PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[holy ghost]

I didn't get this box because I have everything by Magma except for live recordings and I also have all of their DVDs, so I think there are only 2 recordings in this box that I don't have. I agree that their newer material is generally very good too (I also love Slag Tanz), even if they don't match the level of uniqueness and sometimes downright bizarre atmosphere that their classic albums have (e.g. Köhntarkösz or Üdü Wüdü).
I recently listened to the 4CD box of Offering, and for the most part their music was just as good as Magma's.

I have the Retrospectiw I-III and the Live/Hhai albums so I didn't actually need a ton of music from this, but I'm glad I bought it nonetheless to hear the newer concerts, plus it looks amazing! I'm sure I could have downloaded it just as easy but for something like this it was worth it. In my mind the versions on Retrospectiw are just flawless, especially MDK.

Today:

Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch! LP - this is one of my brothers favorite records and it's just never clicked with me, I use to think Hubbard was just too tame for the avant garde, and I'm alsways put off by a vibraphone.... but I picked up the reissue the other day to give it another go and hot damn, this is just hitting it perfectly for me. I guess anything with Tony Williams is going to be worth hearing. I dunno if it's the "landmark of free jazz" that it's made out to be, but it's definitely great.

Aluk Todolo - Ordre 10" - just the perfect mix of German Oak esque krautrock influence and dark fucked up improvised rock. Perfect weird record. I like all their stuff but this is the best record for me.

Gowl - Buzz Box 7"/Bluuurrr 7" - great contemporary grindcore. Nothing too technical, just great Scum era ND worship.

TRTRKMMR - Avec La Souillure Nous Entrons Au Règne De La Terreur - I don't know if I like this as much as I thought I would - its pretty cool, but feels almost too structured, tight, composed, like it just doesn't seem to ever let loose very much. I don't hate it, but I don't really love it either. I sort of thought it would be a slam dunk since I'm usually really into Iron Lung Records stuff, but this is just not doing it for me.

[V.T.R]

Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch! LP - this is one of my brothers favorite records and it's just never clicked with me, I use to think Hubbard was just too tame for the avant garde, and I'm alsways put off by a vibraphone.... but I picked up the reissue the other day to give it another go and hot damn, this is just hitting it perfectly for me. I guess anything with Tony Williams is going to be worth hearing. I dunno if it's the "landmark of free jazz" that it's made out to be, but it's definitely great.

Definitely a great album and Tony Williams is the man! I am also not a big fan of vibraphone, but something/everything in this record just hits the right spot. Freddie Hubbards Blue spirits is also great album, not avantgarde or "free" but still classic and has lot of memorable tracks.

I have been mellowing out with quiet drone music today; Stars Of The Lid's The Ballasted Orchestra CD and now playing:

V/A: A Selection Of Drones Past: Singles 1993-2000

2-cd compilation from the Drone Records. Pretty solid compilation, but I've always liked the second disc a bit more. Especially the Dronaement and Tarkatak tracks. Need to explore more stuff from those projects!

[acsenger]

V/A: A Selection Of Drones Past: Singles 1993-2000

I also like this double CD. Recently I got two 7"'s on Drone Records, by Kallabris and Id Battery. I don't have anything else by these bands, but both 7"'s are great. It would be great to go through the 100 7" releases on Drone Records, but who has the money to buy even, say, 30-40 of them?

Toukaseibunshi - Meta-Inorganicmatter Meta-Newlon (CD, P.S.F. Records, 2009)

CD reissue of a tape from the 1980s by this obscure Japanese project. Track 1 is ambient noise and at 20 minutes, too long, but it's still quite nice. The other tracks are more in the noise vein, but not too harsh, with some industrial and ambientish touch at times. I'm reminded a bit of S·Core: not so much because of the music itself as due to the way the tracks are structured. There's not much development in the tracks; instead, there's a kind of obsessive focus on the same elements. There's often high-pitched feedback with various repeating sounds going on at the same time. It's a good, enjoyable CD. I also have the Stratosphere Sound LP from 2014 that I should listen to again and see how much the project changed after a ca. 25-year hiatus.

[Zeno Marx]

Kallabris

This is a decent Kallibris release:  http://nostalgie-de-la-boue.blogspot.com/2015/12/kallabris-first-second.html

[Ashmonger]

Maskhead - Forced Perversions (C40, Filth&Violence): This certainly suits F&V, but I liked the 1st tape more. That one had sharper Harsh Noise, this one has a muffled sound, probably meant to be that way, but this doesn't really work for me. There are some nice parts though, but 40 mins is a bit too long...

Audial Decimation Records Compilation Vol. 1 (CD, Audial Decimation Records): I have downloaded this compilation about 6 years ago (I think) and quite liked it, even though I don't like every single track (still have to find a compilation where that's the fact and it would actually surprise me...). So, when I saw that Tesco still had this available while I was ordering some other stuff, I of course picked it up. I also always like this kind of booklets where each act has a page with its own layout. Anyone know which band it is on the Emil Beaulieau page?

[sterilization]

Anyone know which band it is on the Emil Beaulieau page?

That is U2.

[Deadpriest]

Drowning in all things Maurice De Jong at the minute (apart from It Only Gets Worse). Some people find Stalaggh's out put darker than Gnaw Their Tongues, I disagree.

Gnaw their tongues
De Magia Veterum
SEIROM
Cloak Of Altering
TEMPLE OF WILL
Pyriphlegethon
CAPUT MORTUUM
ASTRAL
Gnaw their tongues
OPHIUCHUS
even ASTRAL (dude's earliest project)


I hope this mood doesn't lift for a while

[vomitgore]

CON-DOM - Shards of Ordnance (Industrial Recollections)

I have always been pretty open with the fact that I am not that keen on Con-Dom. It's not bad, but I have only heard very little from the project that I would see as brilliant. Apart from that, the whole Cultural Terrorism thing isn't really that much up my alley (although I enjoy it, if it's done well). However, after playing the "Three Pillars of Controlled Domination" (which is more than astounding) I decided to dive into Con-Dom once again. First of all, the presentation is awesome, but that shouldn't be news to anyone. The majority of disc 1 worked very well as murky and actually quite experimental noise. Good, if not VERY good, but not really what I was anticipating after the Unrest folks had set the mood with their tribute, heh. I am sure I will enjoy this much more when knowing what to expect of it. Disc 2 turned out to be extremely ripping and well executed. Especially the tracks where gutter noise sounds are dominated by Mike's vocals. Sometimes, I had the feeling that only the crudest and most minimalistic means were at the artist's disposal, but the track just HAD to be done. Highly interesting!

[holy ghost]

Miles Davis - Big Fun: I have had the double CD "expanded edition" forever but I recently scored an original LP verion - this is such a total hot banger, Miles in total nuts fusion mode - all kinds of unique instrumentation, studio effects, and a killer half hour track, "Go Ahead John" that's an outtake from the Jack Johnson sessions. It's totally killer, as good as anything on JJ and worth the price of admission alone. I think there's so much extra stuff on the CD version I find the entire thing kind of overwhelming, although more of this era isn't a bad thing. But just having the four tracks alone, is really something. Killer fusion era Miles record.

Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica: this is as weird today as when I first heard it, and never gets old. It's been great to have some time and actually play the whole thing, side after side. Current favs are China Pig and Sugar n' Spikes.

Evan Parker & John Wiese - C-Section: holy shit, this is such a great weird album. I love both these guys on their own but together it's totally unique. More than just a "sax and noise" kind of deal. Way more "out" than what you'd expect from pairing these guys together.

Le Orme - Felona E Sorona: I hadn't played this in years, and recently saw a 2xLP reissue in a store, but it was priced at $80 for a new record. It got me to dig out my CD copy and give it a spin - very much like Van Der Graaf Generator mood wise, pretty cool. Not $80 cool though. I would have paid $35, tops.

[Zeno Marx]

V/A Sub 1984 - there's a lot of shit on here that I don't like, but there are some pretty great, unique songs here and there (both by the same bands).
Effigy - Evil Fragments 1999 - I think I like the 7" more than this, but it has been a while - the vocals really remind me of something from the 80s, and it is driving me nuts; I got the song, but not the band.
Catasexual Urge Motivation - Death to Pigs 2013 - because I didn't know this existed until today - I don't like this as much today as yesterday, but it still makes me grin.
Vastum - Hole Below 2015 - on my "best of the year" list - love the vibe they have going here; dark/evil psychedelia - not sure how I feel about the vocals sometimes; the effects are heavy-handed and almost too much.
Tetsu Arrey - IV 2014 - I like three things about this album: 1) great bass sound 2) they write songs 3) the vocals.  I might never listen to this again.

[acsenger]

CON-DOM - Shards of Ordnance (Industrial Recollections)

I have always been pretty open with the fact that I am not that keen on Con-Dom. It's not bad, but I have only heard very little from the project that I would see as brilliant. Apart from that, the whole Cultural Terrorism thing isn't really that much up my alley (although I enjoy it, if it's done well). However, after playing the "Three Pillars of Controlled Domination" (which is more than astounding) I decided to dive into Con-Dom once again. First of all, the presentation is awesome, but that shouldn't be news to anyone. The majority of disc 1 worked very well as murky and actually quite experimental noise. Good, if not VERY good, but not really what I was anticipating after the Unrest folks had set the mood with their tribute, heh. I am sure I will enjoy this much more when knowing what to expect of it. Disc 2 turned out to be extremely ripping and well executed. Especially the tracks where gutter noise sounds are dominated by Mike's vocals. Sometimes, I had the feeling that only the crudest and most minimalistic means were at the artist's disposal, but the track just HAD to be done. Highly interesting!

If you don't have it already, I recommend getting the Waging War Against You CD which has the Con-Dom and Grey Wolves tracks from the War Against Society 3LP. I got the CD a few days ago and I'm glad I bought it after some hesitation. I was on the fence about buying it because I know very little Con-Dom and I had the same opinion about it as you. I collected almost all of the 7"'s in the Sermons series after reading the Con-Dom thread on SI, and while some of them are really good, I found others to be nothing special. I don't care much for the Have Complete Faith CD -- although maybe I should listen to it again, since, strangely enough, when I recently listened to the Intolerable split tape with Grey Wolves, I loved it, even though it's the same kind of murky, primitive noise/PE that I remember Have Complete Faith being. Anyway, the tracks on Waging War Against You are good to great (Torch being my favourite) and together they form an excellent first half of the CD (playtime-wise, it's more than half, actually). Your description of "murky and actually quite experimental noise" fits it well. I'm now curious about Shards of Ordnance and will definitely order it.
Another reason to buy Waging War Against You is the Grey Wolves track which is absolutely mindblowing!

[SiClark]

Another reason to buy Waging War Against You is the Grey Wolves track which is absolutely mindblowing!

I could listen to that track on repeat all day, it's superb.

[martialgodmask]

Ryoji Ikeda - +/- - both perfect driving album and horrendous in equal parts. The frequency fun is quite soothing mostly but some of the shifts and subtleties can be rather distracting.

SunnO))) - Kannon - I have always been unashamedly a big fan of Sunn and quite dismissive of the notion that they're only good as a live experience. Ther recorded experience has always been different, but not worse. Anyway, Kannon is a little more back to basics guitar drone, less oppressive than the likes of 00Void or Grimrobe Demos but it feels more stripped back than later works - maybe White2 is a good reference point. Vocals still present but less prominent. Won't create new fans but if you're already on board with them I don't see why you wouldn't be with this one too.

Phurpa - The Magic Rituals of the BON Tradition - love Phurpa right now, it's dark and grim but uplifting at the same time. So easy to just get lost in the chanting. I guess in reference to SunnO))) above, the most questionable aspect that has always surrounded them is a lack of authenticity whereas Phurpa absolutely fits the bill, particularly with a bit of reading about their background.

[Andrew McIntosh]

Martial God Mask, I had never heard of Phurpa until now and then looked at this and now it appears I owe you a drink.

[martialgodmask]

Martial God Mask, I had never heard of Phurpa until now and then looked at this and now it appears I owe you a drink.

No problem!