G.R.O.S.S. label overview

[magnus]

Good thread! G.R.O.S.S. were a class label!
one of the missing i used to have, and maybe still do, is this (it´s been over 10 years since played last so mamory a bit hazy) :
GR-006 Aube Drip (Cass, C30) 1992
Ambient Aube using dripping water as sources, as might be guessed by the title. I found this quite dissapointing, not the rumbling, droning or noisy Aube i liked but quite fragmented piece, also i´ve never much cared for sound of dripping water, more like forgetting to turn off the water tap in the kitchen before going to bed rather than Chinese torture... Also i believe i before this had heard another Aube release using same source (not 100% sure though), so instead of something freash as Aube had been before it was more of the same. Not very spectacular packing either.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

GR-018 Thirdorgan "Cyclotron" (Cass, C46) 1993
Really good harsh noise again. I like that this is actually 5 distinctive songs. It starts little quiet, but doesn't take long the heaviness of dense electronic noise hammers you down. On b-side some tasty sex noise included in mix, and I think the more you listen, the more evident it sounds that Akifumi Nakajima has his hands on the process. Cover says Decomposed, mixed & designed by Aube. And it has this very specific "softening" edge, which is often present in Aube's work. It isn't the sheer raw distortion, but comes with quite unique sound that includes perhaps quite careful reverb/eq/filter work? Hard to really put in words, but perhaps noise with less rough edge? (MA)

[FreakAnimalFinland]

GR-004 Dislocation "Instill / On The Move" (Cass, Album, C46) 1992
I used to have this for long time as tape dub. Some years ago found original. Perhaps the "hi-fi" medium isn't so mandatory in this, since it is live improvisation recordings.  4 guys with electronics, guitar, reeds and .. hmm "performance". Don't know if the last member is just for visual or if his performance has some sort of audio contribution. One guest musician on electronics as well.
There was earlier tape on Vanilla, which is not very far from this. Coyte's Call LP has always been one of highlights of improv. noise for me. For reason or another. There are CD's on PSF and Scatter. So how does it sound? If you make live recording of live performance, where everybody handles their own instrument, which is very different from what other members are handling, you get nice realm of sound. You can follow the movement of all the members and their sounds, which either mix well together, or sometimes seem to wander aimlessly for a while. A-side of tape has plenty of the reeds... and is it just reeds? I think some saxophone diarrhea splatters in your eardrum as well. Distant yet more "jap noise" electro-noise crunches is something what sets Dislocation apart from many other in this area. PErhaps not enough, but even little of hard noise with more "jazz instruments" gives good atmosphere.
B-side of tape has much noisier and electronic feel. Plenty of effects and electronics. It operates in chaotic noisy orchestral feel. Not just guy with pedals. 2nd cut of the tape is back with the most definitely saxophone sounding instrument and high pitched quiet electronics. Well. It might be nostalgia, but band remains my favorite in this field. Or perhaps someone is able to tell the good free improvisation band who has one feet in chaotic freejazz and another feet in fierce non-academic sounding electronics? (MA)

[Tommy Carlsson]

I just bought a second copy of GRS-111 MSBR Spherical Nerve System, because my old copy was seriously damaged due to the packaging. I am interested in hearing from others who have the tape -- have you noticed anything strange about the packaging? It seems like the soft mesh material used is causing some problems, maybe due to the glue used...? My first copy is all very, uhm, sticky... the cover stickers have fallen off, and they are gooey with smeared printing. The tape labels are off, and the insert is barely readable. It's like the whole cover is decomposing, which in all fairness, I guess is kind of nice in some respect.

Just recently I stumbled across a second copy at a reasonable price, so I decided to try and upgrade my junk copy. Unfortunately, the new tape is showing some signs of the same kind of problems. The tape still holds together, but the cover stickers are both smeared and gooey. To prevent any further damage, I'll store the tape in a separate box. But overall I find this quite annoying. Has anyone else experienced anything similar with this one?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I think it is manufacturing "defect". Not knowing how glue will react over the years. My copy is "damaged" slightly, but not brutally. Some prints are smeared and little tickyness, but not too heavy. I think problem might be also that if copy has been sealed, it may cause some "micro enviroment". Just like some of those old slide cases will make film corrode faster if you know what I mean. I have plans to keep packaging open, dry/clean it and see what's the result. All parts can be removed and put back. I'm positive mesh can take cleaning/soaking to get rid of glue etc.
Nerdy work of librarian preserving releases, hah..

[FreakAnimalFinland]

My four shrines set is in 3 pieces. But it's more handy that way anyways. I know how it should look, and proper glue job would get it fixed. Was damaged in mailing, as far as I remember.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

maybe time to continue to finish this project....

GRE203 Sympathy Nervous "Apple Head" (Cass, Ltd) 1995
Huh... this must be something what sticks out of line of GROSS catalogue quite a lot. First half of a-side is pretty good. It's something what is very much "today": Distorted melodic chords/tones. If someone would have said this is release from 2010, I'd have said "of course it is, fucken' cliche too", hah.. But well, it does date back 15 years. Rest of the material is pretty much techno type of music. It abuses distortions and some experimental sounds and most of all "3D" mixing. Cover urges for headphone listening, and funnily enough includes statement "guitar included - not techno!!". I can appreciate the efforts that clearly is put on this, but for my tastes, this goes far too deep into techno music influences to totally enjoy. I don't know what else this Japanese duo produced and if it was always like this?

[P-K]

older topic, maybe offtopic but still related :

today i was playing some cd's i didn't listen to for a long time.....incl 2 Aube-albums : Metal De Metal (Manifold) and Cardiac Strain (Alien8), and i like these very much, excllent stuff......is there other work you people can recommend? something like 'classic Aube'   ;-)

[acsenger]

is there other work you people can recommend? something like 'classic Aube'

I haven't heard them in ages but I liked the Sensorial Inducement LP and the Mort Aux Vaches CD.

[Bloated Slutbag]

GRS100 Various Density 100 (2xCass, Ltd, C50) 1993
Thirdorgan! Fuck! Many times I've been in the middle, whether project should be rated among one of the greats or not. There are plenty of so-and-so material. Especially later days laptop CDr's. But when one listens this 1993 25 minute monsters, it simply is amazing.

As a long-time pumper of Thirdorgan, I'd have to strongly concur here. If you like this one, you need to find his untitled split with Crack Fierce, courtesy of United Syndicate. I've got a few copies and will part with none of them.

EDIT But this also seems to support some of what I've ventured in the past, re- Thirdorgan 90's analog era: that "the surgeon" Shimizu's dense layering of very cleanly rendered upper registers demands higher fidelity. It seems odd, and interesting, that the only Thirdorgan that has ever received lasting praise, is the work released on at least type ii cassette.

[Bloated Slutbag]

GR-013 Club Skull The Origins Of ... (Cass, C40) 1993
...It's like CCCC becoming Aube. And Aube becoming CCCC
...It's kind of unfortunate that while especially Aube and Astro has produced some inferior items, what must be still far more known & distributed, some masterpiece like this remains forgotten obscurity.

Do give another listern to CCCC "Amplified Crystal" lp (Endorphine Factory). EDIT Mixed by Nakajima/Aube, as is the "Amplified Crystal II" tape. Certainly more CCCC than Aube, but very warm, rich, dense, yada yada. Criminally under name-checked CCCC classic.

While I'm at it, fans of this kind of faux-spiritualized harsh psychedelia would not be unserved in referring their aural passages to CCCC "Gnosis".

[impulse manslaughter]

RIP Aube. According to what i'm reading on Facebook he died on the 25th of september.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I heard about this too.
I know he was selling his private collection, and perhaps even labels archives 1-2 years ago in Japanese auction site? So possibly the death was cause by things he could predict. No need to speculate though. One of greats gone...

[THE RITA HN]

Never realized how killer that IUGULA-THOR tape looks.  Glad to be able to grab one from Discogs.

[tiny_tove]

I think that was Chiaravalli's best noise/pe release.