PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[FreakAnimalFinland]

My information may be more tainted by skinhead folklore where testimonies often included stories how Paul was walking around with his suitcase size portable phone at RAC gigs for huge amusement of lower class skins.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

YKSI "Cataclystic Reprogram" CD
AAD
While ago bought CCCC/BLJ CD. I liked it, but, there is also but. As much as I would love to praise CCCC return as amazing thing, this recording is ok. Even good. But nevertheless, especially the production falls into category of it is what it is. It's not like the veterans of genre would have been exceptionally good in production side of noise lately. Like when last time Hijokaidan, Incapacitants, Merzbow etc would have been exceptionally tasty and not just ok? Noise can be still good, but I mean the timbre or recording itself.
That resulted me saying to bunch of guys, that even if its is painful for CCCC fanboy to say, you might actually better check something like YKSI cd. I suppose CD on Freak Animal had more of psychedelic noise qualities, while this CD is amazing 70+ minutes harsh noise blast. It's not crunchy, but neither it feels digi gadget room recording nor flat direct to soundcard type of thing. It can be, but thing is that it doesn't feel like it. There is busy layers of all sorts of noise that creates one big monolithic piece, that is always on the move. Especially at the end, it feels you could have cut couple segments as individual tracks, while most of disc is most definitely one piece.

[k.p.g]

Worth - Ruination Assessment (Freak Animal Records)
Gave this one a couple spins the other day.  It's the first release by Worth that has not gripped me upon immediate impact. The material starts off LOUD and strong; very in your face.  Eventually though, things "drift out" and settle into the atmosphere previous tracks have created.  I have talked before about noise that reveals itself in its less driven moments, and glimpses of that do show here.  Only issue is perhaps the constraint of mini CD, as some tracks feel like they end just as they are starting to ramp up.  This may warrant a third listen later today, as typing this makes me want to try and absorb the sound with a more active listening mind.

December Magic - Could the Web Be Re-Spun (Hospital Productions)
A quick burst from one of my favorite Fernow off-shoots.  Got the tape in and immediately thought "maybe save this for Christmas, when it makes sense."  That thought quickly turned to "nah, no point in just letting a tape sit on a shelf that long."  It's dark and atmospheric PE that does not take your time to get to its point.  It wants to overwhelm and harrow your soul over the mystery of the subject matter being handled.  Good stuff.

[Tribe Tapes]

Brume "Recycled" K7 [RRRecords, 1990s]
Song oriented recycled, Renou compositions that float between new age spa music for the institutionalized bunch and more abstract notions, sounds like a vacuum cleaner being played in a fun house of mirrors, perceptions of "what I am hearing" shifting with every turn of the eye. B-side takes some turns into drum machine plinking which may / may not be totally necessary. I would have preferred it without, but Renou is an experimenter, and dear god is it an experiment all right. Maybe not the kind of thelemic experiment that turns your mobile home into a mobile grave but getting near-close to such territories

Bodycocktail "Many See Lies" K7 [Zidsic, 1996]
Noted Louisville noise whiz kid turned international troubadour Zan Hoffman has his contemporary style of New Romantic crooning taking form on this cassette. More evolved, more listenable than the bulk of early Grandbrother material which would often feel like the two roommates getting out their XTC worship tendencies at an open mic night. Many See Lies flows through uneven time signatures like a piece of sheet music folded onto itself and performed as such. "Woman Looking At A Vase Of Flowers" is particularly great, this kind of Avalon-era wave music completely devoid of Ferry's sex appeal. Other pieces with their synthesized tablas remind one of Muslimgauze in faux-exotic pastiche. Surely not for everyone. For me, a highlight of ZH's mountain of tapes

[moozz]

Vincent Dallas: De Gouden Klank
Vincent Dallas: Dwalen Door Het Bos In Mijn Hoofd
Both tapes are from this year and they are excellent. HARSH noise with a full-bodied sound with some nice lower end rumble. I feel like there are plenty of Vincent Dallas releases coming out but I am not complaining as they just seem to get better and better.

Scathing: Petrol Banshees
Fantastic tape from this year. Goes from 1 to 100kmh during the first second. Great harsh noise with plenty of varied sounds. I have no idea what really came out this year but this would probably be in the top 10 for me.

The Gloria: D.D.D.D.
The Gloria: Paradoxal Undressing
The Gloria & The Rita: Sottana & Calze
Yes, I found The Gloria only because she released a split with The Rita earlier (the V.C.E. tape). I am not the biggest fan of The Rita's crackle study material and thought that The Gloria was much stronger on that release. And this year she's continued with strong material with these two solo tapes. Definitely approaching it from the HNW angle with careful attention on texture but it is never this unmoving monolithic wall but most of the time crisp rumbling with plenty of noticeable movement. The Sottana & Calze collaboration tape also came out this year. Here their material alternate, going from The Gloria's tasty HNW textures to The Rita's plain "isolated sound" material and then back again. I assume The Rita is using gunshots as a sound source, they sound a lot like the intro to Morbid Angel's song Blasphemy.

Commando 15: Arditi Moon
No longer relying that heavily on feedback (that was sometimes painful in a pleasurable way) but going for pretty much straight up harsh noise! Even with some laser sounds! Excellent!

[k.p.g]

Taint - Indecent Liberties (Freak Animal Records, reissue)
This one has been stuck on repeat in my car for the last few weeks.  It's the perfect length for any highway drive I may have for errands.  Really just a perfect mix of oppressive noise pummeling and weirder sound experiments that have usually been sidelined on the "studio albums" of Taint that I've heard.  It is interesting to see so many people of PE and "fucked up" side of noise gravitate to Keith's work yet really take none of what made it actually great into their own practice.  When I say that, I think of how weird and unnerving his sample chopping is; how he used vocals more as sound source than a layer atop the noise or even the subtle turntablism present on portions of this record (at least to my ears).  There is a lot more going on here than just scrap metal and synth, and that's really the stuff that keeps me coming back.  I guess different strokes for different folks on the same record?  Hah.  Excellent stuff either way.

Scathing - No Night Worth Saving (Phage Tapes)
More Texas heat, albeit from the newer breed of lone stardom.  While the record shines hard at certain points, I also felt like maybe it dragged on a bit longer than I would have personally wanted.  Although I am a fan of whenever Kenny slows things down and aims for something brooding, I found myself sort of thinking the penultimate track was the best way to end the record, rather than the extended outro.  While still good, I cannot help but think how much stronger it could have been by trimming a few minutes off.

John Olson & L. Sabatto - Artista Frustrado (American Tapes)
Oh god, now here's a shitnoise match made in heaven.  Talk about lo-fi; this thing sounds closer to your printer crashing in real time than any harsh noise.  But hey!  I don't mind a session like that.  Hah.  Can only imagine what kind of crude, homemade bullshit these two were both running for this.  More power to them for it though, as this sounds like they actually jammed it out in person, which not all mail collabs can achieve!