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.