WHITE CENTIPEDE NOISE PODCAST

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Somehow the Youtube didn't want to display the new episode in selection. I was thinking there WAS a new episode, but can just see the old ones.. clicking through youtube and finally it was there. Of course link would have been above...

Interesting episode with few different things I have discussed elsewhere recently, but also something I have never really heard people discuss. Like how much are the Tokyo venue costs to do something. Adamn mentions that 800USD type of cost to rent a venue, so it really does have impact on ticket costs. No basement shows, no "DIY" places really, just bars and music halls you need to rent.

Also the talk dealing with well known power violence/metal/grind heads who are also "noise guys". I have talked with a lot of music people, who are pretty well known for their music bands, but they have long lasting interest and passion for noisy and weird stuff. There can be high profile bands like Eyehategod or some neat occult doom like Jex Thoth and there are people into noise in the line-ups. You can list dozens of BM bands in Finland where members are involved or interested in noise. And not just edgy stuff, but overall. If one would start to list where some Finn noise guy has played, you could get pretty damn vast list of styles of music, plus that a lot of somehow successful names too. Of course always bunch of guys who never did anything beyond noise. This in mind, it never really surprised me if some "big" band, like Brutal Truth or Napalm Death or.. even Sepultura would have guys who are into "noise" to some extent. Perhaps interesting would be, how many did find noise through a music band connection? MITB - Bastard Noise is one of infamous gateways where music leads to noise, but there are probably many more.

[urall]

I must have gotten the Bastard Noise/UND split ep around 1994 i think ?  Mostly because BN was MITB related and i was into the early powerviolence stuff like No Comment, Crossed Out at that time. It's true that in the early/mid 90's there were bands like MITB, Suppression, etc.. who had noise elements in their music. Even Agathocles did like noisy/electronic intro's once in a while.
But not only that, grindcore and noisecore was so overlapping in a way, it was a small step going from Sore Throat to Deche-Charge to Hermit for example.
Here in Belgium you had a lot of people playing in crust/grind bands also into (harsh) noise and electronics resulting in mixed line ups at shows, selling grind and noise things in their distros etc.

I miss that sometimes, everything is so rigid when it comes down to concert line ups now it seems.

[WCN]

OUT NOW on WCN Podcast:

Kyle Flanagan

Kyle has been an important part of the American noise underground for close to a decade, quietly influencing listeners and fellow artists alike with his personal brand of psychedelic noise and hands on participation, despite keeping a relatively low profile. He's been involved with the Dead Gods circle in New York and is now based in Richmond, Virginia.

In this conversation, we talk about psychedelia, his time living in New York at the height of Dead Gods, involvement in Crazy Doberman, the value of local and regional scenes, and the recording process behind several of his best-known releases, just to name a few topics.

Full conversation and several unreleased Kyle Flanagan tracks at https://www.patreon.com/whitecentipedenoise

[k.p.g]

Very biased here, but this episode was awesome; maybe one of my favorites of the entire podcast.  This will serve as a great introduction to anyone unfamiliar with the work of Kyle Flanagan.  Ideas shared about recording and releasing to capture the moment, fluid gear setups and more will always be pieces I take with me throughout my noise making.  Only point that I disagree with the man on is his opinion of the New Forces disc he did.  Still find that to be a great primer for anyone who's interested in what he's about.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

One curious thing is brief talk about "noise that nobody is playing" -kind of thing. Oskar saying he likes the noise that is just the sound and nobody is playing it.

Just couple weeks ago was reading We Know How To Hate book and in that book Ios Smolders who was part of THU-20 and introduced other guys some electro-acoustic old masters was saying about noise tapes that this is good sound, but now I'd like to see what you can do with it? Something like that.

Remember Masami saying that a lot of his source sound recordings were better than final albums he made out of those sources. I guess therefore so much of source material has been published later on.

I remember years ago when there was one album with sound of printer/scanner used on it. Friend was almost insulted that how come someone puts out album where is just mechanical sound of printer, when already years ago, people were using multiple matrix printers printing certain patterns to created sound symphony. Composed and structured sound of that pretty annoying. (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grUniaqzXtU&list=RDgrUniaqzXtU&start_radio=1 )
And I tried to explain that aim of that particular release wasn't "symphonic composition", but... noise! It was the sound of printer, not music piece created out of it.

Of course there is difference of finding a good sound and ability to do something with it. Allowing sound to just be there, instead of hectic jumps into new things or processing it too musically and suddenly not being "noise" per se. Yet also sometimes I tend to lean towards Ios Smolders "nice, but what you are gonna do with it?" -question. With no-audience-genre type of thing, answer can be of course: nothing! Not even asking anyone to listen to it.

[k.p.g]

Remember Masami saying that a lot of his source sound recordings were better than final albums he made out of those sources. I guess therefore so much of source material has been published later on.

I believe it.  The best Merzbow often sounds like Masami just panning 2 source tapes.

Yet also sometimes I tend to lean towards Ios Smolders "nice, but what you are gonna do with it?" -question. With no-audience-genre type of thing, answer can be of course: nothing!

This balancing act of determining when there is too much of a good sound is one that has always plagued my recording process.  Some days I wonder if I cut off a signal too early when listening back.  Other days I can't believe I filled one side of a C60 with just a single synth tone.  It's impressive when someone like Flanagan is able to strike the balance where nothing hangs too long.

[WCN]

OUT NOW - Digital Recording Basics Pt. 1

The first in a series of videos I'm doing about the basics of digital recording of analog noise, seeking to demystify a process that often has a lot of anxiety and misconception around it. This one starts with the initial steps of analog signal flow, gain staging, and analog to digital conversion.

Full video: https://patreon.com/whitecentipedenoise

[WCN]

Out now - AFTERBLAST with Jim Haras of Fusty Cunt / DETERGE

A 2 hour follow up discussion to Jim's first appearance on the podcast over 3 years ago. Topics discussed: noise at the office, gatekeeping, Boy Scouts of America, the current state of noise, the younger generation, what Jim likes to eat, and much more.

https://www.patreon.com/whitecentipedenoise

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Damn... got to start looking into patreon someday since amount of noise podcasts to listen has decreased so much! Hah..

Trailer of episode already gives decent pointers. I think there has been discussion about gatekeeping on SI few times. Perhaps even topic about it.

I recently noticed one Finnish language discussion where I was being blamed for "distorting noise scene" in a way that with visibility and "followers" I have, I promote bands I like and rest of the bands are not getting recognition. I was wondering that what the hell?! Isn't SI forum easiest example showing that THE GATES ARE OPEN?

Anyone doing noise related things has visibility. Promote gigs, promote releases, talk about good noteworthy stuff.

It is weird to assume I need to... recommend less bands what I like? Recommend bands more based on "equal chance" rather than promote ones I honestly like? People tend to trust my recommendations since I tell what I think about it honestly and idea I should start promoting stuff I have not heard or don't care much, it would be kind of dishonesty that would be easily noticed.

Old time notion of gatekeepers was valid when you really needed that one alternative music publication to be noticed. Or needed to get on bill at gig and approved by organizers. Now you don't really need that. There are no more gates for the public space. There is curation for private space: There are only selections what label, distro, gig organizers are doing. Label who would not curate their output or distro who takes "anything", is not going to last. There needs to be vision and control to keep it that way.

Fusty explaining how he wants artists to do something in more meaningful than just flooding bandcamp with stuff. I think this is one of the key things. Artists needs to show they care for material as much as label does and honestly. How many times you have seen artist dream about getting LP out and turns out they don't buy LP's and like Fusty mentions, zero orders from label they "like". WTF? There is something special about artists-label symbiosis where it results unique new expression. Some sort of parasitic opportunists who just want someone to pay bills and do the work ain't the same thing.

[k.p.g]

Fantastic episode, and perhaps even better than Jim's first time on the podcast.  The deeper dive into his philosophy behind both personal projects and the label are great, as the level of commitment to said projects is something that younger artists could truly aspire to. 

Points on gatekeeping and inclusivity in noise are interesting here.  Think Oskar brings up a great point that Fusty is an extremely inclusive label to all walks of noise, and really just comes down to whether Jim thinks someone "gets it" or not.  It's interesting then to see him put out tapes from artists that maybe would be seen as an eyeroll move for others because they ascribe to practices like promoting work almost exclusively through means of Instagram, Discord, etc.  Could be that they are aware of forums, but irreverence towards the old forces them to shut the gate that is not really being kept from them...

[WCN]

The podcast is on summer break from public episodes until August 24 but will be putting out Patreon content like Afterblast on a weekly basis in the meantime.