PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[Tribe Tapes]

EXECUTIONISTS - The Gerry Commission s/sided C80 (Head Meat, 2024)
Recently released instant repeater. Themed around the electric chair, and the sounds really do live up to it. Constant high pressure frying, unhinged psycho tones, saturated blast and burn.  Sort of blends the eelish jitteryness of Monde Bruits with barbaric noise americana. Perfect, really. Fucking demonic. Almost reaches Worth - Hamper levels of possession.

OUTDOOR HORSE SHRINE - Water Course CS (Head Meat, 2024)
My first encounter with OHS (incredible name), and I need more. Very much sculpted out of old Deadline dirt, but in an uncontrived and seemingly effortless way. Long nightmarish roaring cascades. Shares the same pallette of haluci colors as Executionists, but the picture painted differs. Bigger strokes, cruder tools, but stare long enough at the fibres and the detail pops out just as much. Then comes the closing rager of a track, sounding even more monde bruitish than the other example above, upping the psychosis levels more than a notch. A big leap from American Deadline dirt, but still with pockets full of said dirt, lending coherence. Whatever dead bugs and animal droppings this fella snorted, I need some too. Dangerously great.

Emulating old noise crunch is one thing, but to actually manage to tap into whatever hell force that inspired Dopefiend, Torture Machinist, Baroque, Portuguese, Krang et al, sap it and turn it into a brew of your own... Rejuvenating timeless poison is what this is. Satatuhatta has some. Don't sleep!

Really enjoyed both of the aforementioned Head Meat cassettes. The concept of the Executionists tape is simple yet evoked perfectly through its sonics.

[Tribe Tapes]

PBK - III: Poetry & Motion (Sound Of Pig)

Strange how simultaneously this feels "of its time" while still completely ahead of the curve. Side A sounds like a direct predecessor to the extremely loud installation-based noise of Damion Romero. The reverse side is a more distinctly 80s approach, using slowed-down tape samples and ominous drones.

Smell & Quim - The English Method (SHF, Old Captain reissue)

First tape from Smell & Quim, now available as a digipak CD. It seems (to me at least) that S&Q are generally more known for their darker material like Jissom Killers or Jesus Christ. Releases like English Method or Nativity Colostomy, are really not that noisy at all, but more surreal "weird music"...

[Moran]

Mnemonists - Roto-Limbs

A tape from 1981 that sounds like slow free improvisation with murky electronics, murmurs, metallic percussion, strange animal noises and broken toys.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

EXECUTIONISTS - The Gerry Commission s/sided C80 (Head Meat, 2024)
Recently released instant repeater. Themed around the electric chair, and the sounds really do live up to it. Constant high pressure frying, unhinged psycho tones, saturated blast and burn.  Sort of blends the eelish jitteryness of Monde Bruits with barbaric noise americana. Perfect, really. Fucking demonic. Almost reaches Worth - Hamper levels of possession.

OUTDOOR HORSE SHRINE - Water Course CS (Head Meat, 2024)
My first encounter with OHS (incredible name), and I need more. Very much sculpted out of old Deadline dirt, but in an uncontrived and seemingly effortless way. Long nightmarish roaring cascades. Shares the same pallette of haluci colors as Executionists, but the picture painted differs. Bigger strokes, cruder tools, but stare long enough at the fibres and the detail pops out just as much. Then comes the closing rager of a track, sounding even more monde bruitish than the other example above, upping the psychosis levels more than a notch. A big leap from American Deadline dirt, but still with pockets full of said dirt, lending coherence. Whatever dead bugs and animal droppings this fella snorted, I need some too. Dangerously great.

Emulating old noise crunch is one thing, but to actually manage to tap into whatever hell force that inspired Dopefiend, Torture Machinist, Baroque, Portuguese, Krang et al, sap it and turn it into a brew of your own... Rejuvenating timeless poison is what this is. Satatuhatta has some. Don't sleep!

Really enjoyed both of the aforementioned Head Meat cassettes. The concept of the Executionists tape is simple yet evoked perfectly through its sonics.

Everything from Head Meat has been truly excellent so far.

Each artist's release has been an absolute ripper. I agree with the comparison of Japanese noise with the Americanoise treatment. I made a similar comparison on an Ants in the Afterbirth review I made a while back. That very fast and frantic all out noise attack with the beautiful 4-track tape-saturated sound.

Excellent curation by the label. Makes me think there is a very specific collaboration of ideas between the artists and label in paying homage to another era while creating something new and exciting.

I really love the label's presentation as well. The color card stock for the j-cards reminds me very much of Richard's Deadline Records or Room 2A. The full artwork over the tape faces themselves. And the somewhat odd cuts on the j-cards. The rollout art on the Executionists j-card is perfect. The cover on the Ants in the Afterbirth is so intriguing in its ambiguousness.

[Cranial Blast]

Starvation Cage / Torturing Nurse Split CDr by Putrescent Tapes.

This album is a blast of harsh noise mayhem! It starts off with some heavily distorted harsh noise by Starvation Cage whom this is the first time I've had the pleasure to hear and I enjoyed the dissonant and distorted sounds of this project. Torturing Nurse comes with the usual harshness that they are well known for, loud and explosive waves of distortion, which compliments nicely to Starvations Cage's start up. Definitely worth taking a listen to, especially for the harsh noise heads out there whom live for this type of explosive over the top harsh sounds.

[Zeno Marx]

Brume - Reality is Not Enough 2022 - this starts off slowly and has the feel of old school experimentalism, but then it bubbles, and then boils, into his mind-warping sound collage fuckery; thankfully, he doesn't do short albums - he's never not aggressive with his ideas, but he can be less/more so, and this thing is more aggressive than albums like his 2023 A Treatise on Ethnography - I've had this one set aside for a rainy day for two years now (the cover didn't have me jumping at it), and I almost didn't listen to it today, as I started in the middle of A Treatise before deciding I wanted some new and shiny Brume.  I was in the mood for new Tourette too, but oh well, we can't have everything we want.  Not many artists come to mind who have maintained this level for 35+ years...arguably, I'd say 40, as he's about to celebrate that ruby anniversary, and I love his initial work too.  Funny enough, with the final track, he does look back to his early krautrock appreciations, tapping on the shoulder of Sergius Golowin & The Cosmic Couriers for a little something.

*I say the same damn thing every time I listen to a Brume/Renou album.

[bogskaggmannen]

Playing the last In Camera LP "Lost in spice" in anticipation of the new one which should be out soon (also on La Scie Dorée) - static organ drones courtesy Christoph Heemann meets the synthwashes of Timo Van Luijk, contrasting tones which harks back to the glory days of Schulze.

Also the new Läuten Der Seele LP "Die reise zur Monsalwäsche" which does not dissapoint - full review up on the Millstone website shortly.

[bogskaggmannen]

Polar Moldmentous "Forbidden recitation" LP (Editions NiL)

I sold off all my early Lust Vessel tapes some years ago as I thought they weren't that good actually so never did get to hear the tape version of this LP either. But had some Paypalmoney on the account and decided to go for the newly released LP and try the japanese industrial once again.

Sound is really muffled and muddy, going in and out of channels - I have zero problem with either of those. I would say a syrupy version of Mania isn't so far away - it has a lot of metal work appearing, never in your face, rapid or utterly chaotic more a mass of sound that defines the style. Unfortunately with some of that "cheap" distortion pedal sound i'm not too fond of but not a catastrophe. When some demented choirs enter and I get to think of some early S*Core tapes it's actually pretty enjoyable!
B-side starts with too bass heavy industrial "wall" overdrive plus piano lesson for 8 month old baby that doesn't do much for me - gets a certain Saló-vibe maybe and a few moments of bruitish feedback puts some fire in my heart but all in all not that interesting.

[Theodore]

Polar Moldmentous "Forbidden recitation" LP (Editions NiL)

I remember i was liking Desperate In Nirvana more than this, not that i have complaints from this though. Have to locate DIN in the boxes for a head-to-head comparison. Meat Chamber After All i havent listened it.

Yeah, there was a time when people off-loading LV + related tapes for 'normal' prices. I was lucky, caught some. Now, although not far ago, this sounds like once upon a time fairytale.

[Baglady]

OCHU - Dry Routine LP (WCN, 2024)
A restrained yet steady pace from start to finish, like some arduous desert march away from the sun. Heavy steps, heavy heat. The whole album, from sounds and titles to visuals and the actual paper quality, is parched. Dry-frying electronics, jagged mechanical sounds, creaky wooden wheels and no rain in sight. Consistent in so many ways, and this is what makes this album such a standout. An album with a capital A. A few minutes into side B, it's as if this dense dry heat gradually starts to give way, and the sound slowly opens up, expands. Beautiful stuff. Come to think of it, there's a sonic likeness to Organum here as well - which is not to be overstated, I'll give you that - in how both Rosenström and (early) Jackman, using physical sounds in mechanical-sculptural ways, sometimes slide into these borderline sacral states. The finale of the final track on Dry Routine, "Origin of Salt", I find especially moving in a way I find hard to describe. It has this suddenly dank, shimmering and open subterranean mystery air to it. Indiana Jones industrial, if you will. Goosebumps, and a perfect finisher.
It struck me though that he stays 100% within his comfort zone on this one, which, while not negative in itself, has me hoping for some bold leaps in the future. The Tvärsnitt LP floored me quite a bit by being so vastly different from what he'd done up to that point, and both Unproduktiw and Lähmung Des Wartens saw him glance in a few different directions. But then again, nothing bad about sticking around where you are if the outcome is perhaps your most fully realized and consistent album to date.

Oh, and Oskar roller-painting every cover with coffee, and the artist's son meticulously carving a wooden stamp for the front... Proper work!

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I was thinking what a great release, so good it plays through so damn quick! Eventually, somewhere around 5th-8th rotation of album, I notice the good old "hmm.. what the fuck! Turntable is on 45rpm setting!" haha...god damn. So yesterday I got to hear for the first time how it really sounds. What Baglady says above, all agreeable, yet I have not felt that he should move to new directions. Ochu has still pretty small discography, and getting more of this, is great for me.

Talking expectation of direction etc, V/A "MÄ KIRJOITAN SEINÄÄ - Finnish HNW compilation" cd. MOOZZHEAD, THE RÄTY, THE APRILS, HAZARDA BRUO SONSISTEMO.  HBS and The Aprils deliver pretty much default HNW stuff. Decent, no complaints other than it is what it is, so after couple times of listening, doesn't feel like "more of this!", when I don't have shortage of static HNW releases piled up. Then Moozzhead and The Rita are different deal here. The Räty, who started as HNW, has already moved on his gigs towards more active and involved creative harsh noise. It is heavy, hard, brutal, yet there are a lot of movement. Really great stuff here! Moozzhead after him, I was almost convinced The Räty did so great material that Moozz may have hard time topping that... but damn... I would assume the touch of true noise lover & maniac means he puts the same, and even higher expectations for his own stuff. In Finnish language podcast we talked about few things, but one thing what comes up was that man has like.. was it 150 releases of The Rita. And its not even stuff he collects per se. If something isn't up to standard of wanting to keep listening to it, he sells it away. Same for Merzbow and stuff like that. So this utterly precise knowledge of what is a good sound, what is a good release, how the song must be, that it is worthy of CD... we hear that on Moozzheads own work. Sound is so strong and tasty. Debatable is it die hard HNW. Notch more static than some Moozzhead, but certainly more about what harsh noise wall was back in the day, than what it became later. I listened this CD already multiple time and thinking as soon as people would realize its not just "generic HNW comp", it may sell out instantly. As this is glass mastered real CD, but pressing only 70!

[Krigsverk]

Invaders Of The 21st Century - s/t (tape, Cloister)

Fantastic PE/Heavy electronics with great vocals. Sticking to the formula, but still feels fresh, sizzling synth works, angry delivery, good production. Been spinning this all week together with...

The Black Maghreb - Our revenge is black (2CD, Tesco)

The previous 7" on Tesco was amazing - again nothing new or groundbreaking, but it captured a certain old-school vibe and it just resonated with me very much. So the expectations for this album was high, almost too high. And while it does not disappoint it has one problem... it is too much. A little bit like I felt for the latest GO offering, you just get overloaded with music. Its like when you eat too much chocolate and you feel great but also sick of the sugar overdose. Just a minor complaint really, and maybe even a stupid one. Maybe it just takes longer time to digest it all. Musicwise this leans more on the heritage of "heavy electronics" as there is very little vocals. Works really good played loud also. Also you can feel that the project has evolved from prevoius offerings; cant wait to hear what comes next!

[Phenol]

Have yet to listen to new The Black Maghreb, but liked the 7". Listened to the Inavders Of The 21st Century tape on bandcamp this morning. It's excellent! Will pick both up in the next order from Tesco.

I'm just dusting off my old Cabaret Voltaire LPs these days. Listening to Mix-Up right now. Next in line is the Methodology 3CD box which has gathered dust for at least a decade - I'm pretty confident it hasn't lost any of its shine.

[Krigsverk]

Hingst - Absolut Hingst (CD, Ominous)

Not much to say... two relentless tracks of action packed harshness. It´s all about textures. Lovely headfuck, really packs a punch.

David Gilden - Texas Pillbox (18 CD box, Fusty)

Mid-way through this monumental box and I must say that I do not regret the purchase. I will not review all the 13 CD´s I have listened to thus far, but let me just say that it is good. Lots of that American crunch, lots of variation and a great sonic adventure. 

[Earth O.D.]

GENOCIDE ORGAN "No One Is Coming" MC

Bit the bullet with the price, and can´t say I've regretted. Los Angeles 2018, good rugged live sound, some hits and emphasis on the "Under-Kontrakt"/"Autodefensa" material - which have an expectionally intense vocal delivery to them. "IT´S OVERRR!!!" Also a version of "Tears of My Soul" is fucking awesome here. I guess I'll never get tired of these live recordings or listening to "Hail America". Omission of the last track due to sound issues has a new song, "War Pig Federation" rounding it up, solid stuff.

Heat Signature "Brain On War" CD
&
Impakt "Burnout" CD

These two shall go hand in hand, ´cause I´m still a bit green when it comes to harsh noise on records, so there´s a limited amount what can be sonically said about these... both deliver a full package with evocative artwork, themes and song titles, not to say a full-on, all-out assault. The live impact of Impakt still fresh in mind, can´t get much better than that. Also every time when Heat Signature go for that low end crunch, I´m compelled crank up the volume. Fuck, I´m out. So... next stop, Macronympha, eh?

Smell & Quim "Jesus Christ/Jissom Killers 2CD

The Old Captain reissue. "Jesus Christ" here leans more on the sparse and lo-fi field recordings/sound collages/noise. "Bum Cleaver" ups the ante into a frivolous/delirious cacophony, still retaining the darker tone of these releases. "Eight Fuckers" begins with a quiet quitar dirge akin to Matthew Bower workings circa '95, but deteriorates into drunken rants for the most of its 20 min. duration, which is all fine and well, but sometimes the old J.C. here can be a bit too much...

Onto the "Jissom Killers", which for starters delivers an absolute tour de force (in title as well) of "Sucking a Dead Man´s Cock", which in all its 25 min. glory could be one of the best Smell & Quim tracks ever. Brooding industrial drones make way for slow scraping of junk metal, just perfect slow burning, dragging ominous noise epic. The rest of the album doesn't let up on the darkness. Closing "Anatomy Shatterme" brings to mind some quieter, even melodic Sutcliffe Jugend moments.