PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[FreakAnimalFinland]

HOSTAGE PAGEANT  "SUBSERVIENCE" tape
Narcolepsia
Current USA harsh noise artists. Just received tape today. It's good basic stuff. Distorted harsh things, occasionally longer part going on, fast cuts here and there, short grinding loops here and there. Few of these methods remind me of Sickness, Encephalophonic, Endo, etc, but there some odd laziness in noise itself. While cuts, and distortion all work well, way of smashing noise out of objects happens in kind of lazy pace, and often in moment of cutting from sound to another, there is lack of ongoing energy. In one hand, it gives tape slightly unusual feel, but not sure is it all good thing. Satisfactory tape nevertheless.

RULLA "Arserection" tape
Trash Ritual
mr. Keränen doing harsh noise before he decided to start working under his own name. Chaos of distorted electronics. Not bad, but he certainly improved later on. Should add tape on EST to near future playlist pile. It's one of his strongest works, I think. Could be good to compare with this.

[hkso]

KRISTIAN OLSSON "Paltkoma" tape
Styggelse
More versions of this? Discogs says ltd 30 single sided tape. At least my copy cover says ltd 60 copies and material is on both sides, although abruptly cut in middle. Very close to Alfarmania aesthetics in all ways. Great flowing lo-fi collage of sound from industrial wastelands. Suffocating atmosphere created from all things rusty, melancholic and dirty. Noise only exists in all the dust covering sounds, but there isn't any too obvious distortion pedals and such.

I think it is 60 copies that was the edition... I only did one version of cover and never reprinted it since I found it a bit of a halfmeasured release. The abrupt cut is probably because I had run out of tapes in right length...

[octis]

Taint - Whoredom

Keith is a genius . As many said before : pure classic .

[octis]

Remesh ‎– Choke

superb eerie dark ambient from this fantastic duo out of the israeli tophet.
http://www.discogs.com/Remesh-Choke/release/1730767

[HOGRA]

NOISEM "Agony Defined" LP
DEL RIOS "III" cdr
OFF! "Wasted Years" LP
Your Girlfriend Is A Dirty Filthy Fucking Whore "...and She Likes Cum In Her Bum" cdr (private distribution)

[Ashmonger]

Caligula031 - Bachelorette Party (tape, Institute of Paraphilia Studies): Good power electronics, interesting samples, interesting subject about which I know nearly nothing, nice layout as well.

Concern - crude vignettes: box-harp & speakers (tape, Dokumentarisk Agenda): Tape seems much shorter than 20 minutes. Only listened once up to now, not too certain what to think of it, must play it again.

Caen - Middlefield (LP, Urashima): Also Gordon Ashworth, very atmospheric, somewhere between Drone and Ambient?! Good, really liked it.

Nyodene D - The Mouths that Reap the Harvest (LP, Urashima): Well, it's Nyodene D and I haven't heard a bad release from him (now to be honest I've far from heard them all), but I feel like this is not his best. And there's a trumpet in one track, I understand the choice for the instrument, but I don't really like it. Didn't really like it in Manifesto either.

Lettera 22 - lack of attention (CD, Ljud & Bild Produktion): Ah, good stuff again, mix of Harsh Noise and calm parts with talking, furniture moving, sounds of the surrounding (what's this called, music concrete?!). Anyway, I seem to like this more than just pure Harsh Noise. At least in Lettera 22 the combination of the harsh sounds and the calmer parts works really well.

[deathcamp]

ISOMER - Face Toward the Sun (Tesco) - Too much synths? Too much of "martial" parts? Anyway, I don't like it.

NYODENE D - The Mouths that Reap the Harvest (Urashima) - Perfect for me, even pleased by the trumpet on the last track. Oppressive and powerful death industrial!

GENOCIDE ORGAN - Live In Japan (Tesco/Teito) - Surely not as great as "Remember" but a solid live release, and a nice looking LP.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

DOG HOLOCAUST "vol IV" tape
Thorax Harsh Cassettes 12
Well, noise wall collaboration of Nolan & Dan. Half an hour of very much predictable HWN, but at the same time - enjoyable! Some brown paint is painted over front cover to frame tasty fetish picture. Otherwise just standard j-card packaging. One guy does electronics, one guy metal junk and feedback. Not far from works of Heinz Hopf for example. This is what brings me to:

HYPNOSIS "Moon of death and other recent works " LP
Urashima
Dan and Skull Defekts guy collaboration. Is it good? Yes it is. No doubt. But I have started to wonder what's the point of all the collaborations if collaborator does all the time what he basically does in his other works too? Of course we can see things like mr. Keränen mentioning in his interview in SI magazine after listing multiple collaboration projects, semi humorously that "I do always the same". In such cases, where harsh noise blends with improv/jazz, free form metal, etc it seems just fine. In case where one has multiple projects where many are just tape loops and tape manipulation.. point? Well, of course: good stuff. Can't deny that. But still, how many tape loop/tape manipulation projects one would need? I'd think labeling it simply as collaboration project of these guys would have felt more valid than impression of new band. So in other words, if swedish tape noise and tape loop stuff is your thing, LP is worth to grab. Anything new or unusual, then not.

LUST FOR YOUTH "Growing Seeds" LP
Avant
Electro pop with cute snotty elements.  I think I prefer tapes over albums.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

CONRETE THREAT "In Cold Blood" tape
Skiboy 09
Harsh noise wall is the name of the game. No more, no less. Of course can't be totally sure, but it does have kind of computerized feel in some ways. Not sure what sound source, as its just crunchy static wall of distortion. One can divide elements that there is rumbling, almost soft humming like bass frequency at bottom and crackling mid tone distortion very commonly found from pedals like big muff. No high pitch distortion screech. There couple layers operate in highly minimalistic range. Only changes are the micro level sound partikels. So basically worship of The Rita works of mid 2000's?

BURIAL HEX "Grispter Killer" tape
Hatesong 004
I still always associate Burial Hex to some kind of dark and brooding "ritual music", but for example here, it's painful and raw noise. One side vocals and electronic experiments, one side short wave radio. Very simple, very raw. Short wave is not really the sound you know from John Duncan "Riot" or countless 80's PE works, but just very simple radionoise static from your usual radio walkman. Both sides appear like live recordings and while simplicity and damaging rawness is striking, its still quite unmemorable tape in general. Best moment perhaps the middle of B-side where radio static starts to remind of Con-Dom "Jesus Penis"!

CAUCASIAN COLONY "Stars of Africa" tape
Posh Isolation
Copenhagen duo of atmospheric power electronics. Good themes, pretty good sounds too. I know I keep mentioning Prurient "pleasureground" perhaps too often, but when you got this heavy synth tone and kind of Dominick's trade mark vocals that are sometimes screams, sometimes semi guttural talking blurred with distortion.. Well, its one of easiest references. This is good stuff and I wonder how come Caucasian Colony is so rarely mentioned anywhere? 5 tapes releases, but I guess many small edition Posh Isolation tapes go elsewhere than noise/pe underground?
This was also 80x done back in 2011. One for sale at discogs for 25euro... pff...

[FreakAnimalFinland]

SKIP TOOTH "Caged" tape
brokentape
Lots of short noise tracks on this tape. Some are very good, others next to those feel like filler. What is common with most of stuff, is that they are kind of constructed and not-just-blasting-noise. But appears to be more like fragments of work that needs to be finished. Could be good raw material for more PE-ish noisy stuff, but now its more like audio sketchbook.

SEWER ELECTION "Raset" tape
Utmarken
Luckily managed to visit Utmarken when it still existed. Regret not buying more tapes from there. Ltd 50 copies and I supposed mostly sold at the venue? Recorded during rehearsals for USA tour 2009. It's tape loops, harsh noises, sometimes quite aggressive, but most often lo-fi, repetative, yet alway more happening than previous years Kassettmusik CD. Although I perhaps could say I like the most the 2nd phase of S.E., when the clean and sharp cut up noise transformed into loud harsh head rituals, I do like this era a lot too. Blend of noise and tape manipulations always works.

MANIA "Eros + Massacre" tape
Abisko
Heavy, heavy and bass loaded crushing slow noise. 2006 release already, how time flies! It's also good reminder, that while most basic elements of Mania has remained the same, I think there is some kind of progression too. Unlike lots of loop driven projects, Mania just hammers his way forward. It's like dragging something heavy behind him, and bulldozing through ruins. Is there bad Mania releases out there? I don't think I have heard. Nice sounding stompping on broken glass? Also nice narrow, near mono sound exploding into exaggerated stereo image where layers suddenly drift into opposite speakers. Small details, but the ones that really spice the good noise.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

FLOWERDAY "Girl on Film" tape
Cathartic process
wasn't so impressed by previous tape. Not sure if this is much better, but just feels like it. One could basically compare with Concrete Threat tape mentioned earlier. It's pure "monochrome" wall noise, with nothing else. It just is more violent and forceful than crawling pace of Concrete Threat. Movement is faster, bass crunch is on more rough frequency and high frequencies busier. Wall noise at level what basically is situation of like it or not. Well done basic stuff, but enough? Was today. Not sure if it requires much further listening.

[deathcamp]

SEKTOR 304 "Engage... Forwards" EP
New Approach Records 2013
Sektor 304 continue it's progression into rythmic and organic sounds, certainly for the best! An awesome industrial release completed by a nice layout.

NEGRU VODA "Vald De Luxe" 3xCD
Malignant Records 2010
My first experience with this project. First CD consisting of live, remixes and collaborations took some time to grow on me. Pleasant but not fantastic. Second CD is the re-release of "Dark Territory" (originally out on OEC), very interesting album of cold industrial noise. Presented in a four panel digipack.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

GAIN BELT / WINCE "live in the twin cities" tape
White Centipede Noise
Three guys. One from Wince, one from Baculum and one Death Jenk. Harsh noise. Works well live. Distant sound, yet clear. It's good and diverse stuff and clearly more members than just one. Wince in other hand, deliver maybe his only not-so-good release? It's not horrid by any means, but live sound lacks the force he has on regular tapes, and sound rarely really gets going that well. Mostly it's thanks to quality not being "blown out" and saturated recording.

GNAWED "Devolve" tape
Phage
Heavy electronics, where noisy and bassy sounds and aggressive vocals create something where one could perhaps think a bit of Deathpile, but most of all more European type of heavy electronics with rhythm and industrial feel to it. This is earlier stuff from 2010, and I think he has improved since! Still worth to occasional play.

CAUCASIAN COLONY "Stars of Africa 2" tape
Posh Isolation
Continues well from where previous tape left us. Simple keyboard tones, sampled sounds of troops marching, effect fueled vocals with feedback. Not the best vocal sound here, but at the same time it adds odd unfinished brutal feel. Good use on conrete physical sounds, but also atmospheric droning keyboards. 4 tracks, 1st and 3rd being easily the best ones.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

TAETER "Parasite" tape
Turgid Animal
In some ways I could dare to say, this is one of the best PE tape releases within last few years.. But then again, not sure! Why? Because while Taeter CD feel like recent release, damn, its 2010! And this tape 2008! Can you say "last few years" of item that came out 6 years ago. Probably not. Also while noise itself is not mindblowing, there is something about the vocal style and delivery what captivates me. Who couldn't be into tracks like "Fairy Doll" or "Parasite".  It's in some ways very digital feeling, but at the same time dirty. Prefer this over Fecalove anytime! One could perhaps throw in names like Atrax Morgue and Nicole 12 for example. More coming? I hope so!

SHIT ORGAN "s/t" tape
Deadline
hah! According to discogs info: Harsh Noise Project that initially started as a "shot" at a Japanese noise artist. Well, while its been quite a displeasure to see the existence of "dis-noise" in current noise scene, I guess it has always existed..  Shit Organ debut is Ramirez back in 1994, and it sounds like... Well, Ramirez back in 1994! Golden era of USA crunch and raw texas harsh punishment. Nothing what makes it specially memorable or outstanding, but also there is nothing what one could really criticize here. Solid live-on-tape session of brutal harsh noise. Simply something was different back then. Possibly one thing, that material was purely analogue. Never inside computer. Live feel, great sound.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

ARV & MILJÖ "Öppna Vattendrag" tape
Posh Isolation
Rough lo-fi sound, tape loops grinding, but more engaged feel than some other projects. Good stuff.

JACKMAN demo
MARCHING CHURCH "At night" tape
Posh Isolation
Two copenhagen "no genre" bands, where I find it hard to exactly say what it is. Lo-fi 4-tracker recordings mixing elements of punk/postpunk/contemporary raw black metal and yet sounding more like they'd fit to team with Lust For Youth, hah..  Stuff what appears somewhere between useless and brilliant.

MAAAA / OUT OF FOCUS "Blood & Shit" tape
Triangle
What a charming name for tape! Ltd 50 from 2008. Two russian acts, where Maaaa easily beats OOF. Infact, its really good piece of harsh noise here. Like with many tapes, nothing new, but just well made harsh noise. OOF appears more use of computer. Or if not computer, there just is so much more lazer noise and all sorts of weirdo wankier electronics and sound pitching. Occasionally there are moments what remind some moments of mid 90's Merzbow, but it would be foolish to try make such reference here.. Short tracks, lots of changes, but MAAAA was more forceful and darker.