PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[Baglady]

AARON DILLOWAY & C SPENCER YEH - The Squid - CD (Hanson)
Brilliant record. Good use of violin and tapes here. Haunting stuff. Reminds me of the scarier Small Cruel Party stuff. Once again I'm baffled about not having listened more to Dilloway.

GOLDEN SERENADES - II - CDr (Gameboy)
Is this their second release or something? Early one, at least, and easily one of their best works. Compared to their later stuff, i.e. The Age Of Swing, this is less hectic and more massive, with sweeping long sections of feedback and rumble, interrupted by shorter intense moments of change. Some more restrained sections thrown in as well, adding dynamics. "Needs a reissue!" as they say. Worthy of a better format than CDr.

[Andrew McIntosh]

Since getting the "NG Tapes" album I'd been basically listening to the three lps of Nord I have, over and over, for a week or so. Each time listening being impressed by the hard, uncompromising sound and single minded lust for basic analog synthesiser sounds. For the most part, there's no real indication of the pieces being aleatory or precisely structured, they simply move well however they where made.

But a couple of days ago I discovered a shitload of early Hands To material on Forced Nostalgia's Bandcamp page, so I've been indulging in Jerman's foggy, tape-hiss laden loops and manipulation. Of preference I like the longer pieces better (the title track of "Hoast" sounds like untreated site recording of a construction site, although there may be more than one layer involved). Despite problems with comparisons I can't help feeling it's like taking the concrete sources of The Haters and giving them the structural treatment and oppressive atmosphere of MB.
  Jeph Jerman says, "Simply put, I think that theorising about sound falls into the realm of entertainment, sophisticated perhaps, but it's all just playing with the mind."

[Zeno Marx]

Is Forced Nostalgia some sort of file agent or authorized distributor?  If not, kind of weird, if not downright sucky, that they're selling those Hands To (and maybe others).

[Andrew McIntosh]

I was wondering that too. Those Hands To tapes seem to be from various tape label from the Eighties. There's a couple of If, Bwana tapes available as well. I merely assumed the artists had something to do with it. So far I've only be streaming - I don't mind paying for downloads but five English pounds? That's nearly ten bucks in my money, and the If, Bwana ones are seven pounds fifty. Too much for a download.

EDIT - Looks like the seven pounds fifty is for a hard-copy cd, five pounds is the going rate for downloads on that site. Apologies for the confusion.

[HongKongGoolagong]

DEATH SQUAD - Out-patient - I missed this release when it came out, delighted to hear the recent reissue. Almost entirely spoken word and sampled recording of people at the fringes of 'Outer Bohemia' as Stephen Koch described it in his amazing book on Warhol 'Stargazer'. Prostitutes and fucked up pathetic johns, drug addicts, the mentally ill, extreme anger issues, bad feelings all round accompanied by some brooding electronics. Michael Nine's work is head and shoulders above any tough guy PE posturing and there's no cornball macho cliche here, just very raw and difficult documentation of reality as it is for some of us. Still doing great work under the MK9 banner, it's strange to me that his amazing output isn't really noticed beyond the fake safehouse of the Power Electronics ghetto - I'd class his stuff with Lydia Lunch and Bryan Lewis Saunders - this is a real artist.

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - RAMBLE TAMBLE - you check out classic rock stuff sometimes and enjoy it and see why it has sold a lot, then an album track might hit you like this did me the other day - there's a kind of psychedelic breakdown in the middle of a song and a three chord riff with a transcendent lead guitar line so powerful and pure it seems to cancel out all language and rational thought makes you consider the beauty and wonder and strangeness of music and of being alive.

[P-K]

Is Forced Nostalgia some sort of file agent or authorized distributor?  If not, kind of weird, if not downright sucky, that they're selling those Hands To (and maybe others).

all authorised.

[THE RITA HN]

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - RAMBLE TAMBLE

a lot of CCR is obviously really overplayed and blown out, but that is fucking killer song.
actually works well here too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xAhIzVSKco

[bitewerksMTB]

"Michael Nine's work is head and shoulders above any tough guy PE posturing and there's no cornball macho cliche here, just very raw and difficult documentation of reality as it is for some of us. Still doing great work under the MK9 banner, it's strange to me that his amazing output isn't really noticed beyond the fake safehouse of the Power Electronics ghetto - I'd class his stuff with Lydia Lunch and Bryan Lewis Saunders - this is a real artist."

That's pretty funny.

I'm going to go flex while listening to The City of the Living Dead soundtrack.

[GEWALTMONOPOL]

The old ones are the best.

[fin de siècle]

IRM "Closure"
When listening to this beautiful dark piece of noise art, it becomes very obvious that the term "power electronics", which Malignant uses in the promo text on the sticker attached to the cover, comes without any identifiable coherence. The influence of Scott Walkers` latest "Bish Bosch" album, which belongs to one of Martin Bladh`s most worshipped releases, is very obvious and constitutes the artistic treatment of the album. Whereas the compositions of the previous albums were largely based on synth manipulations, the new approach was to build everything up on the basis of the pre-existing lyrics of Martin Bladh. As second main element the bass guitar, which was previously used only as a marginal support, becomes now the leading instrument to build the melodies – yes melodies (there are hardly any drones here)! Other elements like drums (by Ulrik Nilsson), synth and field recordings give the album the necessary structure and details. The composition of the album is overall clearly structured and framed by the lyrics/texts with repetitive patterns showing up in some of the tracks. Classic song structures with repeating refrains make some of their tracks even real sing-alongs (Dead Time Onan). This is the IRM album I have always been craving for! Now they start to use their full potential far away from the limitations of the power-electroncis genre. In correlation with the theme, the artwork is a stylish, didactic black and white design with a theater stage framing the interplay. Completely dispensing with blood (!) they finally seem to have consciously grown up into a promising future. Nothing but beauty!

[MT]

Death Squads "Isolation as Intent" is in my books one of the most powerful power electronics albums ever. Intense as FUCK.

[GEWALTMONOPOL]

Death Squads "Isolation as Intent" is in my books one of the most powerful power electronics albums ever. Intense as FUCK.

And he's a "real artist" dontchaknow. Bollocks aside, bitter UK noise faggot bollocks aside...

KEVLAR - Alpha Strife, CD-r (self released)

I was approached by the boys from KEVLAR at UFoI who asked if I was interested in their CD-r. One look at them and it was clear they aren't chancers. The day after I got the CD-r but it would be a few hours before I could listen. I handed it to Hal in the car who said "What's this?". "That son, is KEVLAR". "KEVLAR? Fucking brillliant name!". Just by the look of it we knew it was going to be good.

First track is Alpha Strife. A fast paced rise fall bassline as trade marked by TG on Hamburger Lady plus plenty of grit and layering on top. Simple but, as they say, effective. Second track is Drone Sky which has the all familiar WWII bomber feel to it and then the bass drops a note or two causing a sinking feeling in your guts. Tortured feedback and what sounds like distorted junk crashing its way through the track. Great sound but perhaps a little bit too long. We move into Medusa. A drenched in static bass drone which oozes MS20 (or MS10?) with spoken word sample on top with what sounds like Richard Burton. No idea which film though. This works as an interlude. Prescribed Torture kicks in. More industrial in the superior German style. This is the only track with vocals. KR-85 closes the release with more rising, falling and crunchy analogue bass drones. Spoken word samples sounds like Oppenheimer being interviewed but I'm ready to stand corrected on that. A distorted and filtered wind sound flows in and out creating a feeling of utter coldness. This could be an Ex.Order track. It's that good. A perfect end.

The members of KEVLAR are Polish and based in the UK. Alongside names like AM NOT and ZSS they are part of a new and current breed of British industrial. One which isn't trying to disguise itself under any artsy or pseudo intellectual veneer. It stands proud and unapologetic for what it is which is why it is so good. If they are "real artists" (I hope not) I don't know but they are blissfully free of any bullshit absurdism, funny costumes, "humour" and lambada beats in hats with feathers. This is the UK in 2014!

The release comes in a simple but tasteful heavy manilla envelope with the band name rubber stamped and a sticker with the logo in the top right hand corner. Inside is a sticker and two inserts with info. The disc is plain white with the letter K printed.

Limited to 50 copies so it may be sold out by now. If not it's worth contacting the band via www.kevlar.net.

[Baglady]

ORQUERE - Untitled - C23 (Preafekt Kassetter)
Not as rich and elaborate as the <i>Foundations</i> album or the <i>Movements</i> tape, but good stuf nonetheless. A-side, entitled "Arnheim", starts with a person explaining some situation, followed by a simple yet nice junk-and-whatever loop. A machine sound sneaks in after a while and gradually takes over, adding some dynamics. Good, but it doesn't really grip me. The B-side then. "State Of War" makes me think of Vivenza with it's very direct and short loops. Stripped down and effective stuff. Nice tape. One could argue it deserves a bigger edition, I'm glad I stumbled upon it this weekend, but I still rank the other two releases way higher. The B-side is fantastic though.

BLODVITE - Renad i Eld - C30 (Self released)
Another lucky find from saturdays gig, and imho the better of the two. Two tracks on the A-side. First one is a rather ominous opener, giving proper justice to its title ("Avgrunden" translates "The chasm"). Initially it actually makes me think of the cavernous sound of Kristian Olsson's solo recordings. Second track further on moves into more familiar Blodvite territory. Good piece!  The B-side starts out with a muffled loop, slowly opening up as more bass laden sounds gradually flow in and take hold. Bleak stuff reminding me of the latest tape on Throne Heap. Slowly evolving and skillfully crafted pieces as usual. Ottosson has developed a sound of his own I think. Great tape, although not on the same level as <i>Falskt Spektrum</i> or <i>Tänkta Dialoger</i>. But I'm sure I'll return to this one from time to time.

[online prowler]

Second the post on KEVLAR.

[NEHPF]

http://vimeo.com/89207018 (KEVLAR / DRONE SKY)

Sorry for OT but they DO sound great! Good job on marketing GEWALTMONOPOL.