Project NAMES?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I don't recall there is a topic for discussion of band names. Idea kind of stirred from my latest playlist comment, where new Finnish project RMSS name made me mention one of these new Finnish project names that seem to confuse especially foreigners. After like SSRI,  KSNK, YANA, KITU, AMEK-MAJ, H.Ö.H, NÄSIÄ, MOGAO, APRAPAT, and new Terässinfonia had first public track by FETO, and now you got RMSS and I guess it was mentioned in one of WCN podcasts that it's hard to keep up what is happening, when you don't really "get" the name. You see odd couple letters name, which makes little or no sense at all, and got pile of somewhat similar names you have no idea what they are. It is quite different situation from getting tape where band names has clear meaning, something you can write correctly and remember instantly.

My personal non-preferred names tend to be artists working under their own names. Just preference I can't explain, and certainly some of these artists are phenomenal but I would like even more if it was under good project name.
Added nuisance is when names are in difficult languages that you (or other people) always spell wrong.

Other non-preferred names are the ones that are too long or too difficult to say. As great noise something like Ahlzaghalsaguh does, like you can see, still today, I have no clue how to really say or write the name. Of course, name stands out in being so weird.

But then what really makes a GREAT name - or lets say somehow personal favorite?

One category being the short ones with strong impact.
Merzbow
Taint
and that type. Looks good on album cover, flows nicely along discussion.

Then of course, I got soft spot for nasty names. These days when you got all sort of utterly rude and disgusting names, this category has lost little bit of its power when done to level of ridiculousness, but especially back in the day, seeing name GENOCIDE ORGAN, and knowing without hearing that this is something you just have to get!

Black Leather Jesus
Vortex Campaign
The New Blockaders
Sutcliffe Jugend
and so on.

And the oddities. Seeing catalogue where something appear that simply made you want to see what's up:
Violent Onsen Geisha
Gerogerigegege
Nurse With Wound
etc.

Just something that, at least in myself, awoke curiosity, that based on mere name seen in paper list, with nothing else known about it, made me want to place order and check out what it was.

and the second part of discussion...

In other hand, a lot of people when they grow up, seem to be little annoyed about name they picked up as a teenager. Being 40-50 year guy and suddenly it may not seem that satisfying to play gig or put out new album under name they picked up to match the obscure dark and sleazy atmosphere of genre 30+ years ago, hah.  On personal level, GRUNT was picked up when I was 15, and there was short moment in the 90's when I was considering is this name I want to keep "forever". And what should it be, if not that. Needless to say, Grunt stayed. Short, simple, multiple meanings with good metaphors for sound and conceptual things, but certainly couple decades ago was period of thinking something else could be better.  Question being: Your own feelings of name you picked up, have you stopped using name, changed name, just as it wasn't that good after all..

[Andrew McIntosh]

To be honest, most Noise/Industrial/etc project names don't thrill me that much. When I first started getting into this I was struck by the project names, all seeming to project this very heavy, nasty, "anti" kind of atmosphere that was intriguing enough at the time I guess. But these days it all just seems like much of a muchness. Nothing much seems to spring to mind right now as anything all that interesting.

I suppose I always thought Xenophobic Ejaculation was pretty good for straight up shock value. N., I still like as a nice, blank slate kind of a project name. The name Hands To always confused me, I've got no idea what it's meant to mean and it sounds like one of those random-word kind of project names even though I'm sure it's supposed to have some kind of meaning. Brighter Death Now I still like, it's got a little sardonic irony about it. 

[Fields]

I've always really liked "Young Hustlers". It's different, memorable, and intriguing. I also have a soft spot for some very "industrial/noise project" sounding names, like S.T.A.B. Electronics, Zona Industriale, etc. although on the flipside they can also be very forgettable.

[Bloated Slutbag]

As far as I'm concerned, any project name with less than ten syllables is not worth my time.

More seriously, I don't think the name alone ever meant squat. Rather it's the name in combination with the sounds that will elevate. That is, possibly elevate the sounds, or possibly elevate the name or more probably elevate both, the name and the sounds.

Take Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant. I first heard Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant on the RRRecords Testament comp (the LP, not to be confused with the CD of the same title, itself not to be confused with the 5x7" of the same title, itself is not to be confused with the VHS of the same title). Where was I? Oh yes. Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant. First time I heard Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant, it (Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant) was just the most alien sounding shit I'd ever heard. Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant was also my first encounter with locked grooves. In the middle of a fucking compilation. This very alien, alienating, spare and yet rather harsh sound, short snippets in fact, that three or so rotations later will morph into a locked groove. Not once but three times. I've literally chased that particular, very peculiar, and never to be heard from again, Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant, sound. And not even to be heard again from Swimming Behavior Of The Human Fucking Infant. And indeed, with reference to the liner notes, the (tape) source materials are credited to the combined contributions of Arcane Device, Emil Beaulieau, Illusion Of Safety, Rik Rue. (And, presumably, to Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant.)

So you take these names, these wonderful names, that alone could never really quite mean squat. Illusion Of Safety. Filthy Turd. Nurse With Wound. Filthy Turd. Zoviet France. Filthy Turd. Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant. Filthy Turd. And you attach to them sounds that inject that name with massive in potentias of torque.

I mean. If Gerogerigegege were just some fucking grindcore band I would never have been even the slightest bit arsed to bother. But attach that name to something like Senzuri Champion and, well. Champion.

Track titles can go a distance, I'm Herpes, Yes I Am, as of course will artwork. But I want to zero in on the project name and the sound, for anyone who is still with me here. And I think the reason, at least for me, was how I first encountered a good chunk of these projects. That is, via radio. Typically, you'd hear the sounds, these wonderful alien sounds, first. Then, five tracks deep, the (college) radio DJ comes in and announces all the shit you've been listening to for the last forty some minutes. This sort of detachment from context that may cohere when the track title or project name is finally announced (though often missed completely, and thus to forever remain nameless if quite wonderful sounds floating through the airwaves, much of it destined to fade into the recesses of memory).

There are certain memorable ones. Incapacitants. Walking into the record shop every other weekend and seeing Feedback Of NMS. The title, the track titles, FLS Syndrome, the artwork. The project name. Looks...mysterious, alienating, possibly political. Finally, after months of just looking at this stupid disc, having no idear what it sounds like, buying it. Taking it home, pressing play, and, like. Well, fuck. Incapacitants. Naturally. What the hell else were you going to call it?

Filthy Turd. First encounter, split with The Rita. Kill The Women, Rape The Men. The Fish-Woman Has Her Finger In Your Arse-Hole. Press play and the 'turd is, actually, surprisingly, really really good. Couldn't believe I'd slept on the project to that point. See, the sounds need to attach themselves, right? Else, who gives a shit? Besides, the fish-woman has her finger in your arse-hole.

[Balor/SS1535]

I suppose I always thought Xenophobic Ejaculation was pretty good for straight up shock value. N., I still like as a nice, blank slate kind of a project name.

These are two that immediately came to mind for me as well.  Xenophobic Ejaculation is especially great for its double meaning.

Another one for me would be Atrax Morgue.  Equally direct and obscure.

[NerveGas]

A fan of rougher, hard edged, slightly bizarre names:

666 Volt Battery Noise
Black Leather Jesus
Sewer Election
Macronympha

And also simple classics such as:

Mania
The Haters
Militia

I am actually quite a fan of the name Ahlzagailzehguh. Of course it's hard to spell or pronounce but it's fitting for the project. Perhaps thr Sonic quality plays into some bias I have, but I stand by it as a good name.

[HateSermon]

I've been a fan of black metal longer than I have of noise / PE so I think by the time I was looking for noise to listen to I was a little numb to the extreme names. Except for maybe Genocide Organ or XE. Those will always stand out.
I'm fond of the F&V associated names. Sadistic Bliss, Bizarre Uproar, Menacing 84, Sick Seed ("Burning in my balls!"), Snuff etc.
Keith's project names too. Classics like Mania, Taint. Easy to remember. Molester Surprise Group is a bit comical to me.

[Kaaoskultti]

As far as I'm concerned, Genocide Lolita is probably the most Power Electronics-sounding name ever, heh.

[Bloated Slutbag]

especially great for its double meaning

I wanted to emphasize this too. The double, triple, or multiple meanings, especially with words that can be both nouns and verbs, say, which themselves have multiple meanings. All of which are interesting, obscure, possibly humorous. But which could still serve to sum up whole fields of sound. Taint, say. Testicle Hazard has at least a few good ways of reading what might constitute the hazard, depending on the POV.

Also on that lexical level, I often wonder how names play out in other languages. I've often got the impression that plenty of locals in Japan, who would have no knowledge or interest in noise, consistently love the name Mo*Te. Which I'm not going to try to parse, but it would seem to be regarded as rather clever. Hijokaidan, too, for perhaps more obvious reasons. And Gerogerigegege, which little kids love (puking and shitting, what more is there in a five year-old's life?).

Then there are the cool names that are based on real names, G.X. Jupitter Larsen or Q.R. Ghazala, and which work especially well in the context of the deliberate obscurity of the projects. The former apparently one planet over from his idol. Diamanda Galas. Is that her real name? Is a cool name. And how bout Xenakis, how cool is that? (at least for an English speaker)

And the one-offs that work precisely in the context of their one-off-hood. The Nordic Miracle - We Shall Provide. They so do.

The New Boyfriends would not have been particularly memorable, save the awesome cover on their debut. Couldn't possibly have the one without the other. (Admittedly does get better on name alone when you acknowledge the acronym.)

I rather hope Molester Surprise Group is a riff on Male Rape Group, also somehow get vibes of Strange Feeling, Shit Coming in that one.

R.H.Y. Yau. Another great one with minor name-tweaking that stands out as particularly vivid, or visual. A more purely visual sorta name, which I comment elsewhere kinda looks like a sigil: H.Ö.H

If I recall correctly, Sewer Election also briefly went by Sewer Erection, a confusion of which seemed like a good little wink and nudge for a project starting in a field then still dominated by the JP crew.

Violent Onsen Geisha is great, of course, made better by the fact that it issued from My Fiance's Lifework and the story- amplified by people like Paul Lemos- that the primary instigator had died in a motorcycle accident before any of the shit was released.

Once in an alcohol addled moment I uh serenaded one of the Golden Serenades tapes, of which photographic evidence hopefully no longer survives.

edit
Forgot to mention everyone's new fave: The California Raisins

Tangential to that, still waiting with bated breath for the return of Cookie.

[Stipsi]

I always loved whorebutcher.
Gore, filthy and ridiculous at the same time.
Great project btw

[Zeno Marx]

The New Boyfriends would not have been particularly memorable, save the awesome cover on their debut. Couldn't possibly have the one without the other. (Admittedly does get better on name alone when you acknowledge the acronym.)

a little ashamed of how long it took me to get this one

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I wanted to emphasize this too. The double, triple, or multiple meanings, especially with words that can be both nouns and verbs, say, which themselves have multiple meanings. All of which are interesting, obscure, possibly humorous. But which could still serve to sum up whole fields of sound. Taint, say. Testicle Hazard has at least a few good ways of reading what might constitute the hazard, depending on the POV.

Haha! But also, thirdly, like many times in case of Mr. Keränen, the actual joke lies in finnish vs english translation. Kivesvaara being the place up north around where he was born at, and while vaara means "danger", it is also word for used for "forested hill", natural hill that is is formed from large rocks and at least 50 meters high. These appeared in scandinavia during iceage. Well, but besides that, Kivesvaara means kind of "rocky forested hill", the words also mean Kives = testicles, Vaara = danger/hazard.
Most of his song titles, even former artists name Rulla, was pretty much funny translations of words or expressions in Finnish, what become highly amusing if translated literally to English.

Some stuff requires also knowledge in low-class Finn culture. Like Fifty-Sixty LP. Anyone, of our age in Finland will know what this album titled means. In case of Keränen live activities, sometimes it does seem like jumping into great harsh sounds is really fifty-sixty chance, heh..

[-NRRRRK-]

Not really into projects with "author names", but Lasse Marhaug somehow sounds really good to me (and I enjoy his work as well).

Names that are obvioulsy "edgy" are often times a little boring to me.
Same goes of names which are intentionally difficult to read or pronounce.

Fan of the names of Japanese projects: Merzbow is really elegant. Hijokaidan and Hanatarash sound interesting. C.C.C.C. somehow appeals.

Big fan of "obscure" names like the mentioned H.Ö.H. or Aprapat.
I like Haare a lot, as somehow it fits with the content of the project though there is now direct connection at all.

Interesting thought is how names age or percection of names change over time. When I took Noisewerrrrk as a project name I somehow thought it sounded good and fit the music. Wasn't aware that there is RRRecords, which in hindsight makes the name a little awkward. From today's view I think it sounds pretty goofy overall so if there ever will be new stuff it will be released under the NRRRRK moniker, which already used in the past.

[piisti]

Citalopram Shunyata!

I think Shunyata is from Śūnyatā (Sanskrit: शून्यता, romanized: śūnyatā; Pali: suññatā; English: /ʃuːnˈjɑː.tɑː/ shoon-YAH-tah), translated most often as emptiness, vacuity, and sometimes voidness.

Citalopram is mental health care pill manufacture. Some dopamine stabilisation I guess.

There is very good clang with that name. Some older Wisdom need to medicate in this time methods

[anomalie]

A proper name for a project is hard to come up with. At least for myself.

I like these quiet a lot:

Controlled Bleeding
Climax Denial
Narbenerde