Ominous Recordings
A label is known to some, and a label worth following in the murky world of experimental noisy music. Based in Sweden by Johan Strömwall Hammerstedt, who has also released under his own monikers as Strömvall, JSH / J.S.H., and Rien. His label has been churning out distorted sound-perversions since 2005 and is to this day still very active. We´re counting over 100 releases so far, cassettes, 7” eps and CD´rs. Exposing the listener to the likes of free jazz, death ambient, drone, noise rock and other forms of experimental music. Acts like Anonymous Masturbaudioum, Dead Body Collection, Dosis Letalis, RRR, Body Stress, Gyakusatsu, Black Leather Jesus are among the star victims of this beast of a label! So how in the hell do you continue with a noise-label like this for 13 years?. I had to track down Johan… if we are lucky we might get to the bottom of this.
Q: First of all, why and how did the label come to be in 2005?
There were tons of Black Metal labels popping up around me in Sweden at that time, as well as in Scandinavia, and they were all claiming they had the most extreme music. Having listened to Death to Whitehouse and Masonna, I considered them to be wrong. And I wanted a label that would prove them wrong.
In one way, I guess I had an optimistic thought that I could start a label that was broad in a sense, and not genre based (even though it might seem like it is now, but that’s by “accident”) but touched on aspects that were important to me regarding music; it would be dark, experimental, weird, abstract, violent, extreme but never genre-based. Which is why the back catalog is so diverse. The last couple of years have been quite narrow in that aspect, but I could release a post-hardcore tape tomorrow, or another free jazz tape. And that’s what’s important.
I guess I managed in some sense of the word since I still haven’t gone under and I’m still selling tapes. But the vision of being able to make any kind of profit disappeared during the first 3 days after I started it, haha. I actually borrowed money to buy a computer, a printer, a domain and to cover the costs for the first four releases. That’s how it started. Stubbornness and borrowed money.
Q: Whatever inspired you to walk this path
of noise/experimental music?
My first experience with “experimental” music was Nick Cave’s “From Her To Eternity” when I was 13 (And it’s still the best album ever recorded. Period.), and through Nick Cave I discovered Einstürzende Neubauten, Lydia Lunch, and Foetus, and at 14 I was listening to The Locust, Black Metal at 15 led me into dark ambient, and when I was 16 I discovered Whitehouse, Masonna, Mz.412, and Merzbow. I realized this was so much more interesting to me than anything I had ever come across before. I won’t lie, the sonic violence and brutality were definitely what got me hooked at first. The appreciation of sound manipulation, the musicality, and composition in it came later. In my opinion, no metal riff can ever match a furious harsh noise piece, it doesn’t matter if you can bang your head to the former.
Q: Any noise-scene in Sweden as we speak?
Yes and no, I guess.
There are a lot of active noise/musique-concrete/electro-acoustic/drone artists, a lot of experimental artists working with found objects, tape loops and generators of different kinds, but I wouldn’t really call it a scene. And a lot of the time I would rather call it art, not noise. But I also feel that’s the direction Sweden has taken the last couple of years. Moved away from the harsh and (d)evolved into art. There things happening here and there of course, but I’d say that my kind of noise (Black Leather Jesus, Body Stress, Mademoiselle Bistouri, old Sewer Election, especially on Sex/Death and the “Killing For...” tapes) is more or less non-existing these days.
Q: How do you find the spare-time in nurturing
this highly productive label?
I don’t, haha. It’s a constant war of priorities. I would need another 5-6 hour to the day to feel I had the time I need, every day
My tape deck is recording all waking hours when I’m at home. I fold/cut covers after putting my kids to bed in the evening.
But the very large selection of great, active labels, artist self-releasing stuff, and the high productiveness in the Harsh Noise/ Wall scene, in relation to the relatively small number of customers, makes it unnecessary and dumb to make large editions these days. So smaller editions make it a quicker process. If I don’t come up with the brilliant idea of making a 3xCassette release, like I’m doing now, a 3xC60, and soon I’m starting on a 3xC120. I dub every tape, one at a time, in real time, so I’ve spent quite a few hours dubbing tapes by now.
But that’s also a part of everything. Doing everything myself gives me total control. To cut or increase editions depending on situations or obstacles, to be able to switch out an A/B-side if the artist all of the sudden change his/her mind regarding a track, which has happened several times.
But I guess we can all agree on that I shouldn’t be able to do everything I do, but I manage to somehow. I guess I’m more obsessed than passionate these days. I can’t stop.
Q: The interest/scene in modern noise/experimental music, do you think that it will remain (as we speak) as an only-Internet-based isolated phenomenon? Or will we see a new tendency happening?
I would love to see a more offline based community, more live shows, a greater interest and more support. And of course more tape purchases and fewer downloads. But it takes time and effort and funding. And that we return to a mindset where we appreciate the physical and not constantly favoring the digital.
I organized showcase evenings for 3-4 years, but in my case, it ended with 5-9 people attending and it was basically the same artists performing every time because the selection wasn’t increasing.
There’s a major problem with everything getting expensive, the places are shutting down or being shut down. There’s nowhere to host events unless you can cough up a couple of hundred euros, or more.
Everything costs and since there’s no real community and no real interests, at least in my part of the world, I can’t do anything about it other than trying to apply for grants and hosting a massive harsh noise/wall fest myself. More DIY stuff is happening down in Europe, but they also have the same problem, no funds to invite artists from abroad.
Q: What will be the next new thing after noise-wall?
I don’t know! I mean we already have drone noise wall and ambient noise wall, “lower case wall”, minimalistic walls, subtle crackles. As far as the wall goes, I guess it’s up to us active artists to keep it interesting and keep pushing ourselves to perfect our respective crafts.
As for what could be the next thing, I don’t know. I’m one of those people who’d rather slap on an adjective in front of an existing genre (minimalistic harsh noise wall, raw black metal) than coming up with an entirely new sub-genres. Most, if not all, have been done already, it’s all about taking something old, slapping on a new costume and try and make it interesting again. Make it authentic, be real, honest, and don’t try to be someone else. Find your own way of doing things.
But I highly doubt that HNW would have a greater “scene/community” than “regular” harsh noise or power electronics, but since I’ve surrounded myself with wall-people the last couple of years, of course, HNW is what’s mostly the topic of every day. And I know a lot of artists/labels have started taking an interest in electronic music with beats, but that’s not my thing at all.
I’ll just do what I do, and have done for the last 13 years, I’ll release what I think is great stuff. And if nothing serious happens, I guess I’ll still be here in 30-40 years. Still the obsessed idiot dubbing harsh noise tapes in real time in editions of 20 or so.
Q: What other cool labels/artists should the noise-consumers of cassette-culture be looking for?
Oh, there are many! But I’ll pick some of those closest to me, both labels and artists:
Labels:
Altar of Waste, Supreme Final Ecstasy, Marbre Negre, Craneal Fracture, Reason Art Records, AAAHNW, Lost Light Records, Fall Into Void, Fusty Cunt, and many more. Find an artist you like, check where he/she has released stuff earlier, look into the label's catalogue, there are tons to discover!
Artists:
Anonymous Masturbaudioum, Chier, She Walks Crooked, Naughty, Michelle, Big Hole, Mademoiselle Bistouri, Uitgeschakeld, Masturbatory Dysfunction, Caligula031, Koufar, Moisture Discipline, Gyakusatsu, Flesh Vomit. Shit. Listen to every artist I’ve released and listen to everyone I haven’t yet but going to!
Q: Any upcoming releases from your label
we should have our focus on?
I have 5 3xCassette boxes planned and a 5xC55 box, but those are just the big ones, I have single tape releases that will also kick ass.
Expect things from Chier, Condo Horro, Shurayuki-Hime, Cory Strand, Sergey Pakhomov, some JSH/Rien tapes for the upcoming gigs in Barcelona/Paris, as well as JSH shirts and Ominous shirts.
Q: Any last words?
Support the scene by supporting the labels! We need you to keep this going!
And thanks for taking an interest in my label!
Bandcamp:
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