Borbetomagus - Snuff Jazz (Agaric, 1990)
Snuff Jazz! Great album title and a hard album cover to match.
Besides Barbed Wire Maggots, I believe this was the second most mentioned Borbetomagus album among the few commentators in the Noise Canon thread. The comments expressed just how harsh this particular album is. This one does immediately go right for the gut and has a wild and feral energy. The album just before Snuff Jazz, Seven Reasons, was more experimental and dynamic, with a wide range of frequencies and sounds.
This one sounds exactly like what most people think Borbetomagus sounds like. Very harsh, very bright, saxophones way up front. A proper non-stop blowing session for sure! Up there in intensity and harshness and is probably closest to Live in Allentown.
The original LP only had the first and fourth track on it. The CD version has two other tracks that were recorded the same night as track #1. They are really great and not just leftover tracks!
And the last track on the album might be one of the harshest tracks in the Borbetomagus discography I've come across so far. Damn! They hit some absolutely wild high pitch and punishing tones.
Unfortunately Byron Coley didn't do the liner notes on this one. I was getting a laugh at his wild and over the top descriptors. Michael Hanke doesn't disappoint with the egregious metaphors however!
He writes this about the audience attending the ABC No Rio show where the first few tracks were recorded, "The fans drooled, and the unintiated, like the soccer players of Chernobly, stared in awe of this enfolding, life-threatening disaster and grit-crunching ass-kick machine. The dogs were howling this night!"
