PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[Kaaoskultti]

Lieutenant Colonel Cooter - Substandard Operating Procedures (Covert Operations of Terroristic Intelligence Reconnaissance Special Forces)
Power Electronics for the age of terror and misinformation!  A couple of listens in the past left me not entirely enthused by this material, but something just clicked in this round.  The A-Side falls more into the area of "audio collage" than noise for the most part, as news clips that are spliced and panned dominate the mixer far more than any other sound source for a majority of the runtime.  Ends up in a noisy burst, but that is only after a crude cover of Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Getting Back Together" ends (talk about terror, huh?).  B-Side has more creeping noise and synth work from the jump, but is still playing the backing track to some George W. Bush press conference clips. 
Pretty great release all around.  I would recommend this for anyone who is into the conceptual end of PE and isn't afraid of the "new breed."

Listened to this one aswell, a couple of times already and it's easily one of my noise AsOTY so far. Track# 3 is just harrowing, with its brutality reaching the peak through repetition and outright aural depiction of torture; wouldn't it be for the bursting ending, that would be the perfect example of non-cathartic violence. Still, the whole album seems to function around such formula, with long-sustained samples and spatic crescendos, which leave no room for immediate gratification (as in Brethren or Deathpile's restless aggression). If one pays close attention, it can be heard that the water-dripping is rhytmycally sustained. Kinda reminds me of early Whitehouse in that sense, even though I hava no idea on what Bennett was trying to achieve with that one. All in all, really top-notch release.

[k.p.g]

Collapsed Arc - In Tension (Polar Envy)
My introduction to what I would consider one of the more unique acts I have heard come from the Ohio area.  In a land where scrap metal and distortion pedals feel inseparable, this guy elects to focus on simplistic, morphing loops with a lot synth and acoustic object mangling as the main sound sources.  The pacing and presentation of these loops moves in a way I simply have not heard from another artist before.  It's not hard to get really jolted as this one continues to move; highly enjoyable stuff.

[k.p.g]

Ahlzagailzehguh - Recycled (RRR)
On the harsher end of Ahlz, but also on the slower paced end as well.  Not much in the way of cut-up, and a little more "drop out harsh" styles.  Sound washes over you like a wave so heavy that when a movement is made, you pay attention. 

Richard Ramirez - Volume 1, Disc 5: Erotica Part 2 (New Forces, reissue)
Last disc in this boxset I had to clear, and it acts a nice follow-up to the Ahlz tape by continuing in this very psych-o-delic form of harsh, where it feels more like your brain is being fried out from a hot, sunny day... concrete rising.  Disgusting and manic; it sucks in real life, but is pure bliss in audio form.  This disc reminds me just how the whole boxset has shown a new light to Ramirez work that I had previously not seen, with so much activity and sound variety that you cannot help but marvel at how he was able to create so much in just the decade of the 1990s alone.  It's truly impressive stuff, and I am grateful for New Forces compiling this (and the next boxset) together.  What I like about multi release boxsets too is that a revisit does not have to involve the entire thing.  With that in mind, I imagine I will come back to individual titles in this one very soon.

Ahlzagailzehguh - Memory & Hearing (Hospital Productions)
A revisit was due for this one.  It remains as excellent and challenging as ever.  New moments stick out in each subsequent listen; repeating motifs, little slices of electronics that'll captivate you and then never return.  Feels like it's not too early to put this into the category of a noise "classic," right?

[k.p.g]

Marc Benner - Answers? (Oxidation)
Picked up my mail sometime last week to the total surprised of a new tape from Oxidation!  Marc was awfully kind enough to mail me a copy of this tape that is packaged onto a very heavy metal plate with pasted on art & text.  It seems like two recent, highly publicized shootings in American news served as the launchpad for this tape to be made, although they are not the focus of it.  All sound sources came from audio of people cleaning firearms, with the intention being to capture the profound quiet felt by someone before they went and radically changed their lives with a single act.
I would say that Marc has made a piece here that is able to capture that feeling while transforming the sound sources to an entirely foreign place.  I am not really reminded of guns or bullets (outside of 2 very small instances) on this listen, as the sounds here become warped to a place where they sound closer to everyday sounds one might experience; furniture being moved, clinking glass, doors shutting.  It actually took me into the zone I have felt on the final stretch of moving out of houses.  There is a profound sadness I have felt in leaving anywhere I have lived, knowing the change had to happen but knowing how it will affect me moving forward.  Perhaps the men who inspired Marc in making this had similar thoughts, or maybe none at all.  Maybe they just emptied their heads to not break the zone.  Sometimes we do that in our daily lives and don't even focus on the sound. With that in mind, I am curious to play this one back as more of "background noise" than an intent listen.  As it stands on an intentional first listen though, this is really great acoustic loop soundwork.

Dylan Nyoukis / Dennis Tyfus - The Throat is Pregnant / Zangstondes (Ultra Eczema)
Ultra Eczema continues to an absolutely fascinating and underrated label of the 2000s after hearing this gem!  Both artists work so well off of each other that I thought this was a collaboration.  Nyoukis is contributing tons of vocal manipulation from what seems to be both himself & his daughter.  It takes throat singing to ungodly levels of weird.  Tyfus's side has a lot of dreamy cassette manipulation, backed by a hint of darkness underneath.  How it ends is unreal though.

Samuel Clemons - Gutter Arrangement (Oxidation)
After hearing his Recycled tape recently, I wanted to see where this young upstart was at nowadays.  Turns out he is in a very harsh zone, if this tape is any indication!  There's really nothing exciting to mention here; this is just total harsh spitfire with some reckless, youthful abandon driving it into the stratosphere.  Being only 10 minutes in runtime, it thankfully knows not to overstay its welcome for too long.  This one made me smile.

[Krigsverk]

Bizarre Uproar - Hate, Metal & Lust - Singles collection 1993 – 2022 (CD Wrath)


As expected, a mixed bag of candy. Some sweet, others not so sweet. I have heard half of the material before, so it is mostly a handy way of listening to a bunch of 7" for me and catch up on the ones I have missed. What is evident here is the evolution of the BU sound, and a great way of experiencing that. Another added bonus is the shorter track-length, it adds more variation - a perfect record to play multiple times. Spinning it a third time today currently!

[urall]

Dylan Nyoukis / Dennis Tyfus - The Throat is Pregnant / Zangstondes (Ultra Eczema)
Ultra Eczema continues to an absolutely fascinating and underrated label of the 2000s after hearing this gem!  Both artists work so well off of each other that I thought this was a collaboration.  Nyoukis is contributing tons of vocal manipulation from what seems to be both himself & his daughter.  It takes throat singing to ungodly levels of weird.  Tyfus's side has a lot of dreamy cassette manipulation, backed by a hint of darkness underneath.  How it ends is unreal though.

If you like the singing of Tyfus, check out his Vom Grill stuff + newer project Jeugdbrand
https://www.ursss.com/artist/dennis-tyfus/

[impulse manslaughter]

Up to 5 minutes per side on a 45 RPM 7" should normally sound great.

I was listening to the Haare - Sacred Mushroom Clouds 7" the other day. Nice one.