STEWART SKINNER CD
CD is short and works nicely. This has been talked with several people, that while being totally in favor of good noise album... sometimes aim to make "good noise album" may cause artist to show ever trick he got, and display latest gadgets or editing skills... while for GOOD noise album, sometimes you'd get great results thinking as if you were doing just solid C-30 noise tape, one track per side, blasting something good. This one, I do not know did he intend it to be "CD album", or was it possinly just some sort of half an hour noise session, that simply became CD?
It is harsh noise, played live, with all the "flaws" and odd sounds remaining there. Wanky electronics in middle of harshness. Loud, fast and full of energy, but somewhat playful - meaning not stereotypically aggro, or dark. I listened this few times at work, yet at home, stereo system is better, not to mention drinks, so sounding even better than before.
John Duncan / Carl Michael Von Hausswolff "Stun shelter" CD + book
I have mixed feelings about sound installations. I guess its been discussed elsewhere, but basically it has been studied that most people observe art in gallery or museum in form of... passing by. You see the piece while... walking away. In case of sound art, I doubt I have EVER stayed long enough in gallery to listen entire piece. Not that I remember. It makes situation quite awkward to think that you kind of like what you hear, but... how long am I supposed to stand here next to speakers.. or with headphones? This CD of Duncan and Hausswolff makes me feel a bit the same. CD and big book filled with images plus artist CV's, artists introductions, partially good, partially the most tiresome art-world jargon I can barely read. I like their work, and this CD is good for what it is. Ultra sonic high pitched electronics, low bass drones, japanese adulf movie sounds, some abstracted narrations. What's not to like?! But despite that, I find myself thinking how much more? In some more monotonic moments it feels as if it really is the gallery piece, that is meant for people who will hear fragment of it, with no intent to listen entire album... and not really miss anything.
Totally opposite is Primitive Wings "Morphosis" CD. Listened this multiple times, couple different speakers. It is never dull, never makes you think.. "is this it?", but keeps giving more and stays interesting all the time. Debut album is only kind-of-debut, since man is known for his work under several names before. He appears to take leap to new things. There are some known Vanhala traits here, most notable is the master level craftmanship and taste. But change of name is also perfectly justifified, since he seems to take leap away from many former expressions. It is debatable if this is harsh noise? It is noise, but in ways of... fine art. No smashing things. No feedback. No violent aggression. It abandons the cut up, it has no metal junk in "that way". Tape noise is there, but in less obvious form. There seems to be conscious way of rejecting what has been done plus perhaps also what is commonly done by others, but it still is still absolutely under realm of NOISE. Absolutely. Just noise where magic is in detail and nuance and not in how crunchy or brutal it is.
LETHE "Catastrophe point#5" CD
Ever heard people appreciate this LETHE cd? Think those times when you read noise sessions taking place in sewers or whatever, and... hearing them and it doesn't sound quite like you'd want them to sound. This Lethe CD sound just about like that, but is field recordings and bunch of other echoing sounds. Not sure if this is one of those CD's label threw into dumpster while moving, but judging by prices at discogs, it ain't rare by any means. You can still now get great disc for couple of bucks. Japanese sound artists, neat digipak, excellent sound that with different name and different graphics would be probably worshipped as dark and gloomy strange sewer rituals and horns drones...
V/A RECONSTRUCTION OF RUINS CDR
2007 CDR on Thirdorgan's label, being Government Alpha remix comp! One of the best things being of course S.Isabella remixing Government Alpha! Remixing your own stuff under other name! Damn! Makes me think why never occurred to my mind there would be possible to make.... Silence of Vacuum / Clinic Of Torture collaboration? That would be next step from making splits with yourself.
On this CDR, you got Lasse, Astro, Contagious Orgasm, S.Isabella... but also several names of mid 00's scene that doesn't ring a bell now. You really need to check discogs who and what exactly where some of these. Most of stuff on this comp probably sound more like artists who are remixing, than Government Alpha stuff!
Yellow Swans & Cherry Point CD EP, it was some recent WCN podcast they mentioned Yellow Swans used to be big, but nobody talks about it anymore. Yep, from perspective of Finn, nobody ever talked about it here. Seemed more american thing, and CD's never sold almost at all. Not a bad thing, just reality of a lot of stuff. This CD, way more HARSH, into CP direction than what you'd expect from YS!
Gokuraku Ojo "Cased Antiquity" CDR is one of those before Brethren projects, partially same line-up that was in BOUND. Kind of weird industrial-electronics, classic cover pic used also by m3at s h i t s on one of their CDs. Rare enough that this isn't listed even in discogs. Nothing that anyone should hunt for, unless being curious what David was doing before stuff he is infamous for.
Surgical Mental Klinik "The Unconscious world" CDR on Solipsism. It is hard to say what is the exact order of stuff, since same year when this came out, came out most of his stuff, including CDR on Freak Animal. That's 20 years ago, when I did couple CDR's. Stuff was good japanese harsh noise, that has indeed survived test of time better than many other things. FA disc came out without knowing he had anything else out. Then suddenly several releases same year. It ended jus about as fast as he had emerged, and later on guy made recordings as Satanic Mental Klinik as well as Sacro Mental Klinik that later still has soundcloud page for some sort of bizarre experimental hip hop... For those who like to hunt unknown Japanese harsh noise acts nobody seems to care of, Surgical Mental Klinik stuff is good to do! Quality stuff, but unfortunately just CDRs...
