Noise artists without ”hit albums” you need more

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Earlier today I was talking with a person about sort of review I posted about new Haudat / Violent Shogun tape. Just casual post in noise noise playing fb group, might have to re-write it to post on forum.

In text I just mentioned that while tape might not be my favorite Haudat material, and there isn't really... ehm.. "hits" there. I know it is amusing to say in context of noise. My logic with it, is that despite material doesn't have striking flame emoji quality to it, that is exact reason I want to get more!

There are number of artists that I can't really name favorite album. Sometimes not even really say why it would be good or not. Exceptional or not. Its nature is more about building larger body of work. Lets say the best of Hands To / Jeph? The best of Eric Lunde? Even something like the best Altar of Flies may be question. For example, if recent 2xCD release on Satatuhatta would have been trimmed into good short CD (basically meaning leaving the "difficult disc" away?), would it be better? Or is part of the charm of this album that other disc could be described as challenging, rather than musically enjoyable?

In contrast, there are a lot of great artist who have the BEST album, that is so striking, I barely need more. Like making killer cut-up harsh noise album and then... next one that is somehow the same? Or some of the heavy electronics albums where one may think despite each album is great, how many different CD's of oscillating synth + flanger vocals on top of it you need? If you got the best CD, lesser good ones may not add anything.

There is this other type of noise, where all the albums add something. Just increases, cumulates the scope of expression. I don't necessarily think about these works individually, but part of something bigger. Colley stuff comes to mind too. Or Romero. Artists who I do not hunt anything, nor I don't worship any particular album as utterly groundbreaking, yet I will take pretty much anything I can when there is possibility.

Question being. Artist that are beyond the scope of album and even their bleak and simple releases you can't really point out why they rule, still do?

[BirdBolt]

Richard Youngs is the first person that comes to mind for me.

There's no one particular album you could play that would knock someone off their feet (Sapphie or Advent are maybe the closest things to hits?), but his career as a whole is one of the most impressive, genuinely experimental, strange and diverse ones out there.

There's a very English type of unselfconscious and mournful DIY that runs through everything, no matter what approach he takes. From radio noise to post punk to piano minimalism to noise guitar to folk music, the sound palettes vary wildly, but they all sound like Richard Youngs releases. There is no definitive Richard Youngs style, maybe more of an approach. Some albums can be total failed experiments, some can be outright annoying, but all of them add up to something that's much greater than the sum of its parts.

And outside of the solo albums, he's played large and small parts while collaborating with A Band, Skullflower, The Shadow Ring, Makoto Kawabata, Alastair Galbraith, Tape Hiss, Astral Social Club, Jandek etc. No single collaboration is definitive, but they all add up to a picture of a musician who has been threaded through all corners of underground music for decades, contributing to some of the most exciting music out there, seemingly unlimited by style or genre.

I will always check out a new release when I can, or pick something of his up if I see it in a shop, but never with the expectation that it will blow me away. More just to get another piece of the puzzle in place.

It would almost be quite unsettling if a 'hit' album came out now. Just having access to decades worth of very personal music with no grander vision beyond making a recording of whatever interests and excites him at the time is more than enough, I think. There's something much more impressive in a consistently adventurous but slightly uneven body of work spanning decades compared to one great album. There's more to discover and more to puzzle over, anyway, even if individual listening sessions don't always live up to the hype of the bigger picture.

[BirdBolt]

Weirdly enough, he did try his hand at a very DIY 80s pop album which was supposed to be filled with hits (Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits), but even that was strangely unsuccessful at rising above the rest of his back catalogue to create something definitive. Another interesting instalment, but definitely not a collection of hits!

[k.p.g]

CRANK STURGEON.

Was literally having this talk last night about how Crank has plenty of good releases you can point a listener to, but none that you can say "this is the essential one."  Nonetheless, his career is fantastic and noteworthy.  Also worth mentioning that he still kills it on recording too!  I remember getting some self-released tapes off his website ca. 2019 that were pretty nuts.  Not sure if they even Discogs entries or not.

Now I wanna dig them out..

[V.T.R]

From still active artists who has wider discography for me it is UMPIO. Easily. In my collection I have more Umpio and related projects than any other noise artists. I can't name a favourite album, but no matter which album I choose to listen or pick up randomly it is always a top notch stuff. And of course there are the quieter albums like Opium Elektronix series which I listen when I'm in the mood for mellower stuff, but what comes to noise it can be almost any album from that spectrum of sound. And good thing about Umpio albums is that they are usually easily available and pressings are big enough that you don't need to hurry to purchase the newest titles.

Another one is Altar Of Flies and related projects. No bad releases even though I can't name any "hit albums" besides the Let New Life Rise In The Face Of Death which is overall one of my all time favourite noise albums.

EDIT: And one more is already mentioned Jeph Jerman. Not a collector, but I can easily buy pretty much everything from him if that is easily available.

[Stipsi]

First artist i thought was knurl.
No hit stuff, but constant and always focused