From The Vault: Head Wound City E.P.

I don't really like music that takes itself 100% seriously. It's never really jelled for me that an artist would ever think of art, something objectively valueless and disconnected with the base human experience, to be worth being upset over.

I think that's why I've never enjoyed records made by so-called "supergroups." The ego and self-seriousness in most of these projects is palpable. 

With that said, when a supergroup possesses a sense of fun and excitement about them, I almost always dig it. I think that's why Head Wound City appeals to me so much. It's all about fun.

Formed in 2005 by members of The Locust, The Blood Brothers, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Head Wound City play chaotic, noisey artpunk that takes the most distinctive elements of the bands it splintered from and ramps them up times 10. Gabe Serbian brings The Locust's spastic drumming and time signatures. Jordan Billie and Cody Votolato bring their distinctive throat/fret shredding from The Blood Brothers, while Nick Zinner brings a whole lot of, gasp, pop sensibility. 

They released a self-titled, 10-minute EP that very same year on Three One G Records and it's a banger. 

I'm a Taxidermist- I'll Stuff Anything is a highlight of the album. It's The Locust filtered through '79 punk steez and neon lights. There's a sweet double-time breakdown and power-electronics part somewhere in the middle.

Thrash Zoo is black metal with actual dynamics, a rare treat indeed. The vocals make my throat hurt in sympathy.

This album is definitely worth a listen. Grab it here.

Top 9 albums of the year

Well, it's that time of the year again, time for us to reflect on the great music that graced us in 2014. It's been a damn good year. Lots of amazing records to pour over. These are my top 10.

10. Copkiller- Alien Soccer

Another excellent  release from a label that only puts out excellent releases, Rainbow Bridge. Industrial pop meets avant-garde meets everything else. It could only have been produced in the 21st century by Justin Marc Lloyd, a person that I believe is looking toward the 22nd. An album in a league of its own. 

Buy here.

9. Waves Crashing Piano Chords- Young Mouth/ It wasn't even worth my back seat. 

A three minute blast of negativity from New York's only juggalo noise act. It's amazing that this album, recorded only with feedback and screamed vocals, manages to be 100 times more powerful than other albums made with twice the budget. 

buy it here

8. Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties- We Don't Have Each Other

This is the debut solo album of Wonder Years frontman Dan "Soupy" Cambell. I'm not exactly a fan of the Wonder Years, but I've always respected Soupy as a lyricist. This album really lets them shine through, telling a story of divorce, loss, and parenthood through the eyes of New Yorker Aaron West. The music is infinitely more restrained than the Wonder Years, closer to Bruce Springsteen than New Found Glory. An emotionally brutal effort and a job well done. 

buy here

7. Young and In The Way- When Life Comes To Death

A damn site better than Watain. All of the black metal showmanship with a thousand times more chaos. 

buy here

6. 

Compiled by Genesis P. Orridge of Throbbing Gristle, this is a compilation of spoken word and tape experiments from beat legend William S. Burroughs. If you want to hear the absolute genesis of post-modern art, this is what you want. 

buy here

5. Full of Hell/Merzbow

Less of a collaboration and more of a testament towards the Full of Hell Lads ability to use Merzbow's raw noise to craft great songs, this album is quality, from music to packaging. High Fells, in particular, is an amazing track. 

Buy here

4. Wolves In The Throne Room- Celestite

The first purely ambient excursion for the Washington black metallers, Celestite is surprisingly deep and fully formed. It is just as vital as any of their metal records, and one of the best dark ambient albums in a long while.

buy it here

read my interview with Wolves In The Throne Room here

3. Pharmakon- Bestial Burden

Margaret Chardiet, frontperson of noise juggernaut Pharmakon, will not let anything or anyone keep her down. Just as she was about to embark on her first European tour, she ended up severely ill. Undergoing major surgery, she was bedridden for nearly three weeks. As a result, this record is very much informed by the idea of health and body, of interconnecting systems and biology. It's skin-crawling, powerful stuff. 

Buy it here

Iceage- Plowing into the Field of Love

Iceage, with their third album, have made the best rock album of the last ten years. This is, without a doubt, the most complete and effective piece of sound art I've heard this year, a brilliant mix of post punk, noiserock, hardcore, and even country. Elias Bender Ronnenfelt is the best white singer I've heard recently. He's got something to say. You should listen.

Buy it here

From The Vault: Boredoms- Chocolate Synthesizer

Japan's legendary lunatics of sound Boredom's have a bit of a misleading reputation in America. Due to their association with Merzbow and the praise heaped upon them by noise rockers Thurston Moore and Justin Broadrick, music fans seem to want to peg them into the harsh noise/power electronics category. 

The reality is that Boredoms come as much from A Saucerful of Secrets as they do Metal Machine Music. Besides their early Boretronix releases, Boredom's releases fall firmly into the avant-rock category, with much of their music being extremely distorted ppsychedelicand kraut-rock. 

Their fourth album, Chocolate Synthesizer, released in 1994 in Japan and 2004 in America, is a perfect example of Boredom's ability to transcend genre without falling into free-form territory. It bounces among psychedelic rock, minimalist drum and bass, chanting, punk, powerviolence, kraut-rock, and synthpop with little regard for any kind of formality.

With that said, miraculously, Boredom's manage to always come back around, no-matter how much they stray into freakout jams, to the poppy psychedelic rock that make up the core of their music. This quality ads to Chocolate Synthesizer's woozy, bizarre sound.

The song Voredoms is a good example of this. Over its six minutes, it blasts through MC5-esque fuzzrock, walls of noise, groovy, ritualistic funk, gypsy-folk, minimalist prepared guitar, and krautrock, before looping back in on itself. Surprisingly, it works brilliantly.

Turn Table Boredoms is another highlight, a dirt-rock jam that sounds like Yoko Ono fronting the 13th floor elevators.

Vocals, provided by Yamantaka Eye, are nothing short of bizarre. They flit between grunts, gurgles, shouts, yelps, and, in occasion, clean singing. Oftentimes they are so buried under layers of tape delay that they're barely audible at all.

Perhaps the most interesting quality of this album is its childishness. Now, I don't mean this as a bad thing. Childishness is joyous. Childlessness is experimentation.  It's childishness that makes it's genre-experimentation work. Professional musicians, Miles Davis or Hendrix types, wouldn't have been able to make this music.

The album, originally very difficult to find, was reissued last year on 1972. Unfortunately, the label has since shut down.

Listen to it below. If you can find it, buy it. It's well worth it.

Korianteri- Olli Aarni- Review

Corianders, in folklore, are traditionally associated with healing and love, comfort and balming. They also have a hypnotic effect, garnering the nickname "dizzyweed" from farmers observing the effects of the plant on grazing cattle. 

Olli Aarni, a sound art project from Finland, uses their native "Korianteri," meaning Coriander, for the title of their new album. It's a fitting title. Something about the two tracks presented here is kind and soothing, maybe even childlike, in a way that experimental music rarely is. The music here is soft, floral, heady, and a little bit brilliant. 

The music is broken up into two fourteen-minute tracks, Korianteri A and Korianteri B. Both songs use the same building blocks of tape manipulated cartoon samples, radio static, low, hushed vocals, and throbbing, subtle ambience, but are remarkably different in tone. 

Korianteri A sounds much more, well, calming. It's the aural equivalent of someone rubbing your shoulders after work. It bleeds innocent, analog nostalgia, Saturday morning cartoons and cereal, ugly wallpaper and super 8 cameras. Even the buried, barely audible vocals have the cadence and tone of a Dad asking you about your day.

Despite it's homespun sound, the embeded, glitchy synth drones present in the track adds a particularly cavernous quality that conjures images of childhood imagination gone awry.

Korianteri B is as relaxed as the previous track, but in a very different way. Instead of sounding like a tape recorded suburban living room, it sounds alien, inhuman, yet somehow benevolent. It sounds like kind crop circles, altruistic wolves. There's slight menace there, enough to keep you waiting for harshness that will never come. 

This album is worth listening, if only as background noise. I appreciate the albums basis in actual tape-looping and antiquated samples. It's a refreshing change from the digital harsh noise that so many people pass off as avant-garde. Well worth a purchase.

Buy here

Top 10- Boyd Rice Records

I refuse to open up with segment with some boring, trite recitation about the controversy surrounding Boyd Rice's behavior, political ethics, or aesthetic choices. There is no mystery about what he has to say and to explore them in writing, at least superficially, is pointless.

With that said, Boyd Rice, over several different projects and collaborations, has produced a massive amount of sonic work over the years. These next 10, in no particular order, are my personal favorites.

Spell- Seasons In The Sun 

This album, a collaborative work between Rice and Strawberry Switchblade singer Rose McDowall, is a total novelty record. Unlike most novelty records, however, this one is still funny after repeated listens. It's a series of played-straight covers of 50's and 60's pop music with the lyrics changed to include references to suicide, hell, and death. I mean, who doesn't want to hear "Johnny Remember Me" covered by a new-wave singer and some weird misanthropist?

NON- Back To Mono 

The latest album by Rice's most known project is a beautifully produced album of shifting, dynamic sound. It's worth noting that Rice is an excellent sampler. On this records he pulls from everything from 60's girl groups to war sounds to speeches by cult figures. Brilliant. 

The Boyd Rice Experience- Hatesville

A decidedly retro sounding album, Hatesville is a hilarious mixture of spoken word, noise, and lounge music. It captures Rice's bizarre, early 60's space-age meets black social-darwinist aesthetic. Choice guest appearances by the likes of Joel Haertling and Shaun Partridge round out the album's sound with their own rambling wittiness.  In my mind, this is a more vicious contemporary to Ian Svenonius' Play Power album, basically a comedy album.  

NON- God and Beast 

This is the heaviest, if not the harshest, material from NON. Rice really seems to want to impart some sort of wisdom on the listener. That statement of intent is always heavy, regardless of the message. The music itself is punishing and bleak looping walls of sound. Daunting. 

Death In June & Boyd Rice- Alarm Agents

Neo-folk legends Death in June have collaborated with Boyd Rice on a number of occasions and it's really not hard to see why. Both have an obsession with the darker side of history. Whether or not DIJ embrace it to the extent of Rice is debatable, but nevertheless, they work well together. On this album, DIJ bring Rice into their world of masks and symbolism, with Rice's spoken word sounding more cryptic and mystical than ever. 

NON- Rise

This 12" single, released in 1982, is a part of the early vanguard of industrial music. This release would go on to be heralded by the likes of Moby and Marilyn Manson. Totally worth a listen.

Boyd Rice/Frank Tovey- Easy Listening For The Hard of Hearing

This LP, a collaboration between Rice and Frank Tovey, a.k.a. Fad Gadget, is an exercise in musical minimalism. Surprisingly understated for both men. 

Boyd Rice- The Black Album

The record that started contemporary noise and Boyd's career. Not bad for a prank. It plays on any speed. 

NON- Children Of The Black Sun

This release is pure ambiance, an uncharacteristic sound for NON. Unfortunately, it went relatively unnoticed. It's definitely worthy of more attention. 

Boyd Rice and Friends- Music, Martinis, and Misanthropy

Music, Martinis and Misanthropy is a sister record to Hatesville, a calm excursion into spoken word, lounge, and neofolk. The role call for this album is simply massive. Douglas P., Tony Wakeford, Michael Moynihan, the list goes on. This album is perhaps best known for producing the song "People," a biting neofolk song demanding the return of Vlad The Impaler, Genghis Khan, Diocletian, and other dictators. 

Check it out!

Genocide Organ-Archive IV Review+Stream

Genocide Organ are legends for a reason.

With their long-form, wildly experimental take on industrial music, they've carved a niche for themselves as both a creator of a genre, Death-Industrial, and for being providers of some of the wittiest, and most misunderstood, political commentary since Jello-Biafra.

So, it goes without saying that any day that Genocide Organ puts out music is a good day.

With their Archive series, Genocide Organ has been releasing unreleased material on 10" records. Archive IV continues this concept, presenting three tracks recorded in the early 90s. 

Genocide Organ stands out to me as the kings of harsh industrial for two reasons. One, they clearly have some ability as composers. Although their music is infected with immense, harsh, swelling noise and glitching and samples, the heart of it beats with some very pretty, minimalist compositions. Two, their choice of sampling, and the way they place their samples, is thought-provoking and often quite funny. 

These qualities are highlighted on this release, partly because it's short length. At three tracks, it's a short experience, but because each track contains everything I like about this group it's not something I mind. 

The centerpiece of this album is a fourteen-minute track called The Lesson: selected-dislective-lectured-a paradise for the sublocotenent. It's a mouthful of a title and a mouthful of a track. It begins with rythmic, pulsating noise and militaristic samples, slides into a dancey middle section, before collapsing back into samples and harsh noise. The track conjures images of a boy-composer using post-apocalyptic, bombed-out industrial wreckage to make symphonies, perhaps while hiding underground. 

The subsequent tracks are much shorter. The second, called The Lesson: lection for a riot, begins with the military samples that tipify Genocide Organ's sound. They're more frantic than they were on the last track. They blend well with the marching beat present throughout the track. They do a good job of conjuring a totalitarian fear. 

Surprisingly, the album ends on a very musical note. Nix-On, besides being one of the less obtuse references in a Genocide Organ, is a song that wouldn't be out of place on a Cold Cave or Lust For Youth album. It shows off the ability of the Genocide Organ creator's to actually write a tune. Sure, it's a tune dipped in feedback and screeching samples, but it's something you can hum.

I was always a casual fan of the group, but this Archive series makes me want to pay more attention. I think that Genocide Organ full-lengths might have been a little bit too thick and foreboding for me to really sink my teeth into, but these 10" are short enough for me to love and, if newer material reflects Nix-On, something that I can put on regular rotation. A great listen. 

Zines!

With the internet providing endless platforms for writing, art, and general personal expression, the zine experienced a period of obscurity. Zines went from a staple of merch tables at fests and shows everywhere to a form of communication only utilized by the most wizard-level crust-punks and metal heads. Luckily, with the assistance of the nigh-unstoppable nostalgia train, zines are now back in the hands of people who shower regularly and, with access to high-quality printing materials growing easier and easier, zines have gone beyond their chicken scratch/newsprint beginnings to presenting themselves with objective quality.  

Shocking, I know!

I do my best to keep up with zines, as I feel that they really have a lot to offer (I mean where else could you find a zine offering personality profiles of angsty vegetables?) These next few zines are some of my favorites. Check 'em out below

Disclose- Live in Japan

Check out this sweet Disclose show from the early 90s!

RIP Kawakami. 

Nekrofilth- Acid Brain Review+Stream

This record rules ya'll. It rocks my socks. It rufflies my tufflies in the best possible way. 

You see, Cleveland's Nekrofilth sounds a lot like Venom if Venom liked DRI or Minor Threat more than they liked KISS or Motorhead. If that doesn't sound appealing to you l don't get why you're reading this blog, honestly. 

With their sixth album Acid Brain, they've presented a thrashy, punchy record that's more Kill Em All than Violent Pacification. They've bumped up the catchy thrash and turned down the death metal influences from the previous releases. Vocals are higher, half sung/half shrieked in the Tom Araya standard. It's not quite as heavy but it adds some dynamics and, dare I say, a bit of melody. 

Track one, "Beware The Witch of Death" is a highlight for me. It's got some serious pick attack. I bet live it hits you like a punch in the stomach. I don't have a copy of the lyrics but I think it's about his ex-girlfriend or an actual evil witch. Maybe it's both. It's a lot like that Henry Rollins skit where he talks about Ronnie James Dio writing the best breakup songs. EVIL WOMAN LOOOOOKOUT

"I Breed in the Swamp" brings a bit of early death metal influence to the proceedings, making a nice change of pace. The vocal performance on this track is stellar. The vocalist sounds throat-shreddingly mad. The guitar solo is killer, remaining low-key while still fitting the tune.

The last track is an absolute killer. Sweet, Darkthrone crusty thrash goodness. The bass tone on this whole album is fantastic, by the way. It's nice and crunchy and groovy in this particular song, so prepare to feel it in your bones.

Acid Brain is a quality thrash album. Nothing much to say. This isn't Sunbather or Advaitic Songs so no rigorous analysis is necessary. Buy it. Play it. Bang your head.

From the Vault: Day of Suffering

Day of Suffering were a vegan/straightedge hardcore band from North Carolina and they totally, completely ruled. 

Equally inspired by the likes of Morbid Angel (the band they named themselves after), and Vegan Reich, Day of Suffering combined the technicality, polish, and heaviness of early 90's Death Metal with the vocals, breakdowns, and subject matter of hardcore. 

This band was so, so heavy, especially for their time. Check out the track Engulfed In Darkness below!

Everything off of The Eternal Jihad is so, so polished. I haven't heard a hardcore record of this era that is so polished. Every instrument is so punchy and clear.




I don't know a lot about these guys. They made their album and then quit. It's a shame because they're fantastic. Truly, truly underrated. They got back together to play a show in 2012 and then fell off the map again.



Have any of you guys seen them live? Whatever happened to them?

Christopher Ropes- Interview

Christopher Ropes is a man of many talents.

I previously interviewed him about his musical ambitions under the name of Alocer Christus, where he detailed release plans for his experimental, compositional pieces. 

It turns out he's a pretty damn fine writer.

With his own poetic, traditionally beautiful style of writing combined with brutal, disturbing imagery, his style is very much his own. 

Interviewed him about his upcoming publication and just why The Creature From The Black Lagoon is so great.

 Let’s start with something broad. What does horror as a genre mean to you? What does it offer the literary portion of your soul?

My definition of horror is almost as broad as this question. Most of Crime & Punishment horrified me far more than any run of the mill horror. And if your definition doesn't include Kafka, you've got a ridiculously restricted definition of the horrific. By the same token, I realize that the average horror reader is a lot like me and wants to read an actual "horror" novel and not The Trial when they are in a horror mood. So most of us who are fans of the genre have an unspoken acceptance of certain guidelines that fit a horror story. As for me and my writing, I just try to slot myself under that umbrella and do so with quality work.

​

But what horror means to my soul? Freedom and the ability to get away with anything I want, no matter how disturbing. And also, often, to punish the wrong doers in some fashion, though that is not a law in my work. The ability to stretch my imagination and make points about the worst parts of this world we live in while simultaneously freaking out and entertaining people.

​

Your horror works tend to be fairly short, mainly short stories and an upcoming novella. The pieces I’ve had the pleasure of reading, one of which is due for publication with J. Ellington Ashton Press, are best served by their short lengths. It adds to their tense, claustrophobic quality. Do you ever want to do the opposite write anything longform? Is that something we can expect in the future?

My novella could bloat up into a novel very easily. Though I think it is somewhat closer to dark fantasy. Splatterpunk dark semi-historical werewolf fantasy. Weird and violent and fun, but none of this YA or supernatural romance werewolf stuff, this is good old flesh ripping stuff!

​

I wouldn't say all the best horror work is short fiction, by any means, but much of my favorite stuff is just that. And I'm also more confident in a shorter form; long works require a great deal of a different kind of discipline than short stories do. Short stories for me are almost like poetry, with compact word usage that cuts to the bone and leaves you with more of an emotional impression than the feeling of a story neatly wrapped up and the knowledge of what has happened to your most beloved and most detested characters.

But I guarantee if this werewolf tale does not become a full novel, one will be attempted eventually!

​

 Although your stories, being horror fiction, contain a lot of disturbing imagery, you still bring a very literary, poetic bent to the genre. Do you ever have to curb this aspect to preserve the horror? Or visa versa?

​

I think I amplify the poetry because I truly think the beauty automatically also amplifies the horror. Especially when for a sentence or two, the poetic aspect is dropped entirely in favor of a straight up punch in the gut with something really awful. It is letting my word choice and style choice play good cop, bad cop! I try not to curb anything, unless it is something that would actually be a lousy literary choice. Every writer has times where a word selection or plot idea or something screams, "THIS WOULD BE SO AWESOME!!!!" and two seconds of reflection reveal it to be the worst idea since the Battlefield: Earth movie. But that is all I curb. If I want to be poetic, which I guess I must, I figure out how to draw the most horrific effects out of that rather than change my writing style.

 Is there anything too depraved for you to write about?

Not that I'm aware of, in a very general sense. I do believe that some things are too depraved to write about in a way that glorifies them. But no subject is per se completely off limits and, if I stumble on one, you can bet I will try to write about it immediately!

​

Your work, especially the new novella, takes inspiration from some rather obscure supernatural historical events. How does research play into your creative process?

​

This one I can answer very simply. I write what I know unless my normal reading causes me to stumble on something too good to pass up! That is what happened with the werewolf novella. I wouldn't call reading about historical werewolves research, I would call it pleasure reading that resulted in being research. But when there is a story in progress, I do any necessary research to make it work, of course.

 If we could touch briefly on your spirituality. You identify as a satanist and, to some, that is very much connected to horror. What would you say to these people? How does your spirituality influence your writing?

My variety of Satanism is very positive, in direct opposition to most people's notions of the Satanic. I do actually believe in the occult but I inject more of the flavor of the hellish and the concept of suffering as purifying into my work than any sense of my actual beliefs or practices. My beliefs and practices are pure beauty and goodness, to me, and only the abstract sense of the evil in opppsition to a demiurgic concept of goodness is really used in my writing, as the rest is not at all horrific to me. I find the final, staggeringly beautiful "yes" at the end of Ulysses to be far more Satanic than most horror fiction. Likewise with the poetry of another Modernist: despite being a devout Christian, Eliot's poetry is so spiritual to me that I cannot help seeing it as Satanic in my own eyes and heart.

​

 Dracula or Frankenstein? 

Dracula, particularly if played by Christopher Lee, but see below for more on this.

 The wolfman or the creature from the black lagoon?

​

The Creature, a wonderfully Lovecraftian beast, is my favorite classic Universal monster by far; possibly my favorite monster ever. But... The Wolfman would come in second, and werewolves over vampires in general for me, so even though he lost this battle, he wins against the other monsters mentioned. Also, in a literary sense, I think a written version of the Creature, where you aren't actually watching a guy in that deliriously delicious costume, would suck. So in novels and stories, werewolves trump them all for me.

​

One last thing: I will find a way to dirty bomb Hollywood if any of those assholes decides to do a remake of Creature! No defiling the most precious memory of my childhood!

 Any final words?

​

I'm sure I could think of lots. I guess just feel free to connect with me on Facebook at the Christopher Ropes Splatterpunk Emporium. If you have any further questions for me, you can just message me on that page! Hope you all enjoy the sick and hopefully filled with heart and soul journey I try to take you on!

https://www.facebook.com/SplatterpunkEmporium/info

Now showing: Bad Brains live 1987.

Bad Brains were, for me, the best hardcore band of their era. With blistering live shows, skilled playing, and reggae elements, they really didn't have that "D.C. sound" that so many other bands aped. They were their own entity. 

1987 was their peak year. They signed with SST and put out I Against I, a challenging hybrid of funk, reggae, hardcore, and heavy metal. They toured heavily in this period, playing a large, diverse setlist that included, of all things, a Beatles cover. 

The above show, recorded on Spring Break in Florida, is very high in quality. Shout out to "Bubzdaddy" for the amazing taperip. 

They only play 8 songs but you're a liar if you say you're not grooving. Dig it 

Little Limbs "Young Vessels EP" review

Jimi Hendrix oftentimes referred to music as a pallet of colors, something that conjures images and shades in the mind. This is something that I've experienced. Black Metal conjures greys. Noise conjures static and disassociating pictures. Folk is deep brown and denim and dust. Ambient never changes. Ambient is always white.

At least, almost always. With Young Vessels, their debut EP, Little Limbs have brought some color to the usual IDM/Ambient proceedings.

Clocking in at three tracks, the album is short but makes up for its brevity with its fullness. It's dynamic, with thick, bassy beats and soft, silky drones, sprinkled with some well placed and suitably atmospheric samples of animals, fire, and speech.

"Everything at Once" is a soulful blast of ambient electronica, perfect for being for being in a club alone.

"Canadian Wilderness" is the highlight of the album for me, a joyful and dangerous romp through indie pop-electronica. It manages to feel wild, a feat in a genre as thought out and pre-planned as electronic music.

This album is many colors, royal blue, green, orange, and magenta, but it's also many images. The forest at daybreak, pale skin, a city made by sega where everything is pink, a boy with deer antlers, an open flame in a spaceship, a polaroid of something sad.This album is  many things but it is never white.

Stream it here

Merzbow/Full of Hell Teaser

Profound Lore records has released a 35 second teaser for the new Full of Hell/Merzbow collaborative album. Some strong black metal vibes.  Check it out below. 

The album is due for release sometime in November. Perfect for the frostbitten winter months.

Come on! Get Free! We Pour Light On Everything!

Psychedelic music is making a comeback. In a world of lockstep thinking and a speed of life too rapid for any kind of mental growth, groups of dedicated psychonauts all over the world are spreading the seed of expansion in the ear-holes of all who will listen. These records are the ones who stood out to me, in no particular order. 

 The Gonzo- Esoteric EP

Mixing psychedelia, Disco, Funk, and techno, The Gonzo, helmed by Chris Drew and Ben Wayne, is a good-vibes musical journey from another world. Infinitely danceable and approachable, yet doubtlesly psychoactive, it's an interesting listen. Jam it if you want to dance.

http://thegonzone.bandcamp.com/


 Lesbian- Forestelivision 

Alright, this is progressive doom metal, but it is so rooted in psychedelic music I can't help but include it. It's bone crushingly heavy but, I swear, if you listen to this enough, preferably in the forest, you will feel the earth move.

http://lesbian.bandcamp.com/

The Venus Extraction- FOUR

Bad-trip, dirtbag freak-folk from a Mr. Jeffrey Cambell. Criminally underrated and totally creepy. Buy all their records.

http://thevenusextraction.bandcamp.com/album/four

 Copkiller- Alien Soccer

Psychedelic, beat-heavy noise from the productive mind of Justin Marc Lloyd, there's a sense of humor to this tape that isn't normally present in avant-garde music. Almost Death-Grips esque.

 Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats- Blood Lust

A modern classic of retro, psychedelic proto-metal. This is the underbelly of psychedelic expression, The overdoes, the arrest, the murder. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSpsffboOAc

 Katje Janisch- Dulce Muse

An etheral effort by this psychedelic neo-folk artist. Transcendent, beautiful tones.

http://katjejanisch.bandcamp.com/

 Fuzzphorous- Dare! You fuzzy basterds

Psych desert rock that fucks your sister. From France of all places. Crushing bass, soul-kicking groove. What more do you need?

 The Boo Jays- MIXTAPE II

Dark, organ based, classic psych rock. Think The Doors fronted by Glenn Danzig. Absorbing stuff.

http://theboojays.bandcamp.com/

 The Brian Jonestown Massacre- Revelation

The latest record ejaculated from the fertile mind of Anton Newcombe, Revelation is a lush, eastern-influenced piece of psych rock. I can't imagine anyone listening to this album and not wanting to change everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-JV18_K1V4

Acid Mothers Temple- The Ultimate Dream Cloister

Probably the most dedicated mind-discoverers of all time, Japan's Acid Mothers Temple have put out over 100 albums since 1995. This album, their latest, is breathtaking. A long form, ambient-inspired piece of music, it simply demands to be heard. 

Rez Epo- Stices review

Nearly all noise music is indebted to two people, Masami Akita, a.k.a. Merzbow, and John Cage. Cage, with his classical training and black and white aesthetic, represents the intellectual, structured portion of noise while Merzbow, with his 300+ releases and free-form style, is the naked expression of the soul. 

Rez Epo, with their second solo release, has taken heavy influence from the former. With fourteen minutes and two tracks they've presented slab of abstract sound that flirts with drone, ambient, and middle eastern music. It's hitting on every artistic statement made by Merzbow in his early laptop era, down to the production. What makes it stand out is it's focus on rythm.

Parts of the album are downright dance-able. The second track, Share Delpha, features what could be the harsh noise equivalent of a dubstep breakdown.

This is music for nihilist noiseheads who get loaded enough to dance at a show, when they should be standing with their arms crossed in thoughtful anguish.

http://rezepo.bandcamp.com/album/stices

Now Showing: GG Allin's Last Day

GG breaks a microphone. The sound guy quits on him. GG storms out, throwing microphones and cursing him out. He somehow got another working microphone and played three more songs. He punched two people, shit on himself, and threw the shit at everyone else. Everyone ran for the courtyard, most of the 200 strong crowd out of the venue. Ten people were left to watch the show. There was a fight and GG lost his mic. He chases the last ten into the courtyard. GG wanted to throw hands. The crowd made use of recycling container full of bottles and pelted GG and his coked up-entourage. GG chased them into the street, 75 to 100 pissed-off concert goers yelling in the street. GG in a skirt and combat boots and shit and blood and he lay down in front of the city bus on Avenue B and the bus couldn't pass. The cops were coming. GG tried to escape, but he didn't know New York. He didn't know New York.

Pillbox

There's something to be said about powerviolence bands that put out LP's. Powerviolence is, at its core, an art of brevity. It functions best in small increments, 45's, splits, cassettes, lathe cuts. For that reason, very few powerviolence full lengths are held with the acclaim showered on their shorter brethren.  Outside of the first Man Is The Bastard album, no one really gives a shit.

So, when I decided to review Pillbox, the debut LP by New York New York's grindviolence trio Water Torture, I was less then enthused. But fuck me was I wrong. Pillbox is a great album that captures the essence of the band and the crushing despair of working-class urban life.

This album is dynamic in a way that very few PV albums are. Sure, a big part of it is fuzzed out, low-end, hateful grindviolence, best exemplified by tracks like "Massive Regression", there's a lot more going on with this album.

Pieces of pure noise are present on every track, greatly enhancing the overall tone of the album. Whether it is the intro, fantastic album closer "Product 2," or the noise ending every track, it chokes the listener with human fat and distinctly industrial despair. The whole album conjures some of the most bitter auditory hate I've ever heard. It sounds like dust-bowl suicides, crying children chained to work benches. It can be crushing.

One track is a total curve ball, however. "Creature of Repetition" is a three-minute experimental rock jam similar to late-era Swans or Codeine. It's an out there track for a PV band, and its inclusion is welcome.

If you're interested in depressive, hopeless, hardcore. Check this out. But be warned, it's pungent.

http://nervealtar.bandcamp.com/album/pillbox

Tape 3

This mix features music from Fasci Di Combattimento, Popiol Kurhanow, MEMORY, Zerivana, Gil Galad, and Hrungnir in neo-classical, neo-folk, and martial industrial stylings. I did my best to avoid national socialist bands and I'm fairly sure I succeeded.

It has also come to my attention that I provided a review to a nazi band last week, an experimental group called Mauloch. I was unaware of their political views. Don't listen to their music.

Also, a friendly reminder to the band, if they happen to read this, that if they lived in the society that they fight for, they would be the first to be imprisoned. Nazis fuck off.

Vomir

Vomir is nothing. Vomir is nothing. Vomir is nothing. Vomir is nothing. Vomir is nothing. Vomir is neutrality.

Neutrality is nothing. Neutrality is nothing. Neutrality is nothing. Neutrality is nothing. Neutraity is dirt.

Dirt is nothing. Dirt is nothing. Dirt is nothing. Dirt is nothing. Dirt is nothing. Dirt is nothing. Dirt is you.

You. You. You. you. you you you youyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyouyou

Wolf release new video!

Swedish heavy metal fuckers "Wolf" have released a video for their track Shark, a toothy cut taken from their new album Devil Seed.

It rules. Accept/King Diamond vibes without being annoyingly retro. Just kick ass, classic sounding heavy metal. Check it out and buy the album.

Tape 2

Put together a new mix featuring great thrash tunes by the likes of Statement, KAAR, Vioblst, Atomic Force, and Conscriptor!

Best Black Metal Ep's

Black Metal is an LP lovers game and I can absolutely see why. Black Metal Music is entirely based on feeling and atmosphere, meaning that full length albums have more time to absorb listeners into that space. LP's also offer larger space for art, a huge plus when dealing with Black Metal, a genre that just loves theatre and aesthetics. This is part of why everyone remembers De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and not Deathcrush, or really loves Two Hunters and has never heard Malevolent Grain. I think it's time Black Metal EP's are given the spotlight, as some fantastic music is packed on these releases. These next 9 EP's are in no particular order.


10. Abigail-Descending From a Blackened Sky

A raw, uncompromising blast of music from Tokyo Japan's Abigail. This is a bit more than normal traditional black metal. It features heavy elements of thrash and speed metal showing that, deep inside the rotting demon corpse of this EP, is the heart of a street metalhead. An interesting listen. 

9. Ancient Rites- Evil Prevails...

An underrated gem of an EP. Very occult, atmospheric guitars and guttural vocals reverbed straight to hell. This is the sound of the ancient, bloodletting devil worship. 

8. Marduk-Here's No Peace

A late 90's slice of bestial, blasting death metal, Here's No Peace is my favorite piece in Marduk's discography. Good stuff.

7. Idiot Stroszek- Idiot Stroszek 01

Idiot Stroszek is an uncomfortable, deeply personal one-man black metal/raw punk band with one member playing a broken, two-stringed guitar and providing suitcase percussion. Idiot Stroszek 01 is a great debut, showing exactly what the artist is hear to do. 

6. Sodom- In The Sign of Evil

A stone cold classic. Nothing more really needs to be said. Vile, disgusting, brutal extreme metal.

Forgotten Woods- Self Titled

A lurching, creeping, ether piece of Norwegian Black Metal. A mature debut for a tape recorded by young teenagers.

Sarcofago- The Black Vomit

Above is a poor quality image for a very hard to find album. If you have the opportunity to listen, you'll realize just how great this EP is. The genius present on I.N.R.I. is already present here.

2. Dimmu Borgir- Inn I Evighetens Morke

Forgive me Fenriz, for I am untrue! I actually quite like Dimmu Borgir, particularly their early stuff. This EP is a smaller, more condensed version of their brilliant first album For All Tid. Symphonic, heavy, and beautiful.

1. Watain- The Essence of Black Purity 

This album, to put it simply, came from another world. This album is an act of will, a piece of magic spewed forth from something ancient and horrible. Watain captured something wonderful with their very first release, something they've built on ever since. Perfect.