Thursday, June 05, 2008

Noise Bibliography pt. 2

I've checked the links I had posted
here to see what's outdated. Most of them are functional and I'll do some searches to see if the non-functional links are hosted at some other URL.

I've been finding several other academic articles that I will be adding, and I suppose that I should probably post the biblio in some standard format for more ease of searching. I would probably like to make it more of an annotated bibliography to help anyon doing serious research decide if the article is relevant fo their purposes.

As anyone who's clicke on the links have noticed, some of them take you to abstracts of actual print articles. I'm attempting to get hard copies of those (and the others I mentioned above) so that I can even bother with annotating a bibliography.

Labels: ,

Thursday, November 24, 2005

review: Nitro Dragsters: "A Tribute to OVMN and the Incapacitants"

Nitro Dragsters - A Tribute to OVMN and the Incapacitants 2xcdr (Militant Walls #1)

I think it`s safe to say, you can never have enough Militant Walls. Unvarnished harsh purity. Mass of unrelenting, whole brain consumption. First order filth. Call it what you want. This is noise as it was always meant to be. “A Tribute to OVMN and the Incapacitants” pretty much says it all. From the obvious contributors (Goat, Filthy Turd) to the less obvious but always welcome (Pedestrian Deposit, Sickness), the shit found on Nitro Dragsters delivers.

As I understand it, Nitro Dragsters was originally destined for cassette release, but duplication issues ultimately resulted in a cdr format release. Still, the thing looks good, and sounds great!

With perhaps one exception, all contributors supply tracks safely within the Militant Walls confines. To my ear, those who chose to interpret the “tribute” literally tend to favor Incapacitants over OVMN but that`s to be expected. Also as to be expected, the majority of contributions rate relatively high in “density” and “harmonicaness”, but fairly low in “spasticity”. I found the degree of “harshness” employed surprisingly variable among the various submissions.

With luck, the following comments will encourage Nitro Dragsters contributors to review their submissions, weigh them against the comp in general, and then determine to what extent they`d like Soddy to GO FUCK HIMSELF.

CLEAR TAPE

Burning Star Core - Untitled
Synth-lubed softness wafts warmly into smoothed-out cavernous depths, skimming along sleek, dripping surfaces to issue yawning porcelain walls and deep psych atmos. Candy coated dronescapes shiver against satiny whispered exhaust vapor combustion.
Harshness 2.4 Density 7.6 Spasticity 0.0 Rawness 1.0 Craftsmanship 7.5 Harmonicaness 8.7

The Cherry Point - The Unseen
Grinning shitsmeared grit-churn shoved unceremoniously through badly rumpled crinkle fizz, belching butthole ripple sputtering a mangled meat-shred flatulence. Tightly clenched piss-slither and buzzing jizz particles roughly suffocated, consumed.
Harshness 6.4 Density 7.0 Spasticity 0.0 Rawness 7.9 Craftsmanship 4.8 Harmonicaness 5.5

Kelly Churko - Restructuring and the Disposal of Non Performing Loans
Supreme power and force. Brutal earhole annihilating screech-scathe bludgeon. Active, able, awe-inspiring: a worthy tribute to Incapacitants if ever there was, and quite possibly the only contribution which actually rivals the banker buddies in terms of raw brutality and pure sound pressure.
Harshness 9.3 Density 9.6 Spasticity 5.1 Rawness 7.7 Craftsmanship 10.0 Harmonicaness 8.1

Threshing Floor - Worship
Beat up bubble-butt sphincter rip. Abused synthetic slather-bite ground down and grated. Some additional application of the volume knob may be required to enjoy the full effects of this one.
Harshness 5.2 Density 2.1 Spasticity 6.7 Rawness 7.2 Crafsmanship 3.8 Harmonicaness 2.9

Filthy Turd - Susan is Troubled By Strange Nightmares
Raging fully saturated char-burnt metal shriek blister-wash. Packed tight and thrashing away, this one nevertheless loses some momentum after the first couple minutes. Still, what it loses in momentum it gains in sheer harsh purity.
Harshness 9.6 Density 8.3 Spasticity 0.0 Rawness 4.7 Craftsmanship 5.6 Harmonicaness 7.3

Goat - They Shall Take Up Serpents
Fuck yeah! T. Mikawa may still be the king but this shit`s on fire. Once again the Goat shows them how it`s done. Shredworthy blister-scathe courses and surges with raw energy, stabs of piercing slather-blast doing the earholes a treat.
Harshness 9.0 Density 8.3 Spasticity 4.2 Rawness 6.7 Craftsmanship 8.6 Harmonicaness 6.9

Mania - Bestialized
Nitro Dragsters` filthiest submission extends rust-covered shit shovel, scraping bilge-encrusted nougat out the curdled depths. Wrinkled clank of metal junk stumble lurch, thud, crunkle-plunk. Terrific atmosphere, this.
Harshness 6.6 Density 5.3 Sepasticity 2.8 Rawness 10.0 Crafstmanship 6.6 Harmonicaness 1.5

Guilty Connector - Tonight At All the Akacho in Your Town
Razorsharp overkill hits its wall, seems to stall in looped whiplash wank, then starts to develop a semi-erratic dialog which eventually hits a genuine stride and coasts on epic subsurface whitewash, proudly borne to a finely fluttered conclusion.
Harshness 7.6 Density 6.9 Spasticity 4.6 Rawness 5.4 Craftsmanship 7.1 Harmonicaness 6.7

Kakerlak - Organo Phosphate Lust
Granulated butt kernels scrunched inside quivering blubbercheeks and overcooked meat-gristle. Stylish sweeping velocity roiling in a molten, crust-baked inferno.
Harshness 6.7 Density 7.2 Spasticity 4.0 Rawness 5.3 Craftsmanship 7.4 Harnmonicaness 4.1

Maim - No Fuckin` Lemons
Fat, concrete slabs smash through distant ambient backwash. Layers of low-end gob-slobbering knob-twizzle ultimately minced, mangled, chewed up, spat out. Cumbersome mewling macrodensities.
Harshness 6.9 Density 8.6 Spasticity 4.8 Rawness 7.0 Craftsmanship 7.4 Harmonicaness 7.7

Lasse Marhaug - Good Morning, Mr Mikawa
Theremin-fueled ice-flows steadily built into warbling, slick sheened simmer-flush. Slender waves of bloop-warp gain size and dimension, fleshing out a full-course free-style snowcone slit-slushy.
Harshness 6.8 Density 7.4 Spasticity 6.3 Rawness 3.1 Crafstmanship 7.1 Harmonicaness 5.7

Romero - Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Gaping bellows blown though wind-tunnel waterfalls. A tar blackened atmospheric nightmare wiping your noisebrain fully out of existence. Stylish.
Harshness 6.8 Density 8.7 Spasticity 0.0 Rawness 1.0 Craftsmanship 7.6 Harmonicaness 10.0

Grunt - RautaErektio #2
Piles upon piles of cascading scrapmetal slam against an overwhelming flow of bass-bludgered, lowbrow extremity. Steamclouds of cantankerous crunch gushing, billowing over. Superb.
Harshness 7.5 Density 9.5 Spasticity 5.7 Rawness 6.8 Crafstamanship 8.8 Harmonicaness 7.3


WHITE TAPE

Nkondi - Unbearableloudnessof being
Ass-ripping rawness. Filth-flapped splinter-crunch. Momentous ruptured grind-rage. Unrelenting but somehow calm, disciplined, an ingenious deliberateness almost visible inside the rippling maelstrom. Solid.
Harshness 7.6 Density 5.8 Spasticity 7.0 Rawness 9.9 Craftsmanship 8.1 Harmonicaness 2.9

OPC - Untitled
If you still aren`t yet down with OPC, you is one sadly deluded mothafukka! Stupendous blazing rage-walls clambering with uncompromising ferocity. Feel this one scoop your puny noisebrain right out your skull and wring the fucker raw. Sexy.
Harshness 8.3 Density 7.4 Spasticity 6.5 Rawness 8.9 Craftsmanship 7.6 Harmonicaness 6.2

Pedestrian Deposit - Silhouette
Unleash the beast! Roaring with tense, heavy-handed violence, a steamrollered attack engulfs the desensitized noise-corpse, chasing shitshower shadows of blister-rage macrosonics. Vicious undercurrents shredded raw. Kaleidoscopic densities. Sonorous beauty.
Harshness 8.8 Density 9.4 Spasticity 5.9 Rawness 6.4 Craftsmanship 10.0 Harmonicaness 7.2

Richard Ramirez - Rabid
One of the best things I`ve heard from Ramirez. Well composed, nicely laid out, precipitously paced, still managing to steer clear of precision-guided contrast, the raw waves accumulate, saturate, satisfy.
Harshness 7.9 Density 7.6 Spasticity 3.8 Rawness 8.4 Craftsmanship 9.3 Harmonicaness 7.6

The Rita - Grey Nurse Tied Down in a Net
Comp compiler The Rita serve up a dense mass of full flavored goodness that meets expectations nicely. A warm blanket smothers the listener in piles of pure, unfettered sludge.
Harshness 6.8 Density 8.1 Spasticity 0.0 Rawness 8.2 Craftsmanship 4.7 Harmonicaness 6.0

Scab - Hmrrmg
More all-out earhole slobbering grit. Meaty, crud-sputtered bilge-piles find a hole, jump in. Deceptively simple, but on closer inspection a number of close-packed drone-scrape elements are at play inside the festering filth-flood. This one has grown on me.
Harshness 2.4 Density 7.8 Spasticity 0.0 Rawness 5.8 Craftsmanship 7.0 Harmonicaness 8.9

Seplophobia - Untitled
Shrill streams of waterlogged shimmer flushed through razored dental scree. Dilatory, iron-tinged waves slip, slide, salivate in sheer, sharply chipped, whittled down scuzz-wail.
Harshness 7.8 Density 5.7 Spascity 2.7 Rawness 3.3 Craftsmanship 7.8 Harmonicaness 6.2

Sewer Election - (Trans) Sexual Treatments for Harsh Heads
Brutish screech-laden feedback squeal explodes into gargantuan glowering brainblow rainbow-swarm. A variety of elements stirred carefully into the mix eventually develop an almost frantic articulation, spinning in deceptively disparate disregard for control? No fucking chance. Fucking killer.
Harshness 8.7 Density 9.4 Spasticity 7.4 Rawness 8.7 Craftsmanship 9.7 Harmonicaness 7.2

Sickness - No Sale, No Credit, No tax for Prostitute
Full bodied thunder-drub, a heaving, puking buffet of perforated nail-grind suffle. Screeching textures flail at the periphery of rich, bludgersludge tapestries. The deepest textures inundate, expand, release.
Harshness 8.9 Density 9.3 Spasticity 1.3 Rawness 7.0 Craftsmanship 6.9 Harmonicaness 8.2

Stimbox - OVMNS
Deep, dark, wide-based sewage flows wind and weave through subdued, corrugated drainpipe drone. Steady, see-through blush-flush crotch-sniff, and leaden, warm wet flutter-tease.
Harshness 3.9 Density 8.6 Spasticity 1.0 Rawness 1.9 Craftsmanship 7.7 Harmonicaness 9.2

John Wiese - I Love Derivatives
Easily the furthest deviation from the expected Militant Walls. Thin, burnt-out, screech textures spliced into slick dicings of digestible earhole incision. The frantic nature is nevertheless betrayed by its surface reliant whistle-crack.
Harshness 7.8 Density 2.0 Spasticity 6.8 Rawness 6.6 Craftsmanship 7.3 Harmonicaness 0.0

Panicsville - Necro-Unagi
Brief , bristling shrieks-quawk ground into fractured pits of ripped-raw fiber-trail. A low-pitched hum-spin envelops the affair whilst assorted background catcalls crackle with ill tempered grace.
Harshness 6.9 Density 7.0 Spasticity 7.0 Rawness 7.0 Craftsmanship 7.0 Harmonicaness 6.6

Shiflet - Amateur Saboteur
Flatulant bass-blubber blub-a-blub-blub. Carefully modulated flab-ripple. Coruscating fudge-puckers pumped and plopped through poop-shoot plump-stump.
Harshness 2.1 Density 3.7 Spasticity.1.5 Rawness 7.8 Craftsmanship 6.4 Harmonicaness 4.5

PCRV - Pierce
Ding-a-ling! Sped up ring-chimes clanging waves of severe, twinkling glee. Squealing sonics creep in toward the end, nicely upping the intensity without ever really deviating from the straight-ahead earhole pierce.
Harshness 7.8 Density 3.6 Spasticity 1.0 Rawness 6.0 Craftsmanship 6.7 Harmonicaness 5.9

Labels:

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Joseph Roemer's One Hundred Essential Noise Releases

Just to have it somewhere for people to link to, I've posted "One Hundred Noise Releases as recommended by Joseph Roemer." Thanks to Segerhuva for posting the list and Carlos of Angbase fame (and Pitchphase) for hosting a scan of the original 11x17 list that Joe sent to him.

Top Ten lists remind me of the late night comedy morons and seems stupid to me. After several attempts to group these titles in LP, 7", CD and Cassette categories I just said "Fuck It" and decided instead on: One Hundred Noise Releases as recommended by Joseph Roemer ... (In no particular order)

001. ENTRE VIFS-l'ordre par le bruit-CD-(artware)
002. MACRONYMPHA-pittsburgh-LP-(p.d.b.)
003. VIVENZA-metallurgie-CS-(freedom in a vacuum)
004. MONDE BRUITS-selected works-CD-(endorphine factory)
005. EMIL BEAULIEAU/MERZBOW-chicago-LP-(rrr)
006. THE NEW BLOCKADERS-symphonie x...-LP-(hypnagogue)
007. "WORLD RECORD"-comp-CD-(alchemy)
008. KAZUMOTO ENDO-evergreen-7"EP-(p.a.l.)
009. TAINT-indecent liberties-LP-(p.d.b.)
010. "NOISE WAR"-comp-CS-(mother savage)
011. K2-metal dysplasia-CD-(cheeses international)
012. LE SYNDICAT-cercle de soufre-LP-(bogart)
013. ERIC LUNDE-xchdx-LP-(w.n.s.)
014. SUDDEN INFANT-radio orgasm-LP-(shimpfluch)
015. "BRUITISTE"-comp-LP-(rrr)
016. THIRDORGAN-guardian angel-CS-(shimizu)
017. KILLER BUG-vaginal disco-CS-(mother savage)
018. "NOISE FOREST"-comp-CD-(les disques du soleil)
019. MACROONYMPHA-intensive care-CD-(self abuse)
020. INCAPACITANTS-fabrication-CD-(alchemy)
021. MLEHST-breathing in dead flies-LP-(bhp)
022. "EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC OF JAPAN"-comp-LP-(nhk/victor)
023. EXFOLIATION-legion-CS-(s.f.c.r.)
024. MSBR-destruktive locomotion-(pure)
025. ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO-madrid/tolosa-CS-(...)
026. "NEW CATASTROPHIC FORCES"-comp-CS-(united syndicate)
027. TAINT-blitz action trauma-CS-(s.h.f.)
028. ENTRE VIFS-heavy duty-CS-(chthulhu)
029. MLEHST-a cold fuck-...-(bhp)
030. "JAPANESE AMERICAN NOISE TREATY"-comp-2xCD-(release)
031. "EVEN ANTI-ART IS ART"-comp-CS-(rrr)
032. SKIN CRIME-audio pathology-CD-(armed and loaded)
033. K2-de novo-CS-(kinky music)
034. ZONE NORD-marche noir-LP-(sacem)
035. SOLMANIA-metaphor chorus-CD-(alchemy)
036. MASONNA-shinsen na clitoris-CD-(vanilla)
037. HIJOKAIDAN-modern-CD-(alchemy)
038. "JOURNEY INTO PAIN"-comp-CS-(rrr)
039. "AMERICANOISE"-comp-CS-(mother savage)
040. "MUSIC SHOULD HURT"-comp-CD-(self abuse)
041. MERZBOW-noiseembryo-CD-(releasing eskimo)
042. HANGED MAN'S ORGASM-rifkin-7"EP-(mother savage)
043. KNURL-nervescrap-CD-(pure)
044. INCAPACITANTS/MACRONYMPHA-split-7"EP-(mother savage)
045. S.ISABELLA-point de caption-CD-(xerxes)
046. DANIEL MENCHE-legions in the walls-CD-(trente oiseaux)
047. OVMN-visions of autoerotic excess-CD-(armed and loaded)
048. 666VBN-blunt objects-CS-(mother savage)
049. LE SYNDICAT-...-3xLP BOX-(rrr)
050. ONE DARK EYE-chronicle of a death foretold-2xLP-(non mi piace)
051. TAINT-whoredom-CD-(p.d.b.)
052. MERZBOW-pulse demon-CD-(release)
053. INCAPACITANTS-as loud as possible-CD-(zabriskie point)
054. GRUNT/MACRONYMPHA-split-LP-(freak animal)
055. AUBE-quadrotation-4x7"EP-(self abuse)
056. KILLER BUG-cunt explosion-7"EP-(releasing eskimo)
057. SKIN CRIME-whorebutcher-CS-(mother savage)
058. HIJOKAIDAN-romance-CD-(alchemy)
059. MLEHST-dancing pricks-CS-(muzamuza)
060. MASONNA-madamoiselle anne sanglante...-CD-(alchemy)
061. MONDE BRUITS-man'o'war-CS-(vanilla)
062. "ARTIFICIAL NERVE 1 and 2"-comp-CS-(xerxes)
063. INCAPACITANTS-no progress-CD-alchemy
064. LE SYNDICAT-rectitude-CS-(la procedure)
065. GOVERNMENT ALPHA-maternity-CS-(mother savage)
066. MSBR/MERZBOW-split-7"EP-mother savage)
067. PAIN JERK-trashware-CD-(pure)
068. AMB/HYWARE/KAPOTTE MUZIEK-split-LP-(p.d.b.)
069. MACRONYMPHA-amplified humans-CS-(se)
070. TAINT-victimology-CS-(taint)
071. INCAPACITANTS-new movements-CD-(alchemy)
072. AUBE-wired trap-CD-(self abuse)
073. MSBR-collapseland-CD-(heelstone)
074. MACRONYMPHA-crack-CS-(b/b)
075. KILLER BUG-your wife is mine-7"EP-(self abuse)
076. ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO-utrecht-LP-(e.g.p.)
077. MLEHST-ignorance against...-LP-(bhp)
078. MACRONYMPHA/GOVERNMENT ALPHA-split-CD-(mother savage/xerxes)
079. "DEDICATION 1 AND 2"-comp-LP/CD-(artware)
080. ILLUSION OF SAFETY-historical-CD-(staalplaat)
081. LUSTMORD-heresy-CD-(soleilmoon)
082. MLEHST-group milk-CS-(bhp)
083. "MAXIMUM NOISE"-comp-CS-(h.l.a.s.)
084. MSBR/GOVERNMENT ALPHA-split-CS-(xerxes)
085. THE NEW BLOCKADERS-...-2xCD BOX-(tesco)
086. "EXTREME AMERICA VOL.2"-comp-7"EP-(knot music)
087. CRAWL UNIT-zodiac-7"EP-(self abuse)
088. MACRONYMPHA-art shawcross-7"EP-(self abuse)
089. ATRAX MORGUE-james huberty-7"EP-(self abuse)
090. UNDERGROUND USA AND CANADA-comp-CS-(mother savage)
091. CONTROLLED BLEEDING-bladder bags-CD-(vanilla)
092. MO-TE-peaceful world-CS-(h.l.a.s.)
093. JOHN WATERMANN-calcutta-CD-(nd)
094. THIRDORGAN-jinzoningen-
095. "...VULTURES MISS NOTHING"-comp-2xLP-(harbinger)
096. RRREPORT 1 AND 2-comp-ZINE/CD-(rrr)
097. MLEHST-never understand her-LP-(bhp)
098. STIMBOX/MO-TE-split-CS-(uncut)
099. INCAPACITANTS-quietus-CD-(alchemy)
100. MACRONYMPHA-melting softly into time-LP-(rrr)

Labels: ,

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Noise Bibliography

I decided to start a noise bibliography. As I was adding links to the sidebar I realized that that could get pretty long. Rather than doing that, I'll be updating this list (which I will link to the side bar) instead. This list is by no means exhaustive, and many of the articles are academic.

Enjoy.

Labels: ,

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

RHY Yau

Okay, I admit it: Yau is underrated.

Had a look back through the old tapes. Seems I had totally ignored the entire string of Auscultare output. I obligingly eat my words.

So, by way of apology, I offer these brief comments on some of Yau`s mid/late 90`s cassette output:

Stimbox+Yau - :stim:yau:/:yau:box: C60 (HLAS)
"Part 1 in a two-part collaboration".Released around the time of the Mo*te masterpiece, "Life in a Peaceful New World" (HLAS), this beautifully dense foray into the harsh harmonic resonances of amplified spring, string, voice and buzz, offers everything you ever wanted in a harsh, industrial-strength drone, and does for the field everything Mo*te did for ultraharsh ambient-flavored noise. A Stimbox world ascending, Yau hanging on the edges. Slowly developing, enveloping crystal shards sleet across the perimeter of a roiling central inferno. Truly gargantuan depths moon and moan within glittering, skittering crooks and crannies. Feedback slides from clean sheen back into dreamy dust-choked caverns, submerged reverberations scraping metallic screeching luster delving diving deeper deeper still the whirlpool pull sucks the noisebrain into thunderous angelic hell, somehow growing larger larger, blotting out everything, more, the name, not, nothing, drone...

NoiseGrade: A
Harshness: 6.4
Density: 8.6
Rawness: 7.3
Craftsmanship: 7.4
Spasticity: 6.4
Harmonicaness: 9.8


:RHY:Yau:Stimbox: - Tactile C60 (Auscultare)
"Collaboration Part II"Following the release of Part 1 on HLAS, this Yau/Stimbox collaboration sees much more Yau in the structural unfolding and articulation. If liner notes ring true, Stimbox supplies only "sound source" this time around, making it less the pure collaboration featured in Part 1, and more the Yau-pulated Stimbox reworking. Yau jumps in lozenge first, hacking and weezing at an ill-tempered bludgeon which gradually works its way into a solid spluttering, grumbling mess. If Stimbox enters the picture at all, then, it is in a much reduced capacity, gasping and sputtering against Yau`s unforgiving tonsils and tongue-work. Hogtied, branded, dragged kicking and screaming through razor`d sphincter-flesh and whirlwind ass-swipe, frenetic chainsaw wheezing splices into stop-action fidelity and badly burnt tape-head... winking out and off before the raging besquashed Stimpy behemouth is allowed but a floppy few playful plugs against a calmly controlled acoustic ding-a-ling and savage oral choking.

NoiseGrade: A
Harshness: 6.2
Density: 7.1
Rawness: 7.2
Craftsmanship: 8.8
Spasticity: 9.3
Harmonicaness: 3.1


:D.Wright:/:RHY:Yau: - Void Fraction C60 (Auscultare)
Mr Wright does a nice whispery slithered slather amongst encroaching, gasping, gas-chamber smokestra, but this string of reviews is focusing on the Yau man and therefore, those few lazy comments are all he gets. Sorry. Yau, for his part, goes a little quieter on the ass. Way quieter, in any event, than on either of his collabs with Mr Stimbox. Gurgles glint and lurch through crooked creaks and distant amplified hum. Comes at you in slow, polychronic spins and squeaks. Sphincter relinquished in favor of oversexed tonsil massage, masculine grunt, orangutan hawk, feline purr. Spittle drizzles and drains out the furball cuntmouthed ejaculant. Nostrils puckered and unplugged panting ambient backwash, reversed, orgasmic shudder. Lost in space for imprecise moments, Mork cracking in and out of psychedelic flatulence, going ape-shit, chucking it all in for the inevitable bloodclot rage.

NoiseGrade: B+
Harshness: 4.2
Density: 6.9
Rawness: 7.6
Craftsmanship: 8.8
Spasticity: 7.8
Harmonicaness: 3.9


Government Alpha / RHY Yau - split C60 (Auscultare)
Alpha is as Alpha does: brilliant, constantly evolving cycles and surges, ripping new bungholes with radically brutal arse-shredding abandon. Frenetic pushes, frenzied pulls, feel the paint peel, the ears bleed, the bowels give out. And that`s all I`m going to tell you, because, as we got into earlier, our focus for the moment is upon Mr Yau. Due apologies. On with the Yau: a tad louder than material submitted on the before-mentioned split with Mr D. Wright. Did I say a tad louder? UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLY LOUD. Powerful nail-gun axe-grind punching hard and fast against what sounds like the world`s least successful wine-tasting. Caught in the ongoing battle of spitting and swallowing, a bad-tempered wallowing pig-snort snuffling invades the scene, saying hello to his little friend: recurrent ejaculatory interruptus on a truly earhole-piercing scale. Breakneck shrieking fits, percussive crumbling decibels beyond a red-zone bloodbath thick with rusted tinpot cornhole scathe. The voice gives out, gives in to wickedly fierce hyperpastic gasolineman lightning-seethe, raging roars overpowering all senses amid the accelerated rush and random spasm. Best sex I never had.

NoiseGrade: A
Harshness: 8.9
Density: 7.9
Rawness: 8.5
Craftsmanship: 9.3
Spasticity: 8.5
Harmonicaness: 2.1


RHY Yau - Monochrome Series III: White Issue: Live Document C90 (Auscultare)
Starts into it with a no bullshit no holds barred blistering blast. Vocal cords spun tight and barely discernable in the slathering spasmodic spread. Then a dip into more subtle regions. Experimental probing deep inside unseen quarters containing propellor driven false teeth chattering aimlessly under a waterlogged lumberhouse. Wooden wheels spin out through splunking dunking drip and drag. Fluttering insect wings batter ineffectually against a very slowly sucking drainpipe, rubber wax drip, curdled blood-pool, congealed fat. Gets bored, and then, just as you`ve upped that volume up all the way up to max... ARGH! FUCK! ME! Should have seen this one coming. The congealed poop lurches to leering life and hits the frantic fanboy with brain-boring bleats and buzzing electronic crinkles opening onto brief whitewashed blisterscorch phrasing and nameless slip and crackle. Side Two engages the frazzled nerves more immediately with tap-dancing buzz-bearing needle grind and bubblebutt screech-snort. Rickety ultraharsh weedle seethes steams and stammers out a crass litany of rapidly chiseled rustshred slapdash squeegy-scrunch. All stops come out in due course as upper-edged sonic extreme is topped by new sonic extreme, escalating straight off the charts, flying completely off tape, in fact, before settling back into burbled bunghole flagellation and limping buttsnuffle. A final slew of squeal-resistant crumbling crunches accentuate a reverberant cursive snort.

NoiseGrade: B+
Harshness: 7.5
Density: 6.4
Rawness: 6.8
Craftsmanship: 9.0
Spasticity: 7.7
Harmonicaness: 6.1


RHY Yau - Anti-Linear - Terminal One C60 (EMRL)
Quite the experimental divergence for Mr Yau, if that`s possible. Plenty of scope amid gleefully exploited room for maneuverability. As a bonafide Noiseperv [insert pickle up butt](tm), I can only grudgingly review something this short of legitimate harsh noise. What saves it from ejectbuttonitis is the overall diversity and ingenuity Yau crams into the package. Starts out nice and easy on the ol` earholes. Silent passages interspersed with brief, brittle, intermittent experiments in low fidelity, on par with some early Francois Douris. Tape-manipulated "spoken word" bits babblogically spewed a la Eric Lunde (to keep dropping names like the pretentious fuck I am), fighting for coherence inside sewage drains and burbling boulder heave-ho. Brilliant poetic moments bring a tear to the eye: "Temporal auditory analysis of acoustic events in various frequency channels is influenced by the ability to detect amplitude modulations which for normal hearing involves low-pass filtering, with a cut-off frequency around one hundred hertz and a rejection slope of about ten decibels per decade." Tin can circular scrape and slither amid non-stop bevy of belch interuptus. Ye olde harsh ante steadily ups inside rumbling, cling-clang speckled gristle. Erratic exchange of sci-fi scratchy hissy-fit, cut-up crinkled paper mache nostril action. Side two features another live bit from the "Amplified Capacitance" series prevalent in the Monochrome Series III reviewed above. Significantly louder, in other words, a densely compacted assault on all seismic fronts, throwing spring-loaded strobe flashes at undulating pools of liquid xenon, radio dials spinning in confused circles as chainsawed anvils randomly catapult into freebase emergency ward bongshow with wildly percussive abandon. If things simmer down, its only because most of the percussive elements have been dumped down the bilgepipe, affording a not-so-neatly hammered out look at decayed tinhorn riptide.

NoiseGrade: B
Harshness: 2.1
Density: 2.3
Rawness: 7.1
Craftsmanship: 8.5
Spasticity: 8.2
Harmonicaness: 2.2


Contagious Orgasm / RHY Yau - Collaborations 1997 2xC60 (Auscultare)
No it`s not harshnoise. Now, FUCK OFF! It would be intriguing to hear what Mr Yau could bring to the excessively layered rhythmic droning of Contagious Orgasm. The answer is: something that sounds rather a lot like Yau Proper. Can`t complain. Shit`s more than digestible when delivered fresh from Lozenge Boy`s frenetic anus. Ahem. The Collaborations divide neatly into two sides worth of Contagious Orgasm solo (or so the liner notes suggest), and two sides worth of "Contagious Orgasm vs RHY Yau", split up between White Tape and Black Tape. White Tape starts us off with a Contagious Orgasm directed study of chanting religious fanaticism traced through cantankerous squealing and random crystal-meth glitches, sinking slowly into a spacious, atmospheric styled oblivion, giving rise to tribal beats and glowing gas-jet assblow. Now to the Yau. Utterly mangled remnants of choked off Orgasm clamber into infinitely deep bomb shelter sheet metal bumbiscuit, heartfelt hack and spurt chirping and chipping away at distant porcelain meatgrinder. Grind action precipitates much of the remainder, traces of regurgitated flesh filtered through twisted haze of spoked pinwheels. Black Tape finds Yau opening the set, and Yau putting a much more the coherent mark on the end product, leaving very little appeal for the more Orgasmically inclined. Those who didn`t heed my earlier invitation to fornicate elsewhere may well be rewarded: the shit`s plenty harsh and not at all easy on the earhole. Deepthroat mic gurlge slurps, slobbers and drops a load of flatulant flutter twizzling spunky drizzle and spittle-soaked bungbath. Raging yeast roars to lickity split simmering vapo-rub, reaming the ringed rubberized kneeburn blister, grating catcalls, growling gobsnot, digging in sludge encrusted grit. Contagious Orgasm applies the finishing touches: long drawn-out shimmering dirge, lightly sheened oscillating buzz, weezing slow and steady over a darkly rich suggestion of infinite depth and warm smoke-clouded echo-chamber hinting masses of mutated metalwork twisting and twining in unhurried ease, peppered with a few good dings which signal the inevitable exit. As all semblance of metallic resonance starts to unravel, a small urinating dog begins to grow in size and substance gushing dimmed-down waterfalls of submerged essence over corrugated rust and deeply buried bone. Woof woof.


NoiseGrade: C
Harshness: 3.2
Density: 8.3
Rawness: 0.6
Craftsmanship: 8.7
Spasticity: 0.2
Harmonicaness: 7.9

Labels:

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

The Science of Noise part 2

This is an idea I`ve toyed with for more than a few years now: to measure noise based on a few fixed criteria. Namley, harshness, density, rawness, craftsmanship, spasticity, harmonicaness. (details below)

It`s something I meant to post to alt.noise a while back. I didn`t because I was chickenshit. I decided that the rather arbitrary notion of "fixed criteria" would collapse under the cumbersome tide of outraged criticism, and be consigned forever to rot in the bowels of a bottomless flamepit. So I copped out with an open survey-style question: "Describe noise in five to eight words".

For results of the bogus survey, go here:

the science of noise, part 1

The survey results, however, in more recent hindsight, support what I`ve always felt: that most of us listen to noise for the same reasons, and are usually listening for the same damn thing.
Noise is, before anything else, a word. A word implies a limit. If we can have a limit, we can have a fixed analytical system.

The following are the categories I think would serve noise best:

Harshess. The overall sound pressure and intensity. The degree to which the sound consistently assaults the ear. The literal, physical effect on the listener`s ability to hear, both in the immediate and the forseeable future. Hearing aids, anyone? Incapacitants score high in this area, MSBR not so high.

Density. The overall depth and complexity. The degree to which the abysmal depths of noise are both hinted at and permeated. The sense of being sucked into a bottomless chasm of unimaginable diversity and motion. Skin Crime scores it big, early Masonna barely registers.

Rawness. The logical extension of a savagely twisted no-fi obsession, and the grim, brutal, barebones honesty that goes with it. Mutilated meatgrinder grit. Mangled tapehead fidelity. Burned out saturated flatulence. Knurl and early Prurient take this particular taco.

Craftsmanship. The demonstrated technique and skill, time and effort, preparing and/or performing. The extent to which the seemingly effortless flow and fluidity fools the puny brain into perceiving a "musical" context. Compositional factors may also weigh in: editing, layering, mixing, composing. Kazumoto Endo and Sickness get top marks.

Spasticity. The vertiginous sense of displacement and disorientation. The extent to which the warped noisebrain is fucked with, and rendered senseless, dazed, drunken pulp. Fresh and spontaneous whiplash nervesnap. Synaptic gaps ad stupidum. Can`t put your finger on it? Can`t get your bearings? Ready to give up and call it "noise"? All right then. Gomikawa Fumio at ya.

Harmonicaness. The world of drone. The mostly uncontrollable interplay of undertones and overtones which gently, but firmly, convey the drowsy attention span deep into the slumbering heart of Never Never Land. CCCC and early Stimbox are definite frontrunners.

There`s a fair bit of overlap, but I`m hardly suggesting this to be an exact science. Call it another tool in the eternal quest to locate the shit you wanna hear.

Here are examples of superior noise product subjected to these criteria:

Incapacitants - No Progress (Alchemy)
Harshness 10
Density 7.5
Rawness 7
Craftsmanship 5.5
Spasticity 3
Harmonicaness 8

Masonna - shinsen na clitoris (Vanilla)
Harshness 9
Density 2
Rawness 7.5
Craftsmanship 6
Spasticity 9.5
Harmonicaness 3

Gasolineman - born in the high octane fuel (out)
Harshness 9
Density 4.5
Rawness 5
Craftsmanship 7.5
Spasticity 10
Harmonicaness 1

Metrocide / Analog Weapon (23 Productions)
Harshness Metrocide 9 / Analog Weapon 8
Density Metrocide 7 / Analog Weapon 6.5
Rawness Metrocide 5.5 / Analog Weapon 7.5
Crafstmanship Metrocide 8 / Analog Weapon 6
Spasticity Metrocide 6.5 / Analog Weapon 7.5
Harmonicaness Metrocide 7.5 / Analog Weapon 2.5

The Rita / Kevin Rivard - Shin Health (self released)
Harshness 7.5
Density 4.5
Rawness 10
Craftsmanship 6
Spasticity 8
Harmonicaness 4

Mathausen Orchestra - Bloodyminded (?)
Harshness 6.5
Density 5
Rawness 8.5
Craftsmanship 4.5
Spasticity 3
Harmonicaness 7.5

Yellow Cab - s/t (GROSS)
Harshness 9.5
Density 7
Rawness 6
Craftsmanship 6.5
Spasticity 8
Harmonicaness 6.5

Killer Bug - Steaming Gash (b/b)
Harshness 10
Density 7
Rawness 2.5
Craftsmanship 8.5
Spasticity 8.5
Harmonicaness 8.5

Note: I initially meant for this system to be used as a supplement to legitimate reviews, and NOT to replace reviews proper. In my vision: "The busy noiseperv glances at the scores... vaguely interested or curious (though more probably merely offended), the perv reads the spew to follow..."

Therefore, I do not recommend that anyone, save yours truly, actually consider trying to apply the critical system I`ve outlined. Harshness, Density, Rawness, Craftsmanship, Spasticity, Harmonicaness. These are the categories that serve my noise vision best. They are unlikely to fit other individual noise visions quite so snugly. If you think that people are not taking your reviews seriously enough, then feel free to develop your own arbitrary set of relevant criteria. It could very well save the reader his or her precious time. And that`s all that matters, really.

All flames welcome.

Labels: ,

Monday, October 03, 2005

International Noise Wiki

Come help us build up the International Noise Wiki database. If nothing else, you can add an entry for your own noise project. Special thanks to Ichorous Jared (aka BagelNoise) for setting up this wikispace site but it is going to take a collaborative effort to get it up to par.

What's this "wiki" stuff, you ask? Well, according to the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikis are:
dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge.

What makes wikispaces different is that:
We make wikis accessible to everyone, not just technical users. We provide a clean interface, a visual page editor, and a focus on community collaboration.

So even if you're not tech savy, please feel free to add any noise-related content to the site--it can always be edited later by someone else. Right now the space could just use content period, so even if just one noisehead, or fan of noise were to add one entry, that would be a help in getting the ball rolling.

So I'm asking each and every noise/PE artist to at least update an entry (or create an entry) for their own projects. Don't worry so much about the format as I'm sure once content gets added there will be communal decisions made as to what the overall format of the entries (and site itself) will be.

Help support the noise scene in a different way today--add an entry at the International Noise Wiki space so that others can begin finding information about all their favorite noise artists, releases and labels.

Labels: