History has proven that masks sell music. Simple as that. All the way back to the time of rap core guitarists, the wearing of masks has titillated a fringe demographic of spectacularly free thinking individuals who are reasonably challenged, and afraid of spiders. I used to think White Mice fell into that category too, but I realize now I was wrong.
Continue reading ‘White Mice – Ganjahovadose (20 Buck Spin, 2009)’
Tag Archive for 'noise'
In my scientific research in the lab I work at, we use formaldehyde (and its derivatives) as a fixative and preservative agent, to freeze the state of tissue/cells, so those that we want to keep intact remain that way and do not get contaminated with foreign microscopic organisms.
This allows us to achieve an inert, unchanging environment, to preserve the original state we started with. In a way the music by Seconds in Formaldehyde follows the same features. It is stagnant, sluggish, torpid and seemingly unchanging; it dwells on and strives to maintain flow and texture, pattern and magic throughout the seven tracks on this album. However, this is more of an appearance than anything else, as there is development and change throughout each track.
Seconds in Formaldehyde is an ambient/drone project by Martin Fuhs from Germany and he is also the man behind the label releasing this album, Waterscape Records. He previous released three albums through other labels and used a guitar (and computer) to make the sound heard on these albums. Continue reading ‘Seconds In Formaldehyde – A Shiver In Red (Droehnhaus, 2010)’
Matt Finney is one of those rare modern day renaissance men that seems to have a hand in everything. Whether creating unique and immersive ambient, experimental and noise music to stimulate your ears or crafting poetry that jumps off the printed page directly into the center of your mind, Finney is an artistic jack-of-all-trades. I first interviewed Finney as part of the ambient/spoken-word duo Finneyerkes and found him to be a highly articulate and engaging subject. Much to my surprise, he e-mailed me a few months later asking if I would be interested in another round of interrogations, an offer I couldn’t possibly pass up.
When I conducted this second interview via e-mail with Mr. Finney, Finneyerkes had recently dissolved and another project, the lo-fi acoustic Ferdinand the Bull had sadly crashed and burned before it had a chance to blossom. But, in a fortuitous turn of events as I was all set to post the piece, Finneyerkes has gotten back together and Finney also has several written projects in the can as well.
Continue reading ‘Interview: Matt Finney’
It’s the first listen of Oxygen Flash that stays with you. That first sense of dizziness and disorientation as whirrs and pulses ping back and forth and back again, the genuine unease over what sonic environment you’ll be plunged into next, and the overwhelming awe over how the whole thing sounds so perfectly coherent and together. At no point does it feel like a collection of individual sounds – each audio atmosphere on Oxygen Flash morphs and moves with the harmony and co-ordination of a single entity.
There is a certain beauty to be found in ugliness and filth. The mesmerizing quality behind something so pure in its horrific/pornographic nature that you can’t look away from it; crime scene photos, a particularly depraved S&M video, etc. Much in the way that such displays of the dark underbelly of human nature can be so visually entrancing, so too is the music of the Netherlands’ Gnaw Their Tongues an exercise in hypnotic audial obscenity.
As you might have noticed, I took the month of July off from writing an installment of DE. The reason being is that nothing seemed to crawl its way across my desk that I found inspiring enough to write a column about. Now, don’t get me wrong, I work with a ton of great labels that send me killer releases on a regular basis, just take a look at some of the reviews I’ve written lately for proof. But, I had been wanting to take this column back to its roots, which are obviously in black metal, and quite frankly nothing I’d heard recently in the BM department was really getting me excited enough to stoke the fires of a new installment of Dethroned Emperor.
That is, until I received a package from Transcendental Creations containing Migdal Bavel, the latest release from one-man black metal terrorist De Magia Veterum. The album is a sickening swarm of the most unholy blackened noise you’ve ever heard, like listening to Merzbow jam with Ildjarn and Filosofem-era Varg Vikernes while they get fist-f**ked by Lucifer. Everything on Migdal Bavel is buried under a thick black layer of utterly corrosive distortion. The song structures are pure chaos-theory, careening tremolo-picked melodies degenerate into scathing washes of pure white noise. A drum machine pulsates in the background, attempting to keep time but ultimately only adding to the album’s swirling, destructive dementia. The vocals are a disturbing, drainpipe distorto-howl reminiscent of Xasthur’s Malefic but even more inhuman sounding, if such a thing is possible.
Continue reading ‘Dethroned Emperor #22 (De Magia Veterum and the realms of black noise)’
Once upon a time, 1349 was just another brutish, blasting black metal band, content to pound away at 1000 mph without really doing anything to set themselves apart from the swelling ranks of bestial hordes already treading similar waters. But, something has gone strangely, frighteningly awry within the camp of this grim Norwegian quartet. A twisted transformation has taken place under the guidance of none other than the dethroned emperor himself, Tom G. Warrior, and the result is Revelations of the Black Flame.
Continue reading ‘1349 – Revelations of the Black Flame (Candlelight, 2009)’
Fresh from Hell’s Headbanger’s, Profanatica’s head sociopath Paul Ledney once again revisits his other, even more twisted project Havohej with Kembatinan Premaster. Although it may come under the guise of black metal, this album is more a corroded slab of industrial noise that’s closer to the likes of Wolf Eyes, Prurient and WOLD than it is to Darkthrone or Marduk. Indeed, Havohej represents the genre at its most boldly experimental.
Continue reading ‘Havohej – Kembatinan Premaster (Hell’s Headbangers, 2009)’
