PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[FreakAnimalFinland]

SIAN "Sink / Assign" CD
Manifold
Duo of Akifumi Nakajima & Shohei Iwasaki. One can think the ambient side of both projects, Aube and Monde Bruits, and result is pretty much that. Sounds like free improvisations. One severe "error", when otherwise ethereal and crystal clear sound gets too loud for brief moment and starts clipping. It indicates that they didn't want to edit this too much. Liner notes do say, that it was recorded at Studio MECCA Kyoto Japan 27 January and 2 March 1996, but mixed, re-created and designed January-February 1997. So some post-production is there. Not sure if the clipping is in recording or the hands-on post production. This is pre-computer times. I think Aube never used computers anyways.

Cosmonauts Hail Satan "Cape Cannibal Skull Island Apocalypse" CD
Will Montgomery Records
This project had special place for me long before the album came out. It is possible I have written same info on the forum before.  Cosmonauts Hail Satan ‎– Crazy Subjugated Astronauts tape was published in Finland back in 1993 by Joukkomurha tapes. It quickly reached a lot of people who had not been exposed to this type of music. I was instantly captured by odd discordant guitar-noise riffs and bounding lo-fi drums, covered in sci-fi / exploitation movie samples. It's almost like rugged pop-art version of Ramleh and Skullflower. While those two could be dark or destructive, CHS was just plain weird. Sonically best material is the same 5 songs that appeared on early tapes. 7 songs exclusive to this CD ain't bad either. I don't think they could get as intense and fierce sound, but music itself, top notch!

CON-DOM "All in good faith" CD
Functional
Too bad this CD is not ALWAY available. Listening it remains highly inspiring decades after it was originally released as tape, and decades after it was reissued as CD. It is musically so coarse and ripping nobody really matches that these days. It is not really that brutal to make nasty recording, but sound source being the usual synth oscillations. Con-Dom sounds are always fierce, somehow out-of-balance. Abrupt loops, tasty "dislocations" and such. Vocals with such character that it is unmatched. Not just screaming your lungs out, but knowing how pace, intensity, usage of efx/echo/delay is done, so it will be adding more to the track.

ODAL "1986-1989" box set
First 5 tapes done... 11 more + couple bonus tapes to listen. One could say the same about the rawness and low-tech brutality as was said about Con-Dom. All here, is not pure gold. Not at all. It is sometimes a task to go though. Instead of simple pleasures, it's the era of difficult music. Challenging, disturbing, but also such a thrill to go through so damaged and noisy experimental works.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Curious thing happened that connected these two releases mentioned together.
Listening to ODAL "Nihilist Dogs" tape, from 1986, opening track "Carkas" appears to be what is the core of Con-Dom's "Road To Total Freedom". That dislocated odd loop that makes the spirit of the track, was always one of absolute favorites. First I thought Odal probably sampled it from Con-Dom track, but then I realize Odal tape is from 1986, and first published version of Road To Total Freedom is... 1988?
Of course, Con-Dom is know to sample other noise artists sounds, and often they are credited in the sleeves. I don't remember seeing Odal mentioned. These tapes are so full of ear-ripping tape noises that I wouldn't be surprised if some more snippets was taken from here... at least there are bunch of moment that I am 100% sure there are used as tape loops on All in Good Faith. Like Odal's track "niks" is what basically make entire Con-Dom "surrender", except vocals and flanger noise.

Of course, it is Con-Dom who makes the compositions, but for the brilliant sounds, one can thank Odal which isn't getting much compliments when people (like myself) admired the sounds of this particular Con-Dom release.

[NaturalOrthodoxy]

SARIN SNOW - 'Incurring Wisdom' (Slave Chandelier) TAPE

Picked this up at Kontti a couple of weeks ago. I greatly enjoyed what Sarin Snow did live, it was basically what is on this tape (ominous droning, effected vocals, buried samples and whatnot) but by technical necessity more disjointed, louder & rougher which gave it another edge that was just....weird, but in a good & unnerving way. Vocals were louder live etc. The tape is the same but more sluggish, in a good way, and the other elements that appeared more clearly live are way more buried here. I like how the vocals are disembodied and inhuman compared to a lot of other US projects which are way too nasal and overly shouty for my taste, and the whole release doesn't force itself upon you. Sarin Snow's vocal approach here is quite similar to something Steel Hook Prosthesis would do. Very cold and almost mechanical. The tape is also just the right length, not too long. Fills a lot of space without doing too much.The cover art is also great. Highly recommended.

I've been on the fence about Sarin Snow and Blackwatch for a while, but I've just given both their most recent full lengths a more attentive listen and really enjoyed both. Blackwatch especially seems to really put effort into making a real album- varied tracks, thought put into the overall flow and dynamics, rather than a collection of similar tracks. The 'romantic' approach of the subject matter for both is very appealing too, almost reminds me of Prurient in places.

[WCN]

V/A - The Silent Continuity Of All Existence With Which The Victim Is Now One CDr
Not gonna pick this apart track by track, but a truly exceptional compilation that succeeds as a whole, made up of so many fascinating small parts. A significant testament to the great state of harsh noise in 2019.

[teenagelightning]

Trouble Makers -  A Travers Le Temps
First full length album of this 90s québécois skinhead band that a friend showed me a while back. Most songs sung in French with a few in english(that sounds pretty goofy.) the feel and look here is still very much skinhead but sound wise very similar to the French RIF bands like in memoriam, fraction hexagone, vae victis etc. tracks like 1608 have super catchy guitar leads that will stick in your head quick. Production is stripped down and crisp yet rough like most French rac. Highly recommend!

Carnal Exhibition : a trouble shared is a trouble halved
First tape from this newer Copenhagen PE group. Lofi droning sounds with restrained vocals and some effected samples. Subject matter seems to be around incestuous sexual perversions. Very dark and simplistic in terms of composition, but effective. The tape doesn't seem to capture the intensity that was witnessed in their live set a couple of weeks ago but possibly that's intentional. Looking forward to more from this project! Good to hear a solid new power electronics tape out of Denmark again.

Pyha Kuolema - 30.5.2015 Lahti
Live recording from a show in 2015. Sound wise the recording is very good, especially for an acoustic bar performance. I think PK is somewhat distinguished in the neofolk scene as he is an actually very good vocalist. There's no need here to whisper or just speak some words over guitar in a low voice through reverb. Real passion comes through in harmony with the guitar, even if I don't understand finnish. Some songs that were multiple guitar tracks on the studio recordings are even well-done live, with rhythm and lead both coming through from one guitar. Looking forward to new studio recordings from him.

[frustrated dissector]

Controlled Bleeding "Blistered Bags Of Fodder Swaying" 10xCD - I've just started wading in, now on CD3 - 1986's "Headcrack".  This band never fails to interest me, despite or because of their never-ending shifts in approach to sound.
Mania "Little Pieces of Violence" CD / "Foul Inside" 3" CD - been catching up on Mania's output of late and just acquired these for a good price.  Brutal as always.
Leonard Cohen "Songs of Love & Hate" CD - the definitive folk record for misanthropes.
M.B. "Archeo #1 Boxset" 5xCD - as bleak as music gets. Going to listen to "Archeo #2 Boxset" sometime soon.
Ramleh "The Great Unlearning" 2xLP - more dystopian post-punk/bad-trip psych.  Right up there with "Circular Time" 2xCD.
Amon Düül "Collapsing Singvögel Rückwärts & Co." CD - fucked-up krautrock/pych-folk, edited together in jarring fashion.  Easily their best.
Puce Mary "The Drought " LP - dark, dark ambient.
Rudolf Eb.er "Om Kult: Ritual Practice Of Conscious Dying Vol. I-III" 3xCD - strange, well crafted short bursts of sonic disorientation spread over three CDs.
Stereolab "Oscillons From The Anti-Sun" - a good cross section of their music in this anthology. Yeah, I know - too happy.
Charlemagne Palestine "Strumming Music" LP - a definitive minimalist/serialist record.  Trance inducing.
Swell Maps "A Trip to Marineville" LP+7".  one of my favorite British post-punk records.  Twisted lyrics, solid music, even some noise/sound collage in places.  In the same league as the first three Wire LPs.
Alternative TV "The Image Has Cracked" LP - more British post-punk, earlier on then the Swell Maps LP.  Very original, very pissed off yet very funny.

[ekastaka]

Striations - To Know Mercy
The vinyl edition makes this release sound huge. Tracks like "Cadaveric Reticence", feature an all encompassing sound where you can also make out distinct tones. Mike really has a knack for knowing when to let things just breath and when to surge. The themes may be somewhat typical, but there is a genuine detailed obsession that adds a layer of darkness other "true crime" projects/releases lack. "Sexualized / Skeletonized" is the highlight for me. Everything builds up to that track that by the time the vocals hit, it feels like such a release of agonizing tension. I think this is probably my favorite Striations release, I'll have to revisit Vietnamization later this week to compare.

Terror Noxpheratur ‎– Blood Beast
This LP has a real idiosyncratic sound. The vocals are very atypical for a vampyric black metal project - they are deep demonic growls at the very forefront of the mix. Some have complained about the mixing, but I think it is massively beneficial to the record and gives it an otherworldly demented sound. The riffs and drumming compliment the vocals well, evoking a straight forward evil atmosphere. This record sounds more reminiscent of the word "bestial" to me than the endless corny gasmask bands that fall under the bestial black metal tag. It is also what I would listen to if I were to shoot up a school in minecraft.

[bitewerksMTB]

CHOP SHOP "Primer" 2LP (Crippled Intellect Prod.)

Listened to "Primitive Power/Positive Force". Most of it is pretty good but the loops involving music didn't interest me much. The isolated industrial vibe & heavy low end, crunchy loops is what I dig about his work. "Scraps" will be tonight...

IRM "The Red Album" LP (Cold Meat)

I like this waaaaaaay more now than I did when it came out! Great place to start if you're looking to get anything by Bladh.

[Andrew McIntosh]

You've gotta love the Final Solution "Mass Death" release from Der Bunker. Sure it's Whitehouse pastiching. But it's great fun Whitehouse pastiching! It's not that the sounds themselves aren't serious - primitive grinding synths etc etc etc, not as intense in sound as "All New Power" (which according to Discogs was recorded at around the same time but seems to be much louder and fuller in sound). The vocals, though, take it to a new level of enjoyment. There's no way it can be taken seriously, it's just fun! Of course, the liner notes, being an interview with Edward Giles, show just how effed up he and his comrades were, drugs, suicide and all. All part of the fun? Depends how you want to take it. But these recordings are great fun, not sounding like depressed fuck-ups at all. Power Electronics to cheer you up.

[Andrew McIntosh]

It's still taking me ages to keep up to date with ANTIchildLEAGUE's output. Only just today got "The Son" (part of a trilogy that I believe started with "The Father", a release I've had for a while and will also very much recommend). If the current controversy here is about the original use of synths, look no further than Gaya Donadio's output for proof that it is happening. From the start (at least, what I've heard, the "Big Fat Arse" 7"), there's a truly original approach to both hard edged electronic sounds and composition of tracks. No switch-it-on-shout-over-it motions running through here. Not to mention a very precise use of recording, engineering and mixing which one would expect normally from some kind of "academic" approach to sound, but here is just sharpening the already sharp edges of the sounds. Volume and impact are there. It's not a kind of sound I normally get into (or, to be honest, hear a lot of, Iron Fist Of The Sun being the only immediate comparison I can make) but every rule has its exceptions and for me ACL are among them. It's the viciousness of the pieces that wins across. There is dark and sinister, like the opening piece "Fragments" (one of the standout tracks actually) to the closer piece "Fairy Tale" (which also has its louder moments, but is mostly pretty set back). There are more attacking (yet still sinister) pieces like "Non Credo". Harsher (in context) noise spirals like the instrumental "Stand Still" (another standout). And all with very immediate and impressive use of synth and whatever else she's using, although I'd say mostly synth and computer programming. This is digital sounding to its core - pure, precise, sharp, very much "there" in its sound, the kind of sound that will come across whether your speakers are shit or decent - and yet maintains the severity and disdain for convention all the most original Industrial has. I'm rating it that highly.

[Lazrs3]

It's still taking me ages to keep up to date with ANTIchildLEAGUE's output. Only just today got "The Son" (part of a trilogy that I believe started with "The Father", a release I've had for a while and will also very much recommend). If the current controversy here is about the original use of synths, look no further than Gaya Donadio's output for proof that it is happening. From the start (at least, what I've heard, the "Big Fat Arse" 7"), there's a truly original approach to both hard edged electronic sounds and composition of tracks. No switch-it-on-shout-over-it motions running through here. Not to mention a very precise use of recording, engineering and mixing which one would expect normally from some kind of "academic" approach to sound, but here is just sharpening the already sharp edges of the sounds. Volume and impact are there. It's not a kind of sound I normally get into (or, to be honest, hear a lot of, Iron Fist Of The Sun being the only immediate comparison I can make) but every rule has its exceptions and for me ACL are among them. It's the viciousness of the pieces that wins across. There is dark and sinister, like the opening piece "Fragments" (one of the standout tracks actually) to the closer piece "Fairy Tale" (which also has its louder moments, but is mostly pretty set back). There are more attacking (yet still sinister) pieces like "Non Credo". Harsher (in context) noise spirals like the instrumental "Stand Still" (another standout). And all with very immediate and impressive use of synth and whatever else she's using, although I'd say mostly synth and computer programming. This is digital sounding to its core - pure, precise, sharp, very much "there" in its sound, the kind of sound that will come across whether your speakers are shit or decent - and yet maintains the severity and disdain for convention all the most original Industrial has. I'm rating it that highly.

I like 'The Son', your points are spot on, I will go back to it in the week, the Father was my Fave of the three, I think because it is the first album I got after the singles. I like a lot of the recent splits and colaborations she has done and tape releases as ACL. I liked the Split with The Rita, the work was far more agressive and more abstract. I think her vocals become warped and inhuman at their best, pushed to extremes to do this. The Infect Your Gut tape on Bacteria Field was really raw and nasty. The single with Schrage Musik was my intro to the project and the Synth sounds and oddness of that particular release really hooked me in.

I have been listening to the Split she did with Sandblasting which is more noise and beats and it really pushed the boat out as the project goes, it is very different.

Way Back In My Heathen Harvest Glory Days I did an Interview - https://heathenharvest.org/2013/09/07/true-crime-and-utopia-an-interview-with-gaya-donadio/  

You mentioned Final Solution, I was gonna get that off Black Psychosis this month, but I overspent on stuff this month, bah!!!

[Decrepitude]

If someone has a copy of the ACL's Holy Spirit tape laying around I'd be happy to buy that off you. Great sounding project judging from The Rita split and one album on spotify.

[ConcreteMascara]

Mo•Te - Uncut 4xCD - Industrial Recollections/Audio Dissection - of all the music/noise/etc I've heard in the last 12 months, Mo•Te has been the biggest revelation. starting with the first two reissues IR/AD put out last year through to this box set, I haven't been so consistently floored by any one artist in ages. these 4 CDs are pure gold. it's the easiest box set I've ever listened to, totally doable in a single session, but equally as good to just spend time with one disc. the 4th is probably my favorite (the collab album with Crack Fierce) but it's all damn good. At this point it seems almost all of the old Mo•Te stuff has been reissued by IR and AD. I hope they can do whatever is left because it's seemingly impossible to get..

Junkyard Shaman - Flesh Hole CD - Freak Animal - at two listens I'm still just getting a feel for this album but it's a bit different than I expected. I felt some air of familiarity and then I realized it reminds me quite a bit of Skin Area and Martin Bladh's solo work at times. Especially the monotone, spoke word delivery and the use of classical instruments. but it's not nearly as cold as Skin Area, more of a damp, wet kind of thing. the sound fits the album title very well. probably not an album I'll be listening to super frequently, but I'm glad I took a chance on something new and different.

V/A - Music Should Hurt CD - Self Abuse - gotta thank Noisextra for putting me on to this. less adventurous than "Soundtrack For The End Of The World" as it's mostly a harsh noise compilation. BUT with strong contributions from just about everyone, there's no real fault to find. highlights for me are K2, both Bacillus tracks, OVMN and especially Hyper Ventilation and the fucked up Killer Bug track.

[RyanWreck]

Form Hunter ‎– Dripping Curve (Prime Ruin)

Excellent! Gotta get their other releases & sure hope a proper full-length is in the works. Some of the best rough noise I've heard since the Treriksröset LP on Harbinger.

Just got this tape and gave it a listen. Agree 100%, this is an absolute scorcher!

Their release on WCN, "Overripe", was exceptional as well.

Kjostad ‎– "Birchbark"
Side A reminds me of Developer on benzodiazepine's, it's the adult contemporary cut-up. Side B is where this cassette finds its perfect pitch, a still life collage of walk in freezer-esque humming interrupted by tape manipulation reminiscent of some of the analog splicers from Sweden and Italy.

No Dreams ‎– "Constant Vitriol"
Who put nerdy casio Dungeon Synth in my crude and ignorant Harsh Noise?!

Cold Cave - "Promised Land"
I imagine guys who listen to this squeak and hoot when they have sex and spend too much time looking in the mirror before going out at night.

[Lazrs3]

Various - California 10x lp Box, 2006, (Troniks, Ground Fault, RRR.) - I bought this back when it came out and I have been revisiting it and really keep going back to the Control side, the Skaters side and the Xome side.  A bit pissed the John Weisse side scrapes on my record player, I have an odd shaped Pioneer Deck that doesnt handle miss shapes. I felt like a dick as I played this before he played here and did not recognise it. The Control side has a massive sound and was epic.

S.T.A.B. Electronics - The Non Alliant. (Unrest CD) This to me is a lot darker in content than the F&V release, I don't know why, it is more bleak and a lot nastier to me. It is my first time hearing these releases as I missed out on the tapes, good albums. But I think Day of the Male is where the project just goes elsewhere into it's own territory and went next level, but this is still great.