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Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on December 19, 2015, 10:10:15 AM
I wonder if anyone ever made comprehensive report what type of noise all these Pain Jerk releases include?
Around twelve or so years ago I did give this a shot, under a rather loftily titled "Critical Analysis" series. Here now I present the entirety quoted below:
QuoteHere`s the second part in a series which aims to delve a little deeper into the specific sonic nuances of individual harsh noise acts. Because my exposure to any given artist is far from complete, I would encourage others to submit their own contributions, comments, and criticisms.
All noise is subject to the following criteria: harshness, density, rawness, craftsmanship, spasticity, harmonicaness, jenesaisquois. Detailed description of each criterion can be found at the bottom of this post. Note that these criteria refer to HARSH NOISE only. Therefore, noise units which may sound quite harsh by assorted weird-ass music standards may well score very low on the harshness scale because I am comparing them, very strictly, to other HARSH NOISE units.
No other artist is more deserving of a permanent "satisfaction guaranteed" stamped to the skull.
Pain Jerk is probably the most consistently stellar noisician ever to invade the earhole. His shit is at once extremely, painfully harsh and brutal, and exceedingly fast-paced. Rapier precision'd razorsharp assaults composed largely of repeated, repeatedly pounded rapid dynamic shifts, little fits and starts hurtling in sporadic, jagged, blurts. Intensely focused on all-out ear damage, Pain Jerk achieves level of harshness that is probably exceeded only by Incapacitants. (On a harshness scale of 0 - 10, Pain Jerk scores an average of 9.2, which is basically unbelievably fucking harsh.) Unlike Incapacitants, Pain Jerk relies largely on skittering surface movement, slick channel panning, arrhythmical stuttering, and loops a-plenty. Pain Jerk is, therefore, one of the most thoroughly "composed" noisemakers in the field. The sound is highly complex, but, also unlike Incapacitants, seldom dips below the surface, preferring an openly savage ravaging of ear nerve tissue. The shit never gets wanky or unfocused. It stays in your face, constantly pounding the shit out of the nervous system. In terms of technical proficiency Pain Jerk is seldom rivaled, equaling and often surpassing the likes of Merzbow or Killer Bug. "Satisfaction guaranteed" has become synonymous with the Pain Jerk listening experience*.
Rocketry C60 (AMP-02) A
Heh. That's as far as I got. I chucked Pain Jerk out the window and went instead with a run-through of all my Thirdorgan, the preamble to which goes like this:
"All this recent talk of Thirdorgan tours, Thirdorgan good, Thirdorgan bad, Thirdorgan the analog noise maestro turned craptopper, has prompted me to forgo my "analysis" of Pain Jerk and push ahead instead with Thirdorgan."
That was half-true. In all honesty, I was completely defeated by Pain Jerk. You say a lot of it "sounds similar", I say there are only so many words in my vocabulary to re-present what the soundholes report to the tiny brain. But perhaps that was intended, re- this quote from a relatively recent online interview:
QuoteSound is equal to a weapon. Though the sound is very loud, there is no meaning. The sound should so loud that it becomes nonsense. The situation of a sound that is so terribly loud as to abolish all meaning is good.
He talks of loudness, but I think the above could as easily refer to his oeuvre completes. Well that's my excuse anyway. I admit defeat, but not permanent defeat. Someday I'll give it a crack again. Definitely within the next lifetime or so.
In the meantime...
You pretty much can't go wrong with anything through to about the start of 1998, from which point Jerk begins to credit "Metamatic Live Electronics" that can be great when they hit in between sometimes lengthy intervals of miss... the FreakAnimalFinland-mentioned Greater Curvature belongs to this period and rates amont the lower grade Jerk... or maybe "miss" is a tad unfair - "jerking around" might be better descriptor. Perhaps Gomi was growing wilted of his own shdick, or maybe I just need to go back and give it all a good jerk.
Went back and gave Great Invisible Crashing a good jerking- and it was a lot better than I remember, thank you ImpulsyStetoskopu! Great Invisible I'd misremembered as rather unmemorable, but now I'd posit that I'd just gotten addicted to the heavily saturated sound on Jerk's own AMP label. Here Jerk yanks on the reins a bit, allowing quite the kaleidescopic range of colors to shine with a little more clarity. Not a dull moment.
It may or may not be notable that Great Invisible was recorded in April '96, the same month that produced my very favoritist Jerk offering: Pleonasm. Kind of a return to puritan form a la Trashware, at least insofar as the assorted jerking is kept to a relative minimum, preferring to aim straight for the jugular. Far more explosive and dynamic than Trashware, of course, as befits work from the period but never again- to the best of my knowledge- would Jerk get this stuck this far up the Harsh
It is of course the early sexual experiences that tend to leave the most lasting impressions. Aktion Brut ('95) is that most lasting of early Jerks, invading the soundholes not long after the mentioned Trashware. But where Trashware is more consistent with the earlier, more puritannical Jerks (Foreskin, and the self-[Japanese-]titled AMP-0002), Aktion Brut is filled with considerably more aktion and, er, brut-force. I remember comparing it favorably with Knurl for some strange reason- perhaps in terms of the consistently brut-al overtones, and the marked absence of relent. Knurl's Infraneuroma (also '95) leaps to mind. Two other solids from this period are to be found in the liquescent brutalities of Brutalica and the arid fumes of Loud Electronics For Nude Mobile (which reads like a Merztribute and almost sounds like one at times).
The Snake Charmer's Beautiful Daughter (Jerk parts recorded Sep & Dec '96) is another good call, thanks again ImpulsyStetoskopu, though for me it was most notable for demonstrating just how unmercifully Jerk-san SHITS on Dogliveroil (the only comparable browning from the mid-90s being the Thirdorgan split with Cock ESP, the latter of whose side got taped over with more Thirdorgan!) Jerk is so well produced and composed at this point we are talking "why bother" territory for any would be triers (or was that the point?)
Snake Charmer came out during a period of furious collaboration which produced another favorite- Decollaboration (Feb '96), with source material from Emil Beaulieau. Worshipers of the above-mentioned Pleonasm would definitely appreciate this one- stuck way the fuck up the Harshhole, divested of most of the finer charms to be found in Snake, just utterly ripping all the way through. The 7inch Collaboration with Strict is perhaps the least Jerk-like but remains essential for those inclined to enjoy the prospect of permanent ear damage in the very near term. Closing out the collab period we had the split 7inch with Skin Crime- which is absolutely great but also a personal source of eternal head-slapping. I got the 7inch, but the not the limited box set with additional C48 featuring the missives of Pain Crime and Skin Jerk.
Would someone please please please PLEASE reissue this! Don't give a fuck if the masters are gone, will gladly slurp up in whatever form.
Others worthy of mention include Trashware 2 (Dec '96, same month as the FreakAnimalFindland mentioned V), Snuff Electronics (Nov '96) and Savage Extreme (March-April '96... yes, I really love this period!) Trashware 2 is comparable to material from the period, therefore nothing at all like a follow-up to the original Trashware. Except perhaps in one capacity: it is unutterably vicious almost from start to finish, the upper extremes absolutely shredding- better, annihilating- the percussive loop action he would become more and more known for. Snuff Electronics also makes a pretty good go of living up to the name, delivering harshness in a very raw and pointed form. Savage Extreme is like Trashware 2 on steroids, a little more fleshed out and expansive, constantly moving to still greater highs, a very well-rounded listen.
Finally, a word on two relative classics, Cacophony Of A Thousand Pleasures (3xC48 box, June-July '96) and Gallon Gravy (recorded June '97). Cacophony finds Gomi indulging his full array of obsessions, moving from skittering loop-fuck to full on harsh blasting. No single tape from this set is to be ranked among his best, but taken as a whole it is a very nice overview of just what Jerk-sama is all about. Gallon Gravy made a very strong impression on first listen. But here and now, having gone through a number of Jerks, I wouldn't put it above any of the others named in this commentary. It is probably more widely available in any case, even if the price quoted on discogs is a tad steep. (Still, price-wise, absolutely nothing on the one other Jerk I really want- the split with Angel Dust Whore- which, given the recording date of June '97, may be essential for those who dig the GG... now available from discogs for 20,000yen! Perhaps Gomi would approve, re- "there is no meaning...it becomes nonsense...to abolish all meaning is good.")
