PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[k.p.g]

Known Victims shows up here (on CD) as track 6 of 9. (It's a different placement on the LP, right?) I know that many dislike this 13min that "disrupts the flow/feel of the album". For me it's perfectly placed. I need a fucking break from "G.R." at that point. ("Break" might be the wrong word. Sorry.)

I really do not understand this take from people.  For me, "Known Victims" is the peak of this record, perhaps being only topped by "Kenworth."

[k.p.g]

Coyote Sinkers - Silo Shuckers (American Tapes)
Speculum Spyked - Speculum Spyked (American Tapes)
Two LPs from the frozen depths of Michigan to help zone out after about an hour of shoveling snow this afternoon.  Something always cool about these mid-2000's LP from American is how they can really be played at any speed for your enjoyment (ask the man himself, he approves of the move).  I usually default to doing them on 33rpm, as that just means a great stretch of Inzanity, but decided to see what Coyote Sinkers would be like on 45. 

This group is a solid duo of Olson & Dilloway, and I am pretty sure it is the jam that led them to eventually forming Casket Sinkers.  Whereas that group has more of a balance in sounds between the two, this iteration feels more like Dilloway is playing second fiddle to Olson's horn and scrap madness.  On 45, it's a good effort, and reminds me of what later efforts from groups like Crazy Doberman would go on to do.

Speculum Spyked is Olson and Damion Romero.  Interesting, as I thought that the latter retired the Speculum Fight persona a while before this LP.  Well, let's not focus hard on semantics; this LP is great.  I play it strictly on 33.  Couldn't imagine it sped up. It's just so monolithic in a slower zone.  And given the styles of these two, they pair surprisingly well!  Olson let's Romero's sound haunt the majority of the mix, never overplaying too much.  This is a far chiller listen to wind into the evening with between the two records.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Merzbow & John Wiese - Akashaplexia

Finally getting around to listening to this anticipated and massive release.

The two artists share a number of releases together now, but they have all been mail collabs or live recorded performances to this point. Never an in studio release before. I'm very curious about what that process was like. What kind of concepts or boundaries did they discuss before hitting record, if any, or is it all off the cuff?

When I first read that this was recorded in a single day, I imagined the two sitting in a room and fleshing out a vision for an entire multi-disc album and completing it in that same day. Which seemed astonishing.

Now listening, what seems more likely, is that the two jammed in studio and then John took those recordings and edited or arranged them together for the final product. I would be very surprised otherwise with how highly articulate the sounds are and how they transition at what would be a "telekinetic" pace for a live collaboration.

Disc 1 | Garden Path Sentence:
Highly erratic and fast-paced audio collage. Many details flow in and out of focus, piano and percussive samples, manipulated tape warble, and/or vinyl tabletop abuse. At times, it reminds me of Masami's 80s output in the more dadaistic realm. There is a segment that feels like getting sucked into a tornado. Glimpses of voices cut through the wind, and great samples of glass shards and debris are flying about. As the 45-minute track progresses, it transitions flawlessly in and out of new segments. Some are harsher, some focus on looped and sampled elements from a wide variety of timbres and resources. It never dips into completely familiar or expected territories and kept me actively listening throughout. There are no lulls. Always something squiggling under the microscope to zoom in on. New details are being introduced and just as quickly and cleverly pulled away.

Disc 2 | Bleskam (Action Sphere / Maya):
This transitions nicely from the first disc. A little more subdued audio collage starts things off. Not as frantic and fast-paced as disc 1. Sounds like an old record needle jumping from vinyl to vinyl and catching small pieces of melodies, but never lasting long enough to identify a source. Actually reminded me of Max J Eastman a bit. It transitions into this Alice in Wonderland-like nightmare with chiming clocks, psychedelic bits, and a loop that sounds like it originated from the basement of an insane asylum. This disc feels strikingly similar in spirit to something like a modern-day Batztoutai with Material Gadgets, which I was really surprised to hear Masami do in this day and age. I really enjoyed this disc, and it's my favorite so far.

Disc 3 | Glass Has Vanished:
Disc 3 starts off ominous... a bass tone undulating at a low volume. Mechanical creaking loops in an unsettling fashion. What sounds like radio play creeps into the mix. This isn't the first time on this boxset either. I can't tell if it's tried and true old school radio play, or just the way samples are sliced and diced. It certainly replicates that feel, which is another factor of this release that reminds me of experimental 80s Merzbow like Batztoutai. From there, we get one of the rare instances of some sweeping noise filters or more traditional pedal like harsh noise. Not a lot of that across the discs so far. Everything I've described above has already happened in the first 5 minutes. While this disc is not a straight-up harsh noise track, it has the most harsh noise elements of any of the discs so far. My other favorite element on this particular disc is the haunting and dissonant use of church organ in the second half. Bizarre and fantastic.

Disc 4 | Higashiikebukuro Bouquet Divisions:
Bubbling, percolating, and squiggly synthesizer soup with white noise blasts. Easily the harshest start to any of the discs. The first two hours were just warm up! John and Masami start cooking with gas now. All of the previously mentioned elements through the discs, like loops, sampling, and other audio collage is still very present on this disc. Everything is just kicked up a notch on the harshness meter. It also really builds into a schizophrenic frenzy with how quickly the sounds are spliced in and out. There is also this screeching string instrument introduced that really cuts through the mix. At the peak of madness... it cuts out, and we get the closest thing to silence across the 4 discs yet. John and Masami tinker with more microcosmic details and mechanical jerky loops which build back up gradually into new frenzies.

I mentioned earlier, but I have been extremely impressed and surprised by this release. I wasn't sure what to expect and assumed it would be more of a collection of "live" long-form improvised pedal and laptop noise jams similar to the recent EKA Varna, but more thought-out and thematic than that release. However, what we get is a highly detailed, articulated, and meticulously arranged amalgam of audio collage. Somewhat similar to 80s Merzbow dadaist releases like Batztoutai. Very nice.

[Minus1]

Merzbow & John Wiese - Akashaplexia

Finally getting around to listening to this anticipated and massive release.

The two artists share a number of releases together now, but they have all been mail collabs or live recorded performances to this point. Never an in studio release before. I'm very curious about what that process was like. What kind of concepts or boundaries did they discuss before hitting record, if any, or is it all off the cuff?

When I first read that this was recorded in a single day, I imagined the two sitting in a room and fleshing out a vision for an entire multi-disc album and completing it in that same day. Which seemed astonishing.

Now listening, what seems more likely, is that the two jammed in studio and then John took those recordings and edited or arranged them together for the final product. I would be very surprised otherwise with how highly articulate the sounds are and how they transition at what would be a "telekinetic" pace for a live collaboration.

Disc 1 | Garden Path Sentence:
Highly erratic and fast-paced audio collage. Many details flow in and out of focus, piano and percussive samples, manipulated tape warble, and/or vinyl tabletop abuse. At times, it reminds me of Masami's 80s output in the more dadaistic realm. There is a segment that feels like getting sucked into a tornado. Glimpses of voices cut through the wind, and great samples of glass shards and debris are flying about. As the 45-minute track progresses, it transitions flawlessly in and out of new segments. Some are harsher, some focus on looped and sampled elements from a wide variety of timbres and resources. It never dips into completely familiar or expected territories and kept me actively listening throughout. There are no lulls. Always something squiggling under the microscope to zoom in on. New details are being introduced and just as quickly and cleverly pulled away.

Disc 2 | Bleskam (Action Sphere / Maya):
This transitions nicely from the first disc. A little more subdued audio collage starts things off. Not as frantic and fast-paced as disc 1. Sounds like an old record needle jumping from vinyl to vinyl and catching small pieces of melodies, but never lasting long enough to identify a source. Actually reminded me of Max J Eastman a bit. It transitions into this Alice in Wonderland-like nightmare with chiming clocks, psychedelic bits, and a loop that sounds like it originated from the basement of an insane asylum. This disc feels strikingly similar in spirit to something like a modern-day Batztoutai with Material Gadgets, which I was really surprised to hear Masami do in this day and age. I really enjoyed this disc, and it's my favorite so far.

Disc 3 | Glass Has Vanished:
Disc 3 starts off ominous... a bass tone undulating at a low volume. Mechanical creaking loops in an unsettling fashion. What sounds like radio play creeps into the mix. This isn't the first time on this boxset either. I can't tell if it's tried and true old school radio play, or just the way samples are sliced and diced. It certainly replicates that feel, which is another factor of this release that reminds me of experimental 80s Merzbow like Batztoutai. From there, we get one of the rare instances of some sweeping noise filters or more traditional pedal like harsh noise. Not a lot of that across the discs so far. Everything I've described above has already happened in the first 5 minutes. While this disc is not a straight-up harsh noise track, it has the most harsh noise elements of any of the discs so far. My other favorite element on this particular disc is the haunting and dissonant use of church organ in the second half. Bizarre and fantastic.

Disc 4 | Higashiikebukuro Bouquet Divisions:
Bubbling, percolating, and squiggly synthesizer soup with white noise blasts. Easily the harshest start to any of the discs. The first two hours were just warm up! John and Masami start cooking with gas now. All of the previously mentioned elements through the discs, like loops, sampling, and other audio collage is still very present on this disc. Everything is just kicked up a notch on the harshness meter. It also really builds into a schizophrenic frenzy with how quickly the sounds are spliced in and out. There is also this screeching string instrument introduced that really cuts through the mix. At the peak of madness... it cuts out, and we get the closest thing to silence across the 4 discs yet. John and Masami tinker with more microcosmic details and mechanical jerky loops which build back up gradually into new frenzies.

I mentioned earlier, but I have been extremely impressed and surprised by this release. I wasn't sure what to expect and assumed it would be more of a collection of "live" long-form improvised pedal and laptop noise jams similar to the recent EKA Varna, but more thought-out and thematic than that release. However, what we get is a highly detailed, articulated, and meticulously arranged amalgam of audio collage. Somewhat similar to 80s Merzbow dadaist releases like Batztoutai. Very nice.

Aw Man, great writeup! Thanks. My fav of last year.

[k.p.g]

Black Leather Jesus / MSBR - Sonic Destruction (Deadline Recordings)
The original LP, in all its glory!  Love the hand stitched package that I assume Ramirez made for this one.  Speaking of, just how is this Black Leather Jesus side?  Well, fucking fantastic, for one.  Opens up feeling less like a full band effort, and more like a "pass the aux chord" around of stylings.  You get some guitar squelches, some rumble tumble crunch and even some vocal exercising before it all just explodes into that BLJ cacophony that is so deeply revered.  And with this particular era of the group, that cacophony is sitting almost exclusively in the mid-range, which I personally prefer to the group's more low end-heavy affairs.  Makes me imagine a group of people trapped in a mine, with each one fighting to make their voice heard the loudest.  Sometimes someone pokes through greater than another, but it is never really for too long.  Glorious.
MSBR jumps out the gate with just a ROAR.  Stupid to say, but I imagine Koji's synth to have a button that says "EVIL" written across it, as that just is the tone this fuckin' thing nails so perfectly that it had to have been dialed in to a key.  As much as I love Koji's more experimental routes he takes with the project, this is the sound that made me fall in love with MSBR to begin with.  It's relentless, unforgiving, and yet very unique in terms of its approach to harsh noise from other Japanese artists; far more American than anything else.  Even with the second track, despite it having its harsh moments, its far more spaced out than any other contemporaries in the region of that time.  This wouldn't feel too out of place in Michigan perhaps.  Lovely stuff all around.

While I bought this one initially to have my MSBR expand by one more, BLJ really came to play here.  Fantastic work on both ends.

Miscarriage - DOA (American Tapes)
Oh yeah, this the stuff.  20 years ago, the stars aligned and the grouping of John Olson, Greh Holger, Aaron Dilloway and Mike Connelly was formed to deliver this gnarly slab of midwest darkness.  The 4 of them each put their own version out on their respective label, but it ended up being the American one that I would come across in the bins of Hanson Records a few years back.  It comes with a bonus CDr attached, but that material honestly pales in comparison to the LP.  I'd almost go as far as to say it is "inessential." 
When it comes to the LP though, yeah, it is dark as hell, but also pretty aggressive for the personnel involved.  If I could compare it to anything else from this crew at the time, it would maybe be Wolf Eyes during the Human Animal period, but even this has far more PE leanings than that record did.  The vocals that crop up halfway through are maniacal.  I tried to pry Olson for who did 'em and got stonewalled.  It could really be any 4 of them, and that's a lovely mystery to have.  While that goes on, the typical Dilloway loops and Olson sax musings are drenched in nicely with layers of distortion of menacing synth drive.  It all comes together so nicely.  For a first (and really, only) outing, it's a great one.  I could have seen the makings for a more "legit" PE type of project for these 4 if they wanted to stick it out long-term, but then that begs the question of "would I still have the same sense of wonder about this LP if they did more?"  Sometimes you just have lightning in a bottle.

[Baglady]

MOGAO - Hidden God CD (Hiisi Prod, 2023)
Thought I had lost this CD forever, but finally it fell out when I was browsing for something else. Been wanting to revisit it for quite some time.
Beyond the rather weird cover, it's a very unassuming noise album if you don't pay attention (or if you just don't get it, hah). Rattling junk, frying electronics and feedback. Done to death, sure, but it's all in the details here - the perfect live room recording, the way the sounds just crack when it gets too much for the recording device (whatver that is), the instability, the dominance of brittle yet fierce mid frequencies, all the small debris flying around and the damn on-the-edge delivery. Fucking careless mastery. The whole package is bursting in the seams. My favorite noise album from the last five, six, seven years or so? Might just be. Had to scroll through a couple of distros to find another copy to give to a buddy just now. The world needs to know!