PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[Minus1]

Various MK9.

It's certainly interesting. The subdued qualities of some of his work just makes it more intense psychologically.

I love the guy. Plus Death Squad, and all of the work he has done. Books, Fucktv, etc.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Shortness Of Breath – While No Blossoms Likely Will Be Left, There Will Be Entertainment (Tribe Tapes)

New duo consisting of John Grimaldi (Hand & Knee) and Scott Kindberg (She Walks Crooked, Silver Moult, BLJ).

Domestic field recordings, smashed glass, sudden cut-in bursts of noise. Despite the description sounding like it's a cut-up style tape, it ebbs and flows at a very even pace and has a live session feel to it.

There is careful consideration to building tension and momentum in new sounds and passages. Each member compliments the other very well and leaves enough space to stretch and play off of the previous sounds.

Absolutely love this tape. Will need a few more spins to absorb this fully.

Invagination – Artisanal Hymenoplastry (Freak Animal)

Very trippy! Right off the bat there is some fantastic stereo panning, psychedelic, and colorful synth work.

Immediately reached over to turn this up another notch. High energy. Blown out metal junk abuse mixes with the cosmic synth barrage.

This comes out of the gate so strong that I think this might top anything on the debut CD based off of memory. The debut CD is very good, but this leaves such an impression and has a sense of urgency to it. Immediate balls to the wall energy, very inspired sounding, and fun!

Also, I need to comment on how beautiful the jcard printing is on this one. Gold paper with green and red screen print style. I usually don't comment on typography, but even the font choice is perfect. A+ jcard design and layout.

Runnin' Blind – Sisters (World As Stage '97)

Max Eastman tape under the alias Runnin' Blind. Not sure why the differentiation, but the material is from the same session as Max's Runnin' Blind tape.

Like everything from Max. There is an enigmatic nature to this tape. It's harsh, but very muddy and lo-fi, and of course, the source material is highly abused.

The kind of abused sounds that make you wonder if your audio setup is functioning properly. Guess what... it is. The sounds are just that otherworldly.

It sounds like Max recorded source material and processed it through a meat tenderizer and transmitted the frequencies through fried AM radio towers. Absolutely alien, or perhaps, cave-dwelling troglodyte harsh noise.

This is the kind of tape that reminds me of why I love Max's work. He makes me THINK about noise. At the start, I'm thoroughly confused about what is happening, if I even like it, and where his head was at making it. Then by the end, I'm thinking to myself, this mad lad has done it again. Always pushing boundaries, challenging preconceptions, and creating unique and rewarding listens.

[k.p.g]

Primitive Isolation Tactics - All Pressures Past (New Forces)
A release from last year that holds up just as strongly as when it first came out.  Never really more than one sound source working in the mix at a time, but that one sound is always powerful, often sounding like it is about to blow the mix apart.  Excellent stuff.

V/A - Cadaverizer Spasms Vol. 2 (Cadaverizer Records / Chaotic Noise Productions)
Noisecore comp that was meant to come out in the 90s comes out now.  Really good fun here!  Tons of blast acts I haven't heard of before, mixed in with noise heavyweights like Grunt & Bastard Noise in their infancy.  Grunt does faithful noisecore stylings, and the Bastard Noise material might be some of the strangest I've heard from the group (and that's saying something).  The noisecore side I wish had more distinction between artists, but hey, at least it's all some good shit.  Really good one I will have to return to.

Systemic Sewage - All Their Children Stink of Death (Reanimated Miscarriage)
It's fast, it's vile, it's 2 minutes in length! No one makes luddite noisecore quite like C.D. Mumma, and even the shortest lengths of tapes can be gripping.  Happy to have this one finally.  Great stuff.

Pokemaster - Untitled (Reanimated Miscarriage)
Jim Haras names the first 151 over  asymphony of blastbeats.  No mercy shown, and about 30 seconds faster than the aforementioned Systemic Sewage tape.  They pair pretty well together!  Play it twice, hell, play it thrice.

[k.p.g]

Brainstrain - A Cautionary Tale... (Protected Class Recordings / NJMA)
Played a show with this duo a few weeks back, which is a collaborative effort between Inarticulate & Storage Locker Suicide.  It's all harsh for a straight 45 minutes, slowly mutating and evolving into greater heights of power as it goes on.  How do you get guitars to sound like this?  I dunno.  I plug in my shit and it usually sounds like I am still tuning the damn thing.  Hah.  Also it is not often that I talk packaging on a release too much, but the design of this one is great.  The recycled newspaper and handstampped cover is so perfect.  The thickly painted front side of the tape with the hand stamped band name too.  All excellent.  It's definitely too good to be made in only an edition of 5.  Hopefully more to come!

Stinkfinger Forced Alibi (Freak Animal Records)
Great harsh noise that is kept under restraint in its time length.  One thing I really do not like when new artists make CDs is that they follow the philosophy of "CD? Better fill up as much of the 80 minute length as possible!"  So now what should have been an engaging, larger exposure to your work is an overbloated mess.  Hell, even someone as proven as Merzbow continues to have this issue, as his CDs are often filled to the brim when some of them could benefit from more edits.  But here we have Stinkfinger who smartly chooses quality over quantity of sound, making a 30 minute disc that scorches.  No time to meander, as every second is worth analysis.  I love having the chance to listen to something like this uninterrupted.  Just take in the sounds, not wondering if you should try multi-tasking while you listen.
My only note to the artist is more scrap metal!  The quieter uses of it here are so great, but are scarce.  I would like that to change moving forward.  But that's just me, of course..

[Leewar]

VO.I.D - Zyihen

Such a strange atmosphere on this, but great sounds as you would expect from Einleitungszeit members.

[SSRI]

Mutant Ape - Scarborough Warning CAS (Quagga Curious Sounds)

Short, sweet and sexy tape with MA in power electronics mode on side one. "Sexy Bulimia (Warning Second)" has sleazy guest vocals by Fecalove. Side two, "Pint Sized (Blow First)", is more harsh noise with neat feedback and build up of massive echoing noise made with metal junk and I think bass guitar. C10 or thereabouts, pink j-card and a piece of photograph with rotting pig's head and bones. Satisfying filth noise.

Ochu - Dryparn CAS (Gothenburg Blood Cult)

Rather noisier than later and better known Ochu material I think? Quality Swedish tape murk from mid/late 00s. Tape loops and probably synths as well, noisy but never very harsh. C20 with tasty xerox collage j-card. The second track on side one, "Sanningen i brunögat" is the best of the bunch but there's no weak moment really.

[k.p.g]

Regurgitard - I Don't Dial 911, I Dial 420 (Reanimated Miscarriage)
Noisecore made by idiots, which is then edited by an expert.  The spirit of noisecore is alive and well here though, don't think it's gone academic or any shit like that.  Hah.
Reanimated Miscarriage continues to boast some of the best in curation and design, and shows a proven track record with early releases like this.  Even as things become conceptually weirder, I cannot help but to really latch onto this early series of tapes that came in the white envelopes with printed on designs.  They look great, and hey, who doesn't love a free poster with crude bullshit on it?

Bastard Noise - Recycled (RRRecords)
The beef that extends between RRR and Bastard Noise is well known at this point.  Yes, there is the whole PURE series debacle, but I remember being told by band personnel that they were pretty upset with how the Recycled series dubs came out, with their higher quality work being put onto such cruel means.  Well, listening back to this tape after years apart, I could understand what would make them upset.  My dub is exceptionally rough haha.  But it doesn't upset me from enjoying it!  There is still the essence of Bastard Noise here, just crushed through a nasty filter.  I like that.  Still, I know that Bastard Noise camp likes high quality detail in their work.  Did it not get communicated properly what Recycled is all about then?  Who knows?  Who cares?  Probably only me.  Whatever, fun stuff.

TAC - Recycled (RRRecords)
Far more simplistic and crude than the aforementioned BN tape in the series, and yet, it cuts through far clearer than that one.  Hah!  What are the odds?  Well anyways, it's pretty great.  Quick and to the point collage of straight up noise and field recordings.

Drift - The Beyond (Chondritic Sound / Total Black, reissue)
Weird as hell dark ambient.  It's not overtly melancholic in tone, instead feeling more like deep sea diving into the great unknown.  For those of us who are more familiar with Giuliani's work as a harsh noise artist, this comes across pretty surprising.  Almost no connection to that work present.  It's midday when I play this, yet feels utterly appropriate for the time.  It bleeds into the environment well.  Interesting stuff so far, let's see how it all plays out.

[k.p.g]

Veprisuicida - Veprisuicida (Industrial Recollections, reissue)
Flagship project of the Russian-based Ultra label.  Where do you even begin to label material like this?  It's so weird in sound and yet so pissed off like it's meant to be some kind of ultra-violent P.E.  Yes, you could liken some sound choices to modern projects like Star or Robert Fuchs, but the way they are filtered makes it sound like the artist is smashing his gear on the table, rather than meticulously crafting the sound.  Have utterly no idea where it will go next on each listen.  Lovely!  Only regret is not picking up another disc of his when I bought in Lahti.  Oh well.  This will do for now.  Excellent. 

[SSRI]

VA - Russian Roulette CAS (Neuroscan.org)

Heavy electronics/industrial/experimental compilation of six artists. Control track is one of the best I've heard from him, dark and massive with somewhat buried vocals that have very good fx. Eleczema is musically a bit tame but he also has excellent vocals. Cloama is the absolute highlight, heavy and dark track with different layers coming and going, built with superb skill. Side two is more experimental. Blutleuchte could be a soundtrack to a surreal apocalyptic b/w art film. Somnivore and Propergol felt more like background ambience, but the latter got more interesting towards the end of the track. Tape in standard case and postcard-sized inserts in a plastic bag.

Grunt / T.D.B - split/collaboration CAS (Freak Animal)

I keep scratching my head and thinking how was T.D.B. made? Can it be the sound of fast-forwarding a CD through some effects and/or tape saturation? Weird and intriguing stuff while not necessarily great noise. Definite highlight and great noise here is the lengthy Grunt solo track Donkey Ride In Thailand (that was featured on the 10CD Grunt box set). Wild stuff with wild screams, obviously influenced by Masonna.
Fun fact: these guys now form Sadio.