Jugendwerkhof - Leibinfamie
Something new to review on Kalteldur, and something from a newly discovered label as well. That is not only 2 things why this is new, harsh noise is a genre/style which I rarely review on Kalteldur... so this one is maybe the first time (maybe second or third, can't remember) that I get to review harsh noise. This time we are dealing with an act from Berlin called Jugendwerkhof, which has been operating since 2018. Highly productive so far, and having most of the releases released via their own DIJ-label called Low Life High Volume. This one album called Leibinfamie came out this year and has been made as a beautiful physical release. Handpainted hard-paper sleeves with a lovely (and informative) paper slip around it (chk photo below). Previously unreleased live remastered studio-album. 4 tracks, 27 minutes in total.
Leibenfamie I kicks the album into full-motion. Sound of devastating and grinding metallic scrap, machines going completely bananas just everything sounds like a huge machine ready to blow up!. Imagine a tank-engine in high speed, everything throttles, and everything breaks into splinters.
Leibenfamie II sounds more like the breaks trying to slow down the tank-engine. This track gives me a feeling of someone... wielding metal-pieces together while someone is trying to sawblade metal pieces apart, just with added microphones up close... very close. A more "gentle" track than the first one with more space in it. Gives the album a lovely diversity so far. Lovely chaotic and warped human-screams (I think!) in the background as well.
Leibenfamie III doesn´t add a single second for either relaxation or to catch your breath. At this moment (while listening) I sense a certain sensation of... overexcitement? There is a huge surge of energy going on in here, and it's all streaming out of my speakers (as e speak!). A lovely highspeed aggression going on, and a brutal multilayered collage of sheer metallic-brutalism in sound.
Leibenfamie IV starts with a scraping machine-scream and forced distorted heaviness. Almost like a fusion between HNW and regular harsh-noise going on in here. Spacy and psychedelic harsh-noise, almost a bit like Merzbow´s classic Space Metalizer album from 1997! Do like all the sound-layers going on in here. Very... multidimensional scrapyard kind of an experience.
I am not much for harsh noise as such, but I do like this album. It´s aggressive but... you can actually chill-out to it if you wish. It´s brutal and raw, but still VERY spacious and abstract. It´s planned and almost organized but still manages to give you that free-styled chaotic element. As you can understand by my writings, this album can be used in lots of different ways... really it boils down to what sort of mood you are in at that giving time. A perfect place to start if you wanna get into this act!
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