dedicated to virginia tech
[2007, wasting]

at a show at the funhouse a few months back, i was at the bar talking to levi (half of diseased visions) about this disc and he told me that the original name was going to be virginia techno. i thought this was hilarious, does that make me a bad person? in case you didn't know, there was one of those school shootings that seems to happen every couple of months or so in the united states, at vt, and it was a horrific one with thirty-three people dead. and that is why i didn't go to college. which is why i'm writing reviews about noise music on a blog instead of doing something with my life. i just depressed myself. fuck.
unfortunately, i don't know how much solace anyone who endured the massacre will take in this disc. maybe when gus van sant makes another pointless movie about a tragedy, this can serve as the score, since it's far more disquieting than it is comforting. man, how fucked up is it that the first sounds you hear are a series of a gunshots to open up the disc? it's so wrong, but at the same time that's why it's great. i appreciate the fact that they were willing to be bold (and yes, certainly distasteful), but they're like, fuck it. political correctness is boring. for the rest of of the track, levi and john rely on amplified clamor and junk percussion. i like that they don't add a base to it, keeping the noise minimal and also (seem) a lot louder. as they push further towards the end, they'll move into a denser sound, but rather than a trite rumble, it's a lot more treble-y and harsh.

the second track does have a foundation and it's an odd distorted sound that serves their minimalist approach well. again, there's some more clanging sounds, this time they're more repetitious, and i'll usually always appreciate that. the second half (it's probably worth mentioning that all four of the tracks are about ten and a half minutes long) sees the duo altering their sound pretty drastically, taking another step back into sparse noise. now it's all about clipped noise and feedback (yay! (not being sarcastic)). there's a recurring bit where they'll chop up the sound, producing a near tremolo effect which i really liked, but this one's pretty much for the feedback lovers out there.

that theme will carry over into the next piece, but to start with, there's just a scuzzy layer of distortion and a hissing sound, like a hose turned on full blast. soon enough, it starts to get screechy in the background and the foundation takes on a sort of bubbly feel. i don't really know how to describe it, but it definitely has an aquatic property to it, whether intended or not. the second half is where they'll let a high pitched tone whine away. the way that it dips out of range as it's overtaken by distorted noise and the back and forth relationship between those sounds is the highlight for me. they'll close with some nice phaser action and uninterrupted squealing.
after listening to the concluding track once, i thought that they'd kind of forsaken the subtle approach for a (marginally) fuller sound, but the more that i absorb it, the more i realize it's not gone, it's just, um, subtler. while the latter part of the first track was virginia tech's most abrasive section, this final piece is its busiest. from start to finish there's always a noisy aspect. the omnipresent distortion almost overshadowed the terrific harsh, scraping sounds. call me weird, but i find their drawn out screeching to be melodic, especially when paired with the soothing white noise beneath it. of course, right when i'm in the middle of blissing out, they'll start making a racket, jarring me from my trance. it was a perfect three minute stretch, though. the rest of the track's good, too, still intermittently using those screeches while focusing on distortion and brief periods of noisy drones.

dedicated to virginia tech was an album that i had to studiously listen to. i think it's easy to undervalue it if you're not willing to actually listen. so, anyone who's looking for a fix of ephemeral dissonance will want to move on. on the off chance that you listen to noise music because you enjoy the tones and unique sounds as well as the discord, i think you'll find quite a bit to appreciate here.

*seattle folk, take heed: march 30th (it's a sunday) at the pink eye (i dunno, someone's house, i'm assuming) diseased visions are playing with deep jew, god willing, pig heart transplant, sweat lodge and transient orca pod. check their myspace for the address and such.

Dedicated to Virginia Tech #3

mutually assured destruction, part one 12"
[2007, black horizons / psychform / stereonucleosis]

this split between columbia, south carolina's anakrid and seattle's bsbc is also a collaboration. each project utilizes source material from the other while supplying their own personal touches. this record is the first, and so far only, volume in what could be a very interesting series.

chris bickel of anakrid came up from hardcore roots with guyana punch line (nice, i love better off dead) as well as in/humanity (less familiar with them). he also runs the stereonucleosis label that helped put this out. additionally, as a member of epinions.com, chris posted an article about the ten best nazi sexploitation movies ever (totally bookmarked). well, now i know where women of the ss got their name from.

for 5:15 to ravensbruck (not so fun fact: ravensbrück was a concentration camp for ladies; i see a theme!) bickel attempts to subdue bsbc's fire by taking away their noisy fury and leaving us with haunting excerpts surrounded by his minimal soundscape. the way it starts out in the beginning is in a near ambient electronic vein with repetitious, albeit subtle, rhythms. that, when combined with the pretty great use of blue sabbath's work, made for a very impressive opening. the moaning noise sounds near choral, but instead of lifting spirits, they're trying to raise the dead. the second half of 5:15 retains repetition as its central theme, but shies away from the rhythmic aspect as it starts to get noisier, while also (slowly) moving beyond the eerie mood.alright, sweet, i dug anakrid's side, but stan and wm.'s, damn! the loud booming loop of whatever instrument it is that they're playing is brilliant. it establishes this death march sort of feel like they're moving towards something and, by the sound of it, there's going to be hell to pay when they get there. that main loop is helped out by background squeals, high-pitched whines, moaning vocals, screams, feedback and horn drones. this is some top-notch work by these guys right here.

their second track starts off on a more minimal note before the super amplified beast vocals do their best to scare the hell out of you. i love how it stays minimal with only this pattern of bell-like tones and light clamor making up for the rest of the track's sound. the juxtaposition of these greatly dissimilar elements enhances the former, but overall leaves a good lasting impression. oh yeah, no clue what they might've used of anakrid's. picking up on source material is usually tricky business, though.

mutually assured destruction, part one will not only make your ears happy, but your eyes as well as it comes on coke bottle clear vinyl, offset vellum sleeve printed in silver and black, with a digital laser printed vellum insert, all housed in a picture disc sleeve. i copied and pasted all of that, i have no idea what the hell vellum is. anyhow, it's limited to three hundred and twenty four copies and if you're into buying things (and are in the united states), it looks like rhode island's armageddon shop is the cheapest. for some odd reason beta-lactam ring's charging twenty bucks for this (cough*markup*cough).

5:15 to Ravensbruck Excerpt (from 2:58 to 6:00)

untitled c30
[2007, dreamtime taped sounds]

with his dolphins into the future cassette, lieven martens will fully indulge his new age side. the name's screamed it, so has the artwork on his recent releases with the label, but it wasn't quite there in the music. at least not in what i'd heard. well, he's there now. anyone see that movie the chumscrubber? in part of it, this guy, i think he gets hit on the head, but after the trauma he gets inspired to start painting dolphins all over his house. i'm pretty sure that what he heard inside his head while he was painting sounds a lot like this.
lieven's fondness for warm, relaxing, synth music is apparent on this tape, and i don't think it's a bad thing. for the most part, he won't try and duplicate the psychedelic passages of mountains saturnus*, which is not to say that this isn't trippy, it certainly is, but it just feels like we're on a different drug this time.

throughout the album, i find that there's a nice balance between sound experimentation and synth warmth. while the longest tracks are all dedicated to new agey atmosphere, there's also manipulations and other sonic fuckery which is cleverly tucked in between. these diversions aren't devoid of music, though. most of the time it seems to me like he's either using previous tracks as a base, and then tweaking them, or creating new ones and affecting them as he goes. either way, you can pick up on this thread of continuity even though the overall sound is a lot different.*i neglected to previously mention that the mountains saturnus tape on dts was actually a demo version of what was to be released on eva van deuren's label, pluim. after doing some googling, it still doesn't look like this has happened yet.

Untitled 3

not sure how this happened, but i got a nice batch of goodies from salem, oregon's spacelessjam. i don't remember talking to spacelessjam, but i don't remember a lot of things. regardless, i'm happy. i've still got a bunch of releases that i need to get to first, but this seven inch will be a nice (rare) work-week review.

i'm infected 7"
[2008, spacelessjam]

atrax morgue was italian marco corbelli, who also ran the slaughter productions label. if you're familiar with him, you know he was a morbid motherfucker. you also know that he hung himself last year, surprising, probably no one. the quote from marco which is on the backside of the cover reads: "i don't believe in perfection in art. the absolute perfection is death". here's another choice quote: "death must just be accepted as a very natural process. yes, she's essential in my life. it is necessary (for the) living to be dead. i consider myself dead and it's an (sic) hard labour. but sometimes it's funny. i joke the living. everything is a game. suicide? it's a chance, a control upon your body." i don't think that marco left a note when he killed himself, nor do i think it was completely necessary, he made his feelings pretty well known. while it's unfortunate that it had to end up that way, you've got to hand it to him, he took artistic integrity to a whole other level.i never really got into atrax morgue that much. at one point i had a bunch of albums on my computer, but i deleted them because i never listened to 'em, so this is a nice opportunity to circle back, with a bit more depth, and get reacquainted.

damn, i think that if the stuff of corbelli's that i'd previously checked out was more like this, i would've been a bigger fan. i'm infected eschews the darker soundscapes and vocal noise for an approach which is rooted in drone and tonality. the fact that it's not heavy in mood could allow for more casual listeners of experimental music to find something worth appreciating. both tracks are fairly linear, revolving around sustained tones that will drop and gain in pitch and otherwise drone away loudly. the way that marco keeps the pitches varied will produce a great psychedelic effect where the sound starts slowing down amidst an additional layer of droning buzz.
minimality seems to have been a cornerstone to atrax morgue's work, in that regard, some of you know what you're going to get. for others, it really depends on your adoration for sound textures. there's not a great deal happening, per se, but i love it. it's really hypnotic and catchy in its own way. i doubt that i'll go and download marco's discography after this, but i will listen to the hell out of this seven inch.

I'm Infected Side A