Bleak Bliss: March 2015

Paranoid Time - Pregnant Nun

Well, let's face it. We should all be proud of those splendid guardians of moral sensibility that demanded, nay insisted, that we should have a warning sign at our front door. If it wasn't for that one person then the jcard on this tape may well have brought down civilisation as we know it!

Now it all makes sense and we can accept our perverted outcast status for what it is ... a moral failing of everybody reading this but especially me. I have reflected and shall no doubt repent.

Anyway, I digress.

This is 26 minutes of brilliance from Patrick Yankee released on Dan Johansson's Harsh Head Rituals in 2007.

I feel suitably cleansed of my sins!

Pregnant Nun

Zvuuk - For Dave

Belrusian artist Zvuuk's tribute to Dave Phillips, issued as a CDR on The Egg and We in 2006.

Zvuuk - For Dave

va - Switzerand vs USA

Mr. Inside found this many years ago, one of the nicest gifts he's ever given to me. It's a four-way split c90 featuring tracks by Sudden Infant and Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock representing Switzerland on one side, and Americans Daniel Menche and Small Cruel Party on the other. The insert includes some adorable portraits of all four participants by Joke Lanz, who issued the tape on his own Soja-Sauce Bolognese label in 1997. It comes stuck inside a crushed can, a packaging concept that seems to have inspired the USA side (maybe also the Swiss side, but I can't tell from the titles). Menche's furious fuzz is titled "Canquake", SCP's track is called "Can the Sound Can" (after SBOTHI, of course). Sudden Infant's track, "Les Schwab", may or may not be named after this guy. R&G's "Für Scheide, Schnecke Und Rassiermesser" translates to something I'd prefer not to type here.

va - Switzerand vs USA

Beequeen - Gund

On this release Beequeen are Freek Kinkelaar and Frans de Waard. You'll know Frans as a member of Kapotte Muziek and many other great things and he also started such great labels as Korm Plastics, Bake Records and My Own Little Label.

This is a CD released on Freek and Frans own Plinkity Plonk Records in 2003. It features Beequeen reworking material by Koji Tano's MSBR and vice versa.

[I've just realised that this is still for sale after 12 years. Astonishing! Where were you all? Anyway ... go and give Frans some love.]

Gund

Magmax - Magmagenome

Koji Tano is certainly best known for his work as his MSBR (Molten Salt Breeder Reactor). Probably less well known is his noise-work as Magmax. Given the Suicide-styled arcade game B-movie synth elements it won't surprise you to know that he took the name from a mid-80s Japanese side-scrolling shooter game. Remember those days when such games were the pinnacle of technology? Ah, sorry, I keep forgetting that you weren't born then. Anyway I was and I'm pretty sure that the anarcho-grindcore style vocals weren't part of the gameplay. This is an LP and 7" combo released on 220N in 1997 that still makes me smile every time I play it.

Magmagenome

MSBR, K2, Magmax - Untitled

Three-way split CD of harsh noise from Japan by Koji Tano (both as MSBR and Magmax) and K2, released in 1999 by MSBR Records as a CD in a clear slimline jewel case.

MSBR, K2, Magmax - Untitled

Gomikawa Fumio - Return Of Gomikawa Fumio

Kohei Gomi, Fumio Kosakai and Toshiji Mikawa? Pain Jerk meets Incapacitants? Released on Alchemy Records in 2002? That'll be a yes then.

Return Of Gomikawa Fumio

Pain Jerk - Exhibition Of Electro-Disease

Pain Jerk is Kohei Gomi but you know that already. I was lucky enough to see him live last year. Legend!

C50 released on G.R.O.S.S. in 1995.

Exhibition Of Electro-Disease

The Black Museum - Wail

All I know about The Black Museum is this tape. It's a sinister bugger that sometimes just seems to hover in the air before you realise that's it's been building up all around you. Trying to categorise this defeats the object and would interfere with my enjoyment of it. So I won't even bother.

C44 released on G.R.O.S.S. in 1993.

Wail

Masonna - The Passion of Rubbers

Did you think the GROSS party was over? Not yet, it isn't! This double c10 is not only one of the best releases on the GROSS label, it's also one of the very best things Masonna ever committed to tape.

Masonna - The Passion of Rubbers

Treriksröset - Heteronormativ Musik För Att Stärka Medelklassens Självbild

This is a mysterious C30 that appeared last year. There is no evidence of a label so I'm assuming it's self-released ... primarily because I'm hoping Tommy is still active in some capacity. Anyway, it's great.

Heteronormativ Musik

Treriksröset - Puking Blood

... and now turn everything up to 11. C18 released on the splendidly named Gothenburg Blood Cult in 2005.

Puking Blood

Treriksröset - Venal

Now this is the kind of noise that could only be made in Sweden! Noise + Sweden = Yes. C30 released on Utmarken in 2009.

Venal

Treriksroset / Blud Thirst - Shivers

Treriksröset and Blud Thirst are Tommy Carlsson (who also ran the mighty Segerhuva label) and Evan Pacewicz (who was also in Moth Drakula, Roman Torment and Wire Werewolves). This is a C10 released on Swampland in 2006 and is an odd but gratifying blast of noise/PE. Half way through the first side you get some kind of rock song and black metal in reverse...eh? Was that the plan? Don't know, don't care .....

Shivers

Violence Jazz - Protection

"Protection" pares the group down to a trio sans Jesse Ward, but the squall remains the same. Issued as a CDR on Tigerasylum, a Brooklyn label with free-improv sympathies, in 2007.

Violence Jazz - Protection

Violence Jazz - VD in Modern Jazz

Debut CDR from 2006 by a clearly Borbetomagus/Hijokaidan-inspired group of surly students from Berkeley School of Music, also the first release on band member Luke Moldof's Razors and Medicine label. By day, these guys studied free jazz and improvisation with Joe Maneri and Joe Morris; by night, they made ugly noise and released it on ugly CDRs. Two members of this band, Luke Moldof and Jesse Ward, would go on to form power electronics band Craniopagus. Later, Moldof's compositional brilliance would be made clear on solo recordings that came out under the name Stillbirth and in Perispirit, his unpredictable duo with Ricardo Donoso.

Violence Jazz - VD in Modern Jazz

5608 - Untitled

A loose song-like jam by Stefan Neville/Pumice (from New Zealand), joined by Mudboy and David Lifieri/Manbeard (from Providence, Rhode Island) on a tape released by Free Matter for the Blind in 2008.

5608 - Untitled

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - The Penultimate Galactic Bordello Also The World You Made

Let's face it. Computers make you lazy. I've recently had to get myself a new one and have finally been able to consolidate loads of stuff scattered around various external drives. This is one such thing. I played it a couple of nights ago and couldn't understand why it has been so long. Oh yeah, computers make you lazy. I bought this from (the great) Dirter Promotions when it came out in 2004. The actual box set has been sitting on one of my shelves about four feet away from my left hand for years. Remembered but not played.

This incarnation of the UFO are Kawabata Makoto on guitar, Tsuyama Atsushi on bass, Hajime Koizumi on drums, Higashi Hiroshi on celestial synth with Cotton Casino handling the vocal duties on the first three discs.

If you already have this, go back and reacquaint yourself with an old friend. If you don't already have this, you are in for four hours of the kind of deliriously magnificent music that only exists in the collective mind of AMT.

One

Two

Three

and Four

Sewer Election - Killing for Belgium

I'm not really sure why Sewer Election is killing for so many European countries, but apparently he is. On this cassette, issued by Harsh Head Rituals in 2006, he defends pomme frites and wild fermented ales with a wall of harsh noise. Maybe DoD pedals keep the tourists out.

Sewer Election - Killing for Belgium

Sewer Election & Treriksröset - Killing for Germany

It's a good thing Germany has two Swedish guys killing in its name, because otherwise... um, hang on, maybe this doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Released as a one-sided tape in 2007 by Chefsideologens Bolag.

Sewer Election & Treriksröset - Killing for Germany

A Mouse Orchestra - A Lump in Your Throat

A one-time-only collaboration by David Jackman (Organum) and Christoph Heemann (HNAS, In Camera, Mirror, etc), released as a white-vinyl 7" on Robot Records in the US. There are instances in which I can understand and appreciate Jackman's predilection for short releases and brief statements. Many of his very short 7" records sound self-contained and complete. Other times, he sets a tone that I wish would grow and develop for a much longer amount of time than he's willing to give to it. "A Lump in Your Throat" is the latter case. It's really lovely music, but would be lovelier still if Heemann's gift for elongated elegance won out over Jackman's always-leave-'em-wanting-more brevity.

A Mouse Orchestra - A Lump in Your Throat

Macronympha‎ - Bulk Density

And to bring down the curtain of this current Macrosession, here's a double CDr overdose released on Harshnoise in 2006.

Bulk

Density

Macronympha - SS7

C62 of more recordings from 1993 given the light of day on Mother Savage Noise Productions in 2011.

SS7

Macronympha - Noise Room

C92 of 1993 recordings released on Mother Savage Noise Productions in 2011.

Noise Room

Macronympha - Crack

C62 released on Mutter Wild in 2010 consisting of recordings from 1995. Another edition of 30.

Crack

Macronympha - White Music

Welcome reissue of a tape originally released on Mother Savage Noise Productions and Zero Cabal in 1995.

C60 released on Mutter Wild in 2009.

White Music

Macronympha - Grind

Macronympha cassette from 1995, reissued in 2008 in an edition of 30 copies.

Macronympha - Grind

Macronympha - Insane Torture Device

This is the released (I suppose you could call it the 2nd edition) of Macronympha's "Insane Torture Device" tape from 1991, rereleased in 2008 by Rodger Stella in a run of 30 cassettes.

Macronympha - Insane Torture Device

Macronympha - Live At Aziz

This contains live versions of material (plus a random ten minutes of studio work) that featured on the Ninetythree tape released on Rodger Stella's Mutter Wild label three months prior to this one.

C62 released on Mother Savage Noise Productions in 2010 in an edition of 30.

Live At Aziz

Macronympha‎ - Measuring, Monitoring, Calibrating

This was only for sale at a gig in Chicago that also had Kevin Drumm and Wolf Eyes on the bill. That must have been a decent night out...

C62 released on Mother Savage Noise Productions in 2006 in an edition of 26.

Measuring, Monitoring, Calibrating

Macronympha - Insane Torture Device (Original Unreleased Version)

2008 edition of what would have been Macronympha's debut cassette in 1991. For some reason, it was shelved and a completely different tape with the same title was released instead. I have no idea why, but if you do, then please let us know in the comments.

Macronympha - Insane Torture Device (Original Unreleased Version)

Macronympha - Whorechestra

In the late 00's, Macronympha's Rodger Stella reissued some of his band's cassettes along with several outtakes and otherwise unreleased titles. This is Stella's 2008 reissue of a sixty-minute cassette, originally released on Mother Savage Noise Productions in 1995.

Macronympha - Whorechestra

Macronympha - Metal

hhhmmm ... I can feel some Macronympha in the air ...

As a taster, here's a C20 released on Mother Savage Noise Productions in 2009 in an edition of 30.

Metal

Jooklo Duo featuring Tero Kemppainen - Natural

Virginia Genta and David Vanzan with Tero Kemppainen on the double bass. Frankly magnificent.

CDr released on Troglosound in 2008 in a tiny edition of 37.

Natural

New Jooklo Age - Fluidification

David Vanzan and Virginia Genta with Stefano Portello ...

C20 released on Troglosound in 2010.

Fluidification

New Jooklo Age - August Two Thousand Ten

Virginia Genta and David Vanzan with Stefano Portello and Carlo Utat. Guarenteed to open up the most resistant inner eye ...

C38 released on the impeccable Sloow Tapes in 2013.

August Two Thousand Ten

Jooklo und Metabolismus - Perception Of The Illusion Of The Opposition Of Contraries

On this occasion, Jooklo are the duo of David Vanzan and Virginia Genta alongside the wonderful Metabolismus (Jeremie Sauvage, Joachim Schütz, Moritz Finkbeiner, Thilo Kuhn and Thomas Schätzl).

This is a c54 released on Troglosound in 2013 and is every bit as good as you would expect. Even if you already have no doubt...here's a wonderful live set that somebody has uploaded elsewhere:

Whilst, I'm here I have a confession to make (may Jonny Zchivago forgive me) ... I really love Crass! Stations Of The Crass, Penis Envy and Feeding Of The Five Thousand are great. I always imagined the collective rather romantically as the spearhead of the anarcho-syndicalist revolution and Dial Farm as the blueprint for modern living. However, the track "Do They Owe Us A Living?" from the 5000 EP always stuck in my throat.

The intention of the song always seemed clear and certainly it did amongst the plastic crusties and the plastic anarchos that I had the misfortune to spend a lot of time with at a thousand squat parties and demos. Do They Owe Us A Living? Put succinctly: of course they fucking don't! Nobody owes you anything at all! Do it your fucking self! People who believe in a system without government (or more correctly, a self-governing system of individuals) championing a sense of entitlement from The State? HHMMM!!!

Anyway, Metabolismus covered the song on their Mauser O.K. 7" (which I still haven't gotten around to picking up) and nail it! Again, somebody has uploaded the song just so that I can play it on rotation whenever I like ...

Perception Of The Illusion

Organs‎ - What It Sounds Like Inside You

I've never inserted a recording device but I've often thought about it. Thankfully, Organs saved me the bodily trauma and yeah I imagined that this is how it would sound. Especially the bass heavy reverb ...

Organs were a brilliant but unfortunately brief recording arrangement between C. Spencer Yeh (of Burning Star Core, etc) and Ron Orovitz (aka Iovae). The pair recorded as Death Beam with Chris Roesing. I would assume it is equally great but unfortunately they have escaped me ...

C16 released on Heavy Tapes in 2005.

What It Sounds Like Inside You

Organs - Napalmed Natti

Wonderful CDr that covers all of (the previously unidentified) ground between the cavernous recordings taken from inside an asteroid and belly-crawling insect colony crumbling glitchnoise.

Released on American Tapes in 2006.

It's AM572 btw.

Napalmed Natti

Organorganorganorgan ‎- Organorganorganorgan

Sublime live recording of Antony Milton, Campbell Kneale, Sam Hamilton and Stefan Neville all together on the 5th August 2006.

CDr released on The Seedy R! (which was a sub-label of Antony Milton's PseudoArcana) in 2006.

Organorganorganorgan

va - European Square Vol. 2

International industrial compilation tape from 1987 on the Bande Blanche label with some fine noise by French duo Etant Donnes, a live howl by German band Sprung aus den Wolken (contemporaries of Einsturzende Neubauten), carnage by obscure artists like Op de Grace, Steve Rare, and Kriztof Kudla, and my favorite, several tracks of enthusiastic metal bashing by a group called Three Mad Dog.

va - European Square Vol. 2

Déficit Des Années Antérieures - Nouvelles Constructions Sonores Sur Fondations Visuelles

A very long tape (c90!) by DDAA, a very theatrical band that sometimes resembled a French Residents and sometimes were simply inscrutable. "Nouvelles Contructions..." is mostly the latter. It's a single song with a seemingly omnipresent drum-machine pulse, and was used as the soundtrack to a video art piece. The tape comes with a booklet the contains images and info about the piece (in French) and was published on the Bande Blanche label in 1991.

Déficit Des Années Antérieures - Nouvelles Constructions Sonores Sur Fondations Visuelles

Christian Marclay - Record Without A Cover

Quite literally. The holy grail of vinyl manipulated on multiple turntables? Well, I'm a massive turntablist fanboy. This was made in 1985! It's a yes then ...

Single sided LP released on Recycled Records in 1985 and re-released on Locus Solus in 1999.

"Do not store in a protective package"

Christian Marclay - Records

Seminal collection of Christian's earliest works consisting of home and live recordings using old vinyl, self-made instruments and anything up to eight manipulated turntables. These tracks were initially recorded between 1981 and 1989. They could quite easily have been made next year ...

Released on Atavistic in 1997.

Records

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