Vertonen / Anti-Ear c41 on BOC Sound Laboratories (2005)

Grinds grain into stardust. Reverse reverb trailing up to whipping spizzle twipe inspurjr tweeee. Vertonen wastes no time getting right to the goods kicking off his side with a couple tracks featuring some choice A grade source-material by Anti-Ear. Sheets of static mingle with blursts of rupple zerks. Twyster squeals back tone jammer scankling the bit-tronic cosmusic-box inner lining vibraphone rendering of over the borderline. oh oh, and wait for it... yup... in creeps the keep pushing me loop. Material world material girl loop comes, trainwrecks, goes, synth lead bassline walking hot trot.
Rising pulsation, scrapple compressed air, wet tongue, squishy paste, crumpled juice-box, clackle wheel, pozzi pig sticker. Harsh sand and broken glass stuckle on fly-paper swabs. Anti-Ear comprises tracks of some intricate bizzaro sounds. Loops fade in and out weaving together mad tapestry pattern cycles that twitch and impale a constant sea-change creating a most colorful voyage of exploration and discovery into the realms of Harsh Experimental Musick. Tune into Tokyo, Jupiter, Andromeda... Is there anyone receiving transmission? Scraggly spurts of static cling grunt to gargle chop to screw meet me under the gurney. Never give up hope; never stop the noise spewage. Churning up lung butter, hostile squelch fly leave me the fuck alone!

They Live - LP on Death Waltz Recording Co. (2013)

Soundtrack to the movie that blows the lid off this whole god damn thing.
The veil of deception penetrated by dark sunglasses.
All hail John Carpenter & Alan Howarth.

This record is so fucking good. Essential electronic blues music. Sort of a sprawling jazz vibe not far removed from David Lynch's Twin Peaks. There's been a measurable uptick in John Carpenter worship over the last few years. There's surge in bands that seem to exist exclusively within the John Carpenter genre, and for good reason. This album being a prime example.
Death Waltz recently popped up in 2011 producing exquisite 180g colored vinyls with lavish prints & posters that'll wow even the most jaded record junkies. They've spared no expense getting the killer soundtracks the treatment they deserve. I've seen these for sale at most local record shops, so you'll have no problem finding them. They might cost a little extra, but it'll be worth it once you realize how much your quality of life improves when you get it home and got it spinning on your platter.

This is the translucent magenta vinyl version.

Liner notes:

Recorded at Electric Melody Studios, Glendale, California

Equipment used:
Keyboards: Synclavier Digital Audio System, Emulator II with OMI CD-ROM, Yamaha DX7, SCI Prophet 10, 2002 and VS, Ensoniq EPS and SQ-80, Oberheim SEM-4.
Outboard effects: Korg DVP-1, Moog Vocoder, Eventide H949, Lexicon 224X, Delta Lab DL-4 & DL-5, JL Cooper MSB 16/20.
Recorders and console: Soundcraft 2400, Ampex MM-1100 24 track, Otari Mark III-4 & 8, Sony VO-5850, Sony PCM-F1, 3M Tape.
Computers and software: Apple Macintosh SE & II, Digidesign Cue Sheet, Mark Of The Unicorn Performer 2.31.
Album processed using B.A.S.E. (Bedeni Audio Spacial Environment)

Burial Ground - The Boogeyman c92 on Worthless Recordings (2013)

Burial Ground has established a reputation as the quintessential Horror-HNW artist. Slays it every time. Lays it to rest peacefully. Do not disturb sign on the door. To me, the many Burial Ground releases' are a guilty pleasure, meant to be savored. Each side of the tapes are like a tall frosty milkshake with whip cream on top. The winning recipe produces a salivating consistency. A mood setting intro and a fully fledged Harsh Noise Wall of thick-ass distortion. Pure Static Worship, a burning therapeutic obsession. These walls are so good, they have become the walls by witch all other walls are to be judged.

You'll find this tape to be exactly what you'd come to expect from Burial Ground. Choice samples from an old flick, The BOOGEYMAN, that usher in forty-minute walls of pure terror-tone. I flipped my J-card around, reversed it, cause I'm a rebel who showcases nice inner-art. The stickers on the tape itself kinda seem like they're spray-painted, total black, but the finish is so smooth, it's deceiving; maybe its printed, no I'm going with my paint theory cause it smells painty perhaps. Clean job. Tabs are still in, so don't fuck shit up. 20 copies & fresh out.

Vertonen – Fait A La Machine / Machines Domestiques Picture Disc + CDr on Crippled Intellect Productions ‎– CIP025 & Ratskin Records ‎– RSR034

A1 Hydraulic Hammer, Diesel Engine, Forge, Die Mold Cutter. Well right-the-fuck-on! here we have some honest-to-goodness INDUSTRIAL music. The way it was always meant to be. Steady rhythm of a well oiled machine. The repetition of the factory equipment mass producing goods on a large scale. Plunking and clanking away.

A2, A3, A4 all sound much more textural in nature. Ambient walls of perhaps an industrial origin. Sublet hums and sub-sonic drones with twinkling wind blown debris. They mostly just sound like good thought provoking dismal ambient noise walls with an ethereally elated impetus. 

Side A ends with a nice lock & groove loop reminiscent of the clearly industrial factory floor sound on track1

Side B begins with an industrial revolution lock & groove too! Hey, how bout that!? 

B1 Thrashing metal wall of scrap noise, sanded down with 80-grit sandpaper. Commando crawling through the air ducts, stabbing the sheet metal with his elbows and knees, trudging along at a brisk pace.

B2 You're on the clock! Time is money! Get'r done! Lets go sister! Weld it up tight, we ain't got all night.

B3 1600 Ton Forge Press, Milling Machine, Cylindrical Grinder Heavy mechanics.

B4 Hazardous environments in the workplace. Always use safety equipment when operating the Binding Machine, Grinder, Conveyor Belt.

Lock & groove: sawing motion.
This record is righteous.

The nice pro-done looking CDr included is focusing on the more ambient side of automated ventilation systems and shit. I dunno about all of that, but this is so good, I might have to put it on my funeral playlist. Its an hour long, and effortlessly warrants multiple listens.

One of the nicest looking pic discs I've seen.
You should buy this.

D.M.A.H. - TULPA cdr out on Smell The Stench (2011)

Harsh, smashing, wall of terrorized and disgustupated noise. Earsplitting barrage of obliterated squeal and distortion. Feedback and fax machine modulation overtone static eruption. Geismic crumbling of the heavy-handed brutality machine. Punishing non-stop frequency abuse. Brulpy chaos. Some vile human who hates his neighbors must be behind all this savage rage. Debilitating low-end garble crushing stray unrefined knobfloolery. Frayed static and melted tone. Sweeping dry layers of powdered distortion. Garnished with harsh citrus pulp and razor blades slices. Injected with an Aggressive Black Wall paste of Harsh Static Frenzied Drone. Brushing your teeth with steel wool. Laying it down with layers of chunky waves of raw power. Dropping the kill switch. Pulling the breakers. Swarmimng squall. A searing 57 minute Harsh Noise melee, all stitched together from presumably only the most violent and brutal cuts.Will fuck you up and down the sheet. Sort of putters out in the last few minutes, but all together a good cd to throw on and do some house chores.

WITH PREJUDICE - tax the whore and release the burden Double-C10 on Worthless

Sometimes tapes get your panties wet. The sounds on this tape reach above & beyond the bar, striving for dynamic excellence and superior high quality gutter fidelity. Graphic Harsh Noise with seasoned intent.

I
Wind chimes mournfully toll for the nocturnal ritual of passage. Orchestrated afterlife. Travel down the well of tranquility where they're: voraciously stabbing up garbage, crushing cans, thrashing around bags of trash and repeatedly slamming the lid.

II
Hot blistering fire tongue poked & stoked her ear with piercing high frequency microphone feedbacks. The blaze heats up, raging on and on, drowning out all the sirens. Temperatures so hot they'll melt your face off and skullfuck bubbling brain matter. A tormented hell-hound stampede across tattered wind-beaten flags of unforgiveness. Spilled feedback over junkwall raspberry tart.

III
Laying bricks and hollow bottles, the stark, ambient string-drones flood in and drown you with an uncontrollable wave of fear. The bottle still tolls for thee. BAM! Superharsh MAJOR SCREAMING WALL. HNW full on action like a static mother.. Scream it out, bitch! SCREAM! Now, return to the nightmare of being locked in this cage, digging your way out with a bottle while the bombs are being dropped all around. Terrorfucktape.

IV-V
Ripple of decent. Madness is the intent. Carnivorous insect intruder.
Lofi distortion loops whip you back and forth. The Lush breeze of death fueled chaos blows decisively. Vocal seance interjects the solemn return to the underworld. The path of the turd, in time, leads to the April flower.

Housed in a double-tape case. Nice printed sticker labels indicating numerals and nothing more.

Vertonen At Jennie Richie & irr. app. (ext.) out on Readymades Tapes - Quality Since 1893

Cemetery lurking. Beyond the low lying blanket of fog. Smooth ghost in the machine loop. Eerie refrain. Haunting the hallows of Valhalla. High banshee siren of the bat kingdom sends the signal. A fine sweet whine met with a salty low rumble in the tummy. Wisps granulating into phonoise in ambient sauce. Blend together slowly, this silky velvet pate aurally stimulates the pleasure center and easily spreads onto cerebral cortextural. Keep the children laughing. These aren't your grandmother's cookies, but you're taste buds can't tell the difference.
Ethereal organ chord, cosmic ambient dust clouds. Spiritually uplifting melodic phrase progressions build celestial soundscapes paving freeways to heavens gate. Starlight beams through, burning holes in the ambient pillow-fort, rendering the fabric a tattered cheesecloth letting large chunks of atmosphere inside. Cast-iron camping cookware & utensils; clatter & clang. Ringing static and ruptured ruffling. Refilling the humidifier. Who broke the handle off the bird feeder? Good gracious whirly-chopter jet-engines merge with the sitar sunrise phenomenon.
Fall in love, to death, with these top notch nod offs. Play this tape all night and into the beginnings of daylight for maximum results.

Matt Shoemaker - The Late Day Spectrum on Master Chemical Society

Sound Sample on Soundcloud courtesy of Master Chemical Society

Matt Shoemaker is known for his minimalistic drone music. He also does extensive work with field recordings, audio collage, and even some of the maniacally harsh, implode your lucidity type shit. I've seen him use super fancy modular synths with gobs of blinking lights and a spaghetti nest of wires dangling around as well as some rather interesting junk-metal devices. His performances are some top-notch stuff and his recordings are absolutely remarkable.
The Late Day Spectrum is a low key string/drone/wind/field recording/ masterpiece. The sounds of these instruments are captured with rich tone and full harmonic depth. The performance, indeed flawless. This tape will resonate in your space like a beautiful gamelan. Intoxicating strings carry you off with the breeze. A rustling drizzle-cloud glides you back home.
Nice thick, double-sided, pro-folded J-card in clear norelco case. Imprint on side a only. This tape looks, feels and sounds exceptional. Master Chemical Society is a new label worth investigating; so investigate.

Sound Out Light - Bloom c30 out on Fabrica Records (2012)

Here's an artist that is completely new to me but digging around on discogs, I find that Sound Out Light is Dave Doyen, and he has another project called Vales, and a band, Roped Off, all having been moderately active these last 5 years or so, lets see how it tastes...

The yellow tape is in a yellow tinted case, and its "shrink wrapped" like a pack of smokes, with a small strip that you pull to get the plastic open quick & easy. This is the first I've ever seen this feature on a cassette tape, and I must admit, that I love it. Makes it feel like this tape is a product that is packaged for quick and convenient consumption by the masses; possibly habit forming. Dig right in and notice the imprint on the tape features skulls on side A and a huge flock of tiny birds on side B; so you know it's gunna be kill.

There are no harsh noisebox or shakerbox walls, nor a screeching feedback blasts on this tape, just a bunch of smooth full-flavor satisfaction-enhancing really awesome drone music. Literally some of the best twinkling polished up ambient songs on the charts today. Maybe its New Age woo-woo; wouldn't be rad if we digested New Age woo-woo? This euphoric sorcery isn't of the gutter stream, its all too pure and potent for that. Mellowtone drone beneath the whir of synth loop-echo goodness; not intended for single use, use it again and again until you are healed. Sweird, a lot of good tonedrone stuff like this has been rolling in my decks, lingering in my air recently. Cosmic Sativa Walls of Sunshine. No wrongs make it all right.

Vacio Perfecto - El Despoblador c30 on Worthless Recordings

Cold Death Industrial Post Dark Ambient Martial Textural Rhythmic Harsh Burnt Drone Charred Noise Structures. Grilled feedback, deep fried alarm tank. Cue the generator. Contaminate her with your essence. Blindside her by your vision. Sputter rusted blood. Mechanical tissue. Surgical freeze. Intermittent sub-hum. Neck squelching psycho-garble snare. Not too dirty, not too clean, there is a real middle tempo/ low end tonal organic synth beds, steady grueling pace. Ghost-ride your deathbed. Repetition builds to provide more pulse and direction. Not so much any programmed drum machines or synths, but a lot of loops of loops and leads. Squashed out oscillations squirming beneath lofi phono stylus abuse. An occasional sample of a creepy Spanish guy monologue gets tossed in. Maybe he's dictating to his diary, I dunno, creepaziod though for sure. Holding your attention span hostage with a meat cleaver. Brighter Death Phantom Breath. Sonar assisted predatory war game. This artist would feel right at home on Cold Spring.

Includes Lyric sheet, on really thin delicate paper. Outer strip says his name is Esteban F. Alcalde and this was recorded in Valdemoro-Madrid in 2012. Worthless put this out in 2013. It's a good listen. New artist worth following for sure.

Swastika Novelty Co. - analogs / tasting the order of...

(1) analogs
(2) tasting the order of...

Buzz drone for the perfect cup of drip coffee.
I always like to play this tape real early in the morning. Its got a chill chi aligning vibe. The kind of lush-fi drone tone that make you wanna go "Om." Roll out the yoga mat. Get your day started off right. These gently wavering wings of overdrive are like a float down the chasm of a soaring orgasm. No surprise screeching feedbacks or jarring discomforts, just soothing even tempered gutter bliss. I picture it as a torrid love affair between an imitation strat and an electric toothbrush; uh-huh. I know it's early but crank it up, no one'll mind. They'll all thank me later.

It doesn't indicate much info on the tape here, but this is the first in presumably a long series of forthcoming releases from this artist on the Readymades Tapes imprint, which appears to be a label home to 6 surreal experimentalists. Swastika Novelty Co. is the offerings of some guy named eriijk. This guy does stuff.  I'm not exactly sure whats going on down in californialand but pour yourself a cup, pull up a seat & lets start poking it with a stick.
Eeiijk's website

Panicsville / Vertonen - Coagulation purple 7" out on CIP (2002)

Purple 7" here.
"coagulation" is a collaboration between panicsville and vertonen.
A. such tedious assessments only inflame the dourest of comedies
sure that's all well and good-but a rash is a rash.
B. your name dropping skills are matched only by your lack of charisma
anger mismanagement
third reich from the sun

Mastering by J. Soliday.
Cover art which is totally rad and not featured in this digest, by a. ortmann
stereophonic recording, 33.3 rpm
C.I.P. 010
also included is about half of a white sleeve, and some 2002 era printed promo label propaganda.

Dedicated to Peter Soto's beard
Freak-out spastic weirdo cut-up road-rash and raspberries sounds utilizing the stereo spread. Wropls and blewps are answered on the opposing side by hot flying chunks of static shrapnel. Rolling with layers of buzzy drip drone walls, waves of oscillation cascade up and down.  Lock and groove. Hippie-hop kumbaXcore gutter track reprise.

Andy + Blake 4 ever
Stern wavering meow sine cutoff synthphonic lead. Mellowing harsh, metal clangs on repeat hit loop on the 3, warbly tones drones delay loop growing mushrooms in moms basement echo low on the blippy bloop LFO. Dental grade nitrous trip pop to the lock and groove, a smooth loop of bloop wows.

Vertonen - Flooded c29 out on Readymades Tapes - Quality Since 1893

Says here that Vertonen is B. Edwards and Devices. Also says these was recorded, composed, edited, and mastered May-June 2013 at Papin Sisters Studios in Chicago, IL. It says Readymades Tapes - Quality Since 1893. It doesn't say that Vertonen is the new flavor of the month and we eat this shit up.

1. orchestreas An elegant ambiance caressing the soft and subtle whispering tongue ear licking drone. No quirky experimental loops or harsh noise interjections. Empowering the sorrowful. Crippling the antagonistic. This tape delivers the highest caliber of ethereal serendipitous stung like a lullaby, run like the sea. Sun-kissed face hot apple-pie breeze. Faint radio tuning static cloud greets the bow of reign into a bed of forever dusted rose pedals.

2. timeminded Wind in non-concentric phase grows a gizzard of underlying d'tune tenor raga revealing the choral call for blissful excellence in the reunification of oneness.. Do put this on in the feel good fashion. May induce altered dispositions. Not for operating heavy equipment. Love-cycle tendrils of pure energy disperse into everything forever.
This one's for you JZ and AD

Vertonen - Heat - white vinyl 7" released by Crippled Intellect Productions ‎– CIP005 (1995)

Slurmy flanges on the Whoville drum-machine.
Busy day for the clerk at paranormal headquarters.
Dammit there's no blood there.
Lighthearted death-industrial loops and samples.
Lock and groove has a pop in it, so it gets no play
short paradise city grass is green loop jam + laughing toy loop lock and groove get lotsa play. G&R gemlet.

Includes awesome jamb-packed informative booklet as well as train schedule, un-filled-out New York lottery ticket. Sanitized toilet strip on the sleeve is a rad touch. Clean white vinyl. Historically significant in some way. Let the good times roll.

Pulsating Cyst - Horrible Signal glow in the dark 7" out on Obfuscated Records 2012

This 7" is made of glow in the dark vinyl and harsh dark ambien industrial death. Low squashed bass tones linger up down and around squalling arches of hissing circuit-bent jabberwocky. Threading feedback through the eye with needles in it. Putted the toaster in the bathtub style lock and groove end the side. Nice printed label propaganda, band sticker, label sticker, black inner sleeve and thick glossy 2-sided inserts all nice as can be. Overall average+ sounding noise release with above average packaging. Glow in the dark vinyl. Got it for like 3 or 4 bucks, brand new from the label. Obfuscated rules. Pick one up for your kid brother back east, it'll be a great 1st exposure to noise.

RARA Percussion & Horn Ensemble ‎– House Of The Rising Sun translucent red 7" 1994

Sounds like some old fogey singing House Of The Rising Sun. The band is good. what more do you want from life? Classic.

Vertonen - Blind Ventriloquist out of print on Rainbow Bridge

Here's one that's been getting plays by this new band guy artist project I just recently rediscovered called Vetonen. Actually Vertonen is the mind bake of Blake Edwards, who is possibly some sort of legendary noise master or maybe just overall under-rated jammer in general. It's unclear to me at this time. Absolutely worth delving into for a deeper examination, lets begin with this here Blind Ventriloquist tape released on Rainbow Bridge (a tie-dye-leopard-print friendly label recently relocated to Chicago from Baltimore ish). Material recorded and edited in March 2013, Doff of the hat to Justin Marc Lloyd, Nods to M.G. & AMK.

Awesome Side 1 is a 16m blisser of improvised turntables, 1-left channel, 1-right channel, playing run-out grooves, labels and edges of records (and bands too) using the 33 to 78 stylus mechanism on the tonearm coupled with a janky connection cable. It pretty much says so on the insert. Side 2 is the same sort of shit but with hand-melted records and distortion pedal to the source recordings.

Dreamy vocal loops of ghosted olde-tyme female crooner serenades and skips entertain both the conscious as well as the subconscious mind ear. This is followed by some bad trip inducing scattered needle drops to fuck your shit right up so be on guard or pay it no mind. After frantic moments we're delighted with the babbling brook of lush record static. Sorry grandma, but we're entering some death-industrial marching zone. They must have rock quarries in heaven. Let the angels sing, but lets crush the hell out of these rocks. Love.

Forrest Friends - 40 Winks Of Dyer - c40 out now on Cryptic Carousel

Forrest Friends are indigenous to the many forested regions of the Great Northwest
Experimental drones, loops, rattlesnake percussion, mystical shit. pitch affection vocal yaps&yammers, stings of strings, symbolic cymbals, grudging bass beat, songs by folks who know gnomes. Smoking fairy dust off on the side. Spoken word. Summer Jam. Dirty Hippy, Summer Job. Busking for buckets. Down low ^ up with the banjo.

Willowbrook - The Infantile Pliancy CDR on Smell The Stench

Spaceless sweeps of charred drone smoldering with the heat of harsh. Bask in the warmth of ambient, revel in the tufted language of the other side. Heart goes black. The lungs of Morpheus fill again. Breathe the ashes. Distorted waves of solitude wash away the ancient sins of creation. None shall cross. Memorex cdr containing 22 minutes of awesome housed in dvd case. Edition of 16 copies.

DEAD - Christmas - Cdr out on Spahn Records

1. I Won't Be Home For Christmas
Noisebed of harshblasted rippage under a layer of propaganda and mind control. Die with some dignity. Now we have some choice. Mother PLEASE! It will not hurt if you be quiet. Carbide Inserted Vibrator. Fucking great track.

2. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Noise Dirge Bowel Purge epic doomed to make jam blow-out featuring DEAD-spasticwallguitar&blusterdrums George-tattereddrums&destructivekeyboard Sandy-bassinthepalce Wally-vocalsnojokels.

3. Syphilis Santa (DM Remix)
DEAD rolls out a Robitussin inspired dead-industrial war drone. Samples dropped like bombs. Lucidity gets cut with a knife. The holidays can be a motherfucker.  

Picked up from Wall of Sound

Booker T. & The MG'S - In The Christmas Spirit Reissue of 1967 LP out since 2000 on Sundazed

This' by far the most awseome Christmas Record I've picked up this year. Found it still sealed at Zions Gate. Some Seriously Jive Jukes in full stereo spread on this Groove. Booker gots his organ in full Christmas Spirit. I can't believe you don't already have this in regular rotation.  

Cascades Of The Absurd: A Pacific Northwest Compilation Of Out There Acts I-V And Sometimes Puppet Shows C-21 out on Dead Accents

Tons of awesome Pacific Northwest audio oddity on this c21. Curated by Caton Ajax for Dead Accents, kudos to both parties. This is a must have. A Real treasure. Artists you already know and love, packed and stacked with quality cuts. Noteworthy note: this is the first physical release of any Pink Void material.

A
Pink Void a long sample from some esoteric, possibly foreign 70's film. ...I’m so panic-stricken. I know this is the end, and I've finished. I’m just sinking, sinking into this great black void. It crashes head first into some cult power-doom for a bit. Really good shit. This should have been 10 minutes longer.
irr. app. (ext.) twing-twong-twang twizzle whomp whomp womp; you know, irr. app. (ext.). Doin' it and doin' it well.
At Jennie Richie some weird experimental sounds with some sort of tabla drumming. Channeling their inner-Nurse With Wound. This is what an African themed pin-ball machine in the heart of India would sound like.
Broken Penis Orchestra Lets begin, countdown, don't worry if you can't follow everything that's said. My twat is twitching do it now FUCK ME FUCK ME! Not yet! Burps, fart, Oh God No! Puke, drum-roll, ignorance is converted to knowledge, information is free. You will listen and obey. You will remember nothing you have seen or heard here.
Red Squirrels [featuring Extraordinary Pigeons] Warbly drag'n'drone birds chirping lofi trip-hop break-beat layer cake blended mocha breve, no whip. No, make that extra whip.
B
Broken Penis Orchestra doles out some 5-star BPO. remember to kill, ah, gay, raggedy ann, horors, of evil, that's no good, FUCK YOU I've been on a UFO, pot is a better drug than alcohol, I had a great time doing drugs. raggedy ann. this is cool. ok. we can cut the beginning off.
Ax Jxnnee Rxchee gives us a softly buzzing smooth drone pad, answered by a brief lull, a cock crow and then some heavy stereo weirdness. All threads pull through at the end. Not sure: Ax Jxnnee Rxchee isn't the straight-edge alter-ego of At Jennie Richie, but what would that have anything to do with anything anyways.
irr. app. (ext.) lavish twinkly drones crescendo & meet bowling alley ambiance.
Pink Void gots some dial-tone drone? Maybe, I can hardly remember what telephones used to sound like anymore. Darker. Brooding black ambient. Creeper me out horror or tense situation sample. Timbers are shivered.
Red Squirrels a song like lullaby played with some sort of hurdy instrument accompanied by reverberated vocal. It's called The Good Night Song. Gordon Lightfoot, eat your heart out.

Corpse Candle - Don't Kill The Messenger C48 out now on Lighten Up Sounds

Corpse Candle, Detroit native, currently London based, has delivered Don't Kill The Messenger through US label Lighten Up Sounds. This is only the 2nd release, by artist Robert Meldrum, I've gotten my hands on, but I'm definitely digging this Corpse Candle project. Twisted up gnarly sounds. Harsh sputters, collapsing drones, savage winds, ripple-whipping the crust-cutter. Rivers of distortion rage into a demonic pit of charred feedback laced with tons of delay and echo. Down pitched vocals of the damned. Spooky gutter death electronics. Don't Kill The Messenger is something you'd be caught dead listening to.
Translucent green tape, sticker on one side. The back of the case is painted green on the inside, and they did a fine job. No, seriously. I'm looking for a reason to blither, but can find none. It's not flaking or easily scratched when abused. Jcard is thick black card-stock w/white print. Hand number /50 copies. It's a keeper.

Some links:

http://corpsecandle.blogspot.com/

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Corpse+Candle

https://soundcloud.com/lightenupsounds

BH-36.66 apt j(ext)ie irrchie - Night Wearing Feathers / Sunshine Bus Rider LP + 2xC33 + 2x artprint boxset artist edition on Black Horizons

So here's a good one. At Jennie Richie, irr. app. (ext.), and Black Horizons have teamed up again to put out a wet panty-dropper of a release. Nice & thick, sexy slick gloss box, black & gold sticker affixed with moth metamorphosis development depictions. Pair of prints, signed and numbered by the bands, postcard of the cover art. Gold on black galore. Only 66 of these, so they're hard enough to come by. The LP and one of the tapes are previously released on BH's catalog already, so really the only things specific to this box set bundle are the other tape and the rad prints. We'll just graze on that other tape for now.

For You And Telly Savalas
c33 - exclusive to BH-36.66
Cool as fuck art work. All gold print on metallic flake black. Print on every outward panel. I cant really tell what anything is but there's some aboriginal costumes and some bird-like dinosaurs maybe? Its cool stuff. Nice sleeve within a sleeve style slipcase + insert.
At Jennie Richie gets down with some serious and slightly twisted John Carpenter worship on Automatic White Syndicate Dream (Two Ladies In Japan). Watching Cartoons is almost exactly like it sounds: some wacky orchestral stuff. Keeping The Peace is an automated public service announcement, and then more orchestral haunting.
irr. app. (ext.), The Monsters Are Due On Alder Court is a total psych kraut sludge jam. Begins all smooth and easy going, floating around all atmospheric, nearly whimsical. The drum set creeps in: doing what drumsets do. Shit starts all mellowing down, there's a horses squeal and BAM! Full on Dirge-a-dellic band. irr. app. (ext.) tells the story on the insert liner notes, so I'll transcribe much of it for you and Telly Savalas.

For You And Telly Savalas

I. At Jennie Richie - Automatic White

Syndicate Dream (Two Ladies In Japan) /

Watching Cartoons, Keeping The Peace

Happiness: Tapes, Contact Mic'd Chair

and Table, Effects.

Forever: Synths, Horns, Effects.

Leslie Nichols-Rage: Bass

wm.Rage: Drums

Recorded Live 1963, at The grassy Knoll,

Dallas Texas. Thanks To Everyone.

II. irr. app. (ext) - The Monsters Are Due

On Alder Court

In the summer of 2012 I invited my sister to

visit on the vague premise of "getting her

opinion on something", when she arrived I

handed her a guitar and forced her to play it,

which was something she had never

attempted to do before. At first I had her

play to a rhythm track I had created earlier

by using one of her dogs as a hand drum,

then I switched her to a long track played

on a conventional drum kit. After several

runs using a variety of effects settings I

switched her to an electric bass and we

started the process over again. This is the

second track resulting from those sessions

-- mostly using the drum kit recordings, but

a little modified extract of the dog drumming

makes an appearance in the middle

section. Big thanks to my sis, who took up

the challenge with enthusiasm and

unleashed her own brand of rock 'n

roll armageddon

Tracy Waldron: all electric guitars and

basses

Teddy the Pomeranian: body drum and

unbridled savagery

Lucy the Chihuahua squeaks, whines and

spastic tremblation

M.S. Waldrom: the rest of it

"Dedicated to TELLY SAVALAS who killed

himself in the name of television through

successful acts of self promotion".

Blsphm / Gezoleen / Hadals / Knoll - 4way cs - Tapes of a Neon God

BLSPHM a bedroom recording of darke harshend blackmetal blasted at the speed of grindcore with searing insane vocal hate. Its a superfast blur of drum+guitar-noise over buried throat abuse.  Near the 6ix minute mark, it turns into a chill drone piece. Perfect gateway to the next artist. 

Gezoleen Synth buzz& turntable or microphone bump looped with shining pads hovering above. Creates a nice dimensional textured rhythm with no gaps or empty spaces yet plenty of head & breathing room. Suddenly jarred by a flip in the script. VOCALS like that of a poor-man's Jerry Cantrell or Ardent Vein boom in with an old school Type-o-Negative kind of feel. The music totally changed as well, but there are some familiar elements like the looped mic bump but with some distorted guitar or bass and a low bit resolution effect somewhere in there. The music sounds completely interesting but the vocals killed my boner for awesomeness.

Hadals seep in from nothing. A massive kick gongs out, exploding exponentially, rolling thunderous grimy distorted ripples, asserting superiority and commanding respect from every corner of the universe. Wet & hostile, end of the world wall type shit. Gives way to an epic cool down featuring hiss and soft shimmery crystal goblet drones. Earthy and mystical. Comparatively the most ambient thing ever. Slowly fades back into nothing... Eventually another song begins, or so it seems. No, this is just some more, thick & bad-ass death-industrial end of the world wall type shit. Hadals giving you exactly what you want. 

Knoll kicks it off with a lo-fi sample and dives right into some harsh noise jams. Distortion and Delay pedal does most of the work on what sounds like a possible open room recording. The slightly lossy recording quality may be my imagination. Dude must have a bass guitar maybe? not sure. Sounds like he had a blast playing this stuff. I can find like zero info on this project other than his name, Kevin Wright, Birmingham AL. Plenty of distorted-delay/loop grooves that dont stick long enough to play out their welcome. Bang yer head. I'm bangin' mine. Let me know if you find any other Knoll recordings k?

Self Communion / Drowner split cs out on What We Do Is Secret

Self Communion is the solo project Nic Schmidt. Maybe you've heard of some of his other involvements: Mutant Video, Pig Heart Transplant, FEEDING. Anyhow this sounds like : Distortion saturated stagger-tone walking bass loops shadowed by droned zombie vocals. Stabbing rhythms, robotic living tissue, slow-smoked bath-salts. Self Com. Hairs on the back of my neck... Creep.

Drowner rips us a bouquet of junk metal doom, walls of searing slime, disgusting scum functions, and underlying dark-ambient hate. Jams. His tracks begin at the end of Self Communion's side which seems kinda weird sci-fi outer tape space. Kinda makes for a unique split though.

I would describe these as quality recordings that capture the tone and essence of each of these killer projects. Pro production values all around. Awesome artwork featuring armless naked female mannequin with inverted cross necklace YES! Nice dubs. Imprint. Released in 2010. What We Do Is Secret.

Rape Victim Revenge - I Kill Rich Cunts C30 out now On Crystal Lake Tapes

Rape Victim Revenge: Harsh Noise project, hails from Washington state's inland empire. This tape offers up some HNW, pure and simple. Nothing esoteric or experimental here. Full-on white-hot distortion worship. Static motion. Powerful display of restraint & discipline. Firm low-end rumble, not sub-sonic or muddy, nice and tight. Thin around the waste-line but with a busty upper mid-range. My ears are constantly drawn to this area. It's like those old impact /carbon copy printers predating fax modems. Dimming the dial a bit a the high side, these sounds poke at my brain directly behind my eyes and envelope around my ears. Very listenable. Rape Victim Revenge has no use for vocals, microphones, or conventional instruments of any kind. Just HARSH NOISE WALL. After several listens, I'm almost sure both sides contain the same track. Fuck all. Listen to HNW.

Keep an eye on Rape Victim Revenge. He's played only a handful of gigs and gaining quick momentum. His next live appearance will be opening for Blue Sabbath Black Cheer / Black Leather Jesus in Seattle on March 1st, 2013.

Crystal Lake Tapes is a brand new HNW off-shoot of the WORTHLESS RECORDINGS label. They made 21 copies of this, so get it while you can. 

Regosphere / Content Nullity "Claws of the Witch" Split c30 on Dumpsterscore Recordings

Dumpster Score Home Recordings has hand crafted a slick looking release here. Glossy, purple hued cover art features some sort of monolithic brick archway structure. Fitting, it seems to evoke the feelings of solace and time worn refection that the tracks themselves arouse. Vellum strip and purple lyric sheet w/ contrasted lo res performance photos add a nice touch of class to the package.

Regosphere side contains coagulated synths stewing in swelling bass cavities, lurking in the bowels of Morpheus. Mood-stabilizing fog of blown low-drone wavering modulated flutters of creepy newly sharpened automated industrial torture probes. Clear electronic haze attacks your senses. Distorted lightning in stereo. Expertly placed hillbilly rant about how ...God doesn't hate the sinner, he hates the sin... The death-industrial force is strong with this one. Just about all the bells and whistles are right here. On this tape. From 2011.

Content Nullity lays out a couple surrealistic composed dark-industrial tracks with some straight-up PE vocals plastered right on top. The tracks compositions are strong. Numbing midriff-fuzz drones blend with loop layers of rhythmic bleak synth. Constantly building. Turning up the heat. The vocals reign over this with an assertive underwater raspy-robot decepticon sound. A little hot in the mix, but I pay no mind. Typical syllabic PE vocal pace and delivery. Climax and the deconstructive break-down. 2nd track is unreal. Sounds so good in my ears. Could play this all day. Has a catchy loop-tape feel. Fluid melody and static-saturated bass shadow walks you slowly to your grave. This time the vocals creep in like an angelic choir lost in its own forest of loop-delay & endless decay.

Eraritjaritjaka / Bestand Aus Kleinen ‎- From One Side To The Other

Eraritjaritjaka crams a shitload of harsh walls, jarring distortions, noise, choice movie quotes, and thrash metal riffs into micro snippets, firmly juxtaposed together forming sort of a story. Breakcore speedranch collage style. Moving so fast, with so many cuts, its nearly impossible to tell where the first 6 tracks end or begin. Blistering hi-fi laptopped audio barrage executed with precision. Shits on fire. The final track is a recording of a live set. These sounds convey the honesty of the live medium but are much more lo-fi and distantly hollow, like many live recordings can be, and mostly amount to tape filler.

Bestand Aus Kleinen side consists of a single HNW track. The harsh erosive wall itself is thick, gritty, and full of textured crackle, but the recording seems muffled and distant. Not as completely enjoyable as most harsh wall noise jams. This is the latest in a string of releases from the side-project of Richard Ramirez, the highly prolific Texas noise monger. I'm not good with translations, but I believe this project name translates [very] roughly into: Collection of Young Girls.

Nite Shadez - Black Holes for the Face and a Graveyard C47 out on OUT-OF-BODY RECORDS

Hailing from Denton Texas, Nite Shadez is an audio/visual electro-dust-noise duo. Live shows feature tape layering and visual projections. The visual element isn't easily communicated onto audio cassette. The J-card artwork looks like it was designed by a 4th grader. Interlaced pixel screen-shot of a bolt of lightning. Deep black purple and green aurora behind a clear overhead transparency J-card with ghosts, graveyard and album title scrolled across the bottom. Pro dubs and nice print jobs. Comes with 1" pot-leaf sticker insert. Info card on heavy paper says no computers or overdubs, play at max volume with sunglasses. Reverse side has a contrasted out photo of two dudes in sunglasses.

Nite Shadez - Black Holes for the Face and a Graveyard. The meat and potatoes of these tracks consist of drum-machine, synth pad, bass lead sequences layered with vocal mutterings, distorted moaning screams, and spoken word samples played in reverse or at high speeds. These samples bring to mind Dr Phil, but I'm too lazy to play em in the other direction to try and find out. The drum sounds are cheap synthetic outsider rhythm industrial minimalism loosely cobbled together. Usually, I would tend to enjoy this sort of approach but here it falls a bit flat. Expertly amateur conception. The recording techniques are solid. The sound itself is quality. The content, not so much.
I'm not all that into this release, but I'll hype it up anyways, cause I'm sure some young fledgling noisephile will pick this up, becoming fascinated by this genre with an 'I can do it better' attitude, and will commit to pulling off some mind-blowing recordings of their own. I'll regard this tape as seminal in that respect.

Fissures - On Frozen Waste C62 out on Worthless Recordings

Worthless. It took me a long time to get into this one. Never heard of Fissures, but with and band name like that, and an album title like On Frozen Waste, I got interested. Plus Worthless Recordings rarely steers you wrong. So, I gave it at least half a dozen shots, but it just wasn't doing anything for me. Some morose bedroom guitar tankering & some minimally applied percussive rhythm or heart beat loop thing. It's like some broke ass dude in the middle of a depressive funk zones out to the patterns on his bedroom ceiling while plucking out some mundane melody for like an hour. But then this fine foggy morning, I played the side of the tape called Morning, and everything clicked. The right time and place. Now I'm hooked like an old hat. Serene doomy guitar layers over perfectly placed wisps and bomb samples from the 40's with a baby crying. Just had to get on here and tell you about it. Fans of the far reaches in chill fringe black metal need to listen up. File next to Du Hexen Hase and Horns Valder.

COMPACTOR - Desensitization Reprocessing C32 out now on Out-Of-Body Recordings

COMPACTOR is the glitch-bent live-PA industrial-beat brainchild of Derek Rush. Never quite crossing over into breakcore territory, these tracks pack a quick pulse and some breakneck transitions. Heavily treated sequenced drumbeat patters don't usually qualify as noise, but COMPACTOR shows us that, with enough distortion, even crappy drum-machine patches sound fucking great. Crunchy kicks and filthy fuzz as fuck. 3 tracks per side. The recordings are totally pro. Nice levels. Crystal clear, this shit ain't been stepped on. No vocals. No turds. Hey DJ; get this heard on the killer PA at your local goth club.

You can get it from Out of Body Records and keep an eye of for their future COMPACTOR VHS release.

OKHA / HHL / OSCILLATING INNARDS / REDNECK 2x7"

This beautifully crafted dual 7" is the elegant companion release that dropped a few months post the PURE HARSH NOISE WORSHIP event held in Portland Oregon in the Summer of 2012. This release will serve as a point of reference, a marker in time, commemorating one of the greatest west coast noise feats of 2012 and won't likely be leaving my collection any time soon.

HHL - Astral Incursion is a hailstorm of high-gain crackle that rides a full blown deep static groove. HHL was a no-show at PHNW; most likely due to the recent relocation from pdx to Tennessee.
OKHA - Universal Restitution (Live @ Baltigate 2011) features medium-high low frequency oscillations over a searing bedrock of harsh shrill. This is a live recording and it shows. This track isn't nearly as sonically sock-offing as his live set at PHNW 2012.

OSCILLATING INNARDS - Suspended In Vanity feels like a slow burning dig through the ruins of a Fukushima wasteland. Oscillating Innards did not perform at PHNW unless you count the Black Air collab set between Sam (Rita) and Gordon that kicked off the fest.
REDNECK - Faceless is an ultimate surge of a pure harsh noise geyser that erupts with full fury. Redneck pulled out a ripper set of harsh-wall smearing-shit-on-a-dead-stare face at PHNW. Pure. Harsh. Noise. Worship.