PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Various - Hell and Back (Purveyors)

This compilation is a live document of the "Inferno" and "Blue Hell Fest 2" events from last year at the Clownhouse (RIP) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I recorded each of these sets direct to C60 tape on a Sony Walkman as a spur-of-the moment decision to capture some of my favorite artists that were set to perform.

Thanks for the additional insight! A live document of a gig(s) is a great idea, and this recording captures those shows perfectly. It's surprisingly clear but has the perfect level of crudeness to it.

I definitely need to peep a few of these projects. Last Day with Garbage appears on a couple of the Purveyors comps, and the tracks are always good. Definitely want to find some of those Share the Wealth tapes as well.

Also, my version does end with Pearl Jam!

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Macronympha - Macronympha (3 Snakes Cover) 2009

This is one of the "unreleased" Macro tapes from Rodger. Very early material recorded between 1990-1991 by both Rodger and Joe. It's a fucking gem.

A c90 absolutely jam-packed with 21 tracks! It isn't always searing harsh noise like later releases, even though it has that. A very solid mix of grimey loop work and lo-fi electronics.

This tape explores a lot of territory and dynamics. Sometimes more experimental and industrial in nature than later stuff, and other times beautiful distortion and feedback fuckery. Just push play, let 'er rip, and basque in the glow so to speak.

The tape kind of gets better the deeper into it you get. It starts off good, but I was surprised by the sheer power of some of the tracks towards the end of Side A, and especially the first few tracks of Side B, which are pretty fucking harsh. The second-to-last track, "Vagina", is also pretty hilarious.

There are a few of these early tapes from 1990-1992. Two that I think are particularly noteworthy, besides this tape, are the "1990-91 Vol. 2" which is excellent super crude loop heavy work and Futurismo, which I think is another highly underrated gem.

Love getting these early glimpses into the group and while different than later work in some regards, is equally worthwhile in my opinion.

[MT]

Mania - Armed to The Teeth


Mania had so many good releases that it is ridiculous. There's been long heatwave in Finland and listening to anything has been a chore. Popped this in yesterday and goddamn what a CD. You can say same things about several Mania release. "Best of Mania sounds", "raw and intimate", "harsh and grim". All this applies to this one as well, also these loud hovering bass tones underneath the noise layer are fantastic, creates subtly this very intense feeling. All in all, one of my Mania favs!

[k.p.g]

Various - Hell and Back (Purveyors)

This compilation is a live document of the "Inferno" and "Blue Hell Fest 2" events from last year at the Clownhouse (RIP) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I recorded each of these sets direct to C60 tape on a Sony Walkman as a spur-of-the moment decision to capture some of my favorite artists that were set to perform.

Thanks for the additional insight! A live document of a gig(s) is a great idea, and this recording captures those shows perfectly. It's surprisingly clear but has the perfect level of crudeness to it.

I definitely need to peep a few of these projects. Last Day with Garbage appears on a couple of the Purveyors comps, and the tracks are always good. Definitely want to find some of those Share the Wealth tapes as well.

Also, my version does end with Pearl Jam!

I think it is a great document of the whole energy of the fest; crude, rude and explosive.

I was having some family issues that same weekend, so felt like a part of me was really not there like I would usually be. My mind often exited my body. I think that resulted in a great Garbage set where we allowed the crowd energy to swallow us into chaos.  Conversely, Dead Door Unit set felt off in the moment; just couldn't lock in with the noise.  Maybe that's why I called it "tragic" at the time.  Listening back though, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out on recording.  Glad to hear you enjoyed this tape.  It is a pretty exciting time for recording around NJ/PA. I am in the middle of editing a new Last Day with My Garbage that will reach more than a few ears, so you won't have to wait long to peep us.

Also for what it's worth, my favorite set of the whole weekend was from Munt Cascade; highly underrated project in these parts.

[k.p.g]

D:Marro - T001 (Dmarro.com)
Met up today with a friend to assemble some envelopes for their upcoming tape on French Market Press.  I was met with the pleasant surprise of a tape! 

"I want you to borrow this, it's a friend of mine who does livestreams on Twitch.  Let me know what you think."

Simple enough; the sphere of noisers who inhabit the Twitch sphere allude me as a whole.  I know some friends who engage in the streams but they also come out to shows and are active in the physical community.  As far as I can tell, these Twitch-exclusive guys  kind of escape our traditional idea of what noise is about and are messing around with the limits of that platform as a whole.  I'm sure it has resulted in some cool things but is generally not for me.  Still, I am curious, so I will give this a try. 

This tape seems more firmly rooted in noise than modular noodling off the jump, so I will give it props there.  There is a ton of delay stutter ala Sickness but the nature of the samples makes things a lot goofier than your standard Chris Goudreau affair.  What sounds like disparate voices and circuit bent toys are mangled beyond belief and buried so deep that it almost starts to sound like some tape manipulation.  I thought my tape might stop at some point; always a thrill to have that little bit of anxiety be intentional! 

I am pretty thankful to be given suggestions like these, as this is not an artist I would have picked out of a tape pile any time soon.  I also think this artist gives me a good cutoff point for how far my taste for modular/glitch works can go nowadays.  This stuff is pretty cool; a few more beeps and boops would have made it unbearable though.

[k.p.g]

Smell & Quim - The English Method (Stinky Horse Fuck)
Starting the day of listening off with this oddball zone.  Seems like this is the first thing to come from the group, and already they had their vision in place.  There is not much to be said about song structure here like solo works from Milovan had prior.  This sounds pretty much like "let's record a mixtape" style approach.  Tracks do not really flow that heavily, and ideas end abruptly.  Regardless, it is still great.  I didn't need to tell you that though.  You knew it.

[k.p.g]

Smell & Quim - Diameter of Elvis' Colon (PURE)
I think I am going to relent to the perverse side of my listening habits and jam more Smell & Quim today.  This one is not just a great Smell & Quim record - it is simply a GREAT HARSH NOISE RECORD.  It was my introduction to the group, and despite having their brand of humor spread throughout, this one is all about the noise.  And lemme tell ya, when they wanna get serious, these guys can lay it down heavy (again, I didn't need to tell you that).  I would go as far as to say that this is probably the best record to recommend just a casual noise listener who is curious about Smell & Quim.  Some might say Jisom Killers but I think this one just has a more palatable sound that crosses over with many subsections of listeners. 
The King of Rock n' Roll would be proud (disgusted).

[k.p.g]

Ames Sanglantes - Chemical Flesh (Out of Love Records)
Ames Sanglantes - CANADA 666 (Hospital Productions)
Forgot to touch on some interesting weekend listening that I had.  Seeing as though the latest Freak Animal International ended up having some of this project on there, I thought to give more of his stuff a listen.  I had heard early works and really enjoyed their crude quality.  Chemical Flesh is a solid example of that.  Sounds like the guy wanted to be Masonna meets Merzbow pretty badly but only had 2 pedals at his disposal.  It has its charm and honestly rips at points.  Main issue here is shit pacing.  There are these drone tracks that take from the madness of it all.  Makes for an appropriate intro, maybe even a nod to it at the end again; but sticking the same kind of drone in the middle of the album was a little bit of a pace breaker.  Mostly solid release though.
Some people had told me since working with Hospital though, the project had taken a more PE-oriented turn.  I do not feel this at all on CANADA 666.  In fact, I actually feel like this is much closer to the early shitnoise approach that Ames displayed in the late 90s.  It is fantastic work.  It isn't piercing in volume but is plenty harsh.  No frills in the stereo field but still packs a punch.  Need to seek this one out on vinyl.  Probably the best thing I jammed all weekend.

[k.p.g]

Various Artists - Freak Animal International, Vol. 6 (Freak Animal)
Received a box with my artist copies yesterday and had to give it a listen.  Often feels weird to listen to material I made after it's been submitted; mostly, I am just over hearing the stuff.  I wanted to hear how the rest of the artists on here sounded though.  The sequencing of this disc was described to me as an increase in volume from artist to artist, and it certainly was an apt description.  The Amek-Maj material is just about 10 minutes of smashing, rough feedback roar.  Not entirely "balls to the wall," but makes a decent racket.  Ames Sanglantes delivers what I think is the best portion of this compilation.  Something about his approach to noise has really swept me off my feet in the last week or so, and it is really great to hear him throw it down here in a couple short-form tracks (his best way of operating, IMO). 
With the sequencing order in mind, I was very afraid of how loud the A Fail Association track was going to be, and yep, I had to turn my boombox down.  15 minutes of unrelenting, punishing harsh noise. 
Fun comp overall.

Penis Geyser - A Tribute to the Smiths (Not on Label)
Penis Geyser - Penis Geyser (Smash Music)
Roughly 3 minutes of music across both these tapes.  Programs repeating both sides.  Flipped both tapes over twice.  So a solid 6 minutes spent overall.
Dare I describe what Penis Geyser sounds like at this point?  You know what it is. 
Noisecore. Blastbeats. Joy.  YES.

Invagination - Electronic Flesh (Freak Animal)
Hidden in the box of artist copies I received was this disc.  Was described as "Grunt side project." 

"Hmmm. Ok, looks a lot like Artificial Invagination, let's check it out."

Yeah, I think that Mikko was digging through his Merzbow collection one day before recording.  This is just pure, pure, PURE 90s Merz worship.  I have to give him credit for pulling that off, as even the artwork and packaging are remarkably uncanny to the release mentioned above. 
Sound-wise, tons of metal crashing, synth spewing goodness for the ears.  There is tons of movements and loop changes to be hooked onto.  It is pretty surprising this was all done in one take, no overdubs.  I guess when someone knows their gear and sound sources so thoroughly before a session, this is what the results can yield.  And despite it being in mono, there is no loss on the dynamics front. 
Great disc.

[acsenger]

Merzbow - Last of Analog Sessions, Vol. 1 - Catapillar (Important Records)
Well shit, man; I needed a soundtrack to write to!  This disc set is pretty easy to break out and enjoy in pieces.  Sounds like Masami just let everything fly since he was going to make the full turn to laptop after this was out (although I am sure a few analog recordings probably came out after... label delays, etc.).  Only complaint is the spelling of "caterpillar" ... label should have stepped in on that one.

The spelling seems intentional, as the album references a 1971 album by a prog rock band called Catapilla: https://www.discogs.com/master/30433-Catapilla-Catapilla.

[k.p.g]

Odal - Lenin Stinkt! (Industrial Recollections)
Gave one spin last night before bed, now onto my second round this morning.  A perfectly odd collection of sounds made with the crudest of home electronics.  This goes through a whole gambit of sounds; ranging from metal clang harsh to weirdly peaceful whistle ambient.  One of two Odal reissues I have picked up for myself.  Excited to dig more into this guy.  I believe I had listened once before but did not absorb it the way I am this go around.

[HateSermon]

ZSS - Guilty CD. WRATH 2025
God damn is it nice to have "new" ZSS material! Some unreleased tracks and two taken from the Psychomania comp. I remember hearing some of these songs from the Der Bunker soundcloud years ago, which was then taken down and I wondered if they would ever see the light of day again. You have a good variety of the different styles ZSS experimented with all present here. From the more ham-fisted, aggressive hits [tracks "Guilty", "Race Riot"] to the more industrialized, droning compositions [track "Praljak Save Us", one of my personal favorites]. This CD could almost act as a primer for anyone not familiar with the artist's work. I know I'm not alone when wishing for another release from this project but if this is the last one, then I'd consider it a solid ending. 

[k.p.g]

Diaphragmatic - Broken Man (Urgent Telepathy Recordings)
Found this for only $3 over the weekend when I went to New York.  Good price for something I know will rip!  Also makes for a perfectly scummy soundtrack after having to remove a mouse carcass out from under the sink...

Despite not remaining as prolific as his brother, Nate Tandy's Diaphragmatic project ranks amongst the top spots of that 2010's rust belt noise scene.  Tons of crunch and metal looping to be found here.  From what I have heard of the project, that is pretty much its main sound.  Not that I am complaining though, he does it so well!  Titles like "Firefucker" and "Murder Holes" (which I will now call my sink for being the scene of 2 mouse executions currently) are apt titles for something this hellish.  It is fist-pumping harsh noise, but not totally mindless.  Great stuff.

[Balor/SS1535]

ZSS - Guilty CD. WRATH 2025
God damn is it nice to have "new" ZSS material! Some unreleased tracks and two taken from the Psychomania comp. I remember hearing some of these songs from the Der Bunker soundcloud years ago, which was then taken down and I wondered if they would ever see the light of day again. You have a good variety of the different styles ZSS experimented with all present here. From the more ham-fisted, aggressive hits [tracks "Guilty", "Race Riot"] to the more industrialized, droning compositions [track "Praljak Save Us", one of my personal favorites]. This CD could almost act as a primer for anyone not familiar with the artist's work. I know I'm not alone when wishing for another release from this project but if this is the last one, then I'd consider it a solid ending. 

I didn't realize that "Race Riot" was on this one too!  I had totally forgotten about that track since the Soundcloud was taken down, but I remember liking that one a lot in particular.

[Phenol]

I'm home alone and have fallen into a Lustmord hole (again!). I'm just listening to the debut LP again and again feeling like it's the best record ever - the perfect blend of all the elements I love weaved together in one neat package. Dark, noisy, some metallic clanging, dead sounding drum machines pounding away, crazy warped vocals (some by John Balance), manipulated gregorian chants, tibetan horns and other ritualistic elements, downtuned church bells, children's melodies, weird samples; the fucking works! It's like early Current 93 and prime SPK had a beautifully twisted baby.