07:32 PMWhen it gets to the stage where you have trouble telling your own compositions apart it's probably time to move on to something else.
That's an interesting self-criticism, given that one of the primary attractions for me, and quite probably the reason I decided I needed everything available under the project, was the very particular, very specific, field of ideas/sounds explored. I really do feel this to be territory that, outside of Nebris, has not been very well mapped. I'm keen to learn the terrain, to acquire the tools (or headspace) necessary for properly informed investigation. Needless to say a very satisfying journey thus far.
Mention of John Murphy is warranted. I considered adding Krang's Neurasthenia to the list earlier on. That very raw sound peculiar to tape releases from the period (c. 1982-5) may translate into what is generally termed "harsh". Parts of this tape sound like the horrified, shrieking gasps of a collapsing metal lung, bleeding into fields of desperate sputter-wheeze. Or is that just the backing tape spooling out? It is in fact the plainly primitive application of materials at hand which serves both to heighten the charm and to rupture, sometimes rather rudely, the momentary intervals of pastoral stasis.
Similar effects are achieved on Vivenza's Metallurgie. While held in some quarters to be among his worst extant recordings, possibly owing to the poor quality of the original source tapes, I really like the way the normally pointed percussive clamor is softly diffused across billowed clouds of hiss and rumble, the somewhat distant orchestrations of JM's patented industrial-strength gamelan coated with a smooth, almost-ambient, sheen. The actual tape issued on Freedom In A Vacuum is a decent-quality affair, wide stereo image accentuating the ample low end, and rendering, at appropriate levels, a surprisingly fleshed out perspective.
I hesitated to include Tarab, but maybe on the outskirts of such a discussion. If this was "Like Nebris?", and not "Like Ferial Confine?", it would be more directly appropriate. Field recording source textures. I'd recommend a start point of Wind Keeps Even Dust Away.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Tarab
Tarab (who is very underappreciated) does fine, fine work but not so much in the Ferial Confine line, effectively... seems closer to the cusp between Eric La Casa and NFH or Lethe (who is also really underappreciated IMO).
Dug out those old Mnemonists records & tapes and they definitely have textural characteristics in common with FC, though more 'classical' in terms of overall compositional arc. Fantastic recordings.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I still prefer CD over everything. Then vinyl, then tape. Though I own some of all, CD is best for my needs and what I grew up with too. So nostalgia + ease of play + convenience wins for me.
Scouring for the Best of 2016 list...
To great surprise, Tarab released a 30-minute track this year on a web label and a 23-minute track on 3"CD. I'll listen to the web later, but for now, listening to I'm Lost (2014). The sonics of Hum of the Druid. The structures of Zoviet France. The vibe of Hands To. The perspective of Nebris. It's great to see he's still active. For my money, one of the best of the past decade+. Looks like he's been rubbing elbows with the greats of Grzinich, La Casa, Haynes, and others. Good company there.
new Tarab here: http://www.cronicaelectronica.org/?p=121
Tarab is another great Zeno tip that, with the endorsement of spiritassembly, has more than lived up to expectation. I think my favorite is still my first,
take all the ships from the harbour, and sail them straight into hell. Single long piece, but sectioned into distinct parts- from the loud metal scraping of the ships cast off from the harbour through to alternately calm and stormy seas, then the final toilsome heave into the bowels of hell. The most plainly narrative in the Sprod discog if that's worth anything. Though I'm just as enamored with the meticulous junk excreta aesthetic- or as it says in big letters on the website,
careful arrangements of sonic rubbish.
Only recently found that he had a nearly full-up bandcamp and have duly set about to plugging holes in the collection:
https://tarab.bandcamp.com/music
Tarab has lately gone very nicely with extended listening sessions that also featured Torba (among my favorites from 2017), Hal Hutchinson metal wreckage stuff, and a hefty dose of MNEM...
MNEM I have come to greatly admire... better late than never... for the distinct taste of mechanical dis-repair, decayed broken down machinery, musty dusty parts as readily repeating in protestation as strategically ripped... raw. Kind of soothing non-obstrusive decay that can as easily serve as bridge between careful arrangements of sonic rubbish and more cantakerous metal-junk bashings. At least to me.
Sir Ashleigh Grove ought to be an obvious tick in the Ferial Confine and related box. Disc on Siren kinda came out of nowhere and has been in fairly regular rotation since. I like the wrinkled rumpled nimpled sound on offer, like concrete musics slowly fed through a meat grinder.
Going back through this thread and thought my description of S*Core
QuoteFlavors of ritual "ambient", but a very peculiar kind of ritual, devoted to a god of decaying machinery, with an ambiance of rusted out sewage drains.
...could apply to much of the (recent) Sick Seed discog. Seedy failed "ambient" rituals offered up to unsmiling deity sure to answer the dutiful supplicant by duly grinding face via steel toed booty into rusted out sewage drainage pit, perhaps the faintest corners of the lips turned upwards.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on February 21, 2018, 08:57:11 AM
with extended listening sessions that also featured Torba (among my favorites from 2017)
New to me. Has an exceptional idea of crunch. Someone please plug me into a music machine where I'm fed many tracks at once. I can't get to it all.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on September 18, 2013, 06:26:48 PMZeno, much thanks for the Nebris recommendation.
I think I owe him a drink for that one too.
Quote from: spiritassembly on September 30, 2013, 04:57:16 PM
Tarab (who is very underappreciated) does fine, fine work but not so much in the Ferial Confine line, effectively... seems closer to the cusp between Eric La Casa and NFH or Lethe (who is also really underappreciated IMO).
It's only taken me 4+ years to figure out you meant Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar. Halrum is a fantastic album. And finally, I'll be checking out Lethe/Kuwayama Kiyoharu. Time.
Quote from: Zeno Marx on March 01, 2018, 07:59:17 PM
Quote from: spiritassembly on September 30, 2013, 04:57:16 PM
Tarab (who is very underappreciated) does fine, fine work but not so much in the Ferial Confine line, effectively... seems closer to the cusp between Eric La Casa and NFH or Lethe (who is also really underappreciated IMO).
It's only taken me 4+ years to figure out you meant Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar. Halrum is a fantastic album. And finally, I'll be checking out Lethe/Kuwayama Kiyoharu. Time.
I guess I was too tired to type out the whole name that day!
Some Lethe/KK recommendations:
The whole Catastrophe Point series - I'm partial to #5 on Intransitive and the #7/#8 2CD on Invisible Birds in particular but they're all great, big open recordings in mostly abandoned buildings. #9/#10 was recorded in a huge abandoned grain silo installation and abandoned maintenance tunnel in my neighbourhood here in Montreal, really nice too. Not always straight live recordings, he layers a bit but there's almost no processing or treatment, just the natural acoustics.
The KK 'Dry Ice on Steel Tables' is exactly what the title says, heated steel screams in big empty space, minimal and ghostly.
The Jonathan Coleclough/Lethe collab Long Heat - make sure you get the double rather than single disc. Monstrous thing.
The two KK collabs with Masayoshi Urabe are excellent as well, remote, haunted sounding things, cello, sax and metal junk.
https://sethnehil.bandcamp.com/album/uva
Quote from: Zeno Marx on June 20, 2019, 12:37:08 AM
https://sethnehil.bandcamp.com/album/uva
stumbled on this dude the other day while looking for work similar to Hildegard Westerkamp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Aa-JskUY0
Quote from: Acne on June 20, 2019, 03:10:42 PM
Quote from: Zeno Marx on June 20, 2019, 12:37:08 AM
https://sethnehil.bandcamp.com/album/uva
stumbled on this dude the other day while looking for work similar to Hildegard Westerkamp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Aa-JskUY0
If you found you like Nehil, and in case you don't already know, there are others like him. Yannick Dauby. MNortham, aka Michael Northam, JGrzinich. Hitoshi Kojo. I'm drawing a blank to the others I associate with this group.
https://br4in.bandcamp.com/album/katabasis
*the final track is what made me think of this thread, but the whole thing is darn nice. I got hints of Organum and Stephen P. McGreevy too.