PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[k.p.g]

Hand & Knee/Mallard Theory/Slacking - Beneath Hidden Pittsburgh
Three-way split that I have been putting off listening to for quite some time now.  Why did I?  After all, it was this wonderful mind that made the interior collage.  Hah.  But really - I need to be in the right time to listen to something like this in full.  Today was such a time.
We start with a very bizarre sound collage from Hand & Knee.  Some of John's most interesting work, as the jump cuts made here are not like much I have heard from the project before.  I would like to see further experiments with this pacing.  It kept my interest throughout.
King Duck comes next and absolutely tears through my speakers.  The first minute or so starts with some creepy cyborg synth before it bursts into oblivion; HARSH NOISE.  That's what Mallard Theory is known for, and that's what he does here so well.  My favorite track of the entire record.
Slacking's portion was maybe not the best piece I have heard from the project.  It has some of the signature murk that makes me delight in this sound so much, but it was just not hitting today.  Hmm.
Album closes on an odyssey of a three-way collab.  The second half of it is far more attention grabbing than the first.  Truthfully, I think it is cut just a bit too short for my taste.  There is this one portion at the end where some creepy synth part kicks in, and then it just... stops?  Come on - gimme MORE.

Overall an enjoyable effort from 3 of my great friends here!  I will be giving this is more spins in the kitchen for sure.

Brinkman's Dead Brain - Mind Fuse Blown (American Tapes)
Short but VERY VERY sweet tape from this one-off Olson/Matt Brinkman collab.  The way this announces itself with some GRIMY AS HELL drum beat with feedback sputter abound... unbelievable!  There has to be more from this session.  No way it could've been just 8 minutes.  Ugh... why do people leave you wanting more?

[John Cagefight]

Brinkman's Dead Brain - Mind Fuse Blown (American Tapes)
Short but VERY VERY sweet tape from this one-off Olson/Matt Brinkman collab.  The way this announces itself with some GRIMY AS HELL drum beat with feedback sputter abound... unbelievable!  There has to be more from this session.  No way it could've been just 8 minutes.  Ugh... why do people leave you wanting more?

Just listened to the YT rip of this a little while ago. Really excellent.

Blod - My Beloved Daughters (Segerhuva)
Haven't put this one on in at least 5 years. An absolute gem of blaring Swedish noise that's distinctly less compositionally bricked than I'd remembered. Of major note are the feral cat growling-style filter sweeps that show up around track 4 and make a few appearances throughout the remainder of the album. And of course, it would be heretical for me to discuss the work without acknowledging the painfully excellent songtitles ala Summertime - Floors Full Of Doveblood & Shit, Juliet's Sewing, and Stardust Bleeding Arteries. Short songs that rarely break a minute and a half that get in and out and are all business, this album just wails and wails until its over forcing a "that's it?" feeling of needing more after listening.

[Hyena]

Brinkman's Dead Brain - Mind Fuse Blown (American Tapes)
Short but VERY VERY sweet tape from this one-off Olson/Matt Brinkman collab.  The way this announces itself with some GRIMY AS HELL drum beat with feedback sputter abound... unbelievable!  There has to be more from this session.  No way it could've been just 8 minutes.  Ugh... why do people leave you wanting more?

Just listened to the YT rip of this a little while ago. Really excellent.

Blod - My Beloved Daughters (Segerhuva)
Haven't put this one on in at least 5 years. An absolute gem of blaring Swedish noise that's distinctly less compositionally bricked than I'd remembered. Of major note are the feral cat growling-style filter sweeps that show up around track 4 and make a few appearances throughout the remainder of the album. And of course, it would be heretical for me to discuss the work without acknowledging the painfully excellent songtitles ala Summertime - Floors Full Of Doveblood & Shit, Juliet's Sewing, and Stardust Bleeding Arteries. Short songs that rarely break a minute and a half that get in and out and are all business, this album just wails and wails until its over forcing a "that's it?" feeling of needing more after listening.

The Blod album is great noise. I think it's even on Spotify, of all places.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Black Leather Jesus & Mo*Te - Collaboration (Begin Hostilities)

BLJ and Mo*Te collaboration announced out of thin air! Not two projects I would expect to work together. This was released by Begin Hostilities, which is a label run by BLJ member Scott Kindberg.

No liner notes of any kind to clue you in on who BLJ is this go around or how this was recorded, etc. It's all a mystery. This was also only released in a tiny edition of 50 copies with no digital download, so the audio itself will probably remain a mystery to most, which is too bad.

A little bit of what you would expect and a little bit of what you wouldn't. But everything you want.

It feels like two massive Kaiju battling it out. The BLJ mountain crunch takes over and manhandles Mo*Te, and then Mo*Te regains his strength and puts Black Leather Jesus into a vicious arm bar. Mo*Te adds some great weird monster vocals, laser beams, and other wild sounds.

No mention of how long the tape is by the label, but I clocked in somewhere around a C40. And there are 4 separate and distinct tracks.

The recording quality and dubbing are great. Full and clear. The label description says it was professionally duplicated, and you can tell.

[k.p.g]

twodeadsluts onegoodfuck - twodeadsluts onegoodfuck (Apop Records)
Buzzing from the recent WCN interview, I wanted to put this on for a little feeling.  The train lines in Philadelphia were in such disarray yesterday that I ended up having to walk an extra 15 minutes on my usual commute into work.  Brutal.  This soundtracked most of the walk perfectly.  I'm hot, I'm beat, I'm upset, and here is this ragtag crew from Boston to validate those feelings.  Hah.
It's such a well-recorded album, first off.  One thing that I forgot to ask Ted about in that interview is how this crew linked up with one James Plotkin.  His mastering work for this material is off the charts.  Everything sounds so crisp, so clear, so LOUD.  It makes the confrontational nature of the band shine through beautifully.  This might also be due to the fact that compositionally, this is the most "realized" twodeadsluts release.  Yeah, the songs are short, but they are packed with so much in the time they do run.  Perfect vignettes for being drunk, on drugs and pissed off; quick outburst of violence, maybe you fought someone.  Yeah, it's all there.
For the discussion had in the WCN thread about how this band doesn't fit into PE... partially correct.  There is those elements of Whitehouse in there.  And yet even at their end, that cybergrind lineage shines through.  I liken some of the material to a more politically incorrect take on The Locust, whom I love; just a total cacophony of sound and screaming voices from every which way.  It's maddening, but it pumps you UP.  Gahhhhh love this record.

Clearance - Government Oasis (self-released)
Morning record; one that I realized I have listened to far more times than I'd care to admit.  Why don't I own it yet?  Ah, screw this.  I just purchased before finishing the review.  ANYWAY --
Yeah, this record is a really relaxing listen for being something called Government Oasis.  It blurs a really fine line between the crudest of harsh noise and psychedelic bliss.  I would like to think of artists like James Ferraro, Star, etc., but really, no one is exactly doing what Zac Davis does here.  He's managed to find a niche that is hard to replicate, despite being so simplistic in approach.  Never is the noise too overbearing when it starts to go off, and that is probably because it is floating around the stereo mix so frequently.  Doesn't have enough time to punch you in the face like a Ramirez release, for example.  Sounds are constantly dropping in and out, massaging your brain like the 24/hr. news cycle.  Shit, am I just used to information overload at this point?  Hah.  Maybe so.
Call this the perfect noise for the information age.

[impulse manslaughter]

Was listening to a few new cds this morning:

- Kali Malone & drew McDowall - Magnetism; drones combined with sparse rhythms. Slow, heavy and dark. A really well produced and great album that manages to keep my attention with minimal means.

- Kazuma Kubota - Hakanasa; as discussed in this own topic this is a great album. I have a weak spot for meticulous composed sounds combined with spontaneous noise and that's what I think I'm hearing here. The ambient piece at the end slowly building up to nothing is leaving me wanting more and hitting the play button again.

- V/A - Morality; reissue of classic Broken Flag compilation. First time hearing this and am very impressed. This works really well as a compilation, which is a rare thing. All the tracks have a similar vibe and the short prostitution samples in between by John Duncan tie the album together nicely. My only complaint is that a few tracks are a bit too loud, disrupting the flow of the album.

[k.p.g]

Sudden Infant - Radiorgasm (Harbinger Sound/Blossoming Noise, reissue)
I have had this disc for so long, and yet never really made it beyond a couple minutes with it.  I almost sold it at one point too.  Glad I didn't.  This is a pretty bizarre disc.  2 longform tracks that just jump and cut up sounds at random.  Total free will attack at play between the rhythmic slapping, vocal freakouts and just odd room sounds in between.  Whatever is going on in the mind of Joke Lanz must be psychotic, but it results in some great noise! 

[impulse manslaughter]

Classic album. My favorite by him.

[k.p.g]

Emil Beaulieau - Dedicated to Charlie Ward (PURE)
The one thing I always hear first about this release is "oh, I don't think I've heard it before."  I actually remember one person in another forum say this is the WORST Emil record.  I gotta wonder where this general disinterest/occasional dislike comes from.  I find it to be one of his strongest!  Maybe it's not as harsh as records previously discussed by RRRon on this site, but what it does is show off the Minutoli's prowess in full.  Tons of weirdo loops from the same Stomach Ache records cascading back and forth between the stereo mix; some harsh, some soft, some pretty, some gross.  It's really nice.  The last track especially, which utilizes the William Bennett is My Dick 7" is downright maddening.  I know RRRon would go onto use that 7" across other releases.  In this setting though, it's just one of those sublime sort of endurance tests.  Hah!

Iovae - Ramshorn (Secret Buddy)
A new name to me, but he's been around for a while apparently!  I received this tape from Secret Buddy head honcho Joe Wang a while back, but never got around to hearing it in full.  Pulled it out on a whim this morning.  It sounds like a chorus of slide guitars collapsing on top of each other.  It's not overtly harsh, but rather a slow build that just reaches a level of excessive tape saturation with how many layers keep being introduced. Fun listen!

[Minus1]

(I just want to say that I read all reviews here. I learn so much. Love it! It would be tiring for everyone if I kept saying "Thank you for this excellent review." But...thanks! Keep it coming!)

[Flames of Torture]

(I just want to say that I read all reviews here.

As do I.

This inactive review thread is also a valuable resource: https://special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=10.0

[FreakAnimalFinland]

This topic was good addition to the review thread. Many people feel some sort of pressure if they have to do actual review. Especially if they are new and do not necessarily think they have the knowledge that appear necessary to truly evaluate something.

I do like real deal reviews too, but actually more casual format of "playlist & comments" is near perfection. No rules how and what exactly to comment, in what depth and detail. Most people do get plenty of insight from couple lines of text.

My recent purchase was RISARIPA "Overtone" CD. Got it from her gig week ago. Listened three times after that. Former drummer of Gallhammer, modular beats/rhythms, electronics, weird vocals. Noisy, sometimes noisE, but there is indeed high dose of rhythm. Not drum beats really. Not in terms of snare/bass/hihat kind of beats, but electronics pulses. The best material might be the slower pulses and sort of invocations (?) as vocals.
Didnt know her work before the gig and this CD.

[Into_The_Void]

I've got two tapes today from the new Angst Batch, Moth Drakula and Perfected Grave Vault. Both excellent, especially Moth Drakula. Aggressive harsh noise with a lot of variations, quite structured and abrasive. Moth Drakula has some really cool samples as well. I didn't listen to the rest of the batch (except Dead Body Love, which I already had), but I'm pretty much sure all the releases are good as always. Angst really deserves to be supported.

[k.p.g]

Legless - Kill All Believers (Fusty Cunt)
This is some of the crudest and filthiest of noise to be committed to tape.  Crud & filth does not equal harsh here though.  Instead, it sounds like a tape recorder was left inside some sort of landfill for the day & edited down to its ugliest moments.  Asbestos dumping, beer cracking, trash steaming; all images present when listening through this.  Getting to know the recording process of Legless a little more intimately in the last year or so, I wouldn't be surprised if he blew out this tape while ripping loud as hell.  Hah.  It's a style that many would be upset with doing upon listening back to their results, but not him!  Good stuff here.

Crank Sturgeon - Soft Ogre Alliance (self-released)
So prior to the pandemic, I remember you could order tapes on the Crank Sturgeon website for a small fee, maybe $5 or something?  I figured I bought the man's gear, why not try his noise?  Packaging on these was pretty wild to see at the time; a tape that was clawed apart and wrapped in parchment paper with a mini art zine attached.  Pretty neat!  I'm not sure if anyone else remembers the tapes of this time or not.  Discogs has no entry on this one, so I assume maybe it was a one off or just buried in the sea of Crank's rather confusing output.  I have a very fond memory of it though, which always leads me to pulling it out when I come across it in my collection.
Sound wise, it sounds mostly like an exercise with Trogotronic gear.  Each side is bookended by a pretty crappy loop of some sort.  It's pretty high flying and active throughout.  While I do prefer more of Crank's absurdist contact mic work, this stuff still did the trick.

[JBE]

Primitive Isolation Tactics: R.N.C.E (Angst)

First time hearing this project and with very little context or knowledge in advance. 1st side is VERY adventurous.  Starts of with weird, minimal, almost old school 80's or 90's computer music coated in tape saturation, then it gets harsh and shifts through varying textures punctuated by forays into quiet, sparse sounds then back to full harsh, but then it shifts again, at least twice, through sparse minimal arrangements of quiet, overblown sounds.  It's one of the more varied things I've heard in noise for a while.  2nd starts in similar territory to where the first sight ends, but then it gets harsh and sounds pile up; there's some noticeable channel separation ala early Skin Crime, and some of the textures are not sounds I would necessarily associate with harsh noise (some wet textures, a lot of distorted or overblown sounds that are not really loud but are super tape-saurated and sound murky and muddy).  B-side mostly sits in the murk with some variation here and there with sound sources; the overall sound is akin to Slacking in terms of its unorthodox way of approaching harsh sounds, but their sound sources are unique, and PIT's approach is a bit more minimal and inevitably sounds different because of differences in sound sources and effects.