PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[eyestrain]

new iron lung 7" http://ironlungpv.bandcamp.com/album/savagery-7 is streaming now sounds promising but I really wish they would get back to their electronic/noise interludes

I've always been pretty fond of those interludes, yet they're nothing that adds a major amount to their music since they're so brief. Sexless//No Sex, I think, will forever be their pinnacle for me. They shed that early-Converge skin that always kinda tainted their beginnings and they hit their miserable thematic's nail right on the head. That summer it was almost nothing but this album... Still gets a lot of plays in my limited "punk" rotations.

This new 7" is pretty rad, but I can't say they're heading anywhere new. Same with the PHT sample. More of the same. Good or bad? I don't think they necessarily care to evolve; looking at their label's majorly throwback output.

[Ashmonger]

Concrete Isolation - Lomax (C40, Cthulhic Dawn Productions): Same style as the Bury Me On The Lone Prairie tape, but this one has the second human centipede movie as a concept, there are some samples from the movie (I think, haven't seen it yet). Less desolate feeling. 20 minutes repeated on B-side.

Concrete Isolation - A War Between The Wars (C40, Cthulhic Dawn Productions): 5 longer tracks recorded in 2012. Some more use of vocals, though not in all tracks. While I do think his noise/pe doesn't necessarily need vocals, since it's good by itself, his vocals certainly are good enough (some kind of barking with effects) to use them a bit more often.
Altogether, I think the Bury Me... tape is the best of the recent tapes, I really like the eerie desolate atmosphere of that one and the atypical concept. Then again, for obvious reasons, it's the one I've been listening to most of all.

Lomax and  A War... are also available through Iron Scourge.

Puce Mary - Persona (LP, Posh Isolation): Hmm, seems like I like the two tapes that Freak Animal released more than this. I'll still have more listens to see if I can get more into it, but it feels like it's so minimalistic that I seem to miss certain parts or something like that...

Simon Balestrazzi - Annulled By Inertia (3" CDr, Diazepam): Industrial Noise, nice stuff.

Hexen & Wailing of the Winds (C30, Diazepam): Tape comes in an oversized black cardboard box, closed with a piece of rope and some twigs between it. The inside of the box has art glued into it. Both acts collaborate here on two sidelong tracks. This is soothing music, drones and some neo-folk like guitar parts, quite liked it!

Anenzephalia - Ephemeral Dawn (CD, Tesco Organisation): Can't go wrong with Anenzephalia, can you? Two remarks though: the second track (if I'm not mistaken) cuts off at the end and it seemed out of place with this kind of stuff. Then there's also another track, which has a sound which annoyed me, but I can't remember which track it is.

Pissdeads (Single Sided 7", Bringer of Gore/No Bread Records/Underground Pollution): Ok, some more noisecore. Certainly enjoyable.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

DER BLUTHARSCH "The Track Of The Hunted" LP and "the long way home" pic LP
WKN
Classic stuff + live 1999 stuff. Not bad, not bad at all. I have been kind of half way "fan", half way ignoring. I like "Der Sieg Des Lichtes Ist Des Lebens Heil!" A LOT, but at the same time, especially new material is something I can't stand really. Loops, noble historic feel, industrial vibes, etc. That's good.

STURMFUHRER "Niemals Vergessen" LP
SPR
Guy who played in many bands, from Incantation to Cattle press, to Disma and WOMB with his solo effort of industrial music. Slow beats, historical speeches, keyboard tones. Nothing that special, but at the same time, if blunt americanized version to look into german history works, then this most likely work! Its his 3rd and easily best album. Could be more "hand made" feel here, but not bad at all. Cliche, but at the same time timeless...

NYODENE D "Mouths that reap the harvest" LP
Urashima
Hmm.. I recall I just mentioned about one of his tapes being the best.. but maybe this!? Long tracks, slowly evolving. USA power electronics of current age, with strong industrial feel, slow and dark, suffocating atmosphere. Most likely his best to date? And when it's also one of the latest, I think its very good direction!

CAEN "middlefield" LP
Urashima
Listened this LP most of today. On repeat, always putting same side playing again. Drone music how it should be made! It has harmony, it has grain and ruggedness. It has minimalism, but tasty texture. Hard to say why exactly this works so well, but especially latter part of A-side is really nice listening. Recommended!

[eyestrain]

Sewer Election - Nära (Järtecknet): I can definitely agree with an earlier poster that this follows in the footsteps of the Hoffemeier collaborations. It's very subdued, hushed. No throbbing. There's even several tones/sounds that feel very familiar. Some of Johansson's more recent works have been appropriate-for-play in a lot of settings; in the car, on a walk, in the house, maybe with a few discerning friends. They've got harsh moments that help ground the listener and there's some remnants of that sticky sex sweat from the 00's. Nära differs largely in that (it seems like) it will only hold up with solo listening at home - emphasis on the solo aspect. The sound sources are faint, barely manipulated, never clear. It feels like a clipping of an insomniac day of self-neglect; just zoning out at the kitchen table; cold coffee and no appetite. A couple headlight flashes through the evening and the refrigerator's broken buzz. I think the choice of water recordings, on here and the recent lathe, are such an emotionally appropriate source. It's just that drip of thinking-of-giving-up. It may all just be very personally relevant, but this is like a bottled-up representation of many dreary years. There's something very real and earnest in this. And it's very refreshing to hear this kind of quasi-concrète music without any academic leanings. It's all very inward - almost like it was forever meant to remain there.

[Jaakko V.]

Joel Danielsson - The Death Of The Grey Wolf / Resurrection Of The King ‎

Listened through a few times today. Minimal acoustic sounds looped and layered in a very stylish manner. Some metals, flutes, field recordings and whatever. Eerie atmosphere. Could actually be described as "ritual music" but without the phony esoteric cheese all over it. *Really* good.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

WILL OVER MATTER "Phenomenal Highways " LP
white denim
Good LP! In WOM style of primitive oscillations. A-side ends really nicely and B-side is epic slow developing minimalism. Often very limited amount of sounds and pulsations, but becomes kind of unusual material what barely anyone else is making..

THE KOLMAS "Kolmas Testi" LP
Ektro
Minimal electronic beats, electronic sounds and such, gathered from 80's, 90's and recent times. Äijälä from Terveet Kädet who has taken part in several more experimental things since late 70's. At best album could referred to be something in lines of old Panasonic or Mika Vainio's work of cold yet highly electric sound. Primitivism suggests that fans of Will Over Matter could like this as well. There are some really good tracks, but also generic filler here and there. Not sure where would be good example of best tracks of album, but some live material here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px10G7cBetQ

VIVENZA "Veriti plastici" LP
Rotorelief
A notch quieter/flowing side of Vivenza. Not that far from usual sound of Vivenza, just more humming quality to sound of machines. It is still very much dense layers of machine-sounds on top of eachothers, but less clatter and "percussive" mood. Nice texture being build by changing volume balances of layers. Short looping sounds coming and going, without losing the feel of constant flow of sound. Loops are not making percussive rhythm for entire song, merely fragments of bigger piece what keeps changing with pace that is at the same time slow, but fast enough to avoid almost any significant repetition. Very good!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZLOZroXjDA

[Andrew McIntosh]

Made me play my copy of "Phenomenal Highways". There really isn't anyone else in the world I can compare to Will Over Matter, which may say more about my lack of keeping up than anything else. It's not like there aren't other projects using "pure" synth sounds as such, but WOM has a sound and style he's made his own. When I have tried to make a comparison to others, the best I could come up with was the occasional abstracted synth sounds Devo made as intro's to their songs. Will Over Matter is a project well worth keeping up with (and, thankfully, he isn't flooding the market).

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I do keep up with what's out there as much as I can, and unless this type of stuff comes from totally different "scene", I'm quite sure it's very unusual stuff.

I think he rarely uses "synths" of traditional sense. More stuff like small oscillator boxes, odd effects, etc. His live gigs often consist songs made with 2-3 sources, where each oscillator/effectbox is connected to guitar amp. No mixers, just straight into amplifier. What I know about WOM recordings, he doesn't use mixers for records either. Very minimal set up and focus on "dry" electronic signals. Especially stuff like b-side of this LP, one can appreciate lack of dense layering, since you actually focus to subtle changes in pulse before rest of the elements of song slowly creeps into mix...

I also like more effected voice on this LP. Often also vocals are very dry in mix. Very strangle solution, what in tradition of bands like Streicher, leave listener to love-it-or-hate-it situation. Very brave solution in times when all neat effects would be easy way to do it.

[humanpulp]

Hatred Surge - Deconstruct - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV3zgyrtFxQ
Dead In The Dirt - The Blind Hole - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_0XSpcrf8
Magrudergrind - Crusher - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhOCUlMWA8M
Agents Of Abhorrence - Relief - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agKz47XZaRo

Also check out Transient, Cloud Rat, Svffer, ACxDC, Sex Prisoner, Magnum Force, etc...

Thanks for the list.  That Hatred Surge album is really good.  Hadn't heard the other bands.  I like grind, but there is an abundance of grind.  Dead in the Dirt, Magrudegrind, and Agents don't register as even a sliver of power-violence for me.  Looking for that PV.

my band:
seaofshit.bandcamp.com

also. the upcoming Water Torture LP is rager. and the last 7" by Cave State that TLAL put out was pretty great.

[TS]

It's black metal Tuesday.

Faarthkrag - The Station, the Passenger and the Vast Chasm
Obscure Belgian black metal/ambient fuckery from 2008. Weak at times, sound wise, but always manages to remain interesting. Some very beautiful riffs towards the end combined tastefully with heavily effected samples of creaking doors, bubbling water, etc. The production is not consistent, going from entirely bassless passages to heavy ambient shit. The volume also fluctuates wildly. Recommended!

One Tail, One Head - One Tail, One Head
Absolutely brilliant demo from OTOH. Released by Fossbrenna Creations 2008. In my opinion, this band, along with Mare, Kaosritual, Min Kniv and the other Nidaros bands were at their peak during this time, before the production became too "professional". This tape is quality hatred, and fucking catchy at the same time.

Skuggeheim - Vinterrikets Konge
Sorely overlooked release, in my opinion, seriously shady recording at times, sounds old as fuck. The first songs go straight to the point. Black metal riffs and vocals of the highest caliber. It descends into more ambient-ish territory at times, classy compositions of organ and guitar. Skuggeheim sounds very atmospheric, but not depressive. Traditional in the best meaning of the word, treading new ground is overrated.

[Andrew McIntosh]

One Tail, One Head - One Tail, One Head

Thanks for the introduction to this band. Had a listen to some of their songs on YouTube, very reasonable, reminds a bit of Carpathian Forest.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

GREY WOLVES "Blood & Sand" LP+cd set
Cold Spring
Still very good. Atmospheric, but interesting. Good reissue!

DREAMING TOGETHER "4 edens and a world of shells" LP
Odd Size
It's great for me that nowadays a lot of people don't seem to give a fuck about a lot of old experimental industrial. Things like these are cheap to grab. 1988 release on Odd Size label who has done lots of releases by nice bands. At most "noisiest" one could compare loop mayhem to Vivenza kind of stuff, but most of the LP is softer, synth tones, metal junk scratching, etc. But always good hand-made and innovative use of sounds. Even if name of project remainds of some cheap goth stuff?

[Zeno Marx]

Hatred Surge - Deconstruct - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV3zgyrtFxQ
Dead In The Dirt - The Blind Hole - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_0XSpcrf8
Magrudergrind - Crusher - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhOCUlMWA8M
Agents Of Abhorrence - Relief - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agKz47XZaRo

Also check out Transient, Cloud Rat, Svffer, ACxDC, Sex Prisoner, Magnum Force, etc...

Thanks for the list.  That Hatred Surge album is really good.  Hadn't heard the other bands.  I like grind, but there is an abundance of grind.  Dead in the Dirt, Magrudegrind, and Agents don't register as even a sliver of power-violence for me.  Looking for that PV.

my band:
seaofshit.bandcamp.com

also. the upcoming Water Torture LP is rager. and the last 7" by Cave State that TLAL put out was pretty great.

Thanks.  Liking that Cave State.  The Water Torture is a little hit/miss, but it's in the vein of what I'm hoping to find in newer bands.  I have something by Sea of Shit, but I can't remember right now.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

GNAW THEIR TONGUES / COREPHALLISM split 10"
Listened this couple of times and conclusions remain that don't care too much for GTT. While I appreciate their dark and slow stuff, it's like "metal music of noise". Too modern, too clean, too hi-tech. But for those into "black noise" in modern ways, could be into this. Corephallism is much better. Synths and vocals. Simple, droning, almost symphonic quality to it most of the time. Never in-your-face noisy, although vocals with their distortion generate decent amount of intensity.

STABAT MORS / KARL BÖSMANN split LP
Psych.KG
This label is weird. While they keep doing hand made "special" releases and quite neat limited vinyls... Have they ever made GOOD looking cover or release that really stands out as great?! This too sounds to me like slightly leftover SM stuff and quite lazy kraut-kind of stuff from Bösmann. Limited 144 vinyl in clumsy hand made cover with inkjet printed stuff and poor results. Not hopeless release, but just always when you think release could be good, it isn't..

WHITE HETEROSEXUALS "Modern Heterosexuality" 12"
At War With False Noise
Was there some sort of controversy about this long ago on deleted forum? I recall hearing story that band got this 12" deal due grabbing peoples attention on noiseboards, hehe.. True or false, now at 5-6 years later, 2014, when I guess most will ask who and what was it, release seems severely unwanted. Discogs prices are down to 3 euro is it? It ain't hopeless, but it's one of those things what would had been perfectly ok as ltd 30 copies tape rather than 300 copies vinyl. Now kind of free-form noise with sort of "hipster-pe" vibe on it, one can spin it couple times without thinking nothing...

LOCKWELD "8 cuts" LP
Noise Control Corp
It's been long since I listened this. It offers pretty good look to what Lockweld was. Circular-saw shape cut 12" vinyl without covers. What lockweld did was one member power tools, one member use that to process via electronics. Cut 3 with buried vocals, cut 4 with ultra distorted spoken word and screams are probably the best ones. Many others remain quite generic harsh noise wall or too easy electronics behind layer of distortion.

[eyestrain]

Alfarmania & Proiekt Hat - Astral Slaktmask (Chefsideologens Bolag): Can't remember the last collab well enough to make a comparison, but if my memory serves me correctly, this is a big step up. No one's changing their footing in the least, but the timing, flow, execution of the whole tape is perfected! Instead of that Alfarmania zone where the album is too long and a bender may be necessary for maximum results, this one delivers on its own. PH has always been a favorite. I would say his presence is felt less here though.

VICTIM! - Escombros (Red Light Sound): Very simplistic in contrast to the other works I've mentioned recently. Primarily, this one's based around contact mic work and faulty connections. Echoing metal sounds, remind me of Vivenza with the pace slowed, no rhythm, and a 21st century mindset.

VICTIM! - Reality Cut (Fusty Cunt): Much like the Lacuna tape; cut-up insanity, although this one doesn't feature those manic vocals that were actually a nice touch surprisingly. A contradictory force of contemplative field recordings and keys underneath a melee of harsh absurdities.

Action/Discipline - Hard Lesson (New Forces): These boys were one of the best offerings at Summer Scum. Pure Incapacitants-level harsh noise; instantly engaged and engaging mind fuckery. This tape provides just the same joy.

Broken Lights - Downfall (Blödorn): Reminiscent of Blodvite's more heavy industrial moments, or maybe just a large slice of the Järtecknet catalog. Best tape/songs I've heard from this project yet.

Cremation Lily - Fires Frame The Silhouette (Alter): The Black Post Society round two. Highly enjoyable album, but I have to admit there's nothing fresh about it. Much higher quality recording than the CL works I've heard before.

Renato Rinaldi - Planta (Senufo Editions): A very busy 16 minutes that still manages to cruise along slowly - and remain interesting. A blend of pleasant drone, cavernous Jeph Jerman-type atmospheres, heavy machinery sounds and a variety of field recordings.