Hello everybody, Here’s my new batch of reviews, this one seems to be more focused on the noise path, but see, that’s life… It always seems to me that when winter got longer and longer, I’m always into more fucked up music… Anyway, in order to look more professional and to be more credible I’m in the process to buy the www.itfor.ca or www.inthefenceofreality.net… stay tuned for this update. I also will start once again to interview people as feature interview. I’ll post soon an interview with Eeyow of Filthy Turd that I did last week and a small interview did in autumn 2002 with Guilty Connector that was never published. Stay tuned and take care…

Martin ITFOR, March 21, 2004.

Anathema A Natural Disaster

(Koch/Music For Nation; 12 tracks; 20 minutes 44 seconds)

(File under : British prog rock)

I always though Anathema was more evil than that… Well, maybe the metal dudes who used to wear Anathema shirt in my time were a bunch of wuss, maybe I’m into heavier shit than metal dudes or maybe Anathema changed a lot since mid-90’s. But the result is pretty awesome. Well don’t consider that band boring for that, maybe parting way from their metal origin gave them power. At the opening I didn’t was really into that keyboard/vocal, but when the moody guitar started I enjoyed more. The variety of the album is really making this very awesome record. That first track sounds like Opeth or Swanö’s moodier stuff. Then the second one goes near the Radiohead world, including the Thom Yorke’s- like vocal! And the mixing of the track make this album a very cohesive album, making each song succeeding in a subtle way and without recognition. But then at the third track you realised that you changed track since there’s a song with vocorder… Okay, guys, I know you like experiment and moods, but for fuck’s sake, forget vocorder vocals, it sucks, man you reminds me Eiffel 65 on this, consider this as an insult. Electronic vocal processor should have been banned from metal after Cynic’s use of it… I don’t know when I heard that song I was hoping nobody will enter the house and call me Fag… But the second part of that track is way better since there’s some hidden screams and some noises and keyboards… Then the other track reminds me a lil’ bit of recent Pink Floyd, well my parent listen so much Division Bell that I don’t dislike this album after all these years as much as I hated it years ago (man that records came out ten years ago… time passes…) But here’s the key of the listening of this album is to forget what I just told before, stop trying to say what track it sounds like and at the moment you enter a beautiful mood (pot helps), then came the track called “Pulled under at 2000 metres a second” and now the mood is broken… Man what a great track, your hairs will fly up in the sky… Total heavy freakness… But here’s the comparison to Pink Floyd’s Animal is I guess, that song really remind me of the track Sheep on that marvellous album (I know I’d say I’ll stop compare every album, but the comparison on an ad to Pink Floyd’s Animal intricate me…) After this metal attack a slower track with a girl singing. Other track called “Flying” is more in the moody aspect of the first tracks and followed by a marvellous piano song. I really like piano tracks with deep vocals. The other instrumentation of that track is very deep and well introduced right before the finale of the album. What a finale… Piano intro with some keyboard overtone shifted by a very cool crescendo beat that ends with a very awesome rhythmic. This crazy rhythmic ends on another piano part that goes out in a subtle way. In a way Anathema did a very good album here and people into what I may say, alternative rock or contemporary progressive rock should check out for these ones. This album will sure make a good soundtrack for more moody and mellow life. In a way it’s a very interesting record but I always feel that something is missing, maybe the previous album should be better. In a way I’m asking if they still got fans since most of their metal fans should have left long ago. But I’m sure there’s some people into contemporary progressive rock should love this… I can recommend it to you since I really enjoyed this introduction to Anathema.

http://www.anathema.ws Anathema

Chefkirk (38-40cm)

(Simple Logic; CDR(limited to 100); 12 tracks; 20 minutes 44 seconds)

(File under : Densely well executed experimental noise music)

Definitely one of the most beautiful package I’ve ever seen from a DIY release. Finally I guess Chefkirk got the presentation they deserve since the previous release got a little weakness in the presentation sense, but it’s not the project’s problem I guess and the most important is on the media that include the sounds, but sometimes presentations raise the interest in looking at a release. For exemple, it took me like 5 month before I took time to listen to Chefkirk with NxFxTxEx and Quixo since I was not really attracted to the presentation (fool I was, I could have discovered the awesome project that is Chefkirk before…) But this one is beautifull, it’s a big brown (recycled-like) card board folded in 2 with a ¼ inches back between each side and on the cover there’s something that looks like a ribbon and inside there’s something that look like plastic grass with very few info outside the song titles and contact info. I’m pretty curious to see that label production. But hey there’s also music on this recording… At the first impression, Chefkirk’s sound on this is a little more aggressive, just a little. But the second track goeas in an harsher and harsh sound before getting in the more minimal sound renowned of Chefkirk on the third track and in a near silence toward the fourth track before engaging a crescendo of loud manipulation… So the Chefkirk sound is still constituted of a subtle loops construction of noise ambiance, but it regards a more noisy aspect, which is not that bad… The fifth track surprised me more with the help of drum (sampling?) as source, like a repetitive drum sequence with some alteration every time that became very alienating by the end of it… Track number 7, called “A Lonely Night At The Butcher Shop” is maybe the most beautiful construction of the record, it sounds like the aforementioned style of Chefkirk but with a precision that make you both feel comfortable and not. Like an alternating movement of noises and more ambient sounds that seems more like direct manipulation before the final burst of noise at the end of that 8 minutes track athat enter you in the very minimal sound of the second one. The magic I guess in Chefkirk is the way everything is brought into one complete work and that seems so normal that everything is where it is, that’s why it’s for me experimental noise music. And this record who’s backed with a very beautiful package make a very awesome step in Chefkirk’s always interesting discography. Sadly it’s limited to 100, so jump on the fire and get your copy soon… See, when you realise easily that a long noise record passed quickly that’s because you like it and this is always the case with me and every Chefkirk’s releases…

Http://www.tibprop.com/chefkirk.htm/ Chefkirk

Http://www.simlog.republika.pl Simple Logic Records

Chefkirk/Iversen Split

(XV Parówek; CDR; 12 tracks; 50 minutes 11 seconds)

(File under : Very interesting dense subtle noise split)

Life sometimes can do very elaborates reunions. I do not really know who is at the origin of this split but reuniting these projects made a very cool release. Chefkirk from North Carolina open this split with a very beautifully crafted noise. Chefkirk plays a kind of noise made with some very subtle mind-boggling loops over-textured with very dense noise manipulation over. In a way it sounds like old school noise of the 80’s. The way tracks are made by Chefkirk is very interesting. Each of the eleven tracks of Chefkirk’s own are have a very beautiful sense of the succession. Chefkirk impressed me even more than the first releases I’ve heard from them. If you like noise minimal but with a very beautiful arrangement, look at Chefkirk and this release is also interesting since Iversen are not that far from the sound of Chefkirk. But instead of doing a multi track composition, Iversen did a 20 minutes track. Consider this a good thing but the transition between the two artists is so soft that some times I didn’t even noticed the change of artist. This is a very killer split sincerely. This left only few time my stereo. I guess I played it 10 times the first week I got it. The presentation is very DIY, concisting of a folded normal pink paper sheet with a “full” colour square image on the front that looks like, well I don’t have a fucking clue what it looks like… and inside there’s a ¾ page inly with infos on each project and the label. Personally I don’t have a prolem with that kind of layout, but there’s a lot of people who won’t pay attention to this just because of it. So this is two young project to check out because they sure can give really awesome shitte soon as they already produced awesome shitte. Congratulation guys for this and thank you for entertaining me like this…

Http://www.tibprop.com/chefkirk.htm/ Chefkirk

Http://www.tibprop.com/ Iversen

http://xvp.terra.pl XV Parówek

Concrete Violin Predator

(Cyber-Blast; 3” CDR; 3 tracks; 16 minutes 34 seconds)

(File under : Noise “brut”)

Another damn nice release by this Texan noise purist. I recently read an interview with Andy of Goat claiming of the importance of “art brut”, maybe Concrete Violin is also part of this tag. Concrete Violin’s sound consist of a very dense wall of noise with few alteration here and there. After all these release I’ve heard from Concrete Violin I begin to realize that his sounds is that, very dense noise. The best example is on the Eyegouge CD on Deadline (also very recommended!), on this CD I realised on a recent listen to this album that the only sound alteration in this record (minus the lyrics) is the track change. You can face the portrait? I may say also that this kind of noise is really weird since, well in my own case, the sound always seems to be too low for me and the usual reaction I do is to raise the volume while listening to this awesome project. This 3” is no exception to the Concrete Violin schematic (sorry Austin if you wanted to do something different here…) The first track’s high noises particularly impressed me. Very alienating… The dense noise of Concrete Violin is still awesome on this record so this consist of another brick in the impressive CV’s discography.

http://geocities.com/cyberblastrecords Cyber-Blast

Fantômas Delerium Cordia

(Ipecac; 1 tracks; 74 minutes 16 seconds)

(File under : Weird soundtrack for a sick loud people)

The infamous super-combo is back and as every Fantômas release have a theme, I was very curious about what goes around in Mike Patton’s head now. This one is described as “surgical sound specimens from the museum of skin” and got a single 74 minutes track. At my main surprise this album is not really a metal record like the other ones are, but have more in common with some other project of mister Patton like his Pranzo Oltranzista album and maybe the texture of some Mr. Bungle tracks. This track is a long construction of some loud passages, noise + screams, weird vocals, some dark melodic orchestration and a 20 minutes boring grating outro. The result I guess it a very well constructed and follows a generous intensity. I figure that it’s the kind of long records you should listen completely when you listen to it, and that’s why I hate long records, but this one is very different, I really have a good feeling listening to it. I don’t know if they are able to plays this album live completely, it should be a really nice live show. I guess I’m a fan of Mike Patton works for so much long that I guess I can say that it’s the most achieve and representative work ever done by Mike Patton. Sincerely it’s a masterpiece in it’s own…

http://www.ipecac.com/ Ipecac

Immaculate:Grotesque Circle

(Truculent; 5 tracks; 68 minutes 17 seconds)

(File under : Noise harsh)

It’s nice to see people taking them seriously and acting to be in a different category, getting away with amateurism. Providence’s own Immaculate:Grotesque did that in a very splendid way. Started as a very generic noise as I guess everybody does, now he take him in a very serious manner with this first pro CD. See when you invest on a pro CD by yourself, you should think it’s your best stuff (wait next month for the review of their new release on RRR to see that it’s not absolutely true…). And this record is a very good one. Starting with a fucking fierce explosion after a small low volume noise, the first track is a long 30 minutes destruction (see it’s more than the entire CD on the same label). I mean that’s really destruction, lack of formal structure, atonality, call it whatever you want, but it’s really fucking harsh noise… Seriously and consider this not a cheap comparison, but the structure of the album and the very abrasive sound of the album, but it reminds me a lot of Merzbow’s Veneralogy. And I’m not the kind of person who compare everything to Merzbow. But the imagery is very different. On the cover of the CD there’s, well, what the fuck is that? It looks like some vegetation in a small river, there’s like a big aquatic vibe to this vegetation. Inside the booklet there’s “Sometimes you have to hurt the one you loves” written inside, well that’s the only thing written the booklet outside the song titles and the album’s name… Go figure but that is truly a very good demonstration of what’s going on this CD. The noise inside is very heavy and done in a very freaky way, nothing really new, but when you want to play in the very brutal noise genre, innovation I guess ain’t the easiest way to do. But I guess that this project does noise in a very mature way, what can you expect from a project that used to tour with both Prurient and Emil Beaulieau? That makes the difference, the professionalism of I:G is it’s strength See, you can buy tons of cheaply done CDR that you should possibly be deceived of (well, sometimes not!) and you can get a very beautiful recording done in a professional way with one of the raising star of the USA noise nowadays. Jeff (of I:G and Truculent recs) have a very good vision of what noise should be aesthetically and worth to be checked. This record won’t be forgotten soon and personally I guess it will stay in the pile of records I listen during my works (that mean the records I like.)

Http://www.truculentrecordings.net Truculent Recordings/Immaculate:Grotesque

Prurient Troubled Sleep

(Truculent; 8 tracks; 24 minutes 25 seconds)

(File under : Imagine a guy punching you in the face and that this second was stretched in a 24 minutes noise delirium)

This is my first true exposure to the wicked world of Prurient… Sorry if I’m a poser like that, but sometimes you can’t follow everything… Well let’s say that now I understand why Dominik Fernow is one of the most appreciated noise artist in the North American scene. This is simply one of the most radical noise record I’ve heard in my life and I begin to think that I heard a lot of noise in my life. The punch in your face noise of Prurient is without compromise. The sound of Prurient is like a very direct power electronic attack with some more ambient passages (like the fading at the end of the record) with some processed vocals. Something that stuck me in this direct aspect of the sounds is the improvisation impression I got from that record which is mixed with another inspiration that Fernow is controlling the situation. This is something that few noise project give me, including my own noise I craft. This aspect is so impressive that I felt, considering also the very short time of the release (which is playing in favor of Prurient for my case since I like short length releases…), that I need really more, and by this action, this record got a very important place on my 5 CD player. This record is comprised of 8 tracks and features lyrics by a poetess called Jean Feraca which I really don’t have a fucking clue who she is, because first (again because I’m French) I thought that this was a French poet (Jean is a male name in French) that I don’t know, but I found out that it was a women. Most of the time these lyrics can’t b easily followed outside on track number 6 called “The Zealot” and number 8 called Tarantella where the screams can be somewhat distinctive, but I guess the language problem I got amplify my problem in understanding processed vocals. Since I’m a French person, I perceived words in French before in English and in that kind of release it make me really perplex on the facility to understand the lyrics. But don’t worry, the lyrics are included in the very beautiful booklet. The cover show a guy sleeping in a dark car I guess and the other part of the booklet show a not really pretty around fifty-old who looks sad and on the back of the record there’s a women walking on, well what’s that, snow or water? And behind the tray there’s a picture that looks like Arizona’s desert or something. Well maybe I’m wrong, but all four pictures were taken by Dom and looks really nice and seems interconnected. I don’t know but if you want to get real action noise, man check this stuff out since it’s a very awesome record. Dom said that the new record on Ground Fault is in the tradition of the series III of the label, “noise all the time” so this could be the biggest nightmare in the world of noise… Well Prurient in my sense is now in the very big league of the US noise along with the (I guess) defunct Macronympha and Sickness. Because here’s only noise dudes, don’t search some pretentious attempt to glorifies noise as a musical style (as I do) because Prurient considers it as 100% noise (as he answered me once following one of my always pretentious intellectual posting on noiseboards…) and that’s the way it should goes for him. Lets say that in this world Prurient give the lessons and don’t receives them and I’m here to say that in this world he’s in a classe à part…

Http://www.truculentrecordings.net Truculent Recordings

Http://www.hospitalproductions.com Hospital Production (Prurient)

Richard Ramirez Male

(Truculent; tape (limited to 100); 46 minutes)

(File under : Loud scary sick brutal stress-indulging depressing extreme harsh noise)

Another pure aural destruction masterpiece from this Texas very prolific noise veteran. The first look at the cover of Male bring you to a very scary impression. The cover show a guy strapped with rope in a sombre atmosphere. Mmm, just pressing “play” make me shiver. The sound of the tape is real sick and loud noise performance alternating from loud metal manipulation and really fucking sick vocals. The succession of these make it a very well since the tape never get boring. It’s a really intense loud claustrophobic atmosphere that will scare most of the listeners. Maybe the cover art mixed with the really sick noise inside will make it a very memorable record. I haven’t heard tons and tons of mister Ramirez stuff, but this one is truly the most intense and sick release I’ve heard from him. I’m not a big cassette listener, I’m not of this generation, but I listen to this one a lot and a lot. I guess there are still great tape around these days like those on Truculent, Dada Drumming and Tronik, so I guess I should get more into tapes. It’s interesting that it’s maybe the last place where tape have a certain importance. People still like more release tapes than CDR I guess. For the moment I really don’t know what’s the best. This one is a fine exemple that tapes are still alive and that people still release great stuff on tapes… Mmm, I guess that if you want to get that tape you should hurry because I don’t think Jeff Truculent still got tons of… Jump on the few remaining…

http://www.geocities.com/rene.r@sbcglobal.net/RichardRamirez.html Richard Ramirez

http://www.truculentrecordings.net Truculent Recordings

Tore Honoré Bøe Koh-I-Noor

(Sounds From The Pocket; CDR (limited to 50); 4 tracks; 37 minutes 41 seconds)

(File under : You can’t mix the concept of DIY, noise and art more than this I guess…)

Another finely presented release from the very cool east coast noise artist of Sound From The Pocket (responsible for the super cool Microcassetor and Found Sound series.) This time Tore Honoré Bøe who’s also part of Origami Republika and The Nordic Miracle along with Lasse Marhaug of Jazzkammer’s fame. Titled about the name of a pencil company, this release is called an “Opus for self-made laptop + dual speed + slapstring tapas”. As we can see on his website, THB craft some self-made portable machines with some strange devices to produce some noises as I may understand. This one is made with some metallic gizmos and some stings. The whole recordings were recorded I guess and edited on guess what? Yes those awesome microcassette recorder. What a better instrument in the world than that. That mean that each tracks are recorded and edited while playing with the 2 speeds these recorders got. The result of this is something really raw, like with a constant tape buzz with some fucking wicked sounds. It reminds me a lil’ bit that Brandon Labelle record on Ground Fault. But the sound is a really purely crafted experimental sound. The artistic value of this is awesome, the meeting with Sounds From The Pocket make the experience better. Sounds from the pocket really reinvent the concept of DIY packaging and this one is no exception. The album come on an handmade digipack made from recycled LP jacket with some info screen printed on it, mine is a woman’s leg with a green background and looks really great inside there’s 2 sewed acetates with some infos and there’s a clean tray with some tapes stuck behind. Well trust me the presentation is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen along with that recent Chefkirk one. Man, this is really crazy I really think the meeting of the 2 persons (Tore Honoré Bøe + Justin Water, main visual crafter of the Sounds From Pocket label) is another one that have been inevitable I guess. But it’s really interesting to see all this recycled movement in the underground world like that magazine called Found publishing only found pictures and paper sent by people and putting records of found music. Sociologically speaking I guess this should be a very interesting movement to look at, if it’s a movement… Anyway, I am very curious about hearing more form THB and maybe seeing him performing live as he should be a very great entertainer. Just go at their website to see the genius behind Tore Honoré Bøe.

http://kunst.no/alias/origami/tore/index.html Tore Honoré Bøe (highly recommended to visit)

http://www.soundsfromthepocket.com Sounds From The Pocket

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