Locrian - “Greyfield Shrines” (Diophantine Discs 2008)

I forgot I even had this record, I bought it during the flurry of record purchasing that was A389’s 9th anniversary bash weekend and just threw it into the to be listened to pile.  This morning I happened upon it and realized it was in the mood for some black drone soundscapes, and hooo boy, this is hitting the spot right now.  Basically this is one track spread out across two sides of this 12”, and its a spastic meditation of frenzied, delay-soaked guitar freakouts, and lush, thick droning synths.  The two play off each other like they aren’t in the same room, but at the same time it all works.  I’m pretty sure this is almost totally improvised, but it has a feeling of weeks of preparation.  I’m in love with this right now. 

-Log.

Happy mail day to me! 

Reviews again soon.  Me so busy.  

Today’s haul from the mail and my buddies “garage sale” 

Am I instagraming right? #self #merzbow #3D #dvds #beard #noise

Perfume River - “Concrete Winter” (Curtain Fire 2013)

After hearing Perfume River’s last tape, the least I could say is that I was amped for this release.  On this release, it seems Perfume River have taken the “noise not music” approach of D-beat hardcore to the next level.  These five tracks are so noisy to the point that the guitar just sounds like a fire as the rest of the band plays amidst chaos with a room full degenerates breaking everything in sight; also most likely starting earlier stated fire.  I need to see these guys live, I feel like it would be insane.

-Log. 

Altars - “Live On Pure Hate” (King Of The Monsters/How Much Art Can You Take 2011)

I really wanted to dislike this coming into it.  Like it all seemed so typical.  Obscure art, lots of black, photo copied cover etc.  But fuck (hee hee butfuck), this record is awesome. 

Altars mix a lot of out there styles of music into one palatable blend of fury.  Like if I was going to get the laymen into harsh black noise metal, this would be the record I would use to do so.  The record opens with a desolate black noise soundscape which is kind of a reoccurring theme on the record.  Then a sweet ass lead riff kicks in and we are treated to three brutal noisy black metal jams in a row, in the vein of Ildjarn and like Leviathan mixed together.  All the tracks are dripping with feedback and are totally blown out.  My favorite way of enjoying black metal.  Then as a final fuck you to anything typical, the noise soundscape comes back and then we have a super depressing (and crystal clear recorded) acoustic song played over it.  It’s totally genius in this humble reviewers opinion.  Dig it.

-Log.  

Actuary/Bacteria Cult - split (Vomitcore Music 2011)

Man, Actuary is putting out some of the most exciting noise lately.  I haven’t heard that much by them, but what I have so far has been ace.  On this little record they bring one track of desperate haunted electronics, with some movie sample I can’t identify, but damn it works well.  The result is a dark brooding trip suitable for play at your next dinner party with your relatives.  

Bacteria Cult is the noise project of the illustrious Chris Dodge, you might  know the guy, he’s been in a million influential bands, owned one of the most important hardcore labels of the last 20 years; you know, some jobber.  The piece offered up here is a mixture of industrial machine sounds, samples, and percussion (both live and electronic).  The result is a trip to unsettling city, where all the residents are creepy loners in baggy pants.  That are probably bald.  Or balding.  

A fun little record.  The artwork is awesome on here too.  To bad there is only 160 copies (I got copy #10 somehow!).

-Log. 

JK Flesh/Prurient - “Worship The Cleansing Of Imagination” (Hydra Head Records 2013)

So this is the final release from the illustrious and amazing Hydra Head Records.  I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t think of a better combination of artists or a better release to send off the label.

JK Flesh is one of Justin K Broadrick’s 8 billion projects.  If you don’t know who he is, kindly educate yourself, because while I don’t think I’ve reviewed any of his projects, every single one of them is excellent, and three of them are some of the most influential bands of the last 25 or so years. JK Flesh is sort an amalgamation of his later work with Godflesh and Final, the result is truly satisfying.  The three tracks on here are ambient electronic tracks, with heavy distorted guitars playing doom riffs.  I’ve honestly never really heard anything quite like this before, everything that tries to sound like this falls short and sounds cheesy.  Mr. Broadrick pulls this off masterfully; this is definitely something that requires multiple listens to dissect every nuance and truly appreciate the musical genius presented.

Let’s flip this over.

Prurient has quite the task to live up to the previous side, but I don’t think it’s possible for Dominick Fernow to disappoint (well me at least).  Prurient takes a different approach then his previous Hydra Head releases, which mostly revolved around synths and beats.  These three tracks rely more heavily on ambient electronics and atmosphere rather than keyboards.  The final track does have a synth lead, but brutal electronics slowly come in and take center stage while the synth becomes an afterthought.  

All in all an excellent record.  Do yourself a favor and buy this.

-Log. 

Thought Broadcast - “Thought Broadcast” (Old English Spelling Bee 2012)

I didn’t know what to expect from this here platter, which I find is always a fun way to encounter stuff.  Like I knew nothing of this band, but Seedstock got a few of their albums in their distro, and usually everything I ever get from them is gold, so I of course gave this a try.  

As per usual Seedstock does not disappoint.  I still know nothing about this group, but I must say this is an interesting record.  First off, everything is buried in tape saturation, like this was recorded on an ancient tape recorder which gives it a nice basement quality.  The music itself is a delicious gumbo of repetitive rudimentary synth loops, distorted talking vocals, and super minimal melodies. While the music doesn’t sound evil, the basement sound described earlier makes for a super disturbing listening experience. Like this is the kind of thing that greasy nerds would listen to while browsing the internet in search of crime scene photography for the purposes of criticizing them for artistic merit.  This is definitely not for weak ears.  It’s so fucking good though.

-Log. 

The Rita - “Womankind 2: Cleopatra, Sacred Servents” (Survivalist Deathcamp 2012)

So I’m listening to this new Rita jam and one of my peeps walks in and is like “Yo, what’s this shit? Your stereo broken bro?”

And I’m all like “Nah dawg, it’s a new joint from The Rita!”  

He’s like, “what the fuck IS it?”

“Harsh noise wall! Sam Mckinley takes a sound source and manipulates and distorts it to the point that it’s an unrecognizable wall of noise! It’s very meditative and deep! I love it!”

Then he shot me a look like I’M the crazy one. Whatever! One can only roll their eyes at such stupidity.

-Log.

PS: this probably didn’t actually happen.  

Hey everyone.  You might remember a few months back I was talking about my band, Grampa.  Well we finally finished mixing and all the other fun stuff for our first album.  We have a bandcamp page where it’s available for download.  Also I have it on micro SD cards which is limited to 14 copies; if you want one email me.  I haven’t decided if I want to do a tape release yet or not.  

Grampa play a mix of dark ambient/drone/noise/other weird stuff.  Every track has different instrumentation ranging from banjo to throat singing to homemade oscillators.  Check it out!

Grampa - download here!

It’s pay what you want, but don’t feel bad if you pay nothing! I just want people to hear it, we worked hard on the record.  If you download it, give me feedback!

thanks!

-Log. 

Bastard Noise - “The Progression Of Sickness” (Deep Six Records 2012)

I wasn’t going to post anything about this, I’m currently thinning out a 250+ stack of records that I need to listen to before I do some serious reviewing this week.  I don’t know if I’ve ever said this before, but for every record I post on here I probably have like 30-40 that I have to listen to at any given time.  I’ve gotten so many in the last 2 months it’s kind of disgusting.  

Anyway, this Bastard Noise record is probably the best material that has come out with the two skulls gracing the cover.  No joke.  That includes Man Is The Bastard.  Yes I’m serious.  There is two tracks on here of sludgy, manic (but precise), heavy powerviolence.   Like The bass tone is perfect, the vocals are perfect, the drums are perfect, the electronics are perfect.  Everything clicks together on this record and the energy of a band knowing they are doing great things is captured and fuck.  I can’t say enough good about this record.  AND IT’S A 10”! MY FAVORITE FORMAT! Just get it sucka.  

-Log. 

A Place To Bury Strangers - “And I’m Up” (Dead Oceans 2012) 

A turn to the more quiet of songs for A Place To Bury Strangers on the A side.  There is still the thick wall of noise in the background, behind a poppy Smiths like facade.  I hate the Smiths, but I love this. The B side is more true to form, much noiser, more My Bloody Valentine.  Two excellent new tunes from one of my new favorite bands of the last few years.  

-Log.