THROBBING GRISTLE

 

A group that should need no introduction. THROBBING GRISTLE changed the game completely, no just just with their sounds but with their approach to creating and presenting those sounds. Don't take my word for it....take theirs.

BEYOND JAZZ FUNK: TG PSYCHIC RALLY IN HEAVEN
23rd December 1980 London

KASHAIOF

 

Deliberate and cerebral industrial tinged dark electronic mania. Their sound seems to fill unknown voids; existing in darkness and shadows - existing, as in "A Sofa," awkwardly and with no real definition of (or?) purpose. But the duo exists, and 2020's Home is a master class in presence. This is the experimental goth I needed when I was a teenager...better late than never. 

HOME

BONEMAGIC

 

Been wondering what do do with this and what to say about this for (quite) a (long) time, and even though I'm not sure if today is the right day to talk about BONEMAGIC.....here we are. Classic, brilliant '80s industrial worship of the highest order - CLOCK DVA, NITZER EBB and mid-decade Wax Trax! punctuated with complicated dirges like "Unified Violence" and dark ambient missives like "Welcome To Sinew" or the vaguely SKINNY PUPPY-esque "Tales Of Hate & Separation." There is a lot more BONEMAGIC where this came from - more than a dozen releases under this moniker alone (there are other monikers) - but Meat Concrete is a gloriously dark place to start.

MEAT CONCRETE

HARSH R

 

Channel late '80s dance club angst in the modern era and you're going to get... HARSH R. God/s this recording is simply beautiful - I could dissect this shit (with a lot of words), but it would really just be me using a lot of words to say the obvious. Physical World is the embodiment of the obvious, and sinister primitive industrial sounds that are (obviously) critical to our....well, these sounds are critical. That should be all that you need. 

PHYSICAL WORLD

PLASTIGLOMERATE

 

Ever wanted to be serenaded by some genius from England with layers of noise and voice and sonic manipulation? Ever wanted to hear sounds your familiar with manifest as chaos? Ever wanted to hear what chaos sounds like? If yes, then I give you PLASTIGLOMERATE. Is it harsh noise? Yes. Is it also something else and/or something special? Also yes. You know what's a trip though? After this tape led me down a rabbit hole, I think this absolute crusher might be my least favorite PLASTIGLOMERATE release. Go figure.

XINXIN NIL

JT WHITFIELD

 

The Chondritic Sound label was responsible for some of my favorite discoveries of the 2010s and while their releases have leaned more on the digital format/s for the last few years, I still keep a keen eye (and ear) on their output. If I didn't keep a keen eye (and ear), I might miss releases like like 2019's Complacent from Austin freak JT WHITFIELD. Dark and deliberate distortion tinged ambient/techno sounds for the future, sounds that sound as if they are a reminder from a distant (and tortured) past...just letting you know we'll (all) be back.

COMPLACENT

HEX NOIR

 

You'll excuse the inclusion of the first track - damaged though the cassette may be I still felt the sonic damage represented was worth...presenting. Ohio's HEX NOIR are a painful amalgamation of deliberate industrial noise, raw black metal and oppressive grind - the punks don't make 'em like this very often (Demo II comes from 2009) so when the punks do? We take them in whatever primitive and excruciating form they are offered. The replication is DIY to a fault so the listener suffers while the tracks themselves flourish....

DEMO II

NURSE WITH WOUND

 

It would be impossible to encapsulate or contextualize NURSE WITH WOUND in this (or any) blog post. Founder Stapleton has been immersed in experimental, industrial, genre bending sound since the beginning, and 1987's Merzbild Schwet is but one of an astounding list of creations. Two psychotropic Dada-esque movements spanning nearly an hour....if this is your entry point, then consider yourself warned.

MERZBILD SCHWET

HIEROGLYPHIC BEING

 

HIEROGLYPHIC BEING presented a solid ninety minutes of deranged acid house damage to start Reel Torque's series of focused mixes that has been kicking for over a decade. A dark and debaucherous journey through new beat, funk and industrial-tinged EDM that would have sucked me into the series from the start had I only been focused in that direction. As it is, the rest of the 30+ tapes in the series appear pretty hard to come by, but I'm in the market if anyone's holding. 

REEL TORQUE VOL.1

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL.5

 

These D.I.Y. Conspiracy comps have all been hitters so far, and the fifth is no exception. This is the heavy one, with bands landing blows from all over the wall of noise hardcore, doom, stoner, and proto-grunge spectrums.  Modern bands reared on COWS, SOAD-by-way-of-AIC, CELEST(E), JESUS LIZARD and the like, plus a couple of hardcore blasts and a very intense industrial noise/grind track from DEMIKOV. Choicest cuts to my ears are BUZZØØKO, CALF and FEEDBACKER. Extra bonus? I had never heard any of these bands when I pressed Play.

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL.5

DOMINANT HAND

 

On the one hand...what even is this? Creepy goth soundtrack scores with brooding baritone vocals presented as '80s PIAS fodder? On the other hand...does the what even matter? Do you need answers or do you want to submit? But on the DOMINANT HAND...on the dominant hand you will find DOMINANT HAND.

DOMINANT HAND

SQUELCH CHAMBER

 

People use terms like "cacophonous" and "disorienting" to describe shit like this. But SQUELCH CHAMBER embody these descriptors in the most gloriously confident way. Bursts of chaotic grind drenched in noise, industrial slogs with tortured vocals, static laden doom missives...and a cover that breathes new (and needed) life into later-Rollins era FLAG.  I dare suggest that Everything Turns To Shit is not only necessary listening, Everything Turns To Shit is correct. 

EVERYTHING TURNS TO SHIT

NURSE WITH WOUND // CURRENT 93

 

You know what I'm not going to do? Pretend I can speak from any kind of informed position about NURSE WITH WOUND or CURRENT 93. Two artists I have known about for well over two decades, but have never actually dug into. This tape was initially released in the early '80s and tweaked and regurgitated and booted a few times...and it ended up in my hands. And I still can't speak from any kind of informed position about either artist because the internet has volumes already and the last thing the internet needs is another amateur making shit up so....damn, this shit is cool. I'm gonna need to start digging - seem like I've waited long enough. 

MI-MORT

X-77

 

Hard to think of a more aptly title release than Nightmare. X-77 doesn't create a soundtrack to darkness on this 2021 Deathbed Tape; it's as if they create darkness itself. Murky ambient slow motion convulsions that take only seconds to develop...envelop you for what feels like an eternity. "Butcher's Window" is a masterpiece on its own, and in the company of ten more master/pieces it simply suffocates. Brutality has rarely sounded so measured. 

NIGHTMARE

•••

I.B.M.

 

Pararhythmic sex obsessed acid drenched acid EBM from Chicago's I.B.M., a release that opens with the deliciously distorted title track "Eat My Fuck" and then drags the listener through an hour of dirty trance inducing glory. Eat My Fuck feels filthy, Eat My Fuck feels magical...Eat My Fuck fits perfectly. The only question is: Are you ready?

EAT MY FUCK

ARIADNE

 

THIS stopped me dead in my tracks. Today of all days, this day (not actually today, but an earlier day) when nothing worked how it was meant to work, the day (almost) nothing went as planned (until it did), the day I ached for the known and the out of reach...this was the day ARIADNE found me and stopped me dead. The sound of soothing distress; out of sorts, lost, beautiful, known, familiar...distant. Stopped me dead. Made me feel cold, and made me feel seen. Heard. Known. You need to spend time with ARIADNE, as they did with me on this day (again, not actually this day...it was a recent Monday). "Nourishment" will fill your mind with impossible sonic scenarios while "Cast Down The Flesh Of Your Body" will fill your soul with the sound of the possible. Seize upon the possible and perhaps anything is...truly...possible. Sound cannot do, but sound can guide. And on this day (which was, as I have said, not actually today) ARIADNE led me to, and then through, a beautiful place. Led me to the place from which I write these words today. Actually...today. I'm grateful. 

STABAT MATER

DEATH CONVENTION SINGERS

Nothing sounds like DEATH CONVENTION SINGERS...nothing. A free jazz psychedelic harsh noise collective from New Mexico who deliver...nay, conjure....sounds from another plane. Glenn Branca rebirthed in the unforgiving SouthWest. These are sounds that transport you to there. To their place. 

A THREAD, A BRAID

 

CYANIDE TOOTH

 

The first side of this tape is a mind fuck - a sonic melting pot that hits like TG intercepting desperate battle communiques from another reality. A collection of constructions that culminates with the brutal repetition of "Press The Mesh Techno Animus" before "Shadow Enforcers" closes the side with the exact opposite of a come down. But it's the 25+ minute title composition on the flip that solidifies Midnight Climax Operation as a journey through other worldly realms of sonic power. A soundtrack to a disorienting existence. A(nother) mind fuck. A collage that paints a picture far darker than any of its individual components. CYANIDE TOOTH conjured a...a masterpiece. 

MIDNIGHT CLIMAX OPERATION

SUPER STREET 11: DEATH ELECTIONS

 

I'm not sure what you think you should expect from a 60minute Fag Tapes live compilation, but Death Elections is what you should prepare yourself for. Because that's what's waiting for you, and that's what you get. Bleak monotony from KVLTS, a harsh wall collaboration that joins PRURIENT, AIR CONDITIONING, and FFH for the sole purpose of torture - SICK LLAMA sound practically tame by comparison even though their offering is arguably more disjointed and disconcerting. GRAVESIGHTS are almost music (don't worry, they aren't quite), and the hypnotic rumblings of RAVEN STRAIN do not end the sound collection on any kind of note that could be described as "relief." If anything, the Super Street series is an exercise....

SUPER ST. 11: "DEATH ELECTIONS"

PIONIER SERIÖS

 

I first came across PIONIER SERIÖS from the venerable Tape Attack blog some years back and I was hooked instantly. Their experimental approach to cold industrial sound instantly grabs you, and just screams German with every beat. They captured the rambling digital vibes of early CABARET VOLTAIRE, elements of pre-techno, and (accidental?) nods to SF pioneers FACTRIX, all while sounding like they were in the throes of some wild sexcapades, and all while creating a music that stands weird and proud after more than four decades. I next came across PIONIER SERIÖS when the folks at ZZK Tapes reissued Berlin in 2019 and I had all of those same feelings again, but mixed with the excitement of hearing it all again. You can still get physical copies from them...and you can have those feelings too. 

BERLIN