Birchville Cat Motel - Summers Seething Pulse (Mar/ino) 2003

I’ve been a bit ambivalent about Birchville Cat Motel this year. It’s because of the extremely disappointing Seventh Ruined Hex that he released on Important last year. That record highlighted just how careful a drone artist has to be in injecting enough texture into their noise to keep the listener engaged. What Seventh Ruined Hex managed to do was bore the shit out of me. It had it’s moments but those moments were few and far between. This year I drifted over to the recordings of Daniel Menche and I hadn’t given Birchville Cat Motel’s new output  a great deal of thought. I’m happy with the records of his I own  but his last release made me wary of dabbling again. 

Birchville Cat Motel release two different sort of records; the dark ambient rock pig records like Our Love Will Destroy the World and Bird Sister Blasphemy and the blissed, transcedent, drone ambience of Birds Call Home Their Dead and Chi Vampires. I’ve always loved the field recordings he infuses into his sound and whether it’s his drone or rock based recordings Birchvile Cat Motel is still one my favourite artists. Summers Seething Pulse is a record I never knew existed until three weeks ago. I have no idea how I stumbled over it but somehow during a late night surfing session I got directed to www.elsieandjack.com stumbled across this and I clicked that purchase button before I had time to think. Like most BCM records, Summer’s Seething Pulse is beautifully packaged. It’s limited edition and is on the elsieandjack sub-label Mar/ino which is all about the simple packaging of superb sounds. It’s cheap as chips (even with the horrible exchange rate) and if you have any interest in Birchville Cat Motel it would be difficult to find a more tremendous example of his transcendent drone music than this record. The field recordings infuse the whole project with a pastoral elegance which few noise artists get right. These are the true sounds of a Southern hemisphere summer.  It is breathtaking and has stirred up all those amazing feelings I got when I first heard Birds Call Home Their Dead. I mean this is quite simply awesome. I’ve added elsieandjack to the blogroll. Buy this record. It’s really that simple.

Merzbow - Dolphin Sonar (Important) 2008

I’ve lined up for the  last couple of Animal rights records that Merzbow has releaed and to be honest they just are not my favourite examples of what he does. Mizano was OK, Peace For Animals I played once and haven’t touched since and Bloody Sea (Save The  Whales) to be honest was an unrelenting mawe of power electronics. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that to me, once Merzbow decides to do one of his “issue albums” the subtlety and texture and all round excitement that his noise induces is replaced by white hot anger. And you know, I get his anger, I really do, I get why he’s angry, but an enjoyable listening experience it seldom becomes.

And it is for those reasons that it was fully my intention to give Dolphin Sonar a wide berth.  The pleasure I get from Merzbow are the attention to detail records like 1930, the death disco big beat of the Merz series and the barely there rock pig action of Aquanecromancer. Anyway, I ended up relenting and to be honest I’m glad I did. The whole point to Dolphin Sonar is to highlight the annual dolphin slaughter in a Japanese coastal village. I remember seeing a video of it form a few years ago  and indeed it’s pretty fucking brutal and you have to wonder how is in this day and age it’s still allowed to continue. where Dolphin Sonar differs from his previous issue albums is the level of texture he gets into his noise. It’s a fascinating listen. I wouldn’t recommend this as a place to start for new Merzbow enthusiasts, that cute (but very deceptive0  cover art might say otherwise. For those with a significant Merzbow habit Dolphin Sonar  not bad at all. 

Dolphin Slaughter 2007 (not Merzbow’s music obviously) Warning - It’s a fucking awful thing to watch

Moha! - Raus Aus Stavanger (Rune Grammofon) 2006

Like my love of nearly everything released on Important, I have to confess that my second favourite label right now is Norway’s Rune Grammofon. In the last couple of weeks I’ve been trawling around  the bargain bins of large chain record store. I managed to find some interesting stuff by Acid Mothers Temple and Matthew Dear on my travels but the best stuff I’ve come across are the various records I’ve picked up by bands released by this label, namely Shining, Phonophani and In the Country. Each of those records are very different beasts and I will post on them later but listening to them has made me think of Moha! again. I’ve already posted on their second album, Norwegianism and I’m happy to report that their third album has just been released in Europe and is winging it’s way to me (Godbless you Amazon UK) as I type. From my friends who read this blog the video that they most remark on is the one that accompanied Norwegianism. The question they asked was usually the rhetorical “Are you serious!” to the less rhetorical “Are they serious?” to the incredulous “And you paid money for that?” Norwegianism was certainly one of the more “out there” purchases I made last year but in it’s own way it was also one of the most challenging and, fuck it, I thought it was a blast.

Their first record Raus Aus Stavanger, is less frenetic that Norwegianism and certainly less obtuse. It is no less a noise record and in some ways Moha! are one of  of the  more interesting noise bands out there. Their vibe is pure improv rock, played as free jazz (just listen to that drummer!) but without tune (except for the occasional riff) or structure. It’s thrilling stuff. This is a much easier record to get into than  Norwegianism so If your thinking of dabbling start here. I’ll post on their latest effort in a couple of weeks.

Nurse With Wound - Livin’ Fear of James Last (Castle) 2005

The kid and I went down to the local chain record store today ostensibly to get a copy of Kimya Dawson’s Alphabutt but I hey i’d driven a  fair way and I thought that I’d have a quick flick through their alternative section and look what I found. This  2 CD, 19 track, 2005 compilation (or as Mr Stapleton has put it, a Nurse with Wound Variety pack) came out on Sanctuary’s Castle label. Castle is an odd kettle of fish. Most of their output is pretty stock standard oldies but every now and then they produce a cracker that is up there with Rhino for getting the whole sub-genre of artist compilations dead right. The Fall compilation Psychik Dancehall was an absolute cracker and they’ve carried on the great tradition with Livin’ Fear of James Last. This compilation was put together by Mr Stapleton himself and it barely scratches the surface. There’s one track from the sadly out of print Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table, one from Gyllenskold, two tracks from Second Pirate Session, two from An Awkward Pause, Yagga Blues from Who Can I Turn To Stereo and various other tracks from albums I’ve never heard of. There is nothing  on this from Homotopy for Marie (the first Stapleton solo Nurse With Wound record) nor A Sucked Orange. I have no  idea whether that is a good thing or not given that I’ve never hard either record but both seem to get the saliva flowing of  the Nurse With Wound fan set.  Is this compilation representative of Nurse with Wound’s back catalogue. How the fuck would I know? What it does achieve is a smattering of tracks that reference the many  very different musical styles of the band  including some that, if I hadn’t bought this compilation, I would never have heard. Yet this compilation is now also out of print. I mean for fuck’s sake I know that there is an extensive reissue program going on at the moment (Rock n’ Roll Station just got reissued) but there is obviously a market for this stuff and as a Nurse with Wound primer it definitely deserves a re-release.

Merzbow and John Wiese - Multiplication (Misanthropic Agenda) 2007

I picked this up from  a couple of months ago. John Wiese himself, from time to time, sells copies of his CD’s on ebay. I took the opportunity to buy this, Black Magic Pond and the split CD Wiese did with C. Spencer Yeh. Out of those three records the spit with Yeh is my favourite but Multiplication for some reason is the one I seem to have played the most. I think the reason for the  number of plays it’s received is me attempting to define exactly what this record sounds like. I was searching for something recognisable that would make sense in a written review. Merzbow put this record together when John Wiese sent his contribution by mail. What has been created is a blistering document of extreme noise. There are no beats or relief from the relentless cluster fuck of noise this record unleashes. Ever now and then there is a small pause before the two  the two sides of the noise smash into each other again. The cover at to this record is very appropriate. To me it looks like a tear in the very fabric of the Earth and this record is so relentless that’s it’s hard to disagree with that interpretation. I wonder how many times I’ll end up playing this again. I like my Wiese and Merzbow a couple of notches back from what they produce on Multiplication. If your new to your noise and just dabbling there are way better Wiese and Merzbow records to start with. I’d give ths one a wide berth unless you know what you are getting yourself in for.

As an aside Misanthropic Agenda has a great website and online store. It has plenty on Menche, Jazzkammer  and Merzbow at really cheap prices and the postage is very reasonable. It’s well worth checking out before you make your next purchase. I’ve added their sight to the links on the top righthand of this blog.

Carlos Giffoni - Arrogance (No Fun) 2006

I first came across Carlos Giffoni when I stumbled across a copy of the Synth Destruction record he did with Merzbow in a chain store record bargain bin at the beginning of a year. Since that time I seem to be coming across him more and more. Besides being the founder of No Fun records and releasing excellent records by Religious Knives and Thurston Moore,  he also manages to produce his own variant of noise either with collaborators like Alan Licht, Lee Ranaldo, Merzbow, Fe-Mail etc., or releasing his own thing. Because of the rapidly dawning fact that I am a whore for Important records, I thought I would have started with Welcome Home or Northern Stains (his collaboration with Fe-Mail), Instead I picked up Arrogance from the excellent ebay seller Rowche Rumble who I also bought Merzbow’s out of print Bariken   and a Nurse with Wound record from. I’m a sucker for postage discounts so Arrogance become my next step in Giffoni’s back catalogue.

Arrogance is of course a noise record but it’s the first noise record I’ve heard that alters the volume and intensity of oscillating pulses to achieve an actual physical reaction. The first time I played this record It freaked me out. On the first track No More Air the  the noise is manipulated to create a sensation like the pressure in my ears was being changed. One minute the pulses were clear, the  next I felt like I was hearing them underwater, the next like I was directly under the still turning rotars of a helicopter. I could feel the pressure in my ears build and then fade and that’s just the  first track! I’m sure listening to this is not good for my long term aural health but No More Air is the second most listened to track on my ipod. This is a minimalist noise record. It uses repetition  to create a very noisy (and loud)  variant of drone. It’s well worth checking out.

 

 

Fe-mail - Skylubb Fra Haelvete (Important) 2003

I’ve had the  review for this record sitting as a draft since early August. I’ve wrestled with it and to be honest I’ve flogged the fucker to death trying to figure out something intelligent to write about it. I could go easy on myself and say that the  very satisfying racket these two create remind me of a cross between early Nurse with Wound and analog  Merzbow (yeah like I know the difference between analog Merzbow and digital Merzbow), but it’s lazy  and no excuse for the  writers block I’ve had for the  last couple of weeks. 

Fe-mail are themselves a rather intriguing beast. An all female band in a genre, that if one regards Whitehouse and early Merzbow, can be a rather misogynist art form, is something of a rarity. Fe-mail hail from Norway and are a duo consisting of Maja Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tajford. Together they are one half of the all female improv band, Spunk. The cover itself is a classic fake out, a dayglo, cheesecake photo does not prepare the  listener for  the blasts of power electronics, disembodied voice, twisted instrument manipulations and electro-nastiness which make up this record. But what it does do is hint at the clear impression that they certainly aren’t taking themselves too seriously. At the moment barring some of those incredible Merzbow records, this may be as perfect a noise record as I’ve heard. There is so much going on in the sonic maelstrom that in-between some goofy grins I can’t help but marvel at just how good Fe-mail are. At times they recall late era Merzbow but the next minute reminded me of Pita and Birchville Cat Motel. It embodies everything that is interesting and challenging about noise.  It is an extraordinary record, pure and simple.

Skullflower - IIIrd Gatekeeper (Crucial Blast 2007) 1991

In 2007 , Crucial Blast reissued Skullflower’s long out of print IIIrd Gatekeeper. Skullflower’s one fulltime member is Matthew Bowers who is know to many a noise freak as the  brains behind Sunrroof! and Hototogisu. I had always thought that Skullflower were a noise band and thought at some stage I’d get around to hearing one of their records. I decided to start with this one solely for the comment that Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club) made in an issue of the Wire. He described IIIrd Gatekeeper as “awful, ridiculous, Goth dogshit.” He’s wrong. What IIIrd Gatekeeper actually represents is an early, extreme example of sludge rock. It’s a total rock pig record and if you love those moments when Birchville Cat Motel gets his metal on, then this is well worthwhile checking out. There is still  a crap load here to keep noise freaks happy with massive walls of impenetrable feedback but it’s really a record for Melvins and Boris fans to wallow is and wonder what might have been.

Religious Knives - Resin (No Fun) 2007

It feels like even half-way through 2008 I’m still getting up to speed with what got released last year. In the last couple weeks I’ve been listening to Gudrun Gut’s I Put a Record On, Pole’s excellent Steingarten remixes, Magik Markers Boss, any Sightings record I can get hold of and this. I have no idea why Resin flew under my radar especially when you consider that  Religious Knives are a group comprised of members of two of my favourite bands, Double Leopards and Mouthus. 

Resin is a compilation of sorts. Like most of these Brooklyn noise bands the majority of their output is coming  out as singles, limited and split releases and recorded live sets. Blink and you miss them stuff if you know what I mean. Helpfully Resin comprises many of these releases and If I hadn’t read that somewhere I’d have been none the wiser. This is a much more accessible band than it’s component parts would indicate.  Forget the creepy-noise drone of Double Leopards and Mouthus’s elliptical and abstract take on alt rock is nowhere to be seen. Resin for the most part shows Religious Knives getting their late 1960’s psychedelic groove on. Sure it’s a pretty dark and at times noisy take on psych rock but for all it’s no-fi “production” it is no different to Pussy Galore’s attempts to reinterpret the blues. Despite their obvious influences (kraut rock, psych, sweet lord even the Door’s get a look in) Religious Knives are producing music which sits at the  periphery of the noise rock scene. I’m certainly going o try to track down some more of their releases.

Nurse With Wound - Gyllenskold, Geijerstam and I at Rydberg’s (United Jnana) 2008)

This is the remastered re-release of Nurse with Wound’s 1983 album. In addition to the three original tracks this CD also has a reworked version of each of  the tracks. The reworked version was originally released in 1993.  This is my first exposure to Nurse With Wound. I quite frankly found their back catalogue intimidating (and fucking expensive) and I just had no idea where to start. Luckily that problem resolved itself when friends of mine turned up to my birthday lunch with this in hand. I had no idea they were Nurse with Wound fans and had no idea what to expect when I took this  home.  Nurse With Wound is basically Stephen Stapleton and friends and I wasn’t too sure whether this was going to sound more like Throbbing  Gristle, Coil  or Current 93. What I quickly discovered is that Nurse with Wound, at least on this record, sounded nothing like those bands. This is extremely weird tape loop experiments. It’s hard to say much more than that really. I can’t figure out how to explain the sounds on this. I suppose the  first track the  bizarrely titled Several off moments before prior to lunch could work as a sado-horror movie soundtrack. It’s creepy, unsettling and oddly compelling. 

The main thing that strikes me about this re-release is just how good it sounds. If you didn’t know that it was recorded in 1983 you’d be none the  wiser. This is a thoroughly modern weird, experimental record. Unlike their contemporaries this has aged very well indeed. It’s not going to be for everyone but I find it strangely listenable. I have no idea whether this is representative of Nurse with Wound and in some ways my desire to find out isn’t really there. I like this and have listened to it everyday since I got it a couple of weeks ago. Excellent stuff.

Sightings - Through the Panama (Load) 2007

With the untimely demise of the Yellow Swans, I’ve been on the hunt for a new favourite band and I think I may have found it in this three peice from Brooklyn. Produced by Andrew W.K. last year  Through the Panama is Sightings fourth full length. I have no idea whether this record is representatyive of their previous output, but I will say is this is the sort of avant rock which really works for me.  It’s noisy, experimental but bases itself around normal rock song structure.

When I first played it last week the most immediate band that came to mind was the New York no-wave band Mars. I think that impression had more to do with the vocalist’s version of intimidating ambivilance rather thna the music itself.  I suppose to use more modern equivilants,  Sightings sit somewhere between the intentional obtuseness of Mouthus and the nihilistic, swaggering cool of Liars.  The majority of the songs have vocals (with lyrics even!). The first two tracks bely the strength of Through the Panama as an album.  Both sound like post-punk infused no-wave updated for the new millenium. Even when they do a Yellow Swans style drone/noise excursion (on Cloven Hoof)  Sightings really hit the mark.

Live 2008 Rhode Island

Yellow Swans - Deterioration (Modern Radio) 2008

 

 

In a couple of days time The Yellow Swans will be no more. Deterioration will not be their last record (there should be an “official” release in 2009) but if it had been then good lord what a way to go out. I had no idea that this had even been released and it was only by accident that I found it last week. This record is nearly a perfect distillation of how good the  Yellow Swans can be. In fact, I like this better than At All Ends (and boy did I love that record). It’s a thrilling ride through drone, noise and experimental rock. In fact it is an important reminder of just how vital avant garde, experimental music can be.  As I was listening to Deterioration again today it struck me how it sounds like a noise version of the  aural dynamics pioneered by God Speed You Black Emperor.  I can’t recommend this highly enough. 

The thing I find sad about this release is that it is clear from Deterioration that Yellow Swans were only getting better and better and I wonder just how far they could have gone. I have no idea whether this is in wide release and I urge you to track it down. This is the  first truly great record of 2008 (and it only took until June!)

Merzbow - Coma Berenices (Vivo) 2007

I’ve spent a fair bit of time on this blog trying to explain my reaction to Merzbow. When I read the majority of the posts there seems to be a theme based around which record encapsulates the best entry point for someone thinking of dabbling in his vast back catalogue. So as not to fuck with that theme, if I was new to this Merzbow thing I’d probably steer clear of Coma Berenices until I’d  navigated elsewhere first.

But for the initiated Merzbow listener, Coma Berenices is an absolute cracker of a record. It came out around the time of Merzbear and I’ll be honest this is a much better record. It’s dense, almost lush in it’s approach to noise. It’s certainly guitar heavy but leaves the beat heaviness of the “Merz” series behind. I’m still not clear on the whole analogue/digital divide but I read somewhere that this is one of his analogue works. I have no idea if that is right so lets just go with that. The tracks themselves are some of the most rewarding Merzbow works I’ve heard to date. This is one of the only Merzbow records where my ears don’t become “concerned with recognisable, familiar and friendly musical mechanics and motifs”. But it is still worth pointing out that there is this magic track towards the end, “Silky Feather”, which to these ears sounds like Merzbow attempting a doom track (seriously). Coma Berenices is intermediate level Merzbow. It’s now time to tackle Pulse Demon.

Daniel Menche - Jugularis (Important) 2006

Yet another example of why Important is turning me into a slobbering, record-label fanboy. Daniel Menche is a recent discovery. The Wire had a bit of a write up on him a few months back and the description of what he did certainly pricked my interest. I’ve already posted my thoughts on the awesome Glass Forest and it was only going to be a matter of time before I dabbled again. I picked this up a  two weeks ago on ebay for no other reason than  that it was incredibly cheap (and still sealed!)

There seems to be a bit of a theme with Menche’s record titles. Consider some of these past titles, Bleeding Heavens, Beautiful Blood, Body Melt and Field of Skin. I have no idea whether Jugularis is representative of his back catalogue but for the  casual noise freak it has a lot to offer. Jugularis is a heavily percussive record and consists of three very long tracks (all called Jugularis) that are joined together without a break. It’s begins as an creepy ambient record (think of a more active Oren Ambarchi) before gradually building in intensity and changing texture over the next 20minutes.  The second track is an absolute cracker. Tribal drums are gradually digitally manipulated before being swallowed whole.  Menche’s use of percussive textures somehow build up a huge wall of noise without every relying on the hiss, squall and blast electronic fuckery of some of the other noise acts out there at the moment. There are noise textures throughout Jugularis but the focus is always on the percussion or some sort of digitally altered rhythm. It’s pretty good stuff. I’m keen to hear some of his earlier stuff which apparently delves into the dark ambient realm. Does anybody out there no enough about him to point me in the right direction.

Merzbow - Minazo Vol 1. (Important) 2006

I’ve spent time on this blog trying to get the word out there that Merzbow is nothing to fear. Despite his reputation as a non-compromising noise artist, I’ve found a lot of the his output readily accessible, exciting and just damn enjoyable. Given the fact that this has been my main focus I’ve struggled with what to write for Minazo. From the cover art it seems like another cuddly edition to the Merzbow catalogue. If you thought that though, you’d be very wrong.

Minazo is a tribute to the elephant seal that died in 2005. Minazo was a bit of a celebrity in Japan and in the liner notes to this disc, Masami Akita despairs for the way he was treated and ponders if it caused his early death. Merzbow’s love of animals is no secret and his support for PETA is mentioned often. But how do you convey very personal feelings about the death of an animal through noise? When I first started tackling this disc I thought that it lacked the interest of some of his other records. In the last week I started to really listen to it. Not have it as some background noise when doing some other task. It was only through carefully listening that I started to get it. There are four tracks on Minazo and I have no idea whether this is intentional but there is a real feeling of panic on some of the tracks, especially the first untitled track which blew me away with the ability to covey an actual emotion like fear and panic through oscillations, pulse and noise. I felt the panic of the animal as it was kept in captivity, isolated and alone.

If you are startying out on Merzbow avoid this. It is dense and unrelenting. If you know your Merzbow then this is another classic. Seriously the man can do no wrong.

Sunroof! - Panzer Division Lou Reed (VHF) 2007

A couple of weeks ago a reader left a comment on this blog alerting me to the imminent demise of Yellow Swans. On June 30 of this year they will be no more. Now I fucking love the Yellow Swans and after the excellent At All Ends I was really looking forward to where they were going next. So I again look to greener pastures on my journey through experimental music. One of the bands that I’d heard of but hadn’t heard was Sunroof!. Sunroof ! is the band of Matthew Bowers, the veteran experimental artist that was also behind Skullflower (another band I’ve heard of but haven’t heard). I thought it was time to give them a go and I started with Panzer Division Lou Reed because firstly it is their latest and secondly because it was the only Sunroof record I could find in my local rip-off record store.

I’ve read a couple of other reviews and they all seemed to mention that his is one of the more aggressive and dense recordings that Sunroof! have produced and is a swerve to the left from their usual drone based recordings. I have no idea whether that is true. This is the only Sunroof! record I’ve listened to, so I have nothing to compare it to. What I will say though, is that this is one of the most challenging yet interesting noise records I currently own. It’s a big slice of improvised rock-noise that certainly took me aback when I first listened to it. I’ve wrestled with it now for couple of weeks and I’m pretty happy with the journey it took me on. This sounds similar to those Yellow Swans records when they preface their name with a word beginning with D. In particular I though that this sounded a lot like Dreamed Yellow Swans which is now sadly out of print. I’m a sucker for this type of noise and although the reviews I read weren’t exactly positive, having no knowledge of what their other records sound like allows me to approach it with an independent mind. This record is great and if you are a Yellow Swans freak like myself then Panzer Division Lou Reed is well worth tracking down.

Sunroof Live 2007!

Grey Daturas - Return to Disruption (Neurot) 2008

You know I only walked into my local record store to buy sunroof! but walked out with this as well.  The Grey Daturas are a trio from Melbourne who have been churning out their particular brand of antipodean  noise for a couple of years now. Some don’t regard what they do as noise, and I get the hesitation. For the most part the Grey Daturas churn out a wonderfully satisfying brand of heavy psychedelic guitar workout but they also allow a more experimental, and dare I say noisy, side to come to the fore. This is a very good record. It’s actually the first full length I’ve heard from them and it threw me in many ways. There are only seven tracks on Return to Disruption but they seem to cover a bundle of different noise style over the length of the album.

When I was listening to the first track I thought: Lightning Bolt but less arty farty and less annoying.   But if that’s the only thing I’d heard I would have developed a very wrong impression of this very impressive band. The second album titled track owes more to the kitchen-sink sound and drone experiments of Sandoz Lab Technicians. The third track starts off sounding like Lightning Bolt before taking an abrupt left turn into Birchville territory. A pure drone track was certainly not expected but considering that I’m a bit partial to droneI was pretty happy with its inclusion. I suppose the one major impression I get from listening to Return to Disruption is the heavy influence of The Dead C. Just like the Dead C, the Grey Daturas are not afraid to mix up their styles.

By the time we get half way through we’re firmly in the land of doom before descending into a psych-metal freakout. There is still time for another avant-garde Dead C-esque noise experiment before the whole thing is closed out by two psych metal melt downs (think Boris ). It’s a great album and well worth picking up if you’re interested at all in noise, drone, sludge psych and doom.

This was recorded in 2006 mixed last year and released a couple of weeks ago. Somehow I don’t think this band are going to be churning out a shit load of product any time soon.  Return To Disruption almost plays like a well thought out noise sampler and certainly puts Australian noise on the map even if it does remind me of a stack of bands from across the Tasman Sea.

Live in Oakland 2007

Mouthus - Follow This House (Important) 2006

The thing I like about Mouthus is that rather than settle as a pure noise band they attempt to smash together  power electronics, a live drummer and a guitarist with oddly dissonant vocals to produce something thats combines noise, rock, avant-garde experimentation and drone. I think as a whole it works pretty well. The first track on Follow This House doesn’t really work for me but by the time I got to the second track Cameras, I realised just how good Mouthus can be when they are on form. For each of their tracks they don’t deviate from their original idea . They  beat it with a stick until it falls over and then move onto the next track. I’ve said before that the reason why a lot of this noise stuff appeals to me is the journey of discovery it takes you. With Mouthus its much more a straight up rock vibe (although like no other rock band you’ll ever hear. There is none of the extremity of Wolf Eyes or Skaters etc.  There is an improv feel to most of the tracks and it’s obvious there is some love of the Dead C happening here. I think Mouthus are a pretty unique example of the width of the noise genre.

Here is a live show they did this year:

Daniel Menche - Glass Forest (Important) 2008

I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d become a label whore again but Important are the most appropriately named record label out there. Not since the heydays of Blast First has a label released so many amazing records. The latest addition to this club is Daniel Menche’s Glass Forest. The album itself is comprised of three long pieces all named oddly enough Glass Forest. It is some of the most pure, transcedent drone I’ve ever heard. It’s both subtle and captivating, yet contains the odd shock here and there. In some ways it charts a similar course to some of Birchville Cat Motel’s blissed out drone epics. The difference with Glass Forest compared to say Seventh Ruined Hex, is that Menche actually goes somewhere with his noise. Its continually evolving and progressing, layers of field recordings are manipulated and layered on top. Occasionally a pulse finds its way into the mix. At other instances a more sinister beat takes control of proceedings. Static and hiss give way to tweaked frequencies before rejoining again. At time its like a long march through drone and noise with the odd attack and retreat thrown in for good measure. It’s noise penetrated by shards of light. The good thing is that this is now in my list of favourite noise records of all time. The bad thing is, my bank balance is going to suffer as I try to track down more of his past output. Very exciting stuff indeed. If you have a passing interest in drone or noise art for that matter, this may well be worth tracking down.

Here is a video I found on youtube. I think the CD is far better but it give s a taste of the drone.

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (ATP) 2008

Well this may be my pick for 2008 so far. The copy i bought last week had one of those helpful stickers on it with a blurb by some record shop hipster. It was described as a cross between Black Dice and Throbbing Gristle. (Why the fuck does everything get compared to Throbbing Gristle - have these people even heard that band?) What a very stupid comparison. I suppose in some ways I get the whole Black Dice comparison but Fuck Buttons are way better than that. Think of the most sublime electronica and then imagine what happens when evil comes to visit. Like a chill out session invaded by pure evil. Think The Knife crossed with Wolf Eyes. Yes that fucking cool. I can’t get enough of this at the moment. Seriously it is album of the year (and it’s only April). The experimental record to introduce your friends to.

Bright Tomorrow