harsh noise for true freaks
I've been a huge cryptozoology nerd since I was a kid, glued to the morning airings of "In Search Of..." on A&E before school. Needless to say I was stoked as fuck to discover that RICHARD RAMIREZ does in fact have the topic of Sasquatch and related creatures covered win the realm of HNW with FOUKE. This CDr came out in 2009 on Small Doses in an edition of 49.
"You thought I was goooooone?!" - What's up motherfuckers, I was busy making my own god damn noise and couldn't update the blog, but I got a few posts for today to share with you. Up first is AN INNOCENT YOUNG THROAT-CUTTER, one of the many collaboration projects of wall god RICHARD RAMIREZ, with "Bay Of Blood" which is a 5" lathe that came out on URASHIMA in 2010 in a first edition of 9 and a second edition of 27 in 2016. It is short and sweet and HARSH.
TURN OFF THE RED LIGHT AND TURN UP THE STEREO
I WAS PROBABLY THE ONLY SOBER PERSON THERE SO MY MEMORY'S NOT FRAGMENTED
I fucking love TASKMASTER. For starters, the name almost certainly comes from the wrestler KEVIN SULLIVAN from WCW fame. His 1980s promos as the Prince Of Darkness are unbelievable, but he got the name The Taskmaster during a run with a group The Dungeon Of Doom (see below). Much like the legendary grappler, Taskmaster grapples crunching walls into submission for our enjoyment. Okay back on track - this is another Troniks single-sided LP, this time in an edition of 106 copies.
So the next few posts will be vinyl rips. Personally, I always stress out about the quality of vinyl rips, so I take some pride in making sure these aren't total garbage - that being said, its vinyl and noise so nobody's perfect. Also, I don't have a good scanner for LPs but at least I know my way around photoshop. First up is OBSTACLE CORPSE, who I originally discovered via CONTEMPORARY HARSH NOISE III. Obstacle Corpse is apparently guitar noise but you would never fucking know it, this is, unsurprisingly, harsh as fuck. A TRONIKS single-sided LP that was released in 2006 in an edition of 143 copies.
THERE WAS A METALCORE BAND IN CLEVELAND CALLED OBSTACLE CORPSE
Coming back to the seminal CONTEMPORARY HARSH NOISE series, Skeleton Dust Recordings dropped Vol. II in early 2013, and is features A SNAKE IN THE GARDEN, COASTAL, ENDLESS SEA, and FISSURE. If anybody has any Coastal or Endless Sea tapes/releases they don't want, please hit me up. I managed to track down the Endless Sea LP but that's it, and I love this Coastal track.
Just this weekend I watched a livestream performance from SECTS at BLACK LACE in Providence. It was so great, and definitely helped with the loss of shows this year due to Covid-19. I'm genuinely concerned about the future of DIY spaces and culture post-pandemic, but this isn't the place to go on a rant about that. In 2014, Sects and Wrong Hole teamed up for this incredible split tape, presumably self-released - unless School For Boys is a label name? This is the fun in obscure noise releases, trying to figure out what everything is on the j-card.
... and in June 2013, Pat dropped another heater, this time making only 20 copies of what I think is one of the best Sissisters tapes. Recently, Receiving Vault dropped a new Sissisters tape for the first time in many years, and it doesn't skip a beat in terms of precision and quality. I hope its the first of many to come!
There was a period of time in the early/mid-2010s where it felt like the L.A. scene was pumping out incredible harsh noise on a fucking weekly basis. Don't get me wrong, that scene is STILL kicking ass, but Patrick Murch's SISSISTERS was firmly entrenched in that mix at the time, and with his CHRISTIAN POP RECORDS he put out this tape in an edition of 22.
Speaking of that 2013 return, Dillon put out this slammer of a cassette on his own REPENTANCE PRODUCTS. I'm not sure about the number made, but if that's under 100 then this is criminally overlooked.
2007 just seems like it was a really fucking tight year for harsh noise. I didn't enter the game for a couple more years, so I missed out on the initial run of Dillon Tulk's FERVEUR NOIRE. I was, however, enlightened upon seeing his performance at SUMMER SCUM 2013, and went on the hunt for tapes. This one came out on NURSE ETIQUETTE in an edition of 66.
In 2009-2010 Wyatt teamed up with ANDREW COLTRANE for a collab LP and this 2xC32 box was what was left on the cutting room floor for those sessions. But don't fool yourself, what are outtakes for those behemoths would be best-of collections for your average noiser. This box came out on Andrew's HERMITAGE TAPES in an edition of 10.
Maybe its just because of the insane fucking packaging that Jim provided for this FUSTY C*NT release, but I feel like I never hear anybody talk about just how incredible this collaboration between AHLZAGAILZEGUH and SKIN GRAFT is. Two modern titans! Its 50 minutes of violence. This came out last year in an edition of 100. I would love to hear any stories of shipping this in the mail!
This guy is too humble to admit that he's sitting pretty much atop the throne of contemporary harsh noise with his BODY CARVE project, but I'm completely comfortable hyping him. This release would've been right at home on Self Abuse or Mother Savage in the 90s. A botched surgery in noise form. I kept trying to scan the art in but I didn't like my scans so these are stolen from discogs. Released on GUTTER BLOAT in 2018 in a special edition of 60 in VHS boxes, and a second edition with an undisclosed run.
This seemingly one-off project (aside from a comp appearance on ANHEDONIA for FUSTY C*NT) sees Alex from CLIMAX DENIAL in full-in foot fetishist mode - everything to do with this release involves that obsession - the envelope has a real female footprint, the tape is wrapped in used nylon, and the inserts are clearly from some under-the-bed archive. For true freaks! Released in 2008 in an edition of 18 on Violent Whatever.
What do you get when you put two modern noise masters together in the same tucked-away college town in Western NY for awhile? You get FORM HUNTER via Stefan Aune (BREAKING THE WILL, KJOSTAD, NEW FORCES) and Weston Czerkies (SUNKEN CHEEK, THIN VISION), and this duo has very quickly established themselves as part of the vanguard of the recent harsh noise resurgence. This tape was released on Weston's own PRIME RUIN label in April 2019.
Between 2012-2016, Kevin McEleny unleashed a barrage of releases as CONSTRAIN, employing a break-neck stop/go and cut-up style across a little over a dozen releases. I'm not sure what the circumstances are around his seeming dropping off, but for a time there between this project and his label HEAVY PSYCH there was a constant influx of incredible harsh noise. Not really captured here, but Kevin's visual art style is also among the best, and I highly suggest seeking out his zines like LIFE TRAP. I don't have too much background on this release, it appears to have been self-released for the PURE HARSH NOISE WORSHIP 2013 megashow that went down in Portland.
