PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[John Cagefight]

Incipientium - Untitled
self released - 2024
This release went out in a short run of 13 copies to be distributed at a performance at Discreet Music shop just over a year ago. It's very excellent kosmiche sounds that fits right in with the rest of the artist's catalog of highly narrative works and follows a similar pattern where more abstract or droning sections give rise to wholly excellent melodic reliefs. Side A features a series of synthesizer test tones sustained, twinkling, breathing, and overlapping until they give rise to a reverb-soaked feedback and chord swell finale. Side B opens with a room recording of muffled voices and gong tones that move into a brief passage of meditative om-chanting. This gives way to the cassette's crescendo of highly epic melodic guitar riffing that escalates into a pitch bending, feedback, and tape squeal triumph. As the cassette winds down I can only think "Its impossible for me to listen to Incipientium and not think about Popol Vuh."

Tahma - II
Satatuhatta - 2025
I'll confess this is the first Tahma release I've taken in, and my oh my does it hit all the right notes for me. I'm quite excited to go back and find a copy of the self-titled cassette on Satatuhatta from the year prior. Distinctly dirty, stop-start noise that gives me deep empathy for the Stop and Play buttons on the artists Walkman. Some particularly melty tape warble sections that pepper the on and off frenzy help instill a real swampy aura across the affair, and occasionally the pacing of the manic scramble will yield for some very brief moments of lingering electronic sustain to give the listener a chance to hang their coat on something - but never for any length of time. Nothing sits or rides for more than say 5-10 seconds, always cutting to the next series of hiccups and stalls. If I space out enough I can imagine the pacing of a high-tempo free jazz percussionist wailing on his kit - but its all anonymous mid range scrape and pummel. Massively appealing in every capacity and works distinctly well in the 3" length / format.

[Tribe Tapes]

Awenydd - Untitled K7 (August 2025, Not On Label)
Initially keyed as a "weird PE" project Awenydd has continued growth into something new on every release, the idea I'm given now is that of an auteur crafting each tape with a different approach yet fitting into the same canon and aesthetic established since the start. Side A starts in komische territory before ramping up into a spiritual aggression, this is augmented by a more prominent use of vocals and percussive elements as the tape trudges forward.

Ineffable Slime - Deep And Desperate Fictions CD (2025, Virtues)
There is not anything quite like Ineffable in the contemporary landscape, a high-fidelity barrage of noise that echoes Worth's brightest moments yet proudly incorporates his esoteric influences as part of the sound instead of merely style. Again it's a high-fidelity effort, but broken through immense digital clipping and samples that are ten times louder than anything else in the mix. In lesser hands this would strike as amateur, but the artist wisely uses these idiosyncrasies to craft a hallucinatory mass.

Outdoor Horse Shrine / Euronet K7 (2026, Absurd Exposition)
OHS delivering another bout of well-tuned gnashing. Euronet is a name I've been hearing praised for a while but haven't been able to acquire any releases until now, it's common to be underwhelmed in such a case but their track here I greatly enjoyed. Harsh that complements OHS well but with distinct detours into more unrecognizable, strange sound sources. I'd hope to see a more widely-available release from this project soon, a CD would be an instant buy.

[k.p.g]

Death Agonies/Piss Horn - Split (Survivalist)
A split that shows off that subsection of the Canadian noise scene flirting with the punk & metal realms.  Most will know the parties involved here for being in names such as The Endless Blockade, Intensive Care & Column of Heaven.  These kind of projects served as great gateways into noise when I initially came from circles such as that and noise rock.  Was curious to listen back and think what my opinion is now.
Overall opinion is that while this stuff is not bad, it is certainly lacking in what really gives me joy out of noise nowadays.  Death Agonies side is fairly standard "creepy drone and sputtering oscillator" type sound, akin to Bastard Noise.  The end of the side trails off into this creepy whistling wind sound that I found myself closing my eyes to peacefully.
Side B with Piss Horn took me by surprise with it having more of a PE presence.  I am familiar with Bloomer's history in noise; Stegm shows the man can do something in this territory.  But I always thought that Piss Horn fell more into harsh noise.  Man, guess it's been a while since I've heard this split.  This side holds my interest more than Side A, especially as it carries on with some harsher sounds being peppered in. 
Overall though, I wouldn't consider this to be something essential to seek out.  Plenty of other stuff from Bloomer, Andrew Nolan and Eric King that is far more interesting to grip.  Still glad I took the time to give this a listen.

Magnetic Coroner - Black Hole (Gracious Host)
Probably closer to the kind of material I would be more likely to pop on nowadays.  Recently returned to the loop work of Weston after we set up a trade together.  It's been a while since revisiting this specific title though.  With this coming from 2019, you can still hear him finding his groove with what Magnetic Coroner would become as a project.  Some parts move slower than others, but transitions are pretty on point, even this early on.  The journey has been a fruitful one for the project since, but early glimpses of genius are great to look back on in cases such as this.

[groesk]

Casket Mush - Ruptured Through the Depths of Human Remains (2022)
Pretty no nonsense gorenoise with a distinct Last Days of Humanity influence.
https://youtu.be/o-CLUe1T9G0?si=blGDQcBIxWe8KxyU

Coconut Lobotomy - Digestive Vomit Fantasies (2026)
this one is pretty wacked out gorenoise. influenced by LDOH and Torsofuck, it's actually pretty well done. the clean bass has a nice presence,  and the pitch shifted gurgles are a force in the mix. drum machine is also great and right in front. the samples miss a lot more than they hit, but it's kept to a minimum. also has a fairly short runtime, like most pure gorenoise does.
https://coconutlobotomy.bandcamp.com/album/digestive-vomit-fantasies

[k.p.g]

Various Atoms - White Eye of Winter Watching (Hospital Productions)
At the 11th hour, the heavy snow over the tri-state area ruined my remaining weekend plans; oh bother!  After not having the will to watch another film past Spaceballs, I realized this comp had been calling out to me all day.  I promised myself when some snowfall hits, that I would give this one a relisten.  It only feels right; a comp this long really necessitates a long stretch of time with no plans ahead.  Tape 1 whisked me to bed, while tape 2 woke me up today.

Probably have not listened to this one since I initially bought it 4-5 years ago.  I remember at the time I struggled to keep up with the track listing, but that was probably due to playing this whole thing out of order.  It's actually pretty simple to follow once you get the hang of it.  Each side is very distinct in flavor, and flow across each is well-executed!  In terms of the overall strongest side (both with pacing and sound), I have to give it to "Nucleus."  Not that the comp drops off after that first side, but it really does such an excellent job of announcing itself out the gate.

Another strong point for this release is that it is not the staples of the scene that rule this piece, but rather the lesser known acts (for the time, at least).  Tracks by Ahlzagailzeguh, Age of Enlightenment, K.P., Deterge, Gasolineman & especially Stillbirth rule this comp.  You can tell when they were given the assignment, they put their best foot forward.  The big wigs do put up a good match still, but not everyone exactly delivered (thinking of The Haters & Con-Dom here especially). 

Overall, an excellent comp to kill a good chunk of time with when you're stuck around the stereo.  I can imagine another listen to come sooner than another 4-5 years.

[k.p.g]

Wince - Self Titled + Vasovagal Syncope (White Centipede Noise, reissue)
For as much as he is talked about for his skills as an orator in noise circles now, not many discuss Mr. Brummel for the noise he has made.  Well, I have this CD, damn it, so I will.  60+ minutes makes for a perfect soundtrack to meal prep to anyway.
I find that there is a pretty clear divide between the two tapes reissued here.  Starting with Self Titled, Wince carves out a sound that is highly enjoyable, if not maybe accidental on his part.  Pacing is extremely awkward, with a lot of parts droning on for a while, but the sound choice is so simplistic, weird and satisfying.  Sounds like Oskar is barely tilting a mic around a speaker.  It's interesting given what some of Oskar's favorite noise artists are, as this sounds really nothing of that ilk (Macronympha, Incapacitants, Cherry Point, etc.).  That is why I say this could have been a case of accidental genius, as maybe he just did not have access to recording techniques or gear he wanted to achieve that kind of sound at the time.  Not to ponder too long on the technical aspects though, as I do want to say that this first portion of the disc is truly great stuff.
Vasovagal Syncope sees the project continue to evolve while retaining some of that amateur flavor.  I can hear little rattles of low end muck or metal work being peppered in there now, but again, Oskar sticks to his own lane with it.  Americanoise influence is felt, but not perfectly replicated.  That's good to know!  By the end of this portion, I had my chicken burrito finished, and the disc ended right as I took my first bite.  Perfect timing!  I prefer Self-Titled over this portion, but the two compliment each other well in this disc. 

My copy came with a bonus tape, which I listened to a few weeks earlier.  Some split materials, a live set and a side-long collab with Legless.  The live set stands high above the rest of the material here, as memory serves.

I think the disc itself serves as a solid document of a project and era that maybe some newer heads forget now as time passes and the man behind it is more known for his label/podcast.  I don't know what Oskar's future plans for the project are now, but I can say that this at least gave me enough interest to see what else he left behind... now to see if any of it is easy to find...

[Minus1]

Wtf is this?

https://krimkram.bandcamp.com/album/dont-let-me-be-a-burden

An absolute must-buy for me! 😂

This is just one of those things you sometimes stumble upon, and it just hits you like a ton of bricks. I know nothing about this artist. But this crazy-ass 60min "Noise-Collage" (?) has me hooked. I'm in! Maybe in a few weeks I can do a coherent review.

[k.p.g]

Bob Marinelli - Sheen of Hypocrisy (Not on Label)
Ever since I caught a glimpse of the man's vocal prowess onstage at a Hospital showcase a few years back, Bob Marinelli has been an artist whose work I am always intrigued to check out!  It's just good ol' fashioned noisemaking at its finest; zero pretension... just vocal gymnastics, blown-out synth, scrap metal hellfire.  LOVELY. 

Bob credits himself as "Vocal power electronics, organic noise performance," and I would say that is also an apt way to describe how this tape is divided across sides.  A Side just sounds like a 4-track recording of various vocal sputters battling it out across the mix.  It's fast-paced and quick to excite.  Flip over to the B Side, and you are met with what sounds like a mixture of synth destruction and organic field recordings being run through a few pedals.  It has a nasty dirge to it, but also some sort of bliss you can only find in the forgotten, rotten backwoods of the American landscape.

When I listen to a tape like this, I am reminded of the timeless RRRon quote of how noise is "the sound of true love."  This sounds like a man who LOVES noise.  And you know what?  I LOVE THAT.