SBTDOH 'The Gateway Doublet' C-64. Shrouded Recordings.
To give you a little bit of background on this cassette. It was assembled by the artist himself as a way to have something to trade to those interested in such sport. I for one applaud his efforts to provide something meaningful in a noise scene that seems more and more closed off and negatively exclusive. 'The Gateway Doublet' is a compilation of sorts as it brings together two of SBTDOH's releases 'Sounds For Mass Extinction' and 'Non-Selective Genocide' onto a single cassette. Getting down to straight up audio contents, side one dishes up 2 heartless and suffocating tracks which really get down to the essence of what harsh noise is really about. The first track 'Dead Beliefs' is a real claustrophobic and sweaty mess that makes no appologies for its lack of sonic range. The track gets going and never lets up all while it refuses to allow variation or high end frequencies. The next track 'Sheep and Goats' follows the same grim path as its predescesor only making small allowances for some upper mid range and sprinkles of high end to contaminate its gloomy hailstorm. The second side which houses two tracks from the 'Non-Selective Genocide' release follow a similar path to the contents of side one. However, the first track 'A' betrays a more loosened grip on from the tracks on the previous side. A bouncier and gristly mix of buried frequencies snake themselves throughout the track. This to me is where things get interesting. While I enjoy the purity of a true harsh wall that purposely lacks in variations, there is something to be said about variation and natural flow. I get the most listening satisfaction when an artist allows a piece to play out, to make use of space, to allow deviation. By the conclusion, the piece has been ripped to ragged shreds as it pisses and sizzles into a disintegrating foamy acid bath. As the final track begins, drugs and psychotherapy are the precursors for a rapidly overpowering blast of deep fried agony. Our documentarians are rendered nearly unintelligible as a torturous give and take commences. A struggle to maintain clarity all while the swirling morass of tornadic middle range has its adolescent way with long winded scientific explanation. By the track's conclusion, the drugs fail to stave off the feral drive of the brutal sauteeing sounds reaching a feverish crescendo. In the end, youthful exhuberance and concerned innocence gets totally buried by a dense filthy layer. If you like your noise to be harsh and unrelenting this is a great way to go. There is a full side of studies in restraint and true wall worship and a killer second side of grimy excursions into the darkened shadows just beyond the wall. All you tape traders get in touch with Shrouded Recordings and get your hands on this deluxe edition of murderous tonality and brutal frequency hymnals. While this does not blaze any new trails in sound sculpting, it still makes it no less of a potent mix of oppressive violence.
BLACK LOVE. 'Soundtrack For Black Power' Cassette. Hertz Lion.
According to the liner notes that accompany this cassette, the first side consists of sounds from a Texas Instruments 'text adventure cassette game' entitled STRANGE ODYSSEY. These sounds which amount to antiquated electronic frequencies, crispy glitches, and broken loops. It is noted that this material was used as a source for a live show which took place in the autumn of 2008. Side two seems to be essentially the same oddball, spare, glib electronic fuckery which appeared on the first side, albeit in a slightly altered form. I have given this several listens and find myself compelled to keep playing this tape over and over. Perhaps there is subliminal messages implanted in amongst the crumbly signals. While it would have been great to have seen this source material utilized in the live setting this is still a strangely interesting tape. Its short length makes it all the more intriguing. This is devoid of personality in the most delightful way possible. The beeps, blips, squawks, and fragmentation are strangely hypnotic. While I will hold back on saying that 'Soundtrack For Black Power' is a 'game changer' I will say if this tape ends up in your hands you will more than likely find the same sort of enjoyment I did. Again, I would love to hear this material employed as it was during the live show as I am sure it made for fantastic grist for an ear splitting night on the town.
BAPTIZER / CARL KRUGER 'Split' 3inch. Petite Soles.
Here is a little gem hidden in my 'to be reviewed' stack that has languished long enough. This 3inch contains 2 tracks from North Carolina based harsh militant Baptizer. In both of his pieces layers of carbonized sound waves get pulverized and chopped up and humiliated into submission. By the conclusion of the second track, the power electronics rager 'Doing What I Wanted' Baptizer is really just warming up as his brand of harsh reality really messes with your head. The menacing waves cut in and out and are interspersed with serial killer dialogue which dances across your skull. It finally concludes with a foreboding industrial pummeling off into a spectral distance, dying a slow death as it lays its decaying form down to rest forever. You are then jolted awake by Wilmington North Carolina's king of agony Carl Kruger. His track 'Chance is its Own Reward' does not let up for a single goddamned second as he puts you through your paces and strangles the life out of his noise set up. More than just a simple harsh wall but more like an obstacle course of decay, ruin, and rage. It climbs up, falls down, lays twitching, and climbs again, all while it seems to just get louder and more stiflingly violent. Even toward the tracks close as it percolates and bubbles away with sinister hate, what seems to be a reprieve is nothing more than another way to punish you. There is no way to pick a favorite on this release as both artists let it all hang out with devastating style. This is yet another dose of pure underground noise goodness that will ride in your CD player for a shit ton of listens. The dildo goes up your ass slowly tonight baby.
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