PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Anenzephalia "Programmatika" CD
Hospital productions
As a sidenote: In couple of weeks, in Turku, Finland, there will be Anenzephalia live gig. If anyone thinking to come, I would think now its time to book tickets! Other names will be there. ACL, Pain Nail, Pain Appendix, and many more for two days!  Its great venue, nice PA, etc. Worth to visit is one has some sort of option to come.

Just in time, got this Anenzephalia CD, reissue of tape on Hospital that comples stuff between 1989-2006 and I feel it can be rated simply as "album". Less vocals, not so much of the classic hit song type material he plays live, but just unique Anenzephalia sound, and certainly a must have CD!

Once in a while I think about what bands I would "fly to watch". Anenzephalia is one of those. Can't really explain what exactly appeals to me, but it just does. No matter how good bands are, some of them are still not something you'd go to see other side of continent. Some are. Its curious to think what exactly are the qualities that makes one travel further for artist? Besides conditions that you simply have to.

The Haters / La Cyanescence -split tape
Impulsy Stetoskopy
Was listening to WCN podcast afterblast with The Rita and he mentioned The Haters as one of names that are the real deal noise, kind of... ehm.. "the future of noise", which is pretty nice way to say it and not consider it as mere ancient history of noise. Man has a point in the interview. Very much recommended to check out. He also mentioned nobody really talks about The Haters anymore. It is sort of debatable issue, since you could ask where is the noise discussion in general, and even if there is, vast majority of noise artists are not stirring discussion.
Even if I am most definitely fan of The Haters, it may be also healthy notion that we discuss of something more recent, and not always about the established cult names? Or perhaps, even healthier notion is that we can discuss both!
This fairly "new" The Haters tape, I had for quite some time, probably several years, but finally this week I cut holes to the label to make it playable. It is very good tape and makes me want to check out other newer The Haters material!
The Rita comment about The Haters not getting enough credit these days made me think that - indeed, not so many "what's your top-5" questions on WCN had The Haters on it. However, Noisextra has had GX in episodes, plus mentioned many times. Back in the day, when I made my "top-10 essential noise releases" -list, there was The Haters in it. And if asked now, there would still be!

[Earth O.D.]

The "Programmatika" CD is a must buy indeed, I have tremendous anticipation for the Anenzephalia live event.

[Penon]

ANTIchildLEAGUE - Father's Tarantella

ACL's The Father (Hagshadow Hag 01, 2008, CD) is one of the earliest PE records I have heard in my music journey. Unfortunately she didn't / doesn't release studio material that often, especially solo stuff, and maybe that is why this album is so packed with basically every PE feature you can think of - she had to get it out in a concentrated way! When one asks "recommend classic PE record", the answer usually includes usual suspects like Genocide Organ, Con-Dom, The Grey Wolves and Whitehouse, which is fair, but if you ask me for one and only one album as an intro to PE, I think The Father could be the best one as it has it all - distortion, loops, synth bass, suble rhythm, modulated textures, and vocal agression - all packed in the 45 minutes CD.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

K.Mizutani "Cemetery" LP
Ferns
Really nice re-issue of old Mizutani tape! Physical, very hands-on approach, you'll literally have moments like someone sawing wood etc, hah.. Perhaps acquired taste noise, but it is really unique in what it is.

Linekraft / Prurient "政府が神の社を支配する" ( Government Controlled Shrines) 2x7"+5"
Hospital Productions
It ain't cheap or easy. In a way it is odd in times when most of people prefer qualities such as cheap, easy, convenient... and Hospital has been focusing more on odd formats, odd packaging, etc..  I am sure many will think what the hell is double 7" and 5" inside cloth bag with odd sized inserts. Hard to say would 25 minute CD work the same way. When listening this one, I have not been listening it all the way through, as an album, but instead, I listened each side probably 3-4 times before flipping side. It is really good stuff, and I am sure it would get listened more if it was 12" or CD, but like this, it has some benefits. Like focused and repeated listening of each song, not just letting it flow through.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Denial Löwenbrück "Gravøl" LP
Tochnit Aleph
Published on occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the label and the 50th Anniversary of the artist, this is the first solo vinyl release by Daniel Löwenbrück on Tochnit Aleph.

Released as Denial Löwenbrück, not Daniel Löwenbrück, hah. LP is very nice. Good cut, sound, pressing, presentation.. everything. He is of course know as label boss of Tochnit Aleph, member in Raionbashi, Schimpfluch-Gruppe and more. If you know what his work has been about, you'll like it. Droning, acoustic sounds, animals, bells, cacophony is never HARSH NOISE, but like with a lot of Schimpfluch related, its not about distortion, but this immense tension, obscurity, noisy and uncomfortable sounds. It can get fairly quiet, mixed with natural sounds that could be relaxing, yet the sort of "grotesque" roar of animals, insects, and so on, becomes almost disturbing. It is really nice to discover that LP pressing is so good that even quiet and most subtle moments come out so nicely without added fuzz and crackle. Considering it is pretty long LP too!

[Baglady]

EMIL BEAULIEAU - Memories CD (Pure, 19994)
Reading the phenomenal America's Greatest Noise book made me pull out some Beaulieau, and this might just be my favorite. Super album! Has some more of that crunchy almost DBL:ish grind heard on his Americanoise track, which alone is enough, yet there's so much more! Spastic, funny, dead serious, ridiculous, genius... I mean the opening crumch thing is followed by some old rock song over which Ron/Emil sings about Gero-Juntaro "from Towkeyouw". Noise albums that go in these many directions usually don't work, but this is just perfect. Takes conviction I suppose!

PRICK DECAY - Mud Sound For Car Stereos CD (Pure, 1997)
Something for fans of the more fast paced HÖH to look into? Always loved this disc, but my old CD player was rarely in the mood to read it for some reason. Well, now I ha e a new one and they're the best of friends. Nyoukis and Constance in cahoots with Jeph Jerman, Andy Bolus and many more. And it's so great how the two masterminds are omnipresent without overshadowing their collaborators. It's always very obvious whose sounds their working with, yet it's always very Prick Decay, very coherent.  Again, a wildly swinging, hard ripping and at times very humorous noise album.

HIJOKAIDAN - Romance CD (Alchemy, 1990)
Not my favorite of theirs, but the one I respect the most, for a lack of better word. The OBI's in Japanese except for three words: "NON STOP NOISE". That's what it is. Takes a while for them to to really get going, but after 15-20 minutes, my nails are digging into the wood of the rocking chair I'm seated in. 77 minutes of allegedly studio-mixed seriously raw noise (sounds like the whole band is plugged into one single beast of a guitar amp, with one input knocking out the rest at times etc). If one aint in the mood for it,it's an ordeal, but tonight I'm just letting them have their way with me. Jesus christ, what a band.

[Cranial Blast]

Sudden Infant - Radiogasm CD

This is a very abstract, experimental and bizarre recording from Sudden Infant. I'm not that well versed in their noise, but definitely found this recording to be very interesting with a wide variety of squeaking sounds, some random outbursts and yelling and lots of feedback! Definitely will be looking for some more of their older material from around this time. It definitely has a very schizophrenic approach to it.

[Penon]

Pain Jerk - Trashware (1995)

I always overlooked it I think psychologically I confused it with more recent "pain" noise and PE bands - Pain Appendix, Pain Apparatus, Pain Nail etc etc. It is actually a mind-blowingly good harsh noise release.

Usually confusing one artist name for the other leads to discovering new music accidentally for me but this time it led to omission that I have rectified only recently and I am very glad I did.

[Baglady]

PBK - Descent C60 (self-released, 1988)
Another thing I pulled out after reading the Lessard/RRR book. The PBK 3LP box from the early 90s is mentioned (I should pick it up while it's still surprisingly sffordable) and I was reminded that yeah, PBK is a bit overlooked. I have some of what's in that box on cassette, but I thought I'd give this one a run instead. Two sidelong pieces of ominous, rather subdued synth driven industrial. Some synth sounds and the semi-professional sheen these lend come off as incredibly dated - absolutely noone sounds like this today! - but take it all in with its context in mind, and it aint bad at all. Could almost work as a soundtrack to random late 80's horror/sci-fi/thriller rental. Rhythmic, big washes, verging on being abrasive at times but it never spills over. Good tape, although I do prefer Mr Klinger doing plenty of shorter tracks rather than these sidelong ones. Need to revisit the Asesino (included in full in the mentioned 3LP box) and Die Brücke cassettes as well now. More varied hard-hitters!

COMMANDO BARBARA - Free Love And Selective Assassination C30 (Neck Noise, 2024)
American-Swedish duo (Liebestod and Händer Som Vårdar) based in Los Angeles. Old timey classic industrial power electronics thing going. Seditious teeth-grinding semi-restrained violence. Had a look at my initial notes on this tape from when I got it six months ago, and I wrote that it's as if they're opting for some by-the-book type of industrial - influenced by early GO, The Grey Wolves, Survival Unit and whatnot is my guess - but that their involvement in so much else outside of this microverse disturbs that intention, making them land just a wee bit away from bullseye. I think I still stand by those thoughts. Not saying you can hear hardcore, death metal and art school ideas, but rather that they just can't limit themselves, and the fact that one half of the band (HSV) started out his noise artistry doing something completely different from this does steer thing in certain ways. A good thing. I've seen a bunch of live clips where there's vocals as well - none of that here - which adds plenty to the incendiary vibes looming at the core. This is promising as it is though. Will be interesting to hear where they're headed in the future.

[brutalist_tapes]

imagining that HSV guy doing old school PE is a little bit funny to me, him being an "aristocrat" and contemporary art guy hehe, but i am willing to learn and check out new PE! also the band name is a little funny, but it shouldnt be a problem if the music is good. thanks baglady, today i learned something unexpected!

[BatteredStatesofEuphoria]

K2-Schizophereniak Signal Transduction (Solipsism, 1998)

With how prolific many noise artists are, there tends to be a lot of great material that may not get the recognition it deserves sometimes, maybe due to how limited a release is, or it just getting lost in the sheer volume of output.

If you ask most noise fanatics what the best releases from K2's junk metal, cut up era are, chances are you'll get some combination of Metal Dysplasia, The Rust, and Sexencylopedia. And certainly, you can't go wrong with any of those. But the above release, imo, is exactly one of those overlooked hidden gems, and maybe my favorite K2 material. Released on Solipsism, the Self Abuse sublabel that did 100 copy runs of CDRs, this one (or at least my copy) was thankfully on a CDR type that still works great in my players (something I sadly can't say about some other Solipsism stuff I own). Its also available on his Bandcamp. https://k2music3.bandcamp.com/album/schizophereniak-signal-transduktion-3

This one is certainly typical K2 of that time. All the elements of his known formula are there, the oscillating electronics, the loops, the cut ups, and of course, the scraping, clanging, and beating sounds of his metal junkyard. But his mix here is perfection. Every element is perfectly placed, every loop drawn out exactly as long as need be, every sound giving its own character while enhancing the whole. This might be his best balance of the metals and electronics he achieved, certainly up there with the releases above, and maybe even surpassing them. He also utilizes more restrained moments where he dials things back a bit, as well as repetition, keeping a loop going for longer than he might've on other releases. By no means does any of that induce boredom, however. All of it only adds to the dynamism of the whole experience.

Highly recommended if you never heard it.

[RURAL RESISTANCE]

PACIFIC 231 - "Deep Jet - Soundscapes Of Conflict" CD (Aussaat)

This is a really interesting album. To start with all the track titles are named after aeroplane types and artillery. The songs demand some concentration from the listener but make for a rewarding experience. The droning sounds of turbines and synthesizers (?) blend together really nicely. There is also a bit of a philosophical framework to the album that is presented in the cover texts: "When you invent a plane, you invent a plane crash..." or something along those lines. Highly recommended!

[Manhog_84]

Harsh Ways Syndicate - Vihaa ja Kiimaa Ikuisesti 3xCD boxset was just released for this weekend's festival. It's a quality product as expected: sturdy cardboard, separate sleeves for CDs, booklet with excellent photos by Voragography and bloody piece of cloth is included. I listened it once through today and it's pretty fucking strong live recording for each artist! Sadio and Bizarre Uproar maybe sounded best to my ears. Final Apocalyptic Struggle To Survive was especially harsher as live version than on album! The recordings are from Saturday and Will Over Matter and Reptile Womb warm-up gigs are not included. Highly recommended even if you missed the show last spring.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

WOM / Reptile Womb gig was not officially part of fest, just extra day thrown together since RW was coming to finland to see BU show.

Big part of gigs Grunt did abroad, was simply result that I went to see shows and when organizer heard I was coming, I was given option to play. Many times, no payment whatsoever, nor I was looking to get paid. Opportunity to see the other artists always been pretty much sole reason for travels. I would suppose this still works and artists who'd come to Finland to visit gigs, might not have huge trouble to arrange something for themselves.

I just got home and not yet listened the box. I have heard Sadio and BU before, but not the rest of the set. Those two recordings were very good, so waiting to hear the rest!

[Commander15]

Been on a harsh noise kick lately. Especially the crunchy, no-nonsense kind of HN and i've once again got warm to that kind of racket!

JSH - Rev 13:6 (Oxen)

Crushing, "back-to-basics" kind of Harsh Noise album. No frills or fancy cut-ups or meticulous layering to be found here but constantly moving, immediate, saturated and crunchy americanoise-kind of assault on all senses. Real strenght to me here is that while there is certainly an emphasis on sonic texture on display, it never fails to be on the move and dynamic at the same time. Balance between the crunchy crumble, piercing feedback and metal clattering is just perfect.

The Overall sound is surprisingly clear, considering the crunchy live-to-tape approach, and it really adds punch to the overall sound. Really energetic album with strong replay value! Really, really good.

Treriksröset - Sexregler (WCN reissue)

Old fave of mine revisited. Amazing still but it sounds really different now than two years ago! I wouldn't call this harsh at all, but instead weird. Slithering dying matrix printer sounds and phased / flanged feedback snippets on the top of bassy hum. Sounds like some kind of living organism, hideous synthesis of flesh and consumer electronics, and  crawling through the corridors of abandoned office building. It has this strange comforting effect on me, like listening to some alien and nauseating ambient soundscape.

Treriksröset - Venal (WCN reissue)

Well this one's harsh. To me Side A is the pinnacle of harsh noise expression: sick and unhealthy crunch and distorted and wretched feedback on the move. Bleak stuff, i love it. B-side is more bassy and static at first, but when Tommy picks up the pace the results are staggering. Real craftmanship on display hear, massive kudos.