Grodock - Fluchtimpuls

Fluchtimpuls by Grodock, solo-act which hides a David Leutkart. Is an artist which has worked in experimental drone/ambient music since 2012. Most of his releases have been released via his own label called Grubenwehr Freiburg (Bandcamp link below). They describe their interesting label like this:

DIY-Label for Audio Recordings in the field of Noise, Fringe, Core, Musique d'ameublement, and musikalische Lebenshilfe. We are concerned about taste.

This one is the latest release with his project Grodock, and it´s called Fluchtimpuls (Escape Impulse in English). Released on Marbre Negre as a limited 20 copies cassette. 

The first track is called Wehrhaft, a track that features a Felix Mayer. The whole track is very... musique concrete´ish. It sounds like a recorded art performance in some cellar room. Wet sounds dripping, echoed microphone scratchings, the sound of someone putting on latex gloves, metallic rumblings. The sound acoustics are incredible here! Superb recorded if you ask me, my room was transported somewhere else! 

The second track Wechselbad is an incredible jaw-dropping piece of melancholic ritualistic drone-ambiance. Ever heard Italian I Burn? Kind of like that. Dreamy, mesmerizing, swirling, weightless stuff. Giving room for deep and aesthetic thoughts here. 

With the Third track Exekution, it gets a bit noisier. A distorted windy drone and ritualistic beatings. Excellent cruel and evil-sounding track. Getting back to that classic sound of MZ.412!

The track stops and enters the fourth track Offenes Fenster Bei Nacht II. A track that reminds you a bit of the first haunted-cellar-of-factory-sound. Love the adventurous sound diversity so far!

The fifth track Äuglein Zu (Close your eyes) heads straight into pure ritual cult music. Strange and looped chanting voices, someone singing something eerie in German, mechanized droning noises and throbbing distortions. Wonderfull when noise and ritual music can go hand in hand!

On the sixth track, Absatz gets into something else. Echoed clicks and looped hissing noise. Sounds like the sort of noise you get the minute you press play on your cassette player, only this time the artist has managed to create a rhythm out of it. Fxxxxxx love it, a lovely thing after the former track.

We turn the tape and continue on the B-side with the track called Keim. A track that returns to the chanting ritual sound-setting, chanting drones from a deep subterranean cavern. Lovely effects and lovely distortions. Lots of these tracks have a live-recorded sort of feel.

The next track on the B-side Fütterung adds more noise into the cavern. Almost entering into a death-industrial sound here. Throbbing, flesh-grinding distortions and distant ritualistic moods in the background. Painful delight!  

And that is all I will reveal to you, there are 3 more tracks on the album... and they are worth it, just like the rest. Very unique sound/release with tons of diversity, love the feel that the artist behind this act isn't afraid of trying something new while at the same time maintaining the mood as well. There is ALOT of depth and personality encased in this one, it´s a world in itself. Very sincere and very real!

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/fluchtimpuls

Bandcamp (label):

https://grubenwehrfreiburg.bandcamp.com/

    

     

  

 Brandon Wald - Teuthis Galore - S/T

Not a new release from Black Ring, but a release nonetheless that I received with the post to review. It was released last summer, and offcourse... the cassette is offcourse sold out. It came out as 50 copies. Only one thing you can do, either purchase the digital version (Link below) or add it to your want list on your buyer's profile on Discogs, and then wait for someone to sell it. Apart from that, I love the cover artwork. It is always a good thing to see when power-electronics/noise acts try something else/new when it comes to the cover artwork. A circular framed picture showing someone wearing a priest collar, while having a piece of bone sticking out of the left eye socket. A very surreal and good illustration that u can look at while listening to whatever... is recorded on the tape. So let´s get on with it!. By the way, the A-side is with Brandon Wald and the B-side is with Teuthis Galore. 

The first track on the A-side called Pull the Rope Tight starts with a quick heart-beat pulse thumping, echoed-whispering, and cold spoken words/vocals, creepy reverbed metallic scratchings with a cool and subtle background in the background. More of an industrial track than a power-electronics one. Great first track so far, reminds me a bit of Illusion of Safety.

The second track called Cell Black D moves a bit closer to the power-electronics sound while maintaining the industrial aesthetic. Sound pitched drilling noises and metal-scrap bangings. Sounds like a harsh wake-up call for the sleeping prisoner-inmates.

The third track I Am A Cop moves straight into old-school power electronics (Whitehouse, Sutcliffe Jugend, Slogun). High pitched distortion and brutal and heavily reverbed vocals. A minimal and atmospheric piece of direct brutalism. There is more depth to this than I can describe here kids. Lovely live-recording feel here.  

The last and fourth track with Brandon Wald on the A-side is called Uniform Fetish. Think we might be dealing with power-hungry cops here! Starts with a rumbling sort of sound. The sort of sound u get when you put a mic inside a running washing machine... containing broken glass while someone is banging it at the same time! Aggressive soundscape with a harsh and chaotic approach.

We turn the tape to the B-side with Teuthis Galore. Only one and long track here (22:38), called Don´t You Want to Become a Cult Leader? The sound of a warped and scratchy vinyl player, bone narrowing distortions, sampled spoken words (Doctor/hospital something), and a hypnotizing sewer-like reverb noise in the background. Interesting sort of... clicking sounds going on as if someone is doing something close by. Industrial/ambient elements also being present as well. Halfway through a vacuum kind of sound sucks you in, drowns out the ambient elements. And then it dissolves into the sound of crispy bacon on a frying pan. At about 14:23, a kind of interesting and informative spoken word sample about being a cult leader goes on. It ends suddenly and dissolves into psychedelic aural noise. It throbs, it crawls, it jumps and vomits all the harsh noise obscenities at you until the very end. 

And the album ends. A split mini-cassette album that offers industrial sounds, harsh noise chaos, bewitching ambient textures, and pure power electronics brutalism. Lovely diversity of different moods. Not a groundbreaking piece, but an honest and lovely split between two diverse artists.   

Bandcamp (label):

https://blackringrituals.com/album/brandon-wald-teuthis-galore

Discogs (label):

https://www.discogs.com/Brandon-Wald-Teuthis-Galore-Brandon-Wald-Teuthis-Galore/release/15508517

   

 

Sokushinbutsu Project ‎– 即身仏

Industrial Ölocaust Recordings is out with a new and mysterious release+project called the Sokushinbutsu Project. The idea was born from an idea of Massimo Mascheroni and Enrico Ponzoni, and both members come from another highly productive and obscure industrial-noise act called ORDZ. The release is out on cassette and pro-CD-R, lovely textured paper being used here! 

So this idea/concept thing... what is it about then?. The booklet tells you the entire story/idea. Here goes : 

The term Sokushinbutsu refers to a Buddhist religious ritual practiced from the 12th century until the early 1990s by various Japanese monks who, through a long and painful mental, physical, and food preparation, culminated in death voluntarily predisposed their body to a process of self-mummification. The path of self-mummification in life through asceticism follows precise phases, lasting a thousand or more days each.

There you go! The process itself has 4 stages, and each track on this album represents those 4 stages. 

The first phase/track called Holy Mountains is about how the monk practices a series of mortifications on himself over a period of several years. He also progressively eliminates the basic foods of the Japanese diet. The track itself is built around some heavy distorted ceremoniously-looped sounds, various echoed sound effects randomly builts up a certain tension, waterdrops from a cave, ritualistic electronic rhythms. Interesting ritualistic noise with an esoteric psychedelic twist. So far so good, really good!

The second phase is called Tree-eating. Here the monk begins to eat, but not normal food. It involves the intake of bark, chestnuts, acorns, pine needles, and sometimes crystals or stones. At the end of this, the participant will take a toxic tea based on a poisonous plant, making him vomit pretty much. All this will eliminate all fat in the body while dehydrating the body and shrinking the organs. This track moves further into ritual music and away from the noise of the former track. A sampled and looped human voice can be heard here, at the same time a metallic-bell sound adds more mystery to the track. Windy and flanged sound effects move through your stomach while an eerie almost breathing sound can be felt...and heard. While you are trying to catch your breath, throbbing and torturous effects are added later on while intense and painful screaming makes your skin crawl. Again, another great track!

The third phase is simply called Deep Meditation. Which involves the monk returning to the temple of worship to meditate in the crypt below the temple. He is locked tight inside a dark room, where he will take his last breath through a tube that is inserted into a wall, he will do this while meditating in a lotus position. While this is happening, the monk will sound a bell to tell the other monks that he is not dead yet. When the bell is silenced, he will offcourse... be dead. Eerie and spooky noise-ambient music, which reminds me slightly of the early recordings with Ain Soph and Lyke Wake. Love the way distorted noise is being treated here, somehow they have managed to capture the mood and sound of someone literally trying to catch and hold their breath. Death is imminent and expressed in this track, there is no question about that!

The fourth and last phase is called Self-mummification. Which is after another 1000 days, the disciples of the temple will open the crypt. If the body is intact, the ascetic has become a mummy. He will then be perfumed and dressed in rich sacred vestments and enclosed in a tabernacle. HE is a sokushinbutsu, an Enlightened one in one´s living body. Or in other words, a higher being/living mummy existing somewhere between the realm of the living and the dead. This track involves a distorted sound that sounds like someone screaming in water, looped noises, psychedelic and metallic sound-textures, and a humming bass drone. Horrifying and seductive at the same time here! 

I am intaking a LOONG inhale of air here... while I scoop my hair back, and stretching my backside. That was a seriously heavy and deep treatment of the senses, and what an adventurous journey it was! There is no doubt that these guys knew which sounds to use to clearly illustrate the pain of performing this ancient ritual. It´s a scary album without a doubt, as scary as SPK´s classic Leichenshrei album! Intense beyond reason!...

Label (official):

https://cardinium.com/

Label (Facebook):

https://www.facebook.com/iorecs

       

 Sebby Kowal - Aqua

A new release from one of my favorite ambient-drone labels Elm Records. Sebby Kowal is a new solo act with one former debut called Bright Spaces out on Élan Vital Recordings (this year!). It is also an alias of an ambient producer from Cleveland named Sebastian Paul, who has had several digital and physical CD releases (check Discogs link below!). This album called Aqua was released on the 7th of May, and the material was recorded between 2020-2021. A 35 minutes ambient adventure, with a recognizable and beautiful design done by the chairman of the label James Osland. 

The first track is simply called Air. It feels and sounds like air, something which surrounds you and... enters you when you breathe. A STUNNING dub-techno-inspired ambient/drone-sound without any rhythms. Not that far away from the icy and melancholic-soundscapes with Norwegian-based Biosphere. A constant and static-dynamic sensation of sound!... I mean really!. There is an interesting dropping sound, can´t figure out if it is microscopic dust being registered by a record player (in slow-motion), or just... drops falling gently down and hitting the windowpane. Sounds incredibly good.

 

The second track Aqua starts with an underwater scenario offcourse. Sounds move slowly while movement and bubbles in the water can be heard, something being submerged. Sounds like deep waters, looking down and seeing no bottom. Lovely haunting and humming drones going on here. I am feeling a sensation of being stretched here. Very nice!

The third track Horizon, a very subtle and epic piece. Like a far-away horizon being hidden by a dense fog. The recorded sound moves like a circle in my basement room as we speak! Almost forgetting to breathe here.

The fourth track The Next Time welcomes contains a hint of a synth-based melody. Tiny drops being registered, with the sound of a microphone recording microscopic textured movement. Utter chilled.

The fifth track Happiness has that sort of ... uplifting elevator sensation/sound. Something is moving, and it's moving up. Interesting rumbling metallic sounds in the deep, which could be the sound of an old elevator moving? 

The sixth track Frozen Silk moves further into microscopic sensations when time suddenly stops. That certain (and rare) moment where you can feel a dust particle touching your skin, nothing is happening and it is pleasant...very pleasant!. A very sort of... frozen winter feel here, the sun is up in the sky while everything is frozen and the sound moves in the air in a peculiar way.

The seventh track You´re the Best (well thank you!) lets the listener chill under an old bridge (out in the wild). The sound of the river, humming drones like bees... hints of birds chirping and ghostly human activity also being present in the mix. Lovely uplifting and mysterious track here. 

The eighth and last track on the album called Amongst the River, a drone-pumping melancholic sound drowning the last pieces of your mind into sweet sweet sedation. Some kind of river foal squeaks, and Blackbirds as well ( think). 

And that ends the album. A really woawww experience the whole bloody way through. The sounds move you up, surround you in circles, submerges you, levitate you, bring you down, chills you. All that is nicely being put into 35 minutes, which is... ALMOST as long as a lunch break. Take a break, and listen to this!

Bandcamp (label):

https://elmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sebby-kowal-aqua

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/8647653-Sebby-Kowal

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/SebbyKowalambient

 

        

 Signatus - Injusta Penitencia

An obscure harsh-noise/HNW inspired project with its second release out on Marbre Negre, and the first one for Kalteldur to review. Limited to only 15 cassette copies, a 25 minutes noise delight on each side. This means that the 25 minutes recording IS on each side, which then means that IF you have one of those tape players which automatically flips the side... then you can have an endless stream of primal cassette energy.

What does the band name mean then?. It means marked, sealed, or just something which has been signed. And Injusta Penitencia means Unjust Penance, which then means that you have by unjust means received punishment for being a sinner. This then takes us back to charmers like Matthew Hopkins the Witchfinder General, the Spanish inquisition, the Crusades, etc. The cover artwork shows you animal skulls, and one being penetrated by a curious sort of sword/dagger. Has a slightly anti-christian feel to it so far. Let´s get on with the recorded material, shall we?

The first track Falcata (name of a Roman sort of sword, notice the cover-artwork!). A raw and distorted sort of human-breathing sound, slightly metallic in its sound. Maybe the sound of a Falcata being sharpened before going to war. This get´s replaced and mixed with disturbing high-pitched squeals. Unpleasant intro for a brutal release/concept so far!

The second track Ídolos De Hueso Y Altares de Carne continues the high-pitched sounds with a thumping mixture of sounds trying to squeeze itself through the recording. Feels like your eardrums are being chopped up in small pieces. Interesting sort of real-time recordings going on in the background, some sort of microphone being scraped on something... Lovely screaming ending here kids. 

The third track Revalación Bajo El Monolito introduces noises not far from the sort of high-speed noise coming from a manipulated short-wave radio. Love the bass-rumbling going on in the bottom.

The fourth track Pozo De Serpientes starts with a mechanical scream... which continues and continues until it completely explodes into a static noise wall. The background sounds like one of those glass-bottle factories. Could really feel my ears on this track!

The fifth track Eterna Devosión A La Nimfa Estigia continues the noise-brutalism with a more compact sound than the former. Putting a microphone inside the head of someone being tortured for being a sinner, could sound like this. A longer and more varied track here. 

The sixth track Camino De La Injusta Penitencia starts the track in the realm of noisy ritual-music? So far the most interesting track on the album, offering mood and noise at the same time which then gives the track... a conceptual aesthetic. At this moment I couldn´t help thinking if this album would be in the same style as this track... then... 

The seventh track Ungido Por Los Cuervos De La Guerra returns to the noise-wall/harsh-noise treatment with dynamic chaotic elements. If you do ask me, if you intend on doing noise then don´t forget these two words: Dynamics and mood. This track balances both dynamics and mood, the mood before action right? Also the longest piece on the album here!

The eight-track Más Carroña Para Los Lobos... is short and brutal HNW with an ear-damaging end.

Last track Netón Escupe Sobre Vuestros Cadáveres is the albums last attempt at damaging your hearing. I am not hearing it on high-volume kids! Not a directly aggressive piece, but a constant and torturous piece of nerve-griding sound-treatment from hell. 

And that ends our final lesson in religious sound torture people. If you ask me, I can still feel and hear the album in my ears, a good thing or a bad thing?... I don´t know! It´s not a ground-breaking kind of a release, the storytelling conceptual theme is rather hard to hear. The one good thing (or two) I have to say about it, is that It contains a mood/feel combined with relentless noise brutality. It could leave you deaf if you are hearing it too loud!

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/injusta-penitencia