PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Borbetomagus – Live At In-Roads (P.S.F. Records)

A live album capturing a full hour long performance from 11/27/82.

In Roads was apparently an old venue in New York that seated about 50 people. In the liner notes, Jim recalls the group's experiences and a special connection with the venue where they reached some special heights.

"We did some serious woodshedding. Each gig was an opportunity to out do ourselves and we played for our lives. Always pushing and stretching. Many new doors were opened. The music was monumental." - Jim Sauter

The liner notes also contain words from Mikawa which were translated by David Hopkins. Mikawa hilariously states that he first saw them in New York and introduced himself to the band as a "Borbetomaniac."

This iteration of Borbetomagus on In Roads features the quartet formation with Brian Doherty on electronics.

I actually really like this version of the group with electronics. I've been enjoying Brian's contributions so far, and I'm curious what would have been if he had stayed with the group for the long haul. This appears to be his last release with the band.

Jim's recollection of reaching monumental heights at In Roads is very true, as the performance captured here is full of fire. The group is in fine form and causes quite the exciting ruckus.

There is an excerpt from someone who was at this concert, and I loved this line, "The In Roads convinced me that Borbetomagus' work is music to let wild beasts out of their cages by." - Kevin Shelton

[Phenol]

Anenzephalia - LURKING IN THE SHADOW OF THE BROADCAST EMPIRE (2026, Tesco)

Was already excited when I saw the announcement for this go up, then became even more excited when it finally hit digital to tide me over till the CD came. Threw this on while driving with my partner and initially we started laughing over the opening sample...how quickly that faded. This album is grim, claustrophobic and VERY European. Just how I like my death industrial. It's full of amazing transitions to the point I didn't realize when the songs ended, it flows seamlessly which I am a massive sucker for on albums. I also could be mistaken, but isn't this the most vocals B. Moloch has done on an Anenz album? It seems like a great mixture of equipment as well, some sounds are clearly the MS-20 and others are just mysteries as to what's being used. Perfect sample placement, perfect themes and yet another masterclass from the legend.

10/10

Have listened to it a couple of times now. On Spotify only, since I'm waiting for the LP to arrive. The opening sample is the only thing I don't like here. It's a little too on the nose and the accent sounds a bit stupid. I guess it sets the premise for the album, though. Other than that, it's Anenzephalia as we know them. Very bleak. Not massive sounding, but with a well rounded soundscape. There are some very nice sounds in there. Some are obvious, some are not. I like how the thin metallic timbre and nervously flickering radio signals (I think) which are present throughout makes it all sound like some sort of distant radio transmission. The dual vocals work even better on record than live. Female vocals in industrial are often very effectful. The runtime, 10 tracks in c. 42 minutes, is perfect. So agreed, another masterpiece from Anenzephalia and for me probably the best album to come out since, well, the last Anenzephalia album (Magenta, that is, not the recent tape, although that was good too).

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Borbetomagus – Barbed Wire Maggots (Agaric Records, 1983)

Ah! The Borbetomagus record most commonly sighted in the Noise Canon thread. This album seems to be a favorite for a number of fans.

This is the first album that features the classic core trio of Jim, Don, and Donald in full. Brian has exited the band at this point, and the electronics featured on earlier releases are absent. However, it allows the other three founding members to shine.

I love the slow and minimal build up at the start of these adventurous tracks. They have more peaks and valleys than some of the other material that has come before. More structural navigating and play with dynamics. I also think the saxophones play more into their jazz influences on this disc than most releases to this point. I feel like I hear Ayler more than the previous albums. Frank Wright is also mentioned in the liner notes.

There is an abundance of space on the second track, which I was surprised by at first. Certain moments actually remind me a bit of AMM's The Crypt. A very special balance of silence and sudden abrasive eruptions.

The waxing poetic on some of the liner notes so far has been at times enlightening and at other times odd or comedic. Like this line from Byron Coley, "...they tangle like electrics eels dropped like tampons from the poop hatch of a 747." Interesting...

However, Byron does seem to agree with many members of this board who favor this record, as he also states, "It probably remains my favorite Borbetomagus album for a number of reasons.. and it was always the LP that I'd pull out when introducing a new listener to the band."

A delight.

[k.p.g]

Kites - Hallucination Guillotine (Load Records)
When I throw around the term of "$3 classic," this is the kind of release I am talking about; tons of copies pressed and tons of quality to back it.  This might not be everyone's first choice for harsh noise but the brand of psychedelia that Kites brings to the table is so intense in volume and tone that it can easily tow the line between the pedal smashing harsh heads and sophisticated art crowd.  Some of the most searing microphone feedback is often backed up by the quirkiest of oscillator chirps.  It's a great deal of fun to hear these juxtapositions.

[Zeno Marx]

Robert Turman - Beyond Painting (Chondritic Sound, reissue)
Winding down for bed to this was a surreal experience.  It had been some years since hearing this, and I had forgotten just how rich and bright in sound it is.  Feels like the soundtrack to traversing miles upon miles of desert.  Started to feel myself welling up as soon as track 1 kicked in...  sublime.

when I read, or hear, the word sublime in relation to any experience of any kind, I get interested.  I don't know a whole heck of a lot about art theory, or art rhetoric for that matter, but sublimity is significant.

[Cranial Blast]

Hateful Bliss - V/A CD (Untergeschoss/Filth & Violence)

By far my favorite release of 2026! This compilation was divine to my ears and highly satisfying! It feels like the album I've been longing to hear for quite some time in the last couple years. A nice cast of guests and some of which whom we haven't heard in a while now. Best Black State track by far! Worth everything right there for that one, but the everything else that follows is incredible!! A lot of texture, interesting vocals, balanced nicely from harsh junk stuff to more heavily distorted power electronics, lovely artwork front to back. The lovely thick big breasted woman playing violin is absolutely stunning, love it! I'd say this is certainly a 10/10 release. It feels like a great revitalization of that nasty, dirty Filth and Violence era that says... We are immortal!!
 Also sidenote: I could not help but notice on the Unclean track entitled Ravenging End there was a sample of Marshall Apple White (Nike Shoe Cult Guy, behind Heaven's Gate Cult) It's mind blowing to me that Unclean sampled this, young man from band Morgal, Lord Warmoon sampled as well under his band Devil Moon sampled same thing song entitled Death Spirit. I also sampled this same thing on Void Of Empathy - New Age Discord album with starting track entitled Horns Of Gas And Ice Return. I find that detail to sample strange! We all sampled something that felt "pressing or urgent" enough so that we felt compelled to use sample, interesting observation, cause the world certainly feels like it died a long time ago and we are the residual embers of that..

[k.p.g]

Lily - Scenes (Robert Fuchs)
Sometime last year, this artist performed under a different name on the Providence, Rhode Island stop of the Dead Door Unit / Max Julian Eastman / Fricker tour and impressed me to the point that I had to drunkenly take myself up to them and say "you should do a tape for my label."  It just was that good.  Believe the artist had mentioned some other recording obligations to fulfill first, which I had no problem waiting for.  Turns out that obligation must have been this disc... and what a fucking great obligation to fulfill.  This release is stellar so far. 
Where most tape mangling I hear lately rests in a soupier, psychedelic realm, Lily is focused on using tape as a destructive sound source, having blown-out loops and source sounds collapse onto each other amidst layers of hellish mixer feedback.  It was this kind of approach that had the artist stick out to me in the first place last year.  While you occasionally do have standard tape fare poke through (warped classical music, for example), it is never too long before some high-strung ROAR of sound enters the fray to shove you back into the psychosis. 
Think that "psychotic" would be the best word to ascribe to this release.  And I don't mean it's just a bunch of crazy, loud sounds mixed together... I just feel deeply unsettled by how in your face this whole thing is.  It's like watching someone clearly about to melt down in the middle of the streets.  They are trying so hard to hold it in, but nervous twitches, raised voices, clenched fists are all little "scenes" of the larger manic episode that they are experiencing (sorry, bad pun / phrasing).  That is what this disc feels like to me though, and like any great public accident, I just can't turn away. 
Phenomenal stuff.  I don't foresee this disc leaving my rotation for a bit.  Purchase from the label or distro is absolutely mandatory for anyone reading this.

[Zeno Marx]

Contrastate - Seven Flies Feeding Inside The Tears Of A Woman's Eye 2026 - one of my certain top picks for the year.  They haven't lost a beat.  Does ANYONE care about them anymore?  All the people chasing around Steven Stapleton's jokes should shift and follow them.  This is what Nurse with Wound once was.

Robert Turman - Lands & Grooves 1982-1988 - The first thing I noticed was the repetition.  I don't know if it is just because it appeals to my minimalist preferences, but one of the things I most appreciate about the early industrialists is their astute use of repetition.  Some of the tones, and perspectives, on this collection remind me of Zoviet France, who were possibly THE masters of repetition (for me).  These early industrialists used repetition in a very musical way, too.  Rather than maybe just pragmatism or being contrarian/edgy and actively avoiding it, there's a clear sense of musicality, and I don't think they would shy away from that notion.  To find that sweet spot of repetition, minimalism, and musicality, it's one of the common, and substantial, approaches of the best early industrial.  I just love this stuff.  Make no mistake:  they were making music.  I could be off here too, but I was also thinking of W.David Oliphant (Life Garden, Maybe Mental, Rag Dun, collaborator with Voice of Eye).  And this is the sort of thing that is so absolutely satisfying that when over, I don't look for anything else to play.  It's good to just sit in it for a while.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Borbetomagus - Zurich (Agaric, 1984)

Zurich is a live recording of a concert given in October of 1984. It features the classic trio of Jim, Don, and Donald.

The album opens with Fleetwood DeKooning and each player immediately starts with a bright intensity. Both saxophones are skronking, screeching, and trilling at full volume. It doesn't let up for the full 18 minutes of this first track. The lungs Jim and Don must have... On some of the earlier releases, Donald's guitar is more of a background element, but he is not shy about jumping to the forefront here. The guitar is abrasive.

There is a fair amount of variety on this album too. There are 8 tracks and a number of extended jams, as to be expected. However, there are also a few tracks that range from only 3 to 5 minutes that explore different timbres. The variety on the album, on top of the absolute killer playing makes this album stand out. Honestly, one of my favorites from the group so far and they've all been killer.

I don't know if they've done this on previous releases so far, or even later, but there is one track where instruments are swapped, and Don Dietrich is on guitar, and Donald Miller is on sax. The track name is Refried Tampons. Fantastic.

The liner notes for each release to date have been insightful, but this one takes a more comedic approach and features a satirical take on an old-timey sales pitch. The notes end on this fantastic bit, "...if you have shit in your years, consider this the kind of double-tipped barbed-wire musical swab you've been looking for."

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Borbetomagus - Live in Allentown (Agaric, 1986)

Here we go again! Another Borbetomagus review. This time it's Live in Allentown. A concert that occurred on October 29, 1986 during a Halloween extravaganza.

I'm listening to the CD version from 2007, which consists of two different sets from that same night. The original releases only contained the first set.

The line up is different for each set. The first set is a quartet formation. We have Jim, Don, and Donald, but now joined by Adam Nodelman who played bass with the group on a number of releases. I believe this is his recording debut. The second set is a quintet formation also featuring the core trio, Adam on bass, and Scott Legath on electronics.

Man the first set is scorching... the group is conjuring some true hellfire. Have you ever heard a horn-based satanic ritual? Hard to tell where the guitar and bass separate, but there is some aggressive string scraping and bowing going on. Halfway through, one of the guitars summons demonic feedback that really fills the room.

I think the summoning works as one of the band members starts to vocalize some grunts and unintelligible, painful wails. Could be the ritual is working and possession has occurred. It seems the audience was feeling the magick as well as you can hear a number of excited hoots and howls throughout the performance.

About two thirds of the way through the natural and spirit worlds meld together. There are some delay effects utilized that add a layer of psychedelia to the release, which I don't believe I've heard on other recordings so far. Spirits calling out from the void and crossing over!

I feel like I've over-explained the first set, so I'll leave the 2nd set a bit of a mystery. You'll just have to hear it!

[k.p.g]

Cheeseburger in Paradise - Gunk Bleeds In Black 'n White - Assure Yourselff; •p (self-released)
Short-form noise of a crude and angrier nature than the name would lead on.  What the hell?  This isn't paradise!  But maybe to some, it is.  After all, certain sections sound like sand paper dragging in a way that would make The Haters proud.  I know plenty of people who like them, so they'll like this.  It's a good release to pop in for a quick injection of sound power.

Nikudorei / Anal Massaker - MeatSlave / AnalMassaker (NAT Records)
Noisecore classic I recently received in the mail from a friend, who insisted I check it out.  Thanks to them for the insistence, as this is an excellent 7" with infinite replay value!  Nikudorei side is full-volume assault of electronics and manic vocal yelps that just doesn't let up.  Anal Massaker side does pump the breaks a little, just a little, as it is far cruder in quality but still rages when the band makes a move.  Spinning this one back again after the first time made it even more satisfying.

Pauline Oliveros - Alien Bog / Beautiful Soop (Pogus Productions)
Perhaps this falls more into the general "experimental" camp than just "noise," but I never realized that Al Margolis had another record label beyond Sound of Pig, let alone one that put out Pauline Oliveros!  This one made for a pretty good end of night listen, as it is 2 longer pieces that creep and mutate at a slow pace, letting the listener appreciate how masterful Oliveros was with the art of synthesis; well beyond just "noodling" or anything of the sort.  No, these pieces really feel like they have some structural life breathing into them and have a journey to give to an attentive listener.  It is easy to connect the lineage between this and works such as Coil's Time Machines.  Hell, you can even look later into projects like Emeralds and Hive Mind to see just how Pauline paved the way for their successes, as some sections of this get abrasive and DEEP in the low end.
Lovely disc, glad Al made an effort to put these archival works of hers into the hands of some noisier audiences. 

[impulse manslaughter]

Pauline Oliveros - Alien Bog / Beautiful Soop (Pogus Productions)
Perhaps this falls more into the general "experimental" camp than just "noise," but I never realized that Al Margolis had another record label beyond Sound of Pig, let alone one that put out Pauline Oliveros!  This one made for a pretty good end of night listen, as it is 2 longer pieces that creep and mutate at a slow pace, letting the listener appreciate how masterful Oliveros was with the art of synthesis; well beyond just "noodling" or anything of the sort.  No, these pieces really feel like they have some structural life breathing into them and have a journey to give to an attentive listener.  It is easy to connect the lineage between this and works such as Coil's Time Machines.  Hell, you can even look later into projects like Emeralds and Hive Mind to see just how Pauline paved the way for their successes, as some sections of this get abrasive and DEEP in the low end.
Lovely disc, glad Al made an effort to put these archival works of hers into the hands of some noisier audiences. 

Pogus did some great archival releases and most/all are easy to find and cheap on Discogs.

[k.p.g]

and most/all are easy to find and cheap on Discogs.

Excluding this one mentioned!  Apparently getting it for $10 was a steal by comparison to what some people are selling it for now.

[Duncan]

There's loads of SoP/Pogus still available directly from the source. Wound up getting a gigantic order from him when in the States and came home with an armful of classics for normal prices. Recommended.

[k.p.g]

I have placed an order for SoP before, but exploring the Pogus catalogue for other titles might be my move for lunch break.