Merzbow – Oersted (Vinyl Communications) 1996

I don’t know where I’ve been living for the last couple of years but in the last couple of months I’ve discovered discogs.com. Besides being a free way of cataloging my music (take that Record Collector!) it is also a great way of picking up out of print releases without having to search ebay every week. I received an email form a reader a couple of weeks ago where he listed his favourite Merzbow records and I was a bit surprised that I had only heard about two of them. Many of his favourite releases are from the pre-laptop era of the mid-1990’s, a period of his work that i don’t know enough about although my thoughts on two of the key release from this period, Pulse Demon and Venerology have appeared on this site. Both of those records are certainly towards the more extreme end of Merzbow’s noise excursions and it is perhaps for that reason I haven’t felt the need to return to those records because to be honest how much of that kind of noise does anyone really need. Well as it pans out quite a bit.  I don’t want to see like an obsessive fucker but since the last Japanese Birds record came in late September I’ve acquired Age of 369/Chant 2, FanTail, Hybrid Noisebloom, Space Metalizer, Camouflage,  Ikebana Dada, Rainbow Electronics  2 and his collaboration with Porn. I’m figuring that might be all the Merzbow I need but then I read a recent interview Merzbow did with a French Website where Merzbow hints at a future no-wave influence and you know I’ll be lining up for those records.

Oersted is a pretty harsh Merzbow record with few identifiable forms and it is these sorts of Merzbow records that I’m listening to a lot a the moment.  Experimental musician, Mason Jones, quoted in the Merzbook says this:

“I live by their Noiz. It seems to have no rule, no limits and is totally expansive. I can get lost in those dense textures for hours on end. Philosophically, I think I like noise because it is a collage of sound…What I really want to hear is an unencumbered, original voice leaking through. Of the harsher artists, Merzbow was the most popular – part of this maybe because there are more Merzbow releases and the recordings are easier to find. I think there is more to it than that however. Merzbow’s noise is the result of more editing and a greater variety fo sound textures.

Jone’s thoughts could so easily be applied to Oersted. If you’re a fan of 1930 then this is well worth tracking down (I think you can download it off itunes). Both are towards the harsher end of Merzbows work but both also share a playfulness which isn’t present in the more grindcore offerings of Pulse Demon and Venerology. Just don’t  buy Oersted thinking you might find a beat of some sort. Oersted displays the  sort of noise you can drown in .

Lydia Lunch – Transmutation / Shotgun Wedding Live (Insipid Vinyl) 1994

In a previous life I used to review records for a student newspaper. There were many perks with that job one of which is this relic – a record that is so good that I still feel guilty that someone gave it to me for free. This also had a US release I think on the Twist label. In Australia it was released by Insipid Vinyl – a very eclectic and now sadly defunct label whose logo was drawn by Savage Pencil. The reason for the local release may be because Lunch toured hear on a spoken word gig around that time (see the rather full on interview clip I’ve added at the end).  This is now out of print but if you have some cash to splash around then there may be no better thing  to spend it on than a second hand copy of this.

This is a two disc release. The first disc, Transmutation, is a pretty good overview of her career and includes most of her important incarnations. Included are a few songs on which she collaborates with Rowland S Howard which come from the Shotgun Wedding and Honeymoon in Red records, Race Mixing from her stint with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Motor Oil Shanty from  8 Eyed Spy, collaborations with Die Haut and Shockheaded Peters, her cover of the Beatle’s Why Don’t We Do It In The Road and even a cut off her no-wave big band phase from Queen of Siam. The real treat for fans is the inclusion of three of the tracks from the mighty Stinkfist EP, a now out of print collaboration  with Clint Ruin and Thurston Moore (only Son of Stink is missing). It’s all very good stuff and indeed if the record stopped there you would go away very happy but also included is a second disc of a live gig of Lydia playing Honeymoon in Red with Rowland S. Howard, Jim Sclavunos and others. And to make it even more indispensible it includes a live version of Gospel Singer a track written by Kim Gordon for the Harry Crews album. There is no information as to where the gig was played nor when, so it’s all a bit of a mystery but to hear Lunch at the height of her powers is something to behold.

(Dove) Yellow Swans – Live During War Crimes (Release the Bats) 2006

I’m pretty sure that this is the first Yellow Swans record I heard and listening to it again after a break of about two years, I am in awe of just how good Yellow Swans were. Although they broke up over a year ago I still miss them. They took noise as a genre and it made it into something far more powerful and wonderful than most of their contemporaries. They were, and I hesitate to use the word, producing a sophisticated, multi-textured sound that I still don’t think anyone else has matched. Mouthus and Burning Star Core probably come closest to the just how sublime Yellow Swans were and if you have any love of noise then I can’t stress how much you need to get this. Live During War Crimes is a compilation  which brings together previously released tracks that appeared on limited run CDr’s and cassettes.  For their majority of their releases Yellow Swans added a word beginning with D in front of their name  which changed with each new release. The tracks on this were originally performed by Drill, Demonic and Dusk Yellow Swans and appeared on labels like Scratch and Sniff, Hung Like a Horse and Collective Jyrk but is is a mystery as to which of the six untitled tracks relate to which release. All of the tracks date from 2004 which is probably why the record works better than your average compilation.

It’s hard to describe the racket Yellow Swans make. On this record they manage to combine drone, visceral noise, rhythm, texture, guitars and electro-fuckery to create an improvised “something” which at times is almost beautiful. In fact, for those really looking for  noise nirvana then this may be the record for you. They got lumped in with bands like Wolf Eyes but I’ not sure that comparison was ever particularly sensible. Although there are moments of noise mayhem, the Yellow Swans were always a couple of steps removed those more visceral bands. When I listen to this I realise that along with Burning Star Core, Yellow Swans were (are) probably my favorite noise band. If you find a copy of this just buy it.

Merzbow – Puroland (Ohm) 2001

As I searched the internet for info about Puroland I found this rather handy entry on a Merzbow database. This is what Mr Akita has to say about the record:

Puroland is the name of a Sanrio amusement park which is dedicated to Hello-Kitty, located in suburbs of Tokyo. “Pilgrimage to Puroland” is the melancholic first song. I played once this song live in Tokyo. “Celebration Day” is inspired by the song “Celebration Day” of Led Zeppelin (from their album “3″), once I played this song at Fandango, Osaka. “Pleasant Valley Monday” is inspired by the song “Pleasant Valley Sunday” of The Monkees (from their album “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones LTD”). “War Frog” was originally called “Boom Boom Bomb” because of the sound of the bass loop. I played this live many times.

That second last sentence kills me. There is so much over-analysis of Merzbow that the idea that he named a song Boom Boom Bomb because that’s what the bass loop sounded like gives me the flutteries. For your average Merzbow nerd though, Puroland is really good. It’s digital though so if you like the more analogue based stuff then this may not  light up your life. I’m a  bit partial to the digital records so I give this the big thumbs up. The noise Merzbow conjures up on this now out of print release on a small Norwegian label is probably some of the more accessible Merzbow out there and also some of the most un-Merzbow themes you’re likely to hear. The opener begins with a looped dark-folk guitar and voice snippet before the layers of digital noise are allowed to settle over the top of it. There are some beats and strange vocal effects added to the mix as the track progresses. The idea that Pleasant Valley Monday reference the Monkees is just mad because trying to reconcile the rather malevolent and dense fog of noise with the  shiny, uselessness of the Monkees is ultimately pointless although pretty fun. A guitar loop make s a reappearance and on Celebration Day but any link to Zeppelin is kind of baffling. And you know what the final track War Frog, after beginning with some lovely field recordings of birds does have a bass loop that goes boom boom bomb. Classic stuff but for an album inspired by an amusement Park the vibe is not a happy one. In fact its is almost the record of someone who mourns for a society hell bent o the most pointless consumerism. Although this is out of print there are copies still around which oddly enough are not going for stupid money.

TODD – Big Ripper (Riot Season) 2009

Have you ever heard of TODD before? Me neither but thanks to those nice people at Riot Season I have now and I’m all the better for it. Don’t be put off by the cheesy cover art  because Todd are a four piece from London who produce big fat slabs of greasy punk-metal with hat tips to Touch and Go and in particular Jesus Lizard. There are a few bands around at the moment trying to pump out a similar sound, very few of them doing it very well. TODD are an exception and the fact that they seem to have flown under the radar should hopefully be remedied with Big Ripper.

Big Ripper is the third album proper they have released  (their  first two were on Southern).  To get an idea of their sound you obviously have to take the Jesus Lizard  and then also think Boris when they just kick into all out rock n’ roll gear and a similar fuzzed out punk to Clockcleaner. The UK has rarely done this sort of music well (Part Chimp anyone?) and in the earlier tracks there are flourishes of Butthole Surfers type humour, a smattering of McLusky and Big Black metronomic bass thud.  Yet in making those comparisons it would be unfair not to point out that TODD are also capable of some left field experimental riffs (French and Out Of France) which reminded me a little of label mates Shit and Shine.  The clips I’ve added are from their previous records and although there is great deal of variety of Big Ripper it gives you a bit of an idea of their sound. Big Ripper is released on 20 November 2009.

Merzbow – Bariken (Blossoming Noise) 2005

Along with Dust of Dreams, this is my favourite Merzbow record. Blossoming Noise has released some of the finest Merzbow records out there at the moment (Senmaida, Zophorus) but Bariken is now out of print and well, I’ve already voiced my opinion on what I think of that concept. I mean seriously how fucking hard can it be to keep a  record in print. If you have any interest in Merzbow at all then you need to get yourself a copy of Bariken. One of the reasons it works so well for me is that it is equal parts noise maelstrom and recognisable forms. Minka Pt.1 reminds me of the opening of Bauhaus Double Dare which I think is fucking excellent because you know, I like Bauhaus, yet at the same time the noise is nudging the higher thresholds of Merzbow’s output. The second track, Bariken,  is all industrial bombast and crunchy Dilloway-esque effects and I put my hand up and say I really enjoy when he goes a bit industrial and in my opinion it anchors some of his finer work. On most of the  tracks a sound akin to a squadron of WW2 Spitfires overheard makes an appearance. The same  effect anchors Minka Pt.2 which almost suffocates the other layers to create a track full of ominous dread.Minka Pt.3 begins as all crackles and kitchen clatter before some tribal drumming begins and some micro vocal dispatches makes an appearance. It’s almost a bit like Nurse with Wound at times. The whole album  is rounded off by one of Merzbow’s finest moments – the epic Bariken (reprise), 30 minutes of noise textures and industrial rhythm menace before evolving into a noise-ambient masterpiece. Nearly perfect.

Evol – Magia Potagia (Mego) 2005

What a fucking shitty record this is. Released on the usually safe label Mego, Magia Potagia which probably translates to”piece of crap” is one of the most excruciating noise records I’ve ever sat through. Evol are a Spanish duo who robbed me of $20 by not having a warning sticker saying how useless this record is. There are three tracks. The first sounds like John Wiese scoring a Loony Toons cartoon which, you know, sounds fucking awesome until you realise that the fucking thing goes for 28 fucking minutes. The second sounds like a swarm of electronic mosquitoes which again  sounds totally great but that’s all it fucking does – no variation, no interest full stop. The third sounds like the music of a fairground carousel being back masked – again no variation. The concept is all good the execution all bad. These guys obviously have a sense of humor but if you’re looking for some fun in your noise go buy a Jazkamer record instead – they are way better.

Merzbow – Somei (Low Impedance) 2009

This was the first album Merzbow released in 2009, arriving from a small Greek label, Low Impedance. I suspect that had I heard this at the  time it was released and before I started receiving the 13 Japanese Birds records, my thoughts on this work may have been very different. But it was not until May of this year that I shelled out the cash for Somei  and by that stage Merzbow drumming in a free jazz style (and other styles for that matter) was no longer the novelty that it might have been when this first came out. In fact Somei is really a precursor to the whole 13 Japanese Birds thing in that it heavily features Akita doing the whole drumming thing but here it is much more restrained  than what you get on many of the 13 Birds records but had the title and art work had been any different you’d probably have thought that it is one of the recent series. To be fair, out of all of the recent Merzbow records I’ve heard barring a couple of the 13 Japanese Birds ones which have been excellent (Pt 2 for instance) my favourite (recent) Merzbow record has to be Tombo and I wonder whether this is because deep down I actually prefer his pure noise records rather than those which have some recognisable forms. I was reading a review of Oersted which appears on Amazon of all places, and the reviewer has an idea which I think has some merit: he differentiated the Merzbow records based on the harshness of the noise. So for instance he gave Pulse Demon an extreme rating, 1930 a very harsh rating, Merzbuta was given a low to moderate rating etc. As a general idea I think it is pretty good, but it become tricky when you have to start examining his latest work. There has to be more to differentiating Merzbow’s work than simply the harshness factor, and how do you in fact define harshness because my idea of harsh and your idea of harsh might be quite different. To truly make sense of  Merzbow’s work and to write a meaningful review I think a Merzbow record has to be considered on a criteria of  volume, the density of the layers, recognisable forms, repetition and rate of change  and whether when you chuck them all of them into the mix, the record actually works. And I think that might be some if the problem with his more recent works (particularly last years). The concepts by themselves are pretty good but what actually makes a Merzbow record interesting is two fold. Firstly are we hearing something new, for instance does  Merzbow’s take on an already recognisable form astonish and delight? Secondly if there are no recognisable forms,  is the way it is constructed and controlled great – does it allow me to reach some form of “noise nirvana” (I pinched that off Paul Hegarty). Basically is the record convincing as the work of someone who is at the top of his game or was it simply put together after breakfast and sent  to the latest small label to release.  Good Merzbow astonishes and delights. Is Somei good Merzbow? No not really. Is it a good noise record? As Sarah Palin would say – You betcha!

Merzbow – Animal Magnetism (Alien8 Records) 2003

Alien8 Records have released some of the finest Merzbow records and Animal Magnetism just happens to be one of them. This is one of the very first Merzbow records I bought and although I flogged it to death when I first bought it I don’t think I actually sat down and listened to it properly in well over a year which is absolutely fucking nuts because Animal Magnetism, when I look back at everything of Merzbow’s that I’ve heard, is one of the strangest and most rewarding noise experiences I’ve had.

When Merzbow produced this he had already begun his experiment with digital noise - Merzzow and Merzbeat had already been released and if you read the reviews of the time their was a bit of sniffiness about Merzbow’s digital experiements. I think that as a body of work his digital stuff is excellent so pay no heed to the naysayers. Proceedings kick off with the self titled rack which begins as a whirlwind of processed cicada noise, filtered guitar heaviness, chicken noises, scree and hiss. It is one of those fantastic Merzbow tracks that constantly shift and changes as new effects are continually piled on to create an oddly rhythmic behemoth of noise. The second track, Quiet Men, is much the same – swirling digital pulses of noise buggery with a whiff of metallic psychedelia. The third track Super Sheep has that wonderfully woozy techno beat like  Atari Teenage Riot on a pogo stick. It may also be the shortest track of Merzbow’s career coming in at 4 minutes 30 seconds. The final two tracks are completely different. A Ptarmigan is the longest tracks here at 22 minutes and also one of the strangest Merzbow tracks I can remember. Here he uses silence and effect to create something truly creepy before slicing up the mood with bolts of hiss. Again the track changes and morphs as it progresses but the progression feels very deliberate and micro-managed. The last track Pier 39 is one of those tracks where Merzbow takes a violent swerve away from everything else on the album to create one of the loveliest things he’s every done. Pier 39 is ambient – noisy ambient sure – but somehow calm. Perfect noise for the morning  after the night before.

If you’re not a fan of Merzbow during his digital phase then you might want to skip past this one. I, on the other hand,am a huge fan of his digital output and I recommend that you head to the Alien 8 webshop and buy everything Merzbow they have. Doors Open and Aqunecromancer included.

Ilios – Love Is My Motor (Antifrost) 2008

Last night for the first time in a very long time I actually left the house to see some live music. Room 40 a Brisbane experimental music label has been hosting the Open Frame festival for the  last couple of years and this year I decided to get myself along to The Brisbane Powerhouse for a bit of a look. What a fucking night. There were four artists in all – Pumice and Rosy Parlane form New Zealand, Ducktailss from New Jersey and my pick of the evening Ilios from Greece. Now before I headed to this festival I knew about was Pumice but the rest of them were a bit of a mystery. Two hours later I had a couple of Ilios CD’s and a CD by Rosy Parlane in my hot little hand (bless those merchandise tables). All of them were great and I’ll post on how great Rosy Parlane was at a later time.

Ilios was simply incredible. His set consisted of a slowly evolving noise track accompanying a video installation. The video started off as a couple of dots of light and as the set continued more and more of the what was on the screen was revealed. As the music built in intensity and finally climaxed the picture is finally revealed, a rather lovely photo of a corpse with it’s head and arm blown off in a puddle of blood. It’s difficult to describe the sound itself except to say that it had an actual physical presence. At one point all of the air of the room was sucked out and waves of sickening pulses pressurised the room. I actually had difficulty breathing at one point  but that may be because the cockhead in front of me took of his shoes for some reason. It has a similar effect to some of Giffoni’s best work. Extraordinary set and if you live in Newcastle I think he’s playing there on Saturday and at the Toff in Melbourne on Sunday.

Love is My Motor is his latest CD released last year. Essentially it is one long track divided in to eight pieces all with titles of cheesy love declarations. Ilios straddles a line between drone and noise. With the textures kept simple, he uses volume incrementally to create something rather special. There is no rapid rate of change in his sound. The noise changes with great precision and purpose. this is minimalist noise for drone heads and if you liked those last couple of Carlos Giffoni records on No Fun then you might just like this. I sure as shit did. I have no idea how easy this is to track down but you may be able to get it form www.antifrost.gr.

Prurient – The Black Post Society (Black Spring) 2008

I’ve become increasingly obsessed by Prurient and in a matter of a couple of weeks now own way too many of his records. When I’ve read about his records in the past the reviewers always seem to be a bit snippy. Particularly the Wire. For the most part his back catalogue seems to be pure harsh noise excursions with little light – massive walls of blackened noise. In the past couple of years the general consensus seems to be that he has turned it down a notch and allowed actual music to makes appearances on his records. I think the shippiness comes frmo the melodrama of Prurient’s records which is always dialled all the way up to 10. Does he take himself far too seriously? Probably – but whatever, it works for me.

The first Prurient record I bought, Cocaine Death, blew me away and right after I digested that I located a copy of this, probably his most recent easy to track down record. It’s a far different beast to Cocaine Death in that it is less rhythm happy and more a mood piece (thanks Azzief). In fact I’d go so far as to say that this approaches dark ambient (at times) territory. Although you wouldn’t know it if the opener is anything to go by. Black Post Society starts with the most sublime Suicide style risk before morphing into a black electronic head fuck. Things settle down on the next few tracks. I read one review which commented that this record is oppressively depressing. I didn’t get that at all. In fact I think that Black Post Society has a tiny bit of  hope peeping out from the darkness. In fact some of the tracks here are staggeringly beautiful, putting to one side Prurient’s penchant for a black metal growl and distorted spoken word. I’ve been flogging this one to death and it really is worthwhile tracking down. Stylistically, it’s black metal, noise, power electronics, spoken word, dark ambient and drone all mixed into one – and at the moment that suits me fine.

Sir Richard Bishop – The Freak of Araby (Drag City) 2009

When  I was looking for a video to embed in this post I came across this little nugget from a  show he performed in Baltimore this year. Live, Bishop’s music reaches that moment of ecstasy that makes his take on middle eastern raggas pretty amazing. What a pity then that this record blows. Seriously, the Freak, barring a couple of exceptions,  is dull as shit.  The idea is great but  the execution is sterile, boring and much of it amounts to ethno-muzak. I really wanted to like this, I really did and I know it is rare for me to dislike a record openly on this blog because usually  if I don’t like it I just won’t post on it. But I feel like I’ve gotta warn people about The Freak of Araby, it’s not as good as his previous work  it just sounds like cafe music or even worse music for the local old people’s belly dancing/flamenco club and that is never a good thing.  Bishop always had form for loving a good spaghetti western soundtrack but in the past he turned up the freak level rather than play it straight. This is dinner party music I’m sorry to say. In any event enjoy him doing his thing live, in fact I hope he re-records The Freak of Araby live because I’ll line up for that one big time. Unfortunately my copy of  this one is going up on ebay.

Merzbow – Hiyodori: 13 Japanese Birds Pt.9 (Important) 2009

There are a couple of reasons why this is a great addition to the Japanese Birds series. For one, it probably has one of my favourite Merzbow tracks of all time. Across the Earth is another big fat slab of Suicide-esque groove. It is simply outstanding and if for no other reason, this track is worth buying the whole record for. It is that good.

I’ve noticed with Merzbow (and I’ve probably posted on it before) that my mood really dictates my response to Merzbow’s work. The first track left me underwhelmed when I first heard it but today at the gym it became something else entirely. Maybe it was because I was in a nice relaxed space mentally because what might at it surface seem like another analogue Merzbow by-the-numbers noise excursion became something far more special and enjoyable as the track progressed. It’s all subtle changes and surprise, kind of the same kick I get from listening to 1930. The last track it probably the least successful – Purple Triangle skirts very close to being generic Merzbow and I’m not sure that is good enough anymore. Still, I think it’s fair to say that none of the records of this series have been universally awesome, even on the great ones there’s always one track that’s a bit weaker than the others. But given the  amount of material he is producing this year I think I can forgive him.

Shellac – 1000 Hurts (Touch & Go) 2000

Albini has been releasing albums as Shellac for 15 years. Not exactly a prolific band, 1000 Hurts was their third record on Touch & Go before entering a lengthy hiatus. There is a lot here to love. I read somewhere that  the basis of Albini’s take on rock music is an amalgam of mid-Western hardcore and british post punk. That description is a bit simplistic but OK as a starting point. 1000 Hurts begins with the almighty Prayer to God which may be on the more unsettling songs he’s ever written. Basically a plea to God to kill his girlfriend (gently) and her new lover (as messily as possible) it is a prefect  blend of the sick, black  humour that has defined much of Albini’s work since his Big Black days. The second track Squirrel Song is my favorite thing here. Again Albini shows he doesn’t take himself too seriously, yet both tracks showcase Albini’s lacerating guitar and the pummeling driving bass and drums which define their sound. But after those two tracks things start becoming a bit stranger. Mama Gina has it’s moments but it drags down the momentum and certainly not my favourite thing here. In fact the tracks are all over the place. Those looking for the consistency of the  records he released as part of Rapeman or Big Black will have a tougher time with Shellac. Christ he even attempts to sing on Ghosts. Yet this is one of the great things about Shellac , you’re never sure what your going to get from one album to the next and although there are heaps of similarities between all of Albini’s work, Shellac produce a much more consistently rock record. Take the sixth  track Song Against Itself, as soon as I played it I started thinking of a pop infused Minutemen via Jesus Lizard.  It’s great even if it doesn’t feature Albini’s vocals. By track seven Albini returns to his favourite persona as a vengeful husband/boyfriend. On Canaveral he suggests shooting the fellow  who “put his dick in my wife” into space where he would then explode to create fertilizer in China. All in all this is a great rock record to get your teeth into. Some might complain that as an album it’s a bit inconsistent, but I reckon that’s part of it’s charm.

Kites – Hallucination Guillotine/Final Worship (Load) 2007

I bought this record last year and I started writing about it in January of this year. Since then I’ve tinkered with the post but I haven’t come much closer to explaining why I love this record so much. Since it’s purchase I’ve tracked down the  rest of his back catalogue on Load and despite listening to this band a lot I’ve struggled with saying anything sensible

I love this record like I love Burning Star Core’s Challenger, Yellow Swans Deterioration  and Menche’s Jugularis. All of those records are incredible in their own way and now I can add another to the list. Kites is the artistic name for the noise created by US musician, Chris Forgues.  He produces noise in the same tradition as Carlos Giffoni and it is Giffoni who is probably the closest peer I’ve heard thus far although when he lends his vocals to his tracks, Prurient also becomes  a sensible starting point. I’d heard about Kites previously, usually mentioned in the same breath as Skaters, Hair Police and Wolf Eyes. I’m not really sold on those comparisons as this record is more Merzbow (if you can listen past the vocals) than visceral horror noise-fest. Indeed it may be one of the  most varied noise records I’ve heard so far. Mr Forgues is obviously not afraid to mix his sound up a bit and to experiment with both space and air rather than focusing solely on the blacker than black  noise of some of this contemporaries. Yet in exploring space and air, Kites does not take an easy route of producing transcendent drone  but through taming harsh electronics  into a much more listenable form. This record is very very very good. Like 9 out of 10 good.

Hototogisu – Chimarendammerung (De Stijl) 2006

Chimarendammerung is basically a drone record. A very busy, noisy drone record but a drone record none the less. Hototogisu is a duo of  Matthew Bowers when he’s not playing in either Sunroof! or Skullflower and  Double Leopard’s Marcia Bassett. If you know Matt Bower’s other work you know what your going to get basically improvised noise jams filled with feedback  and other tricks of the trade. The din created on this record is pretty powerful and the first time I played it I was pretty underwelmed. I had a chance to concentrate later and it was only then that the full palate of the tracks was revealed. The metal-infused, guitar-based drone is flecked with other noise and instruments the most readily discernable being a bow being used on some type of string instrument. But this never quite reaches the  transcendent  beauty of Burning Star Core – Hototogisu play a much more visceral form of drone. I like this record more than the other Hototoguisu record I own, Some Blood Will Stick and I thought that was pretty good. Although that record was a much more claustrophobic and darker set of tracks,  it’s not like Chimarendammerung lets the light in. The sounds used are merely different and it doesn’t come close to creating the same mood of Some Blood… which had some genuinely creepy moments. In all there are five Untitled tracks. I particularly liked the second one especially in the  final third where a vaguely doomy lost souls effect bubbled to the  surface every now and then but for most of time the enjoyment in this record is the slight shifts in tone and variation as the tracks progress. I’m more of a fan of Skullflower and Double Leopards than this band but every now and then I give it a listen when I’m in that whole white noise coming through headphones kind of mood. If you watch the short clip I’ve included, they manage to achieve that whole transcendence through noise thing yet on this record that might give it a red hot go but they never quite get there.

Prurient – Cocaine Death (Hospital) 2008

I love when I buy an album by an artist that I’ve never heard before and that album just blows me away. This is how I feel about Prurient’s Cocaine Death. I’d always steered clear of Prurient’s records because after reading various reviews I thought he fell in to the  horror noise category a genre I’ve moved away from since discovering drone. How wrong I was not to hear him sooner. This is one of the best noise records I own. Prurient is basically the moniker used by New York based noise artist Dominick Fernow. He released a ton of records in 2008 and I’ve decided  that if any of them are as good as this, it would be a sensible move to buy as many as possible. Cocaine Death is a compilation of previous releases that are now out of print. I won’t list them here because if you’re a serious Prurient nut you’ll know all this already yet Cocaine Death doesn’t sound like a compilation. In fact had I not known I would have thought that all of these tracks were recorded at the same time. The other thing I’ve noticed since becoming interested in Prurient is that there seems to be a general consensus that his earlier stuff was a lot more uncompromising than his recent efforts. Many have gone so far to say that  he has embraced songs (gasp! horror!). Some of the reviews I read get a bit sniffy about it, kind of implying that he used to be better in the old days. Well I don’t know about that. This is my first experience with his music and I have to say you might be reading a lot more about him in noisenosienoise if his other records match the quality I found on Cocaine Death.

One of the things I like about Cocaine Death is that the tracks themselves are nice and short. In a genre where length is the norm, having a record that runs under 50 minutes and crams 10 tracks into that space is a novelty. Cocaine Death starts with an absolute ripper a beat filled, doomish, gothic vibe that is then infused with black metalish type vocals, yet the strange thing is that (despite the inclusion of  a lyric sheet) I can actually understand what he is singing. The vocal effect is pretty cool. It had me thinking of Davros from Dr Who fronting Wolves in the Throne Room. Huge amounts of fun. The rest of the tracks are just as great. This is obviously a dark ambient/noise record but it is like Wolf Eyes teamed up with Peter Rehberg and then  got their inner Goth on or maybe more like Xiu Xiu processed by KTL with a Whitehouse fixation. It’s all very hard to pin down . Take the third track. Fernow takes some vaguely Stars With Lid drone that evolves into something techno-esque, adds a dose of Dilloway’s crackle, adds further layers of hiss and malevolence and then alternates between screaming and spoken word. It’s hard to imagine a track that exhibits such beauty evolving into something so harrowing. Cocaine Death is well worth tracking down. Any guidance about where to head to next is would be greatly appreciated.

Spacemen 3 – Playing With Fire (Fire) 1989

Spacemen 3 were a strange anomaly at the end of the 1980’s. This was the time of the fall of acid house, the rise of the  US underground, Nick Cave’s Tender Prey, The Fall’s flirtation with Fontana records and the start of shoegazing and more importantly My Bloody Valentine. It was a time when the drug culture was skipping hand in hand with the music of the time so overtly, it would have made Woodstock blush. Spacemen 3 were certainly up to their eyeballs in the  drug culture because any  casual listen of Playing with Fire conjures up images of LSD and Heroin in equal amounts. The reason why they were different is that they embraced the sonic minimalism of Suicide and the drugged out, repetitive, mean, psychedelia of Chrome to produce something which is almost undefinable. This was really their last record as a band per se. The relationship between Piece and Kember completely broke down after this record and the follow up, Recurring, is basically Kember and Pierce playing their tracks solo. We all know of course that Pierce went on to form Spiritualised and Kember went underground with his E.A.R. project, but on Playing With Fire you can start picking the paths they would later take. Kembers tracks are all unrelenting determination, the heroin just drips from them. Pierce’s contributions have more soul and reverence – the perfect soundtrack to your next morning come down. Listen to Spiritualised and you’ll get what I mean. I always liked Kembers tracks the best and they certainly dominate Playing With Fire which must be the reason I think this is the best thing they ever did.

snd – Atavism (Raster Norton) 2009

I’m a bit partial to this mimimalist tehcno stuff. snd are a band I’ve been wanting to hear for a while and my local rip-off indie shop had this for a price so outrageous I must have been drunk to buy it. Atavism is so minimalist that this Sheffield duo couldn’t even be fucked to give their tracks titles yet in some ways that actually makes sense given just how little is going on in many of these tracks. Atavism is an album that kind of develops as it progresses. Initially the beat is just that, a taunt, almost tonal beat that bangs away with nothing happening. Over the next few tracks the rhythm of the beat is messed up a little but there are no other sounds. Eventually other sounds do appear but they are  merely garnish, their contribution almost non-existent. Eventually the tracks progress to a stage where more substantial sounds are added. It’s all still minimalist as fuck but a bit more tangible. I read somewhere that snd are in a genre called “mircosound”. Fuck me, but that might just be the perfect term to describe this precise, stripped back electronica.

No-Neck Blues Band -NNCK Meets the Clear People with Mystery Gypped: Live at Ken’s Electric Lake [LIVE] (Locust) 2007

A dilemma. I hate Hippies. No-Neck Blues Band are hippies. I like No-Neck Blues band. Did you see this lot in the Wire. Too many ginger beards I think. Improvisation? Meh. There is a very fine line between inspired improvisation and a two thumbs down clusterfuck. The great thing about this record is that they really hit the mark. No-Neck Blues Band sound kinda like Sun City Girls meets Jackie-o Motherfucker  with the Dead C fucking around at the edges.  This record spans two discs and rather than name the tracks, they split the continuous  improvisation into sections. There are eight sections in all and the music can run the gamit of pastoral, avant garde, experimental, tribal drum circle and drugged out jam band but for the most part No-Neck Blues Band occupy the very left side of the whole free-folk thing. I like it. I don’t know if I need much of it but it’s worth tracking down.