PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Sir Ashleigh Grove "The Nimply Power Sessions Parts I - VII Audio Memoirs Of A Gentleman Aesthete" CD
Siren
Just recommended some friends, that I am quite amazed this Siren Rec cd can be found still for 15€ or less. Brilliant stuff, from mr Metgumbnerbone.
There is one very long song based on loops, but mostly it is very hand made, rusty, industrial-noise. CD starts almost as if it could be somewhere between early TNB and Jeph Jerman mangled together with hints of early NWW. Soon comes in rusty tones and other sounds.
Normally, most things Siren records seems always hard to find or expensive, or both... would not mind getting few missing things but counting out Gero senzuri champion re-edition cd when it came out, can't remember last time when I bought from discogs...  Those who doubt this CD being worth 10 euro.. check:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdV_ifSq-pY

The New Blockaders – Schadenklang LP
Hypnagogia
It took loooooong fucking time to get the handmade edition of this TNB LP. It was one of those moments when Rupenus almost managed to ruin his legacy of noise maker in being such a lousy businessman, hah. I suppose all, or most eventually got what they were supposed to. This LP with line-up that was c. 10 years ago. More NOISE, less playful & experimental on this one. Not bad, but I kind of felt and feel that Hutchinson is best when he does his own works, not working for other people. Gillham has done good with S&Q. You can't really call them youngsters, but I think a lot of people would do better when pushing their own works forwards, not teaming up with legendary veterans, even if it may feel neat to collaborate with the heroes.

The New Blockaders With Ferial Confine – The Final Recordings LP
Dom Bartwuchs
When listening TNB & F.C. LP, it displays how there is different approach with those guys above. When someone tries to do "what TNB does", it feels as if nobody quite gets what it really was Rupenus & co did, as something quite magical is in those original era works. Sonically it is something very unique.

Violent Onsen Geisha CD
Not my favorite of band, but one of those CD's, where name of project, graphics, and overall bizarro goofiness makes it good, even if -noise- ain't VOG's best... hah..

DAVE GILDEN "texas chainsaw dopefiend" CD
Most people I have seen praise Gilden so much. I have heard also slightly amused remarks asking what is really the thing with Gilden, why his work was largely unnoticed for decades, and suddenly all the newbies are praising him - as opposed to ton of 90's noise makers. I get both perspective. This is great reissue of noise tape that has probably bigger reputation than its content really is. I may be even heretical enough to say that tape on Slaughter Productions would be better?? Slaughter being of course ultimately classic label, but perhaps MSNP connection here appeals some part of scene even more? That said, that this is such a great tape, but question why praise Gilden, why not.... mid 90's Stimbox? Lasse Marhaug? haha... well.. who knows! I am guessing that it is easier to get hyped on mythical already long gone project and almost impossible to get tapes, than mid 90's artists who has discogs full of cheap items...?

[MT]

Sutcliffe Jügend - "The Victim as Beauty" CD

This was the first power electronics CD I ever bought, and have to say I picked up a perfect starting spot. The impact this CD left was strong and intense. I never thought music could be used like that, being new to the genre, I was thrilled of the concept. I felt like I was watching the whole abduction, rape and kill right there. And I still think this CD has a unique and brilliantly executed idea, sounds are used in creative way to, for example, illustrate ripping a part of clothing off of the victim. Just a short sharp noise at the right spot. Intensity is also still there, Tomkins vocal delivery is over the top, as it should, you can almost feel the spit on your face when he goes into blind rage screaming. I was never a fan of the later SJ material, certainly worship the old. But this is a masterpiece from the "later" era.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Konstruktivits "Black December" LP..
oh yes, mostly old school industrial beats, but... good beats. Barely dance, more cold industrial with odd electronic sounds and voices. I like the name of band, design, idea, and music... its something I learned to like, after liking all other things. Haha..

Lettera 22 "true form" LP
A Dear girl called Wendy
Listened this couple times and its so good stuff. When noise scene is so small, it is hard to measure where L22 falls in the genre. People I know, appreciate, or even worship what Letter 22 does, or did. But when I think have I seen them in many gig or fest line-ups? Interviews? Reviews? Hmm... not really. I guess ltd ed euro noise LP has destiny to be under-acknowledged...

[Potier]

Lettera 22 "true form" LP
A Dear girl called Wendy
Listened this couple times and its so good stuff. When noise scene is so small, it is hard to measure where L22 falls in the genre. People I know, appreciate, or even worship what Letter 22 does, or did. But when I think have I seen them in many gig or fest line-ups? Interviews? Reviews? Hmm... not really. I guess ltd ed euro noise LP has destiny to be under-acknowledged...

I wouldn't say they are under-acknowledged or overlooked or whatever - it just seems that their 15 minutes of fame are up...I do recall there being a lot of hype for this project right around the time this record came out and they were more productive. Great record nonetheless...to be rediscovered...maybe...it's 11 years old now...

[TS]

Lettera 22 "true form" LP
A Dear girl called Wendy
Listened this couple times and its so good stuff. When noise scene is so small, it is hard to measure where L22 falls in the genre. People I know, appreciate, or even worship what Letter 22 does, or did. But when I think have I seen them in many gig or fest line-ups? Interviews? Reviews? Hmm... not really. I guess ltd ed euro noise LP has destiny to be under-acknowledged...

I wouldn't say they are under-acknowledged or overlooked or whatever - it just seems that their 15 minutes of fame are up...I do recall there being a lot of hype for this project right around the time this record came out and they were more productive. Great record nonetheless...to be rediscovered...maybe...it's 11 years old now...

And rediscover it, I did. Killer stuff! This thread is a great resource. Lettera 22 has a bandcamp site too, for anyone who would wanna check it out, but "True Form" isn't on there.

[Baglady]

MANIA - Raw Nerves & Unseen Eyes CD (Freak Animal, 2020)
My first encounter with Mania was the split cassette with The Rita on Harsh Head Rituals, closely followed by his LP with Bloomer, the  Ultra-Negative CD and the "Swedish tapes". And it's still these that I hold closest to heart. Judging from what I picked during the 2010's, his focus then moved towards more raw acoustic sound, and with great success, obviously. I'm not sure why that period of his didn't do that much for me. Sure I missed the unhinged air of his earlier releases, but it's not like what I now heard couldn't hold its own. The stuff sounded great; tension, timbre, texture... But this CD, recorded 2010-2014, just works for me. And it is the combination of temple-exploding noise/PE and rich sounding toolshed-rummaging that does it. The old and the new. No shortage of anything. A great album!
I can't seem to find any info on the material though. Was this meant to be an album, or is it bits and pieces picked and edited much later than 2014 to work as a whole? Either way I'm glad it exists. Such a solid summary of Mania's sonic width and strengths.

[Bloated Slutbag]

Lettera 22 "true form" LP
A Dear girl called Wendy
Listened this couple times and its so good stuff. When noise scene is so small, it is hard to measure where L22 falls in the genre. People I know, appreciate, or even worship what Letter 22 does, or did. But when I think have I seen them in many gig or fest line-ups? Interviews? Reviews? Hmm... not really. I guess ltd ed euro noise LP has destiny to be under-acknowledged...

I wouldn't say they are under-acknowledged or overlooked or whatever - it just seems that their 15 minutes of fame are up...I do recall there being a lot of hype for this project right around the time this record came out and they were more productive. Great record nonetheless...to be rediscovered...maybe...it's 11 years old now...

And rediscover it, I did. Killer stuff! This thread is a great resource. Lettera 22 has a bandcamp site too, for anyone who would wanna check it out, but "True Form" isn't on there.

Indelibly scarred as among the best projects ever. 15 minutes of fame? Like...try not having released shit for a good bit. If that's the measure* then the measure sucks ass.

* it is

[MT]

Grunt - "Hehku" CD

Nice artworks, and all handmade, really like the extra touch these have, like IOPS releases usually have. A side step from Grunt lineage, so to speak. At times this almost reminds of Clinic of Torture, harsh ripping sound. Vocals exchange between spoken word and wild high pitch screaming, which is one of my favorite elements of Grunt! Lyrics, which are more like poems, are well written and create the atmosphere for the release. non-finnish speakers miss out on it, but that's life. But as for noisier Grunt, "installation of blood and steel" remains as my favorite.


Grunt / Montage - "split" CD

In the vein of "Hehku" I decided to take this from the shelf and refresh my memories of it. Grunt material sounds like 2005-2006'ish material, recognizable. Strong and piercing elements of scrap metal, feedback and occasional vocals. Solid stuff. Montage surprised me, cause I was somehow expecting Japanese harsh noise, but it was more like combination hn/pe, with vocals, thick synths and wild noise. Veeery good!


Final Solution - "Live Series 1-4" tapes

I have gone though 4 tapes now, missing 5. And it is a handful, Legendary PE unit in it's most raw form, recordings are not always superior audio quality, but it just adds to the madness. You get very familiari with EJ Vodkas ripping vocal sound and his stage antics. Speeches between songs are essential to understand the full extent  of FS. Exchanges between crowd that goes to hilarious lengths.
"Are you guys fucking nazis? Racists? Sexist? Sadist? Yeah, we're ALL of that! We do abortions on weekend and sell crack!"
Most songs consist simply of crude synth lines and screaming vocals, with most  obscene lyrical work. Definately works for me!

[Theodore]

Immolation By Scum - 1984-1988 -Corrupt Records- CS : I bought this very recently and i am listening a lot. I didnt have an idea about this project but somehow i had added it in my Discogs wantlist. When ? Why ? Cant remember. But looking Discogs stats i can guess safely. Me peeping HKSO's collection / wantlist and probably this caught my attention and 'saved' it to check, look for any rips later, which i never did. Seeing it in a salelist some time ago i finally tried to do my research. Couldnt find anything except the guy's site which has samples, tracks uploaded : https://www.patrickmaun.com/music/ . A couple i listened from the tape made me give it a chance, more by instict than they convinced me. Wise decision ! Tracks uploaded there are by far not the best of the tape, neither representative i could say. Cause, in these 90min guy explores many different approaches. Synths, found sounds, rhythmic parts, vocals . All with compositional skill, music structure. Side A is industrial / noise-y / raw / dark, and it would make a great stand-alone release. At some point through a track S-Core came to mind. Side B for the most part is mellow, musical, ambient, electro-ish. Not my thing, but OK it doesnt annoy either, easy listening, i let it play. Side A alone is more than enough for me to say this is a good tape.

I havent listened any other samples from his site. I ll do. I am curious to see where the project / he directed to after this release. By reading his comments though, it seems he isnt very fond of his early 'aggressive' work ...

[online prowler]

Listening to a couple of Grunt trax via youtube off late from the latest full-length Hehku on IOPS. Enjoying very much the soundscape, production and composition. The general sound of the album seems to me a more immersive and physical production than the previous. Enjoying this very much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKc3b2GmUIc

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I recommend strongly the CD. It is album based, plus most of all mastered in a way that it doesn't compete with "other stuff on internet stream", hah.. so when proper CD player and volume adjusted into perfection, it can be heard "like meant to be", as kind of stand alone 40 mins.

SOLMANIA "Psycledelic" CD
Alchemy
It is very hard to be objective what is best Solmania. This CD, might be the most challenging. Mere half an hour duration, but it is "musically" probably the most disturbing, most demanding and fierce.
While most other Solmania you can file simply under good harsh noise, this CD is most of all irritating, difficult and demanding noise. Guitar noise that ain't very cool, vocal noise that is far from being intense or extreme. Just challenge to endure this noizy havoc. That, combined to fact that it was first Solmania I got (as a tape copy, with xeroxed cd booklet), it has special meaning for me.
Album you -want- to like, but it is just not entertaining, punchy or that violent harsh noise. Exactly lack of easiness, is why I probably like this CD the most out of Solmania discography. There is nothing quite like it...

JAZKAMER "the monroe doctrine" CD
Pica
This was part of Jazkamer CD series of disc coming out every month. I suppose I got like 5 or 6 of them. Should probably check the rest too.
This project is a bit of hit & miss, but for example this one, think of 2000's Hijokaidan when they were good solid band. No "collaborations" with jazz or pop musicians, but sheer noise attack of free blasting drums and mass of harsh noise. That is what this Jazkamer sounds like. 30 mins noizu destruction. Many of the other discs on this series where less noisy. Each one, different, and probably have to check out where and who would be selling multiple copies at once...

JAZKAMER "Musica non grata" CD
Pica
So another Jazkamer. Not only tasty cover, but tasty noise! This CD is like Norwegian answer for Archane Device... if anyone remember that artists? There is like 3 layers of droning, whistlight, howling feedback going on, creating neat oscillations between each sound.
When I was listening The Rita interview in WCN podcast and he said he is not that much fan of feedback... and I was like W T F !!!? I know there is barely ever feedback in his works, but I don't think I ever heard someone say it out loud, that they do not prefer feedback. For me, there are only couple unwanted ways of feedback. Most of the feedback is good, and most of songs would benefit of more feedback. Like even music bands. Rock without feedback, metal without feedback on guitars... may be ok, but far from perfect. Noise with good feedback, absolutely great. Jazkamer shows album made out of feedback, what theoretically could be done technically easy, but this is still something that I only thought less reverb, less noble artistic version of Arcane Device could be reference.

[online prowler]

I recommend strongly the CD. It is album based, plus most of all mastered in a way that it doesn't compete with "other stuff on internet stream", hah.. so when proper CD player and volume adjusted into perfection, it can be heard "like meant to be", as kind of stand alone 40 mins.

Out of curiosity for best possible immersion... Do you have any favored stereo settings on the album for optimal listening experience?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

There is not strictly specific gear how it should be listened. I have tested album with wide variety of stereos and speaker how it works out in different set ups. Big stereos, smaller, car, etc..
Not to talk shit on people's habits of listening harsh noise, but often when you see tapes being played with tiny cassette recorders, boom boxes, perhaps some bandcamp streams with little blue tooth speaker... and yep, I'm fine with other people doing it, but for example this album is made in a way, that it would benefit from proper stereo system. Therefore, format is CD. Not digital files, not tape. Generally one who has CD player, has the traditional stereo system. At least seems likely.

Being stand alone CD album, not just something what comes from stream, it would be likely one will adjust volume to preferred, not being some default what suits all things coming on your stream..
As CD is not maximized to loudest, so plenty of things out there have more volume, but when having it in preferred volume, particular moments stand out like they should. Or particular frequencies may come out as intended. Also to changes of stereo and mono sounds, which may not be so audible if you're blasting at tiny speaker that produces pretty much mono sound...

All that, of course is optional. One can listen album as wants with any gear, but they way I do it, and how it was "composed". Full album at once, on volume what will put life into frequencies that are not maximized into front.

[MT]

The New Boyfriends - "3" CD

Somehow I managed to completely miss this when it came out as a tape and now fixed that mistake by getting the CD repress. "3" starts off with a saxophone screech that fries your ears to the correct level of hearing damage for the upcoming. Once again NB does not let down the expectations but manages to elevate them. A beautiful mixture of junk metal fest and wild saxophone squealing. Somehow this album gives off this weird positive raising fist feel, all elements have right amount of distortion that you can feel in your guts. I don't understand free jazz that much, but here same type of playing works great. Third and last track takes a slight turn with sax playing jazzy notes and careful treatment of several scraping sounds can be heard, until all hell breaks loose again, and than calming back. Lenght is around 30 minutes which is ideal. Quick album to blast at any time to get a sonic injection of dopamine.


Mogao - "Finger Pointing to The Moon" CD

After the harsh noise gospel of New
Boyfriends, Mogao offers something else. Highly detailed textures of different kind of chirpy electronic rattles, waving and swirling lower ends fading in and out. A decayed loop working as a canvas on the background, first song of the two slowly evolves and devolves during it's duration, fitting 30minutes, keeping listener at the perfect balance of attentiveness and enjoyment. Second movement goes even calmer phase, wobbly piano sounds and bird chirps here and there. Broken electronic rattles, hisses, beeps and boops emerge from the aural undergrowth while piano keeping the main focus. Half way I am reconsidering, the bird sounds being done with electronics rather than being samples. And the way they first sound definately real birds to me, are revealed to be electronic hiss by continuing the sound longer and turning them into a rattleish electric squeal. This track also is near 30 minutes long, more meditative and atmospheric piece.


Such a pleasure to have two guys like this around, always excited to hear what they have cooked up!

[piisti]

There was a time when I cannot use headphones to listen noise. Nowadays I do it pretty much when I check material what I have been recorded. Also at work bandcamp is nice thing to use. But when I LISTEN music I use only good stereo system at home. My opinion is that you have to feel differences of sound. In few last years I've been listen mostly cassettes which is pretty odd versus era before that was some 95% cd's.  Some deduce it's quality of tapes maybe.  Personal result is you should preferred artist vision.  Or is it a same thing to see some sculpture through phone screen or in a park...