Thirdorgan - Thirdorgan

Thirdorgan by...Thirdorgan. A new release from a veteran in japannoise! Started back in 1993, with over 60 albums released! All out on various (and noisy) cult labels. Of course, most of them are sought out rarities. This new has been released by a new and cool label called Abhorrent Creation Tapes. Based  in Noyelles Godault in France. I will review further releases from this excellent label, which so far has showcased an interest in japanoise. This one has come out as a limited 350 copies pro-CD, a cool white cover in a simply and good-old-fashioned jewel case. Love the cover artwork, once in a while a screaming white cover with black letters on it just does the trick. Beatles did it with the White Album, and Throbbing Gristle did it with their Second Annual Report as well. Kind of makes you ask a question (or two) what does this white and simple-looking album actually hides? The track has 6 untitled tracks on it, 60+ minutes in total. 

The first track sounds like a digital ghost trying to invade your television set. A mesh of various digital chopped-up liquid sounds pounds up and down while traveling between your speakers. It can also sound like a HUGE arcade hall with over 100 16-bit games, suffering from electronic glitches and power surges. It sounds INCREDIBLE, really does. Reminds me of a bit of the Gantz Graf release by Autechre, just way more complex and aggressive. Good to hear that new ideas for noise music are being developed, this is indeed a new sound we are dealing with here. Remember the digital sounds from the bad guy who was put inside a killer robot in Robocop 2?!...

The second track has a more organic, fluid, and heavily echoed sort of sound. Love the way the sounds... fucks up the mind ( in a good way ). There are people who love splatter effects in gory horror flicks, and there are those who love sound effects on albums like this... it´s absolutely filled with it so far. Incredible how so much action of sound there is on this! Really hard to describe, but good... really good!

The third track goes back to those mutated retro-gaming sounds. Lazer sounds, hints of 8-bit NES melodies, clicks... and cuts, 3d space invaders in virtual reality, and all that. Not only am I a lover of noisy stuff, but also a retro-gaming lover... so of course I bloody love this!                     

Jumping further to the sixth track (the last track on the album). Which is also the most distorted and noisy one. Imagine how all of these sounds would sound if they all... were spewed out of a steel pipeline. That´s exactly how this track works, kind of an outro for whatever you have just been through.

Thirdorgan by Thirdorgan is one bloody masterpiece and a unique one as well. Is it actually japanoise, or is it japanbitnoise?  Again, we might be dealing with a new sound here. When you are just fed up with the constant stream of information being flooded in your brain (on a daily basis), this album should do the trick to reset that digital-fxxxxx-up brain of yours. I want more of this... please!. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://abhorrentcreationtapes.bandcamp.com/album/thirdorgan-st

Bandcamp (band):

https://thirdorgan.bandcamp.com/

 Neolithic Nation - Atavism

Another new act has had its debut out on Steinklang. Includes members from various Russian noise/power-electronics acts. It came out last year on a beautiful and limited digipack (100 copies). The band is called Neolithic Nation and the album is named Atavism. Neolithic means the age after the stone-age era, and Atavism is all about what we have genetically gained (or lost) through the various stages of our biological evolution. Quite a heavy theme right? Makes me think of Devo´s idea of D-Evolution something... whatever... Let´s get on with it now!.

The first track on the album is called Die Neu Zeit. The intro includes merry martial background music from the old days and the sound of whimpering dogs/wolves. All of this ends with a blast, and the power-electronics machine starts at this point. A lovely chunky and rhythmic noise sound, Grey-Wolves´ish vocals in German, and various distorted machine sound blend in very nicely.  

In the second track Materia I, we´re back to a basic and back-to-traditions industrial sound. Early Test Dept or Z´ev kind of. Rumbling and bashing industrial sounds of steel and machinery. 

The third track Spirit of Titanism has a really good intro. A cool and evil-sounding synth sound that pulsates and runs through your speaker like tiny waves of distorted sound. Some cool sounding and distorted spoken words here and there as well. Lots of stuff going on in the background, and lots of flesh on the soundscape here. 

The fourth track is... (surprise!) Materia II. Again, sort of old-school industrial mood vibe going on. Takes me back to SPK... you know. Evil hospital with evil doctors and so on. The cool soundtrack feels, I wouldn't mind if the track was a bit longer. 

The fifth track Flames Of Our Will is a basic (and modern) power-electronics thing with all the workings you might expect. Genocide Organ fans could dig this. It really helps with the field recordings going on, and puts extra flavor to it. 

I will jump over the materia track, and then further to the seventh track called Rabies. Death-industrial moods start the track. A thumping and slow track with a lot of heavy atmospheres attached to it.  Almost depressing and doom-laden piece. So far the best track on the album I think. Most unique if you ask me. 

The last track on the album which I will review would be the last track, simply called Atavus. The minimalistic dark ambiance and eerie sounding breathing sounds. The sounds and the mood jumps between your speakers. A very good ritualistic industrial track, not far from the likes of MZ.412 or Valefor.  

I can feel that a decent amount of work has been poured into this album. There are some good moments, and there are some bad moments. The bad moments would be the ones where you are thinking (as an old power-electronics/industrial nerd ) ´Ok... I have actually heard this before so why listen?´. A bit more of the think-new idea would/could help in this matter. The vocals would be a good example, the same kind of Grey Wolves/Genocide-Organ vocals of course. When so many have done it, it gets a bit boring in the end.   

The good thing about the album is moments when they do try to think about new ideas. I love the field recordings, and some of the distorted sounds are great too. Not to mention the overall quality of the sound recorded, which is done really good. But I would say, it´s a good and decent place to start for a new power-electronics fan. But for an old one?... 

Bandcamp (label):

https://steinklangindustries.bandcamp.com/album/neolithic-nation-atavism-2021

 

 Pete Swinton - Dronebience Vol.1

Ok, let us be honest. I didn´t know who Pete Swinton was. For some reason ( or another ) I took him as another one of those... highly-productive noise artists. I don´t know if it was the cover artwork itself, or just the color of his Bandcamp site. But then I took a look at his portrait photo, and then I got intrigued. A mysterious elderly chap with an almost kind of... Irish elf looks at him. It raised my curiosity, so I began surfing through his numerous Bandcamp releases. 

I loved the cover artwork for the Dronebience Vol.1, and I loved the first 10 seconds of the first track as well. So that is how I picked this one out. The photo of Pete Swinton and those first 10 seconds of Droncebience just made sense, we´re actually dealing with someone who... puts drops of hints of his soul here and there... within the recordings itself. He is a hidden treasure, what can I say?. 

The whole thing has been recorded (and made) this year, in Indonesia. 12 tracks, about 60 minutes total in length. Only available by digital means via Pete Swinton's official Bandcamp site (Link Below).

The first track B5 - One. Includes humming machine drones and dreamy synths. Floating over the city in Blade Runner. Very hypnotizing and seductive at the same time, and the sound quality is great. 

The second track B5 - Two continues the humming sensation, just not as heavy as the former track. The levitating sensation is more obvious here. I love the way how things are in the background, almost sounds like some sort of church organ. Time is slowing down at this moment... I mean really!.

The third track Drone One, makes you think of the cover artwork. Something being abandoned, and being left to its own device. Notice how the tree grows through the car itself, then try to imagine how much time a thing like that would require. The drone´ish church-like organs continue here with some excellent static drones. Exquisite material here kids!. So far, the drones are living and breathing things of sound. Not as static as you can imagine! 

Drone Two being the fourth track, makes me think of Boards of Canada. A semi-high pitched drone of melancholic and nostalgic attributes is there, with some interesting ritualistic undercurrents in there as well. So far I am in bloody heaven. Feels as if someone is opening a door to their world, and you can enter without any form of payment. It feels real and very sincere from the artist himself... so far. 

The fifth track is called Unruly Strings. Heavenly droned and multi-layered string sounds and angelic moods. Kind of reminds me of Swans in a way, one of those "pleasant" drone pieces from their Soundtracks of the Blind era. 

Ambient 3 is the sixth track, a track that enters a more kind of mellow sound. A multi-layered looped and reverbed synth-wall, with some stuff happening behind it... if you dare crawl up the wall and look what there is behind it. ´Endless shores and green pastures... as far as the eye can see.´ One point to Gandalf!

Ambient 4 reminds me of old-fashioned telephones, when you picked up the receiver and put it to your ear... it just gives you that one specific sound. Then try to imagine that sound through your stereo! Pleasant static stuff, an ambient wall without noise here! 

The eight-track The Spectral Gate sounds like something from an older episode of Doctor Who. The track works like a gate, with a gatekeeper asking ´Are you willing to go no?´... And the answer to that question would be...´Offcours I bloody will!.´ 

The ninth track is Dreamscape One. Imagine a deep cave with crystals, and then imagine how the moment of the earth would affect those crystals, in the sound which they would produce. Still good ambient music!

Droneambience Two starts with a humming sound from outer space. Love the metallic (and hidden) reverbed sounds in there as well. Very kind of early Klaus Schulze here, heavy cosmic stuff going on here.

The eleventh track Nightmare one... works as a sort of... parallel universe to the former track. Heavier drone to start with, eerie glitchy sounds some synth sounds. Weird and metallic sounds from a alien world creep in... and start repeating themselves. Not actually the journey which a certain character made in Lovecraft´s ´Whisperer In The Darkness, but more of a journey to another world that started as a nightmare but... ended as something quite else. Very surreal kind of adventurous track here kids. 

The very last track is simply called Dronebience (1). A flanged and psychedelic intro with some highly echoed sounds in there as well. Still maintaining the sound (and aesthetic) that we have already heard on the first track! Again, Pete manages to make the sounds sound like something which is living and breathing. It does sound sincere, no doubt about it. 

Dronebience Vol.1 might just be another indie-ambient album. But we´re still dealing with someone who does something extra to the ambient style, and that is the ability to reach beyond. Pete Swinton is an astronaut, who does have a desire to reach beyond... and he pulls it off... totally with Dronebience Vol.1. Need to drop in and drop out, do it with the company with Pete!

Bandcamp (band):

https://peteswinton.bandcamp.com/album/dronebience-vol-1

 

 

  

     

 Black Leather Jesus - A.N.T.I.

A new bunch of releases to review from one of my favorite noise labels, Swedish Ominous Recordings (based in Stockholm). The first one I will sink my teeth into is actually a re-issue, not many of those these days. We´re talking about the early days of Black Leather Jesus, and one of those early releases was the A.N.T.I. album which was originally released on tape back in 1993 on Richard Ramirez's own label Deadline Recordings. Now re-released in a 200-copy CD edition, in a nifty-looking blackened digipack. Interesting and historic liner-notes by Sam Mckinlay (from The Rita) and remastered by Grant Richardson (from Gnawed and Atrox Pestis). The entire album contains one track, almost 60 minutes long. I actually do think that we (just might) be dealing with one of the first releases to explore that sound... which we today have chosen to call harsh-noise-wall. This release was made in 1993, and the first Rita album was released in 1998.

The whole thing starts with a textured crackle, and another crackle follows, and then... time simply stops. Imagine yourself on one of those big rollercoaster rides, and all of a sudden it goes so fast that you´ll forget the concept of time entirely. Kind of the same way this thing works. It´s a pretty thick bass-driven thing, and a hard and static density of distorted sound is guaranteed. I will recommend listening to the album on your stereo, then on your Compact-Disc player! I did that once, and my inner ear just kept... well... thumping and vibrating. 

To many, recordings like these can seem kind of... beyond fucked? BUT, if one does give it time and some thought one will actually find a treasure chest at the end of the rainbow. There are dynamics within, and the is variation in the sound as well. I find the whole album thoroughly enjoyable, recommended listening after a stressful day for sure!.   

To end it all up...   A strangely comforting beast of sheer brutality, perfect background noise for obsessive minds... and perfect textured sound-recording for a decent power nap. Keep it simple, less is more and all that. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://ominousrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/a-n-t-i