NOISEXTRA - A podcast about noise

[KillToForget]

This week's Drew McDowall episode might be favorite in recent memory. It was great hearing about the early and mid stages of such influential acts. I'm a huge fan of all of his work and am eager to hear more about his time with Coil next week.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

oh yes. Part 1 here: https://www.noisextra.com/2023/07/12/in-conversation-with-drew-mcdowall-part-1/

It is kind of curious how different times were still in fairly early years of 90's. That "Operation Spanner" they talk when talking about Mr. Sebastian and modern piercing, was still active court case in early 90's and Mr. Sebastian got 2 years in prison for doing genital piercings for clients. A lot of stories of these were in magazines like Skin Two etc.
It feels quite odd now, but of course, 30 years is after all quite long time. Back then, also in Finland, you'd get sentence for distributing even regular hardcore pornography VHS tapes. Usually sentences were vastly smaller than possibilities of cash profit, so stores kept on going as usual, even if they were illegal.

[eraciator]

. That "Operation Spanner" they talk when talking about Mr. Sebastian and modern piercing, was still active court case in early 90's and Mr. Sebastian got 2 years in prison for doing genital piercings for clients.

Alan didn't get a custodial sentence. But they were indeed quite odd times.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/07/19/in-conversation-with-drew-mcdowall-part-2/

Second part continues with focus on Drews role in Coil, recordings, releases, casual talk about processes - both technological and leaning to occult. Now that both parts are online, it's good to listen in one after another to keep the flow.

[a_way]

Again, a very enjoyable two-part interview with captivating stories around Coil as well as interesting trivia from the old days, like mentioned above. Being of another younger generation, the stories sound more surreal and difficult to imagine from today's perspective.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Good episode with Lussuria / Rogue State. I find thinking that the actual history or how one got into it, is discussed so often, that this interview gets more interesting when it dives into more current days. Making of stuff, releases, especially the operation of Rogue State. It could be perhaps worth to test, how to structure interview in way that it would not start with beginning. See what parts of beginning comes up in the interview when time is right. Of course not bad as it is.

I can also relate to Jims love/hate feelings of live shows, hah. The travel, the compromises with gear, all that. Despite playing live is rewarding and even rehearsing multiple times week to get things work out... but then thinking would I play overseas anymore.. probably not. There are other ways to do noise and be active, like also Rogue State examples nicely illustrates.

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/07/26/in-conversation-with-jim-mroz-lussuria-rogue-state/

Continuing our coverage of those playing the Hospital night of the NWN/Hospital Japan Fest, we had Jim Mroz of Lussuria in the Noisextra den for a great talk. We discuss the history of Lussuria, how he came to the noise underground, the importance of the Hospital store, founding Rogue State University, and so much more.

For the ExtraNoisextra segment on the patreon, we discuss the recent arrest in the Gilgo Beach murder case. Jim gives the full background story of the recording of his 7" based on the case, including a wild story about actually going to Gilgo Beach. This 15 minute segment is in the middle of the episode on the patreon feed.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/08/02/aube-purification-to-numbness/

After a slew of interviews (with plenty more to come), we head back to our goal of covering every CD on Pure with Aube "Purification to Numbness." The single source landscape of Aube hit is harsh way on this album. We also discuss the "Luminescence" VHS, and Greh talks about seeing him live in 2001. Aube forever.

For the extra long (over 40 minutes!) ExtraNoisextra segment on the patreon, we talk a ton of recent listening as well as some recent shows.

This Aube was among very early Pure discs and early Aube experiences too. I had some of his water source stuff before and the VCO felt little less nuanced source compared to water. Not bad though. Plenty of those VCO recordings from Aube and perhaps this ranks on top due being earliest of that source.

I had pleasure to see AUBE live once. He was playing mixer and effects. All live hands-on approach and constant small modulation and adjustment. While of course you can do that on laptop too, but there is different visual impact when you see the mixer-efx action going on, and that as delicate and elegant as Aube is, indeed he is not editing and doing playback of prerecorded stuff, but building his stuff out of source he is working on.

This applies to his recorded works too. Feeling that he actually plays it, not edit on screen like a lot of later days noise can be. It makes one think how crucial element is not watching how it is, but hearing and feeling it. How different it is when that slowly growing piece is growing while you make and listen and not result of editing.

[accidental]

I saw him in 2007, and to be honest i can't recall much of the actual sounds today. But it was not a highlight.

One of the early VCO works for sure. But earliest was Density 100 from late 1993. He used VC with glow lamps on Flash-Point prior to that. Following Density 100 was E-Power and Emotional Oscillation, also VCO works prior to Pure disc.

One Aube-related thing i never bought, was the Ukiyo disc. Used to be dirty cheap on discogs, now it's standard CD price. Any words on that?

[Confuzzled]

Good episode with Lussuria / Rogue State. I find thinking that the actual history or how one got into it, is discussed so often, that this interview gets more interesting when it dives into more current days. Making of stuff, releases, especially the operation of Rogue State. It could be perhaps worth to test, how to structure interview in way that it would not start with beginning. See what parts of beginning comes up in the interview when time is right. Of course not bad as it is.

I can also relate to Jims love/hate feelings of live shows, hah. The travel, the compromises with gear, all that. Despite playing live is rewarding and even rehearsing multiple times week to get things work out... but then thinking would I play overseas anymore.. probably not. There are other ways to do noise and be active, like also Rogue State examples nicely illustrates.

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/07/26/in-conversation-with-jim-mroz-lussuria-rogue-state/

Agreed! Though in a different genre entirely I saw a post by Vernon Reid of Living Color posting images of his pedalboard after TSA rifled through it. It's the thing nightmares are made of. The one thing that wasn't asked when they jumped onto this topic and something that I would love to hear these various artists talk about is the difference between touring in the US versus the rest of the world. I've been hearing stories about the BLJ/Rita tour and them scraping by from town to town yet the overseas tour that Richard is arranging seems to be in places of more for lack of a better word "prestige" or has the promise of a better if not guaranteed return?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

WILT

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/08/09/in-conversation-with-james-p-keeler-wilt/

Noise, ambient, live show talk, different labels & distributors get nod of appreciation. Nice little nugget of info is that WILT name was also partially nod towards BRUTAL TRUTH song under same name.

Funnily enough, it was always my favorite Brutal Truth song. Heard it first on:
https://www.discogs.com/release/564651-Various-Monsters-Of-Death
This comp version is VASTLY better than it is on the debut album. Just heavier, thicker, and more brutal!

[Confuzzled]

WILT

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/08/09/in-conversation-with-james-p-keeler-wilt/

Noise, ambient, live show talk, different labels & distributors get nod of appreciation. Nice little nugget of info is that WILT name was also partially nod towards BRUTAL TRUTH song under same name.

Funnily enough, it was always my favorite Brutal Truth song. Heard it first on:
https://www.discogs.com/release/564651-Various-Monsters-Of-Death
This comp version is VASTLY better than it is on the debut album. Just heavier, thicker, and more brutal!

This was a cool interview. Def. worth a listen. Keeler is an interesting person.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/08/16/in-conversation-with-dan-burke-illusion-of-safety/


Burke mentions getting diagnosis, like lots of people do these days. Quick paced thoughts running in your head ain't really all negative when thinking underground art creation, hah! It seems pretty clear to hear from the interview the type of character who has a lot of things in your head and busy getting them out. Lots of little stories, again the length of career is so long, you can't really expect anything to be dealt in great detail. As soon as Tesco CD gets mentioned, I feel like "just hold right there! Few more details of early Tesco deals and relation to Euro industrial of the time"? But what all to squeeze in 65 minutes (+patreon segment)?
It is great to get old timers in Noisextra when WCN has often been with more recent artists.

Illusion of Safety is one of the longest running projects in the industrial noise underground, and Dan Burke was cool enough to sit down with us and go over his entire history. From seeing the final Throbbing Gristle show in San Francisco, to creating the IOS world with all its collaborators, Dan has stories and insight for days. It's another mandatory history lesson on Noisextra.

For the ExtraNOISEXTRA segment on the patreon, Dan talks about taking music lessons and how it's inspired his current approach to IOS and all his sound work. This segment is in the middle of the episode on the patreon feed.

[Confuzzled]

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/08/16/in-conversation-with-dan-burke-illusion-of-safety/


Burke mentions getting diagnosis, like lots of people do these days. Quick paced thoughts running in your head ain't really all negative when thinking underground art creation, hah! It seems pretty clear to hear from the interview the type of character who has a lot of things in your head and busy getting them out. Lots of little stories, again the length of career is so long, you can't really expect anything to be dealt in great detail. As soon as Tesco CD gets mentioned, I feel like "just hold right there! Few more details of early Tesco deals and relation to Euro industrial of the time"? But what all to squeeze in 65 minutes (+patreon segment)?
It is great to get old timers in Noisextra when WCN has often been with more recent artists.

Illusion of Safety is one of the longest running projects in the industrial noise underground, and Dan Burke was cool enough to sit down with us and go over his entire history. From seeing the final Throbbing Gristle show in San Francisco, to creating the IOS world with all its collaborators, Dan has stories and insight for days. It's another mandatory history lesson on Noisextra.

For the ExtraNOISEXTRA segment on the patreon, Dan talks about taking music lessons and how it's inspired his current approach to IOS and all his sound work. This segment is in the middle of the episode on the patreon feed.

Indeed this was a fun interview. I dig the historical perspective. The one question that both podcasts seem to avoid is how these people get by. Obviously, noise doesn't pay the bills, or does it? Agreed 65 minutes is too short and I enjoy their 2 part episodes but then they would have to reign in the guest with more precise questioning and lead them down that interview path. Do the 3 of them sit in the same room when they interview their guests or is everyone on a zoom call?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/08/23/synth-clean-and-repair/
I would suppose this episode would be better watch than listen only audio. On video version you can see them doing the clean & repair, not just listen. They repeatedly give disclaimer of not being professional synth tech guys, but episode being advice on the level what they do. For guys such as myself, who never cleaned nor repaired any gear, it is good reminder that some of this low level things like crackling volume buttons or such ain't that big deal. Or blowing a bit of dust from gear that is 50 years old by now..  It is also curious to hear the discussion that people supposedly look down on Yamaha synths and always praise Moog and Korg... maybe! My two "major" synths being ultra common noise synth Korg MS-20, but besides that, Yamaha CS-20M. Latter has so different functions than Korg has. It has very specific sound. And GREAT sounds, I may add.

https://www.noisextra.com/2023/08/30/audio-drudge-6/
Another unusual episode, where instead of noise albums, Noisextra crew discusses Audio Drudge issue 6. 1995 magazine and they'll each deal with different artists being interviewed plus talk all all things related. Reviews, artists ideas, importance of zines, ads, the difference of re-visiting zines decades later. Seeing reviews of things that didn't ring a bell then, but now, its like seeing you had the ads, the reviews of great releases already then, yet it took decade(s) to really get to know it.

In this episode Noisextra crew asks the audience any suggestions, what type of content should be done. Besides the usual things they have been doing. I would think some things could be for example:

-Noise distributors (with someone who was there back in the day, and still around, who may discuss the changes and developments)
-Noise zines (they've had ALAP and basically Onkagu Otaku and Bananafish.. but from SI forum you'll find the "noise zines that have existed" topic that lists huge amount of other stuff too.)
-Noise videos (they have had some, but maybe if finding also people who used to put out VHS or later dvd)
-Noise gig or fest organizers. Be it something like recollections how it was to get something such as No Fun happen, or just the noise gig organizing especially pre-internet.
-Noise tour organizers. When the first long tours started, some of stories has been in noisextra, but it would be neat to hear more.
etc etc..

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Plus, lets say even collection of reports of visiting something. Easy example could be audio tour diary done on the spot while it is happening. Or, trip to Japan into Hospital fest. One could easily record on any device, talk about.. visiting noise shop(s), fresh impressions of gigs just seen, quick talks with people.

I have no idea how many people would be into such things, but I certainly would like to hear details if anyone visited Japanese shops with noise sections, how they are now, what types of prices you pay, what types of stuff you have there on shelves right now, etc. That would be among the top discussions if some of your friends visit japan. What did you find, where, what else was there. There is so much of noise labels, artists etc, but actual physical stores carrying noise, those are anomaly that is disappearing in history.