PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[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.

[Commander15]

Hingst - Ska vi älska så ska vi älska till Wall Riders (AAD)

Collection of Hingst tape releases. HNW? Wall Noise? Circa 2002 - 2009 Troniks harsh noise? Don't know but it sure is good! Really bare-bones and immediate harsh noise that doesn't skimp out on tape crunch and DOD Death Metal. Did i say crunchy? This one's crunchy. Like oversaturated analog mixer and ferric tape kinda crunchy. Smeary and, mixers and preamps gating kinda, crunchy. It's fun stuff. It is pretty pointless to try to describe it in eloquent manner when this sound is primordial in a way. It is harsh noise, in this certain "arki noise" vain, nothing more and nothing less. Immensly enjoyable stuff.

[John Cagefight]

PARASSITISMO - UCCIDIMI IN FRETTA NO FREDDO
The image of a wolf having his way with unconscious woman on the cover sets a carnivorous tone for this 32 minute player. Haunted, bordering on bombastic organ swells and processed maniacal voice crawl at a foreboding pace underneath metal clang and bang. Dilapidated synth pseudo-riffs sometimes give the feel of listening to a real rocker of a record, but the flanged vox and steel on steel intermezzos keep the other foot firmly planted in the nastiest eletronic traditions I came to this tape for. Very villainous, very psychedelic, and very very aweosme.

INCIPIENTIUM - LIMBO
Incipientium's voice truly hits all the right nerves for me. Inspired samples muddied to tape, reversed and re-speeded, collated between the wind hitting branch sound of the many flutter and hiss vignettes. There is much sampling of folkish world music that takes the cassette work that regularly repositions these episodes into frames in my mind it might not otherwise. Very much seems like a lost, dystopian volume of fourth world music. Perfect for conjuring hypnagogic internal imageries.

[Commander15]

PARASSITISMO - UCCIDIMI IN FRETTA NO FREDDO
The image of a wolf having his way with unconscious woman on the cover sets a carnivorous tone for this 32 minute player. Haunted, bordering on bombastic organ swells and processed maniacal voice crawl at a foreboding pace underneath metal clang and bang. Dilapidated synth pseudo-riffs sometimes give the feel of listening to a real rocker of a record, but the flanged vox and steel on steel intermezzos keep the other foot firmly planted in the nastiest eletronic traditions I came to this tape for. Very villainous, very psychedelic, and very very aweosme.

INCIPIENTIUM - LIMBO
Incipientium's voice truly hits all the right nerves for me. Inspired samples muddied to tape, reversed and re-speeded, collated between the wind hitting branch sound of the many flutter and hiss vignettes. There is much sampling of folkish world music that takes the cassette work that regularly repositions these episodes into frames in my mind it might not otherwise. Very much seems like a lost, dystopian volume of fourth world music. Perfect for conjuring hypnagogic internal imageries.

Limbo is truly special tape! There are mysterious, even Popol Vuh-ish, qualities present on that tape.

[Commander15]

Treriksröset - Heteronormativ Musik För Att Stärka Medelklassens Självbild (WCN reissue)

That dying matrix printer from Sexregler makes its triumphant return on this album, only this time the context is lot harsher. The album is walking the thin line between the weird and the harsh, but all in all it is damn fine noise album. It has the crunch, gated weirdness, high but glitchy screeches reminiscent of classic PE sounds etc. Really enjoyable album, gonna play it again today and see if i get some new impressions out of it.