umpio + irr. app. (ext.) - observation affects the outcome




this really is a wonderful release. bengt collaborating with the endlessly fascinating mr matthew waldron?

seriously ... hypnotic and organic fever dreams await!

"audio developed in alternating stages between winter 2011 and summer 2012 at rock creek tribunary, hillsboro, us. assembled at arkisto, turku, finland. grinder courtesy of the collection of mr. andrew liles."

cd released on monochrome vision in 2013.

observation affects the outcome

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Rory Storm - We Are Superior Beings

Please immediately improve the rest of your month by visiting Rory's Bandcamp page, which contains many "pay-what-you-like" albums of magnificently suburban bedroom electronics. Should you doubt the value of obeying my instruction, check out this album (released in 2005 as a CDR on the terrific New Zealand micro-label United Fairy Moons) first.

Rory Storm - We Are Superior Beings

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Torturing Nurse / Umpio - Split




Normally, an excellent 20 minute harsh Umpio noise excursion would be worth the price of admission ... but then you get four tracks from China's favourite ear annihilators. Winner!

C40 released on Tenzenmen in 2012.

Torturing Nurse / Umpio

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Gelsomina - 7"




You already know where you are with Pekka!

This came out as a early "special edition" that also included a tape ... never seen the damn thing never mind heard it!

7" released on Freak Animal Records in 2006.

7"

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Gelsomina & Bizarre Uproar - Älä Tee Huorin




Originally a double tape set jointly released on Filth And Violence and Untergeschoss ten years ago in an edition of only 54 copies. Two collaborations (one live and one mail) plus an individual track from each.

LP released on Urashima in 2015.

Älä Tee Huorin

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Umpio / SSRI - Split




Bengt Datsun on one side and Pekka PT and Toni Kandelin on the other.

C40 released on Pekka's Untergeschoss in 2011.

Umpio / SSRI

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Bizarre Uproar & Gelsomina - Assisted Self-Sterilization




Collaborative scrapyard annihilation.

CD released on Freak Animal Records in 2007.

Assisted Self-Sterilization

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Concrete Mascara / Umpio - Concrete vs Umpio vs Mascara




Full-on four person destruction-fest that drives my youngest cat bananas. That's a proper recommendation by the way!

CD jointly released on Terror and Obscurex in 2013.

Concrete vs Umpio vs Mascara

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Gelsomina & Squamata - Junkyard Behemoth




A perfectly titled release that is based on collaborative source material before being moulded into individual interpretations.

CD released on Freak Animal Records in 2007.

Junkyard Behemoth

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Umpio - Opium Electronix I-III




Home-made salvaged junk electronics from Bengt Datsun. This brings together the three previously released volumes of Opium Electronics ... you can find the fourth here.

Double C90 set released on Freak Animal Records in 2014.

Opium Electronix I-III

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Grunt / Gelsomina - Collaboration LP




Mikko Aspa and Pekka PT ... you can guess the rest.

LP released on Freak Animal Records in 2005.

Collaboration LP

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Vanhala / Umpio / Keränen - Split




"Corrupted snippets from Oslo - Göteborg - Jönköping - Kobenhavn, May 2011" from Jaakko Vanhala, Bengt Datsun and Tommi Keränen

C32 released on Nekorekords and Salamanauhat in 2012.

Vanhala / Umpio / Keränen

Also, here's two live performances that were on the Ljud & Bild Produktion site and Jaakko's Soundcloud (neither sites appear to exist any more) ...

Live At Veljeskoti

Live In Stockholm (1 Dec 2012)

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Gelsomina - Nostalghia




Reissue of the tape originally released on Smell The Stench in 2004 that has a choice additional track ... a live collaboration with Grunt.

CD released on Cipher Productions and Musically Incorrect Records in 2006.

Nostalghia

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Jaakko Vanhala - Feral Earth




Originally a C40 on Jaakko's Salamanauhat in 2011. This is the CD version released on Freak Animal Records in 2012.

Feral Earth

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Gelsomina - Santa Sangre




Cracking release that takes it's inspiration from Alejandro Jodorowsky's brilliant film of the same name with the tracks titled after key scenes.

3" CDr released on Mask Of The Slave in 2006.

Santa Sangre

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Jaakko Vanhala - Here Be Lions




This was originally released as a C28 on Sprachlos Verlag in 2012 before being expanded with Jaakko's contribution to the Tapeworks Volume VI compilation on Hästen & Korset plus two other tracks.

Released on Freak Animal Records in 2013.

Here Be Lions

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Gelsomina - Crossroads Noise




Five short and swirling harsh blasts on this 3" CDr released on Freak Animal Records in 2002.

Crossroads Noise

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Clay Figure - Eyes Of The Sun God




Three warped covers of songs by Iron Maiden, Napalm Death and (the highlight) Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun".

3" CDr released on 267 lattajjaa in 2004.

Eyes Of The Sun God

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Gelsomina - Disease With A Purpose




Pekka Perä-Takala reworking source material from Kaj Wikgren and Mikko Novaro who Pekka (alongside Mikko Grönlund) also recorded with as Clay Figure.

CD released on Freak Animal Records in 2004.

Disease With A Purpose

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Gelsomina - Cronenberg / Dead Music Live




Reissue of the Cronenberg 3" CDr alongside a 23 minute live excursion recorded earlier in the year of release.

CD released on Freak Animal Records in 2005.

Cronenberg / Dead Music Live

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Aluminum Noise - Outnumbered And Fatigued: Romantic Music




Cavernous space drone with the occasional burst of rocket booster noise ...

CDr released on Mechanoise Labs in 2003.

Romantic Music

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Aluminum Noise - Totally Fucking Lost




Jason Crumer and Nathan Hobbs, who appear to be in the mood for orchestral drone tones on this one.

CDr released on Sacred Sound Noise in 2001.

Totally Fucking Lost

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Gelsomina - Silver Screen




More quality Pekka constructions. He never seems to settle on a single theme and always entertains me no end.

CDr released in Japan on Deserted Factory in 2003.

Silver Screen

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Gelsomina - Greenaway




Only in Finland ... contemplative and excoriating ... quality gear!

CDr released on Multi National Disaster Records in 2006.

Greenaway

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Aluminum Noise - Sweet Leaf




Stone cold genius noise obliteration of Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" with the cover being a distorted take on the inner of the gatefold sleeve of the Paranoid album. Just quality all the way through!

Business Card CDr released on Troniks' sister label PACrec ‎in 2003.

Sweet Leaf

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The New Blockaders - Etudes De Rien




Noise scree and Hulk Smash junk metal courtesy of TNB (who this time around are Mark Durgan, Michael Gillham and Richard Rupenus).

Originally a lathe plus tape extravaganza that disappeared immediately, this is the thankfully reissued tape.

C36 released on Coherent States in 2017.

Etudes De Rien

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va - Three Minute Symphony

The follow-up to "Elephant Table", released by X-Tract as a 2LP in 1984. Yet another wonderful time capsule of the early 1980's industrial cassette network underground, this time with a more international focus. Short songs from Ptose, Van Kaye & Ignit, Kill Ugly Pop, Merzbow, Stratis, Hunting Lodge, Nurse With Wound, Sema, Die Todlische Doris, Smegma, Subject, Colin Potter, Asmus Tietchens, Trax, DDAA, Philip Johnson (of Storm Bugs), Legendary Pink Dots, Conrad Schnitzler, Point of Collapse, Nagamatzu, Hurt, Roll Kommando, Bene Gessirit,

va - Three Minute Symphony

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Gelsomina - Deus Ex Garbage Can




It's Pekka PT ... he's from Finland don'tcha know ... it's on Turgid Animal ... it's great.

It's a C40. It was released in 2007.

Deus Ex Garbage Can

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va - The Elephant Table Album

Songs by David Jackman, Nurse With Wound, Portion ControlCoil, Chris & Cosey, SPK, We Be Echo, Muslimgauze, 400 Blows, Attrition, Nocturnal Emissions, Bourbonese Qualk, Legendary Pink Dots, Lustmord, Konstruktivists, Paul Kelday, Bushido... basically an ideal line-up of mostly-English 1983 underground industrial heavy hitters. This is one of the defining comps of the era, and it's a good one. It sounds very much like 1983, but I consider that a positive. 

va - The Elephant Table Album

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Gelsomina - Sick Seed




Superior warped noise courtesy of Pekka PT who would later record under the name Sick Seed.

C40 released on Turgid Animal in 2008.

Sick Seed

[just in case you missed it ... check the comments from yesterday]

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va - Urgh! A Music War The Album

Soundtrack to the classic concert film from 1981, with live recordings of XTC, Echo & the Bunnymen, Oingo Boingo, Pere Ubu, Dead Kennedys, 999, Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark, Gang of Four, Fleshtones, Toyah Wilcox, Wall of Voodoo, Skafish, the Au-Pairs, Devo, a not-great showing from Gary Numan, too much by The Police (because the movie's director and IRS Records' CEO Miles Copeland is Police drummer Stewart's brother), and lots more. Of particular note is the incendiary performance by The Cramps, which to me is a career highlight for its manic, drooling lunacy. Same for Klaus Nomi's blinding turn on "Total Eclipse", which doubles as a painful reminder that he passed away far too soon. Due to legal whatnot, it's highly unlikely that the movie will be remastered and made available though any above-board channels, but bits have popped up on YouTube. Better than nothing.






va - Urgh! A Music War The Album

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va - Risveglio Di Una Citta (In Memory Of Luigi Russolo)

Yeah yeah, I know. A noise tribute to Luigi Russolo is about as creative an idea as covering 4'33". Yawnsville. This particular compilation is notable, though, having taken the form of a 6xCDR set with an entire album by a different artist. The artists are all from different countries, too. You get Cria Cuervos from Italy, Lt. Caramel from France, Big City Orchestra from the US, Head58m from Poland, Government Alpha from Japan, and Hyware (the dormant noise alter ego of Radboud Mens) from the Netherlands. It came inside a lovely full color magazine which I did not scan, so you'll have to make do with the Discogs image above. If you like it, go buy your own copy off Discogs (I'm assuming it's long sold out at the source) and scan all those pages. Released in 2008 as a limited edition of 160 numbered copies by the Polish label Impulsy Stetoskopu.

disc 1 Cría Cuervos - The Solidity of Fog
disc 2 Lieutenant Caramel - My Six Families of Noises
disc 3 Big City Orchestra - How an Automat Works
disc 4 Head 58m - Scape
disc 5 Government Alpha - Intonarumori 2008
disc 6 Hyware - Computori

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Life, The Universe and Everything




Stephen Hawking has left us. I consider myself genuinely privileged to have been around during his lifetime. He has taught us all more about the infinite and the deeply personal than we deserve.

We truly stand on the shoulders of giants!

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Wahehe - Dywagacje Uniwersalne

Second volume of exhumed 1980s Polish industrial music, brought to us as an edition of four CDRs by the heroes at Impulsy Stetoskopyu. These discs span 1984 to 1989, and come from the sole remaining copy of the band's demo tape, plus more sound from the band-leader's personal archive. Compared to the other acts in this series, Wahehe left slightly more of a magnetic trace. Discogs lists contributions to three compilation tapes in 1989, followed by this set. Some of this stuff sounds a bit like the blown-out synth monoliths of early MB, other stuff has the looseness of "Ein Produkt der DAF" mixed with Cabaret Voltaire. I'm not doing it justice, though. You might as well hear it for yourself.

disc 1 - Pierwsza Dywagacja
disc 2 - Druga Dywagacja
disc 3 - Trzecia Dywagacja
disc 4 - Czwarta Dywagacja

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Paweł Paulus Mazur - 1984-1989 Dźwięki Zebrane Czyli Ultra Music Box (Arc_Hiv Positiv) No. 1

Another volume of Impulsy Stetoskoyu's ambitious Archive of Polish Industrial Music, these discs span five years of sound by Paweł Paulus Mazur and related bands: ZKS, Po Schodach, Novy Levy Proletariyat, others you've surely never heard of. It came out in 2012 as a set of six CDRs in a metal tin with a booklet inside, and was limited to just 100 copies. That might not sound like much, but it's probably a larger edition than anything the bands published in their lifetime. Actually, I haven't been able to find evidence of any album in any format that these bands might have released during the 1980s. Again, I'm suspecting that the label gathered rough live recordings and demos. That it became a set of six full albums is a testament to both the label's sense of purpose and the depth of Cold War-era Polish industrial music previously languishing unheard in people's basements. For fans of Throbbing Gristle, Non Toxique Lost or Esplendor Geometirco.

disc 1 - ZKS, PAP, Kościotrup (1984-1986)
disc 2 - Po Schodach (1986)
disc 3 - Totart/Hiena (1986)
disc 4 - Paweł Paulus Mazur, Potem, Nie Kuam (1987-1988)
disc 5 - Novy Levy Proletaryat (1988)
disc 6 - Novy Levy Proletaryat (1989)

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Szelest Spadajacych Papierkow - Trojmiejski Wiatr

How well do you know the 1980s/1990s Polish industrial scene? Not very well, I'll bet. The Polish label Impulsy Stetoskopu set out to educate people with their series of reissues under the heading The Archive of Polish Industrial Music. In 2009, the label kicked off their series with this set of 3 CDRs in a metal tin with posters and other documentary information inside. As far as I can tell, there are no other available recordings by Szelest Spadajacych Papierkow.

You thought Sheffield was grim in 1981? No-Wave-era New York City was dicey? The Eastern Bloc probably had those better-known breeding-grounds for industrial culture beat. Rather than a coy art-school pose or nihilist fashion show, references to the Third Reich in Cold War Poland was genuinely provocative. Recorded after martial law was lifted, during the country's years of strikes, economic uncertainty, Solidarity, and violence, this music (and the rest in the Archive... series) is a reflection of truly underground, possibly dangerous, art-making.

There isn't much other evidence of these bands ever having existed. There was hardly a cassette-network reaching out to trade tapes and appear on international compilations, and Rough Trade never visited Krakow to sign young bands up for singles to be played on John Peel's show, or sand off their rough edges to make them palatable for dance clubs. Impulsy Stetoskopu did an admirable job of hunting down primitive live recordings and demo cassettes that likely never made it out of Poland while these bands existed. Naturally, since this was released in an edition of only 120 copies that are well sold out by now, it's time to broaden the audience a little bit more.

disc 1 - The Anti–Third Reich’n’Roll Part 1
disc 2 - The Anti–Third Reich’n’Roll Part 2
disc 3 - Plac Wymiany Pozytywnej

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Ahlzagailzehguh - Tactile Agnosia




Strap in for 25 tracks on another 3" CDr released on Collapsed Hole in 2003.

Tactile Agnosia

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Ahlzagailzehguh - Tools Of A Dangerous Trade




James Cooke's short harsh noise assault on a 3" CDr released on Collapsed Hole in 2003.

Tools Of A Dangerous Trade

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day of the living dead links.

Going all the way back to 2013 for some old posts with re-upped links for your weekend entertainment.

Toshimaru Nakamura & Unplugboy - Untitled
Seed Mouth - Gurgitation
Seed Mouth - Titanic
Seed Mouth - Happy Birthday Junko
Seed Mouth - Scum
Seed Mouth - Live in Denmark 2001
ASM - 219
ASM - Pure Electronics
Haare - Omega Wound
Haare - Trauma
Haare - Skull Worship
Unusable Signal - Skull Continents
Unusable Signal - Universe in Terrors
Morbid Organ - Scum
Golden Vomit - Bird of Doom
Golden Vomit - Eternal Madness
John Olson - Dark Season of Id
John Olson - Attic Chair
The Lake Bottoms - Untitled
Eva-Johanna Reichstag - Memorial 78-79
Die Form - 1
Die Form - X-Action
Hélène Sage - Comme une Image
Kadef - Kalojan Besucht Dieter
Kadef - Träume & Schäume
Kadef & Weibal-Barthel - Split
Schönheit Der Jugend & Kadef - Split
Minotaure - 98/3/21
Narita Mamoru - Music for Butoh Dance Improvisation
Kakera - 2-10-03
P. Children - Documentation 1987-1992
Moongang - Untitled
Pete Swanson & The Cherry Point - Split C30
Pete Swanson & The Cherry Point - Split C21
Pete Swanson & The Cherry Point - Split C15
GMS & The Cherry Point - Split C30
GMS & The Cherry Point - Split C15
GMS & The Cherry Point - Split C08
Unplugboy & Toshimaru Nakamura - Untitled
Dead Body Love - Volcano God
Dead Body Love - Emetic
va - Far East Experimental Sounds Presents - Sounds of Fantasy
va - A Conclusion of Unrestrained Philosophy
va - Pure Will, Without the Confusion of Intellect
Failing Lights & Unusable Signal - Collaboration
Unusable Signal - Universe in Terrors
Unusable Signal - Skull Continents
Smersh - The Part of the Animal That People Don't Like
Smersh - The Beat From 20,000 Fathoms
Smersh - The Greatest Story Ever Distorted
Kaoru Abe - Paritas Unfinished
Kaoru Abe - Mort a Credit
Masayuki Takanayagi & Kaoru Abe - Kaitai Teki Kohkan
Masayuki Takanayagi & Kaoru Abe - 漸次投射 Gradually Projection
Masayuki Takanayagi & Kaoru Abe - 集団投射 = Mass Projection
va - Inspiration & Power 14 Free Jazz Festival 1
Sukora - Tower
Hirama Takahiro - Thr Eat Rhy Thm
CCCC - Amplified Crystal II
Hado-Ho, Tamaru, Kazunao Nagata - Feedbackpsychedelia
Humectant Interruption & Rorn - Split
G*Park - 1983-1988+

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Charlie Draheim - This Man, This Skull




The aliens are coming ...

3" CDr released on Chondritic Sound in 2007.

This Man, This Skull

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Charlie Draheim - Breaking Luck




As far as I'm concerned, Charlie is completely underrated. I might be in a room on my own but it won't be for the first time.

This is one of those lovely 3" CDrs released on Chondritic Sound. It's from 2005.

Breaking Luck

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va - The Arbitrary Nature of Meaning

I've always enjoyed this album. A disjointed compilation that, improbably, holds together in the end. Music by Illusion of Safety, Big City Orchestra, Smersh, Dead His Name is Alive, Princess Dragon-Mom, Paul Lemos & Joe Papa (of Controlled Bleeding), Con Demek, Simon Wickham-Smith & A Band, UMVUE, Lot 49, Randy Grief, Automaticity, and Basic Noise. You've heard of some of those names, others left hardly a mark. As a listen from start to finish, though, this 1994 CD from Isomorphic Records beats the odds and is quite entertaining.

va - The Arbitrary Nature of Meaning

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S.S. Electronics - Boot Wank (2003-2008)




Have no fear oh ye of rational thought, this is no atrocity glorifying bollocks! How can you possibly have any doubts with such titles as "This Is Nazi Brutality: Small Pricks" and "Hitler Took It Up The Ass AKA In Hitler To The Hilt". If you still have any reservations, this is Ella Einsmire, Geoff Markoff and Richard Ramirez driving another exploitation film inspired vehicle. Noise. Texas style!

Five tape set collecting out of print and unreleased material and released on Deadline Recordings in 2012.

Boot Wank

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va - Sky Flowers & Horse Eggs

Another favorite here at our house, where it's one of the most-played compilations we own. Released by Hypnagogia in 1992, it includes mysterious exhalations by John Watermann (both as himself and under his Spinal Machine alias), PFN, G*Park (one of his best tracks), Shabda (a group from India!), Blackhouse, SFO, Zoviet-France, Nocturnal Emissions, Etant Donnes and Randy Grief.

va - Sky Flowers & Horse Eggs

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Pain Killer - Guts Of A Virgin / Buried Secrets




These are the first two Pain Killer albums that were originally released in 1991 an 1992 respectively. The reactions were many and varied with the common theme being "What The Fuck?" or perhaps something more erudite. If you're here, I'm assuming that you are on the right side of the fence. I also sort of hope that you haven't heard it before so you can have that same initial response but in a good way. John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris writing a new set of rules that only the foolhardy would attempt to follow ... because they did it perfectly the first time around.

Compilation CD released on Earache in 1998.

Guts Of A Virgin / Buried Secrets

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va - Dedication

Stellar compilation LP with The New Blockaders, Hanatarash, Entre Vifs, Freudwerk, Hijokaidan, Masonna, Solmania, AOR, and Incapacitants. Released in 1992 by Artware Productions in an edition of 300 copies with hand-painted covers.

va - Dedication

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va - World Record

This 1992 compilation CD on Jojo Hiroshige's seminal Alchemy label is the opposite of "lowercase". Sheer screeching glory by titans: Controlled Bleeding, Solmania, The Nihilist Spasm Band, Hijokaidan, Freudwerk (who didn't appear to record very much, but the track here is a scorcher that makes me long for more), Merzbow (a name I'm not familiar with), and one of the best bands on this or any other planet, Borbetomagus. Not a single track that doesn't level city blocks. Of the classic "harsh noise" compilations, "World Record" remains close to the top of the list.

va - World Record

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PainKiller - Rituals (Live In Japan)




John, Bill and Mick with Keiji Haino guesting on five of the tracks. As if it wouldn't be have been great enough already?

Recorded live at La Mama, Tokyo on September the 26, 1991.

CD released on Toy's Factory in 1993.

Rituals (Live In Japan)

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va - Meme

Another artifact for the brief craze for fetishistic near-silence, the Meme label produced albums of minimal music with entirely-white covers and tiny grey text hidden beneath the all-white disc. The label leapt out of the gate with some winning CDs by John Hudak, Kevin Drumm & Taku Sugimoto (whose work, of course, would become so minimal over subsequent years that his albums of almost-total-silence trod dangerously close to self-parody), Nerve Net Noise (about whose Meme album the Forced Exposure website once dared listeners: "Go on, test your will to live."), Richard Youngs, and Shifts. This compilation from 1997 was the label's debut release, and worked as a sort of Meme mission statement. It contains tracks by the wonderful Sukora, Ryoji Ikeda, Stillupstepya, CM von Hauswolff, Loren MazzaCane Connors, Marc Behrens, Jim O'Rourke, Ultrasound, Rehberg & Bauer, Tamaru (an underrated bassist whose albums of stately woofer-taxing fog are absolutely worth seeking out), *0, Climax Golden Twins and more.

va - Meme

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PainKiller - Talisman (Live In Nagoya)




John and Bill alongside the original third PainKiller: Mick Harris (ex-Napalm Death and subsequently Scorn) on drums and vocals. Stand by for dubbed-up JazzCore recorded live in Japan on November the 21st, 1994.

CD released on Tzadik in 2002.

Talisman (Live In Nagoya)

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va - Lowercase

Hyper-minimal hush, released in the throes of earnest Bernhard-Gunter-worship circa Y2K, when it seemed somehow revolutionary to make really quiet and fragile-sounding electro-acoustic music. Thankfully, "lowercase" as a name for a genre has gone the way of "hypnogogic pop", "New Weird America", "glitch", and "skiffle". There were some people whose music existed before the term was coined and got shoehorned into it, other artists who adopted a "lowercase" style in order to fit into the (nigh-inaudible) crowd, others who popped up when the trend began and either vanished when it ended or just became so EXTREMELY quiet that they hardly even left a trace on Discogs.

This double-disc set does a pretty nice job of collecting a representative sampling of artists from around the world. Alas, it wasn't not so diverse since all participants are male. One truly bizarre aspect of the album was that it included a second set of two CDs in every box, with an instruction to give those away to a friend and thus immediately making whoever spent money on this (i.e.: me) feel pretty dumb. Wait, I paid for this, but someone else could have given it to me for nothing? Why?? That carried the stench of evangelism; if you were excited by teeny sine tones then it was your duty to convert another listener. No thank you. Most of the music still stands up, though, and since it's long sold out and I'm putting it up on a blog in 2018, then you can think of this as the extra set of CDs that I'm giving away to not just one friend, but everybody.

Tracks by Roel Meelkop, Artificial Memory Trace, Richard Chartier, Bernhard Gunter, Jeph Jerman, Steve Roden/In Be Tween Noise, *0, Taylor Deupree, Oren Ambarchi, Lieutenant Caramel, Michael Northam, Kid 606, Pimmon, Ecclesiastical Scaffolding, Jos Smolders, and many others.

disc 1
disc 2

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