Exploring the audible outer realms of outsider electronics since 2016.
tirsdag den 19. september 2023
Elena M. Rosa Lavita - Dismembering a Dead Swan[Still Death]
A new concept album released by Industrial Ölocaust Recordings. A Elena M. Rosa Levita from Italian, a visual artist and bassist by trade. Have released a handful of releases on various labels... HGM, Luce Sia, Toten Schwan. I have reviewed some departures from the record label HGM (so there is a connection there), and this time her latest release is on a label which I have done a lot of reviews for. Industrial Ölocaust Recordings have always had a good ear for esoteric aesthetic mystical stuff, so I am looking forward to reviewing this.
The album has been released in a CD-jewel case format, and a lovely thick booklet and some great-looking graphics come with it. As I mentioned earlier, this is a concept-driven album. An experimental interpretation of Tjajkovskij´s olden-goldie Swan Lake, which many of us think of as being the immortal theme for Dracula, used for the first time in the classic black-and-white Bela Lugosi´s version from 1931. 6 tracks, 36 minutes all on a great-looking black CD.
The first track The Beak already enters that well-known creepiness that early gothic-horror flicks contained. Minimalistic, atmospheric, stark, and very immersive. The sound of an accordion, bass, various bells, and some finger-nail scraping sound. Perfect gothic-horror sound.
The second track The Eye. Sounds like the bass is being played like a violin, or is it a manipulated viola? Sounds great, the sound makes me think of the gothic post-punk band Bauhaus... in some way. You can still sense the idea of vampires crawling up church walls. Good use of creepy and subtle reversed sounds here.
The third track The Heart offers layered grinding nails on rusty steel bars. Still contains the cool and simple bass and the additional sounds of ritualistic moods.
The fourth track The Feathers, you get the sound of... sandpaper on cement (sort of sound), thumping sounds, and the nails on the steely bass strings. A lovely organic feel to the album so far, with sound quality being top-of-the-line.
The fifth track The Wing mostly contains shimmering ambient-bell sounds and bass. It still follows that excellent sound aesthetic. There is a strangely disturbing vibe to this track, the subtle gentleness keeps my nerves awake!
The sixth (and last track) The Death. Another example of how home-recorded sounds can be used in a pure soundscape. Love the skeletal sound-feel here. Wandering inside home huge haunted house, and all the tiny sounds are caught by your ear.
Exellent mini-album by Elena M. Rosa Lavita! One of those albums that you (almost) can listen to nearly every day. A worthy tribute to early gothic horror. There isn´t much I can compare it with, I guess I could mention some of the early (and ritualistic) tracks by Psychic TV or Coil. I don´t have anything bad to say about the album, only that it´s good all the way through. It´s a downside that the same sounds are being used, but then again it´s part of the concept. And the concept (of sound) works! Very good album here!
Yes, the first interview since.... like forever. It´s hard to follow up on an interview with the request for reviews, and releases are flooding my physical and digital mailbox. Although at other times I do get a chance to interview someone, and in this case, it caught my attention... pretty much I do say! We are talking about a truly legendary and veteran act of industrial music on American soil, Illusion of Safety.
I must admit, I do not know much about Illusion of Safety, although I do have 6 of their albums. I do know that the act is one of those that you just keep returning to... because the recorded material is just something that you don't get to understand that quickly. But the mystery and the otherworldly darkness of their sound have always charmed me. Any fan of old-school industrial (Industrial Records) will immediately get into Illusion of Safety, that I can guarantee. However, describing the Illusion of Safety solely as an industrial act would again be a long stretch. In much the same way as acts like Nocturnal Emissions or say Controlled Bleeding, Illusion of Safety gets around various styles of experimental moods with every album released. At times they do music concrete, illbient, electro, field recordings, and very eerie sampled cut-up sound collages.
Without that knowledge about the band, the WWW was able to provide me with some additional information. Here goes:
Illusion Of Safety started around 1983, inspired by witnessing the final two live performances in the U.S. with Throbbing Gristle. The act was (and is still) spearheaded by Daniel Burke, and since then he has worked with a lot of different artists/people. They have had releases on such cult labels as Soleilmoon, Tesco, Staalplaat, and Old Europa Cafe (just to name a few!). The act is still active, and still releasing albums! Which of course ( kind of ) makes them one of the oldest U.S-based post-industrial acts around! I managed to locate the headmaster (Daniel Burke), and prepared some questions for this interview... so here goes!.
1) When you started IOS, what made you start the act in the first place, and what motivated/inspired you back then?
Originally the impetus to make the band happen was seeing the (original) final 2 Throbbing Gristle performances in 1981. They even sent out a postcard to all on their mailing list: The Mission IS Terminated. I already had some desires to do something with sound & music but seeing them live flipped the switch. I really wanted to play with that kind of provocative sound, Imagery, and ideas. The power of volume and the techniques I saw resonated with me, and probably already having misanthropic iconoclastic tendencies was fueled by their fire. Recently I recalled that seeing 2001 A Space Odyssey when it came out at the theatre was probably my earliest formative art experience. The soundtrack, that imagery, that kind of internal/external psychology, and ambiguous storytelling altered my orbit early. Play has always inspired me, and I try to keep that at the heart of my music-making, Playing with powerful sounds and images was a way to satisfy some deep desires and also to provoke which was quite a necessity back then, still present but less so now, thankfully.
2) Are there elements of criticism of society within the sound of IOS, and if so in what way?
For sure, criticism of society, civilization, institutions, expectations, norms, humanity, you name it, we probably had something to say about it if not explicitly, then implied. In the images, the texts, and the titles, I love to play with words. To imply something without completely spelling it out is always the best way to instigate thought. I probably have spelled things out a little too explicitly at times. Always having a questioning nature, part of my goal in every artistic endeavor has usually been to provoke others to question the things that should be questioned; following rules, accepting authority, believing what you are told. I loved being an Iconoclast! Illusion of Safety Now More Than Ever.. pretty timely or has it always been?
3) Your sound has always had a kind of movie-based soundtrack to it. Do you feel that this approach is more convincing than a lyrical one?
I was always a loner, never got along well in groups, & was never a good communicator with words, It's always been easier to express myself visually or then later sonically. There have been some IOS pieces with spoken text but very few with lyrics as it were, I have never been comfortable with that. I am getting more comfortable with that now that I am making music outside of the context of IOS, actual songs, but that's a new and different story. With IOS it just wasn’t appropriate for me to try to express myself with words, implied meaning and power through sonic or visual imagery is a better way to express in the kind of way that I could. Originally I was calling our output Music Without A Film and I am returning to that organizing principle more and more, bringing back at least the sound of what the project name has always signified for me: long-form immersion into dark internal psychological soundtracks, encompassing and playing with events in large spaces, loops, shortwaves, ominous synthesizer waves, controlled feedback, traditional instruments used in unconventional ways, and undefinable cryptic voices. The emphasis on play I like to stress because it has always been present despite my serious nature. These sounds, words, & ideas are fun to play with and I try to enjoy the moment in every session or performance. I would actually love to make soundtracks for films, especially for Chris Nolan. The best I can do now is the video work making small films for our soundtracks. I have been posting the old videos no one has seen since live shows in the mid-90s on our YouTube channel as well as new ones. Collage is at the heart of what I have been doing as IOS all these years, A love for DADA is a major influence on the content conceptually, sonically, and visually. I have been using Final Cut Pro and other software doing new video work making these small films as I can and releasing one new or old piece a month.
4) Can you name your best live performance, and explain why?.
For best performance maybe the show set up by Doug Kaplan/Hausu Mountain with Good Willsmith opening set for Negativland at Empty Bottle Chicago 8/25/2013. I played as I usually like to in front of the PA on the floor so I could experience the sound, power, & volume myself. I usually request a loud level from the soundman and use that as I can. Sometimes the output is very quiet and subtle other times pushed to the limit. In that show I hit the standing wave in the room, very powerful as that P.A. is pretty great & the performance itself felt very good, was coherent, and held a good narrative.
Many times over the years (in my solo shows and recorded work) my tendency to shift things quickly has been too much, I think it works sometimes, but not always. It indeed lost a bunch of people who would have preferred the long-form drone and a scrap of the early days. I can’t say I blame them, that early stuff sounds really good to me now (Cancer, Of & The, More Violence and Geography, the early cassettes). I try to make every piece, album, & performance some kind of internal personal barely detectable narrative for the listener (which includes me), and the last few releases (Same Game, New Rules, Less, Instruction, & Organ Choir Drone, + Frontal) reflect that as well as a return to the earlier more soundtrack like forms.
Another good one was the Rennes, France solo show, 1997 no other performers, as was usual in France the audience was VERY enthusiastic and appreciative. I played a long set as I like to do when there is no other performers or the circumstance is right. Maybe 90 minutes, and they still wanted more, which I was happy to provide. I love to perform live and connect with people in that way (nonverbal). This music has been therapeutic for me and others, and I think of the opportunity to perform as an honor to connect and provide something useful. And if traveling to a remote location to perform rarely why not give whatever is possible? I would love to do live performance sound installation for the right event. Kevin Drumm and I played a stream from The Lab Chicago in the late 90s that was 3 hours, we had no idea.
5) Has there been a good response to your European-based releases? (Tesco, Staalplaat, etc). Did they open the door to a new audience in Europe?
Yes, they did pretty well. That was a long time ago, and they were mostly very interesting packages too which helps. The leather pouch of Historical with a bullet through the center was a standout of many cool releases. Staalplaat did great work, a really cool place. New Rules, Same Game, Less Instruction CD on Drone Records released in 2022 was far more recent and did pretty good, I think he pressed 300 and there are about 30 left. I think those all helped get more listeners in Europe. The shows over the touring years were always a bit better in most ways over there, funded and well promoted, with good accommodations, good turnout, and some very enthusiastic receptions. Also, probably more interest from labels in general over there asking to release IOS.
7) How would you describe the sound of IOS today, compared to the early stuff?
The answer will be sprawling like the output itself because there have been many changes in the lineup of the project that have been responsible for the content as much as changing technology. We were always tech driven probably to a fault. Early on it was variable speed cassette decks along with Digitech 3.6 & 7.6 second delays acting as our samplers and loopers. Synthesizers have always played a part. Guitar and Bass guitar processed and as prepared extended techniques (seeing AMM perform in Chicago as a sensitive unit improvising together in 1984 was an altering event for me and Keith Rowe’s technique with prepared guitar was huge). Mirage sampler came on the scene and was another jump forward, then with the Emax 12-bit sampler and getting a Macintosh computer working with Deck sequencer was another jump (inside Agitator). Getting DAT recorders and a good stereo microphone in 1991 started us down a path that continues today, using field & location recordings in almost every release and performance.
Mitch Enderle (dead Tech) and I had been working together at first since 1981 but not live, all on tape and we loved Throbbing Gristle. The first few shows as IOS 1983/84 though was the group Dot Dot Dot and I improvising together. They were coming from jazz/improv/prog-rock & were really great listeners willing to go into challenging experimental territory with the drone, scrape, rumble, & silence mode. Some of this from our 2nd show at the Cubby Bear on 2-5-84 is available as bonus material on the IOS40 Boxset and as extras on other new Bandcamp releases. But they were not into TG and the Industrial culture like Mitch & I. Dot Dot Dot morphed into CHEER-ACCIDENT and then Mitch and I hooked up with Mark Klein & Mark Sorensen and became for a few years the so-called “main core” IOS to pursue darker heavier sound work. This era was Music Without A Film and this version of the band you can hear on all the complacency cassettes, More Violence & Geography LP, Of & The, and parts of the CD’s Historical, Inside Agitator, Fifteen/Finite & Cancer.
A shift came after Sorensen moved to San Francisco in 1989 & Jim O’Rourke arrived in the project. After this point, RVE cassette, Inside Agitator, Mort aux caches, Of & The, and From Nothing to Less were really a series of mostly duo collaborations. Probe with O’Rourke, From Nothing to Less with Thymme Jones, Of & The with Mark Klein, Mort aux Vaches & Fin de Siecle with Kurt Griesch. They were responsible for reigning in my tendencies & the sound of these releases/performances. These works show a more patient long-form approach, dark ambiance, more refined electro-acoustic elements & location recordings appearing.
I began sometimes working solo on Water Seeks its Own Level, Distraction, Bad Karma, and Mort Aux Caches 2….with various more fluid collaborations interspersed. Distraction, Rules of The Game, and releases around this time reflect my use of sampling and what I liked to call Decomposition, manipulating structure and existing music into a new form, a sort of a plunderphonics approach. While we had been using tape & loopers/delays as our primitive sampling teach, once the Mirage sampler (later the Emax2) was available the game changed big time.
Then the laptop came into the picture and the music changed again throughout the mid to late 2000’s, especially in the live context. This shift can be heard in 2003 Time Remaining (https://illusionofsafety.bandcamp.com/album/time-remaining). The laptop made available (using Ableton) all sound sources at once, sampling, and sound manipulation capabilities all in one box and that was exciting, but later felt limiting and the return to and immersion in modular synthesis was like a breath of new life. The computer made it easier to sound glitched, shattered, more abrupt changes, less ground to stand on, and short attention span music. And that for a time was good, at least for me, probably lost a few along this path.
Around 2010 modular synths entered my life. Although I have had and used Moog and Roland analogs for years, the modular world really opened up some new fun and exploratory sonic areas for me. This was also the time I took a break from public music activities. Not a lot of releases in that decade, but the Z’EV/IOS record and Surrender on no part of it, Live at No Fun are fairly representational of what kind of sound collage I was making then. Some good about taking a decade off are the accumulation of raw materials available, the maturity of vision, & renewed energy. I did not record very much over that time and only chose to turn on the recorder when the output was worthy. Over time it was a lot of good raw material to draw on and all of it is modular synthesizer-based. I am using much of that and new pure synthesizer material for my Soundoferror project (https://soundoferror.bandcamp.com/), but some of it is available to use in new IOS issues.
Thanks to Arvo Zylo (no part of it) for pushing me through the years, doing the “final” IOS CD Surrender on his label in 2015, then again getting me off my ass to get the Z’EV/IOS record issued, finally working with me to edit together Organ Choir Drone last year. Also big thanks to Philippe Petit of Modulisme for reaching out to me in 2020 to contribute a session to his program (https://modular-station.com/modulisme/session/31/) and convincing me to make it as IOS, so he is really responsible for my consideration to renew and continue the project.
Over the years only In my hands I usually tried to make every possible kind of experimental music present in every release, every performance, and sometimes in every track, part of my racing thoughts nature coming out in my art. But I have changed now and so has the music. I am more relaxed and can enjoy taking time more, so the compositions can have room to breathe and take time to immerse in depth for some time while transforming. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any surprises but overall less jarring less often. Part of that desire to shift is also just wanting to make so many kinds of music, and perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to put all my needs into IOS. In any case, what is done is done, and time to move on. At this point, I am actually working on a few other projects to keep IOS a bit purer and to move at times, backward a bit with my intentions for it.
Currently, my intention is a return to form represented in the newer releases incorporating material from 1983-now, Frontal, Organ Choir Drone, Same Game, New Rules, and Less Instruction are the most recent examples.
8) Care to explain the experience of witnessing TG in the US?
My friend Jay Closser was really responsible for introducing me to TG and other bands of that sort during a visit in 1979. Later when I moved there for a short time I was part of Aktion Direkt Faktion a power electronics group he was doing with Ray Sena and Robert Gillespie out of Sherpa Studios in Orange County. I went to LA in 1981 to visit Jay and see the TG performance there. Their performance was powerful, and their presence and command of the tools were very inspiring. Genesis was a force by himself, his presence was intoxicating, and he commanded your attention, I think his interest in magic was represented during performance and also just in conversation, in any case, he exuded charisma. Their tech was also really cool, they had these custom flight cases with the gear well fit in so that the lids came off and became the foot pedals and the tops were the rack gear. Peters's “sampler” system of multiple cassette decks gated by a one-octave-built keyboard was inspiring. My only complaint about the L.A. show was the lack of Cosey’s guitar in the mix. We were way in the back though, the sound was not the best. Years later Jay reminded me I was the first person to leap onstage after the concert and gave her a kiss. We were so inspired that a few days later we looked at each other and said lets go to S.F. and see them again and got on a bus.
We arrived at 7 AM the day of the show and had time on our hands so we went over to Minna Street and found Ralph Records. Beautiful metal gated doorway we were admiring when someone arrived to go in, asked us what we were doing, said we were Residents fans, invited us in and showed us the new One Minute videos, gave us a bunch of posters and buttons, We even saw the Residents studio from a distance. Then we walked to Kezar Pavillion and arrived about 6 hours early. One guy in there was laying out mats to protect the floor, asked us what we were doing, and told him here to see TG, he asked us to help and we ended up helping to build and set the stage up. Saw the sound check, and talked to Gen at length, he was extremely congenial, and he even lent his Bass (with the prized Gizmo!) to the bass player from Flipper during their set when he was broken. That show was magic, really felt like spirits were flying. It was apparent there was tension in the band at these shows as Gen introduced Paula. They had just married in Tijuana before the shows, and later it was revealed the breakup of Cosey and Gen was the end of TG.
9) Can we actually spot you amongst the audience in those TG shows?
I don’t know about LA. Never saw a video. Is there a guy jumping on stage after the show and giving Cozy a kiss?? No! I actually had that in the answer in the interview that target video was, those guys were stepping all over us on the stage filming and finally, they asked us to get off the stage, and nowhere to be seen in that video
9) Future of IOS? What are the plans right now?
Also thanks to Arvo, Immanent is IOS40 a 10 C-60 tape set, in black case edition of 40, includes the first IOS releases on tape from 1986-1991 + bonus tracks from the second IOS performance in 1984, + live performances in Colorado 1988 taken from the More Altitude Than Attitude tape on We Never Sleep + digital files with many rare flyers and photos pre-1991 available digitally.
Another IOS Modulsime session Focused Systems Approach #3: [Buchla/Euro] >More Margins Of Error is imminent as well as 2 contributions to his next Buchlaïsms compilation series. https://modular-station.com/modulisme/
11/4/23 is the 40th-anniversary performance, the first in Chicago since 2015, on the CLEAT 16 Channel system at Elastic Arts Chicago along with CHEER-ACCIDENT and Hali Polombo. Doing a set of old school improv and the presentation of FLOAT a multi-channel piece about water which will be recorded in Binaural and released as CD on Andrew Weathers Full Spectrum label.
Performances in SF were the first since 2015 on October 5th & 8th.
Euro tour set up by Auf Aubwegen in November so far Hamburg 11/22, Bremen 11/23, Münster 11/24, Brussels 11/25, & Amsterdam 11/26, more to add. We are seeking more opportunities there…
Ongoing additions to BandCamp monthly subscriber exclusives of new and old unheard material at least 10 minutes in addition to other scheduled releases. https://illusionofsafety.bandcamp.com/
The issue of very heavy dark industrial early IOS recordings recently unearthed from 1983/84.
Revised edition of the 1997 dark ambient double CD Of & The as vinyl.
T-shirts in 3 designs.
Spontaneous live-action streaming on Facebook might end up being a semi-regular occurrence. They remain available to watch after for some time as well.
New video work as well as uploading the very old videos unseen since live performances in the 90s on https://www.youtube.com/@illusionofsafety
First time ever I get to introduce a new label on Kalteldur. Dark Oddessey Records is a new label with their first upcoming release. Dark Oddessey Records hails from Toronto, Ontario, and has its primal focus on high-quality dark ambient music. The label will also deliver classic re-issues in the genre as well. Will be looking forward (and being very curious) to what sort of re-issues they will be doing (CMI, Slaughter Productions etc, etc.?).
The headmaster of the label is Devin Sabatini, who has also been active in a duo group called DEV-I-ANT (together with Anthony Prudo). With decent guidance from Tomas Pettersson (Archon Satani, Ordo Equilibrio) they managed to get releases on Reverse Alignment and Rabbau, which are pretty cool labels (to start with) if you ask me! Their releases were mastered by Tomas Pettersson, Simon Heath (Cryo Chamber), and Jouni Haukainen himself (In Slaughter Natives).
Besides their focus on dark ambient music, the label will also be doing re-issues & releases with other genres as well! Death-industrial, neoclassic dark-wave, experimental, neo-folk, and even dungeon-synth! About time someone did some decent dungeon-synth re-issues if you ask me!
Their first (and upcoming) release is with an Italian act called Chaigidel. This album is also a re-issue, which was first released on a label from Brazil called Nailed Nazarene Industries. It was released back then, by digital means (Bandcamp) and out on CD as well. The CD version is quite hard to find, not a single copy for sale on Discogs, etc. So a good re-issue should be in order! It will be a limited cassette release, with some cool and nice designs attached to it. You can pre-order it right now, and you can listen to some of it on the label´s Bandcamp site (link below!). The release is being recommended for fans of death-industrial!
So, It´s always a good thing for something 2 look forward to. Kalteldur readers should also be expecting a review of the upcoming release as well. We wish ½all the best for the birth of Dark Oddessey Records! Blessed be.
I have known about the act Praying For Oblivion since... a compilation called Apocalyptic Streams (2008). A compilation that opened a lot of doors for me (Go and seek it out!). Praying For Oblivion is a solo act that has been running since 1997, within the realms of power-electronics, industrial, and noise. This one is one of the latest with Praying For Oblivion, and it is also the first time I have heard the act venturing into atmospheric ambient music. And Praying For Oblivion isn´t alone this time! In good company with an act called Nerthus. A German-based dark-ambient act that has been active since 2003, and has been releasing albums on such cool labels as Art Konkret, Audiophob, and even neo-folk label Eis Und Licht.
This album is a collab-album, not a split!. Andrew-Johnathan Seal (Praying For Oblivion) has been doing field recordings, which are reprocessed with additional sound and music by Nerthus. As you can figure out, this is a concept album that works around the atmosphere, aesthetic, and mood surrounding abandoned places. If you take a look at the cover artwork, you´ll notice that we´re dealing with places that have contained a lot of human activity. Places where people have worked and lived. Now the place only shows an empty shell, reminding visitors of days long gone by. A 7-track album, containing 43 minutes of highly concentrated decayed atmospheres. Note for the reader, every track is just called I, II, III etc, etc... A limited 50 copies CD-R, so please be quick!
On the first track, I instantly tell/inform where he/she is. Ever tried entering one such place? You get that eerie feeling that you probably shouldn't be here, and you also get that feeling that the ghosts (spiritual leftovers) are still remaining (for some unknown reason). The entire place screams for the final deliverance, for a big bull-dozer to tear the place apart. That feeling is perfectly described in the first track. Hizzing drones, metallic rumblings, echo sounds through steel tubes... You got it all. Perfect intro.
The second track II has more of a basement sort of feeling. How the sound is transformed when you are in the basement of some abandoned factory. Your hearing gets way more acute for the small sounds, and every sound happening above gets amplified when you are below. Incredible haunting stuff so far!
The third track III, goes from the basement to the empty storage halls. High to the ceiling and lots of.. well space! You almost need those few sounds of... well various birds, building nests. Flickering of their wings, and their chirping bird sounds. A good place to imagine that sort of human activity, especially in a huge sort of warehouse-place. Love how the sounds are here as well, giving the listener the idea that walls can talk (or whisper!). If you have a decent stereo with this, the experience is quite otherworldly.
The fourth track IV goes to the rooms of the various office rooms. Where one could imagine people, talking a lot offcourse. Lots of human voices on this track, whispering and talking through the thin air. Love the way the two artists make a perfect (and unique) fusion of ambient and industrial music, to simply call it dark-ambient would be a dull thing to do. So far, this is more than just dark-ambient.
The fifth track V is where we (might) enter the attic of the building. You can hear how sounds from below, gently move upwards. There is also the sound of wind, how the wind enters the building, and how it locates an exit through the building. Maybee, there are also, air-shafts... moving air and sound through them. To me, it´s almost like every track describes a location in the location. Sandbox ambient anyone, feels like a place for the listener to explore. Getting a nostalgic feeling with this track, thinking of Aphex Twin´s Selected Ambient Works Vol.2 and This Crying Age by Morthond. (which is a good thing, people!).
To further describe this beautiful album would be to spoil the adventure that the album will deliver to the listener. It broadens with every track, a tiny world continuously growing with every second going. It´s like I said, It´s a perfect sandbox album. You can explore every bit here, and the album keeps on motivating you to do that. The sound is... absolutely superb. Recommended listening through headphones, or your stereo-speakers with your vintage CD player. My small speakers work like an absolute charm in my basement. It´s bloody high-quality ambient stuff here, way more than the rest! Be sure to check out the supportive links below!
It has been some time since I have heard something new from one of my favorite HNW acts, namely Dosis Letalis. Actually, Dosis Letalis was reviewed on this blog way back in 2016! Dosis Letalis (and Anonymous Masturbaudioum) were the first two acts that introduced me to the textured sound world of HNW (Harsh noise wall). This one is a split with a Greek-based HNW act called Mai 12, which is also highly productive (Check Discogs link below). The guys behind Mai 12 are Karl Grümpe and Rene P.Q, two lads heavily involved in the Greek music underground. Being noise artists, and running some labels, be sure to check the Discogs link below people!
Anyways, this cassette (Limited to 50 copies) has been released by Grubenwehr Freiburg. You get a nice-looking woodsy-black cassette with some cool print on both sides, and some artwork showcasing hardworking miners from the days of old. Turns out that these poor devils are Greek immigrants working in Belgium mines, and the release itself is inspired by a short movie called Letter From Charleroi (Same name for the track by Mai 12). The letter is sent by a worker to his mother back in Greece, probably a letter about him missing his homeland and describing the harsh conditions (as a coal miner) in a strange and completely foreign land. The other tracks (On the B-side) by Dosis Letalis, have their focus and inspiration from the pictures themselves. Here Dosis Letalis uses intentional malfunctions and abrupt interruptions of the constant sound. In other words, we are getting more deep than underground here!
The first track by Mai 12 - Letter From Charleroi, actually sounds like a huge drill...moving earth. I do know that (back then) everything was moved by hand and pickaxes. The combination of the drilling sound, and claustrophobic bass walls clearly describes (mentally) the oppressive and torturous feeling of spending (and working) your entire day as a coal miner. The air and scent are different, and offcourse the longing for the sun-light! It´s a harsh atmospheric treat, which pumps and crawls slowly through the listener's ears. Not constant HNW from the start and to the end, but take notice of the atmospheric ambient sounds in the background as well. There are also some high squealing sounds that make me think of bats offcourse. Also, traces of heavily distorted vocals are being used here as well. The whole thing starts sort of gentle and gets more and more oppressive and claustrophobic in the process. Typically describes the day as a coal miner. Kind of interesting how Mai 12 manages to create a claustrophobic feeling with an atmospheric sound.
We flip the cassette and continue on the B-side with Dosis Letalis. While Mai 12 focused on a heavy and spacious sound, Dosis Letalis has more of a microscopic, minimal, and isolated sound approach. The first track is called Perfect Conditions. Contains incredible crunchy chopped-up distorted bass sounds, kind of get back to that drill. When it can drill, It will drill. Occasionally when it hits hard-rock, it will slow down a bit. Getting totally entranced here, these sounds go straight into the head. Not a negative comment really, because I do like what I hear!
The second track is called Bunches, which immediately takes me back to Boyd Rice & Frank Gadgets Easy Listening For The Heard of Hearing. How a chopped-up machine noise can actually become a rhythm! I can almost hear the rubble of the mine crumple here, a very tight drill is at work here. Dentist drill being recorded maybe?
The third (and last) track by Dosis Letalis is called Rupturing Erythrocytes (Red blood cells), does actually sound like something... blowing up. Small and constant explosions of small fire-crackers, or the sound of fabric getting ripped to shreds... inch by inch. Glittering sounds of distorted bacon on a frying pan, with a murky-sounding bass sound delivering some extra element to the track.
While this is an excellent HNW album, the end of it also gives me the impression of getting out of the coal mine after a long day's work. My ears are actually banging, and my mind and eyes feel... quite heavy and overloaded. Quite the edgy thing here, the sound and feel really get to you.. which (I believe) is the intention. After the album had ended, you can still hear and feel the aftermath of it. Hell, I even think that it could (and will) haunt me in my sleep. Well, here you are ladies and gentlemen... the latest thing in HNW. Subterranean noise wall, bound to bring you down... totally down! The ultimate HNW experience of 2022!
From Bangkok, Thailand we have Gamnad737. A highly productive harsh-noise solo act, been active since 2012. The only member Arkat Vinyapiroath, also being a highly productive composer who works within the boundaries of black metal, ambient, noise, and even jazz. This album is his 13th one and it is the second latest release after the new one, which is called Drilling Technique (Tribute To Jeffrey Dahmer). Greek label E.C.T Recordings have released this album on both CDr and on cassette, both editions being limited to 50 copies each. Quite simple, 2 tracks... both being about 30 minutes each.
Before we jump head-on into the review of the recorded stuff inside, let me just make a copy-paste of his manifest regarding this act:
The sounds of liberation may lead to freeing others from their inner confinement, Siamese Noise outfit represents the stories through recordings from time to time in both acoustic and electric sound synthesis.
When then leads me straight into the first track, simply called Hymn To AhrãmuhntraPart I. It Starts with a dynamic and layered noise wall. Sound of windy storms, pitched squeals, concrete waves of distortion... and all of this sounds like it has been recorded inside a huge cathedral. Some really ceremoniously chanting vocals enters the void. A very spiritual experience so far, very high to the ceiling here. Slowly moving brutality rather than speed-orientated violence. Interesting mixture of religious chanting and ritualistic noise. I keep asking myself here, who the bloody hell is this...Ahrãmuntra?. But, doesn't really bugger me that I don´t know who it is. The painful (but mysterious) noisy soundscape does raise the question but keeps the curiosity fresh through the track. Very vibrant but lots of dynamics going on!
The second track Hymn To Ahrãmuhntra Part II continues in the same tradition as the former. Although being more focused on a heavier sound. It also feels more aggressive, and less atmospheric as well. Still containing those mysterious chanting voices In the background. When you get to the second track, you will notice a sort of... ambient-mood, if you manage to filter out the brutal noise!
Kind of like... a coin with two sides. You will listen to the same side twice here, and you are wondering what might be on the other side? Is it the spiritual and ambient-based background? Or is it some info about who Ahrãmuhntra is? A ferocious journey into the unknown, a brutal ritual of horrific noise. You almost feel like being a part of the recording itself, participating in some kind of spiritual cleansing... a harsh spiritual cleansing that is. A wonderful album, truly is. Simple but abstract, minimal but incredibly dense, primitive but highly spiritual. Two contrast are evident here, they work together and it works. Sort of like yin and yang, recommended!
Japanese noise project Astro consists of Hiroko and Hiroshi Hasegawa who have been part of countless noise bands throughout the decades, perhaps most famously C.C.C.C. and Nord. Despite this and the fact that Astro has been around since 1993 with a ton of releases behind them, this is the first time I have actually listened to them. This review is therefore only concerned with Far in the Distance and not how it fares in comparison with the rest of their discography.
To begin with, my first impression was admittedly not very optimistic. The cover art looks like one of those 90s dance CDs one would find in the bargain bins at the supermarket. In my opinion, this cheapens the overall impression of the CD causing one’s expectations to drop. Cover art is one thing, sound is another, and it turns out this release is a grower. In the first few listening sessions, I was not convinced. The sounds were erratic and without any feeling of purpose, giving me associations with this whole “noise for fun” thing which is certainly not an approach I appreciate. Upon repeated listens, however, details began to emerge and I started to get a sense of meaning in the seemingly directionless mess of rapid sonic blitzes. An atmospheric background started to become audible and the little bits and pieces of sound began to make sense, creating a sense of cohesion amidst the overall chaotic sensory overload.
Track 1, Cluster Amaryllis, goes from an ambient atmosphere with a weird noisy background to a cacophony of sounds surrounding the listener. Around the midway point, it tips over in a bass-heavy crescendo with some nice ambient textures and spacy sounds accompanying it only to descend into noisy territory again. Throughout there’s a myriad of small sounds coming from everywhere creating a chaotic feel. It is like accelerating through space colliding with everything, creating little explosions resulting in tiny pieces of rubble cascading in all directions. It varies between squeaky sounds and sporadic rhythmic outbursts before venturing into noisier territory with high-pitched sounds of distorted bells and underlying distorted horns (or something like that) and back again. By moving back and forth between calmer and more structured industrial/ambient oriented sounds and rapid noise outbursts, Cluster Amaryllis manages to keep the tension and constantly evolve throughout its little over 21 minutes of runtime while keeping the spacy feeling throughout.
Track 2, Rebel Moon and Emotional Resolution, showcases a looser approach to sound creation. It starts off with a found sound/cut-up sound collage consisting of synth sweeps mixed with sound bits of what could be cars, barking dogs, small radio snippets, and construction work sent through various filters and effects. In its first part, Rebel Moon…has a more rhythmic yet somewhat disorientating feel to it. To these ears, it feels like a hectic journey through a noisy city while intoxicated. Although the sounds are loud, everything blends together creating something that feels more distant. It is, to stick with the intoxicated journey metaphor, as if the listener experiences all the buzzing around them through a filter, adding to the feeling of disorientation and confusion. Around the 9 min. mark the spacy feeling from Cluster Amaryllis starts to re-appear, albeit only for a short while before the psychedelic urban confusion takes over again with what sounds like cut-up voices and traffic. Towards the end, the track goes into a more rhythmic and industrial-sounding direction leading to a violent climax. Overall, during the almost 25-minute timespan, small and insignificant sounds are blown out of proportion while more prominent sounds seem to be dampened and placed in the background. The way sounds are enhanced, dampened, clashed with each other, and turned on and off gives a dizzying effect reminding of a bad acid trip. This leads me to think that this track is perhaps more about tumultuous inner than outer space.
Off to a rocky start, I must say that my relationship with this CD has become much better than first anticipated. Even the cover art (which I still find off-putting) makes sense as it gives a cosmic vibe that fits well within the psychedelic exploration of outer and inner space in all its chaotic and erratic glory. This CD features a cacophony of small collisions of sound and may send the listener on a hectic and uncomfortable, but nonetheless rewarding, journey through a space full of objects that are hard and sharp, but, along the way, also beautiful. I can therefore only recommend that you put on your space suit, swallow the red and blue pills and let Astro take you on a trip into a stratosphere that is wild and chaotic rather than calm and soothing.
Another interesting CD-R release from Greek E.C.T Recordings. Liposucción hails (all the way) from Armenia Colombia and this album is the second from this act. Limited and numbered 50 copies edition, Tácticas De Combate Entomológicas comes in that iconic E.C.T-CD-R-design look. A folded (and informative) CD cover with a printed CD-R housed in transparent rice paper. All of this is housed inside a nifty plastic bag. And what about the artwork on the cover? I didn´t understand the album title, but a closer look at the photo revealed some kind of winged insect of some sort. Some strange and kind of high-tech-looking graphics are sort of mixed into the photo as well. A note to mention, Filipo Laresca is the guy behind this project. The founder of Haunted Exp Laps Records, and responsible for tons of cool releases on his Bandcamp, I suggest u go check out (link below)
Anyways!...Hightech insects?... Maybe. The album title is translated as Entomological Combat Tactics, which basically means... how to use science to battle the insects by certain combat tactics. The album is based on an article called El Uso De Insectos Para Crear Plasgas, which means (roughly translated) Using Insects To Crete Pests. Interesting, I might wanna read that article. Who the hell wants to use insects in that matter? To drive people out from some area, or to use insects in the matter of warfare? If it was me, locusts might be a good idea. I wonder, is it a locust on the album cover? The locust thing is a classic thing of biblical proportions. Anyways, we´re dealing with a 12-track album, about 47 minutes in total.
The first track is simply called Entomologia, and begins the album with a kind of low-tech (and analog) psychedelic glitch sound. Someone (obviously) is pushing the very limit of what sort of electronic sounds old-school analog equipment can produce. I mean I love it. The sounds are sharp and to the point, the sound quality is absolutely exquisite. Kind of a fusion between high-tech and low-tech here. The insectoid sound feeling is quite evident so far.
The second track Cantos de Guerra de los Insectos (Insect War Songs) continues with a highly atmospheric and buzzing sound, with noisy elements and mercury-like electronics. The sound of insects... planning and scheming for world domination. It´s all pretty spacy and weird, but it makes absolutely sense when u get into the concept of the album!
The third track Insesticidio moves further into the area of harsh noise and gets me back to that Japanese album with Third Organ I reviewed. Lots of panic and chaos-driven moments here, I guess that is what you´ll expect (as a bug) when humans use insecticide on your entire world!
The fourth track Tácticas de Combate Entomológicas gets right back to that eerie low-tech old-school industrial atmosphere, very similar to early Maurizio Bianchi and Zona Industriale! Metallic psychedelics with lots of otherworldly reverb effects, incredible beautiful primal industrial stuff here!
The fifth track Artrópodos Infectados (Infected Arthropods) is a totally hypnotizing sound piece. A really ear-candy sort of a track, with lots of stuff moving left and right through your speakers. Clicking sounds there hissing sounds there. I also saw (in the informative booklet) that field recordings of bugs have been used!
The eight-track ÁCaros Fitófagos (Phytophagous Mites) sort of... gets close to me. I have hens in my garden, and just recently we´ve had a case of bloody blood mites in there. Every time I went into their little house to fetch eggs, I came with that creepy crawling feeling of mites all over. And yes, this track is a quite convincing creepy-crawling track. Doom-laden industrial electronics with some menacing mechanic bubbling effects. Believe me or not, we had to use some other super-mites to exterminate the blood mites.
The rest of the album is a bloody blast. Analog-industrial atmosphere exploring the world of insects... through science. I could imagine that if H.P. Lovecraft had an idea about how the insectoid (and crap-like) Migo communicated, then it could sound like this. Pretty otherworldly and has a pretty microscopic mood throughout the entire album, with lots of conceptual focus on this album. I suggest that u go and get it before the bugs do!
Dead Eye Terrorist is (another project) by the same person who brought you the horrific and action-driven album Destructive Maelstrom by Circuit Corrupter. The Extinction of Ego by Dead Eye Terrorist is a limited cassette released by Spanish Marbre Negre. The cover artwork is absolutely exquisite! I love the morbid and extreme picturesque collage work within, and to top it there is also an intriguing and cool-looking sticker inside! 26 minutes journey into destructive and dextrous harsh noise, with eerie surreal moments here and there. All the tracks on the A-side of the cassette are called Ego Death 1 to 10, and a long single track on the B-side is called Degeneration. Another thing worth mentioning, this cassette has also been released on the label Phage Tapes (at the same time) in the U.S! The album has been mastered by the great Grant Richarson ( Gnawed )
The first track on the A-side starts with one of my all-time favorite actors. If I am correct, I have heard and seen the source of the recording from some film award in Germany. Where the (always) mad Klaus Kinski gets up front to make some sort of speech, which slowly turns into an intense performance. He is then dragged away from the scene by security guards, offcourse. I don´t understand what he is talking about, but it is something about Jesus Christ. The recording then stops and turns into a bone-narrowing beast of punishing sound. It all happens VERY quickly, a quick journey into the sound of cosmic harsh noise! Something is screaming, twitching, scraping its infectious claws at you.
The second track continues the onslaught without a single chance to take a quick breather. Almost feels like getting sucked into a black hole, the ears of the listener already feel like they are getting spaghettified here!.
The third track gets back to the action, with some hyper-ultra cyberpunk violence. The sound of someone´s brain getting fried in cyberspace, that is what this sounds like. Lots of sounds so far!
The fourth track rumbles and flattens the listener to a bloody splattered pancake, with lots of nasty things happening!
All the ten tracks could have been squashed into a single track, but cutting it all up into 10 tracks is far more fun. Gives the whole thing a kind of grindcore touch? There are some interesting sounds in there which make it more unique, retro and spacy sci-fi sounds and hidden vocals in there (I think!).
We turn the tape and continue with Degeneration on the B-side. Different style than the former short-tracks. A slow and constant wall of white and pink noise slowly built up, which then slowly degenerates into a multi-layered nightmare of sound. There is soo much going on that it´s hard to comprehend, as I said earlier... there is NO time for a breather. This machine runs and runs, and does not stop. Relentless brutalism beyond human understanding!
Think I have said this before, that Spain is slowly becoming the new place for extreme noise, not Japan! And Dead Eye Terrorist is clearly one of them, besides such cult acts like Soma, [Gyakusatsu], and Tube Tentacles! This is one tape that will be remembered!
.jpg)
%201988%20set%20up.jpg)
.jpg)
