A few reviews due to appear in the next issue of a free Australian print publication '
Stained Sheets' that may not make it to your neck of the woods. Probably worth noting that these are not intended purely for 'fanatics' so to speak - but I thought they might be of interest regardless.
FFH Anything Is Possible Cassette (Hospital Productions)
This brief two-part work from New York City resident Richard Dunn is a moving nose-dive into downcast, distressed vocal gestures and pleasingly degenerated, shitty tape-battered pulsing electronics. The presence of contemporary North American Power Electronics hangs in the air here, but the sincere and distinctive embodiment of this assemblage lies in the completely broken vocal scattered throughout grim b-side 'Sturmgewehr'. Dunn's voice sounds utterly cracked here, as though recorded after a protracted argument. As a result of the conscious decision to document this physical state, the impression of a very real violence looms large either side of these bleak, shattered utterances.
KARLHEINZ And This Is How I Live My Life Digital Versatile Disc Recordable (Noisevision)
Collecting a series of varied live actions (both solo and collaborative) from one Karl Giesing of Boston Massachusetts, this compilation stands as a creditable document of one avenue within present-day North American harsh electronics. Despite the presence of some performance tactics falling squarely within the narrow codes associated with power electronics, Giesing makes for an interesting proposition as an artist working in this region. Drawing from an academic background in music composition and involvement in underground rock, his practice has evidently evolved over time into a personal take on these (now very conventional) forms. This distinctive line of attack does not shy away from engagement with significant electronic music compositional touchstones, though these are seemingly processed through the lens of the New England stomp box and sex noise set. This leads to sonically punishing works that absorb tape music and modular synthesis as much as the superficial elements of William Bennett's oeuvre.
LUSSURIA Garden of Seduction Cassette (Destructive Industries)
A subterranean vaporous mist hangs throughout this absorbing work, denying access for the most part to defined gestures and an unambiguous outlook. While this haze initially cloaks all elements held within, in time looped keys and other possibly plundered and processed detritus gently emerges, pointing to an ambience of obscure sensuality - difficult to pin down, but present nevertheless. Inevitably the surrounding erotic imagery informs interactions with these compositions to an extent. There is however a significant additional and unexpected corporeal presence here that positions this work as one of genuine hushed curiosity, admirably muted and intimate.
PSYCHWARD VS. TEA & SYMPATHY SYMPHONY Black Anxiety Cassette (Magik Crowbar)
PSYCHWARD VS. TEA & SYMPATHY SYMPHONY Hurry My Children Cassette (Magik Crowbar)
THE PSYCHWARD CULT Live at 717a: May 2010 Compact Disc Recordable (Magik Crowbar)
Three recent releases on Melbourne based imprint Magik Crowbar, all featuring permutations of the Psychward project helmed by label co-operator Tom Miller. Both 'Black Anxiety' and 'Hurry My Children' are collaborative works composed with Liam Haryono's Tea & Sympathy Symphony, and mark out an area of practice significantly removed from their other mutual concern, power violence derived hardcore unit Pathetic Human. A solemn, putrefying ambiance characterizes these extended tape works, assembled from churning and dust caked electronics. Potentially harsh, treble heavy flames rise from the murk during 'Hurry My Children', but these gestures are contained, seemingly kept in check by the sluggish forward momentum of the adjacent subdued rolling crackle and the recycled cassette haze sheltering all. On occasion simple descending melodic lines can also be discerned, appearing as the repeated movements of a machine mistakenly left in operation.
'Live at 717a' documents a performance by the extended lineup version of Miller's project, in this instance drawing personnel from local hardcore and metal derived units with a taste for occasional escape from rigid compositional structure. Even more languid in pace than the collaborative cassettes, here moaning vocals share space with scattered percussion, unidentifiable droning electronics and plundered, abused audio scraps.
SEWER ELECTION Vidöppna Sår Long Playing Record (Pan)
Extended and often spacious scrap metal tape compositions from Gothenberg harsh head Dan Johansson's long running solo venture. It is the high register howl of metal surfaces colliding that forms the basis for much of the grainy action here, coloured by capture via cassette recorder. There is a jagged, tactile property these movements possess that is indeed the result of the determinedly primitive recording process employed, and this tangible quality invests each coarse scrape with legitimate textural interest. Gurgling throat sounds and wretched, gagging vocal utterances appear during restrained passages to augment the industrial clatter, looped and churning in a prolonged repulsive whirl. Much to be found here is peculiarly beautiful, like a cropped photograph disguising a skin disorder as an intriguing visual composition.
V/A Degenerating Finland Live Digital Versatile Disc Recordable (Freak Animal)
Documenting a series of live performances in Lahti, Helsinki and Turku from 2004 – 2008, this fascinating collection presents a welcome overview of contemporary underground activity in Finland, predominantly focused on projects within the orbit of Mikko Aspa's long running Freak Animal label.
While all performances are of interest as components within this overview, a number are particularly striking. Pasi Markkula's Bizarre Uproar open proceedings with a ferocious live outing from 2006, centered on bracing feedback squalls, furious vocal outbursts and a little frisky audience interaction. The project has evolved since the time of this recording, and more recent publicly available live documentation shows further exploration of the themes of filth and violence pursued since the project's inception in 1993. Also of specific interest is the 2007 recording of Pekka Perä-Takala's now defunct venture Gelsomnia, which appears to have been shot in a huge storage facility somewhere in Helsinki. The space invests the performance with a distinctive tone, one that this imposingly crude industrial grime and metal abuse is complemented by.
Mikko Aspa himself appears in a number of live documents here, the most remarkable of which include a suitably authoritative Grunt piece from 2005, and a completely hysterical performance by his noisecore unit Nihilist Commando from 2006. These two recordings are relatively dissimilar in tone, despite some superficial sonic similarities - invigorating feedback, essentially. The Grunt piece is hinged on challenging visual accompaniment, unyielding control, churning looped movement and Aspa's trademark ferocious vocals, while the Nihilist Commando wipeout is marked by a nose-dive into unrestrained mania, pint spillage, potentially dangerous hardware and a good dose of shoving.
