OPPONENTS “Psychosexual Spiritual” C38 (Out Of Body Records, 2013)

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OPPONENTS  “Psychosexual Spiritual” c38 (Out Of Body Records, 2013)

OPPONENTS COVER FINAL

Opponents blends together gnarly, fucked up EBM, tranced out industrial jams through an all analog electronic signal path. The tape starts out with a hypnotic, rhythmic track supplemented with decayed beats, monotone chanting vocals. and synthesizer stabs. As the tape moves on , it progresses and subtly shifts yet, it’s more of the same dark, stabby , industrial synth bangers. The beats and vocals work in a wonderful, syncopated harmony together creating a grey wailing of synth chatter and decayed delayed heavy beats. Washed out  walls of psychedelia ebb and  flow in the background as the hard  hitting decayed drum machine and rattling  synthesizers carry the  movements forward, and down into the ground of  psychosis. The metronome of hell is locked in as OPPONENTS blast through a number of focused yet “experimental” industrial / EBM style harsh rhythmic tracks. This cassette has the perfect mix of primitive industrial styling and modern audio trickery creating a bleak and unique mix of harsh, yet detailed compositions. There is a definite tension within the release itself – at times it seems to want to escape itself and blast out into a full on harsh noise assault and other times falling back to early SPK area “primitive” EBM / industrial  and  furthermore into dark ambient sound scapes. Opponents uses an all analog  signal path to generate some  truly dismal, murky, yet on point electronic/industrial compositions.  The rhythmic tracks stand out a bit more overall to me  personally, but none of OPPONENTS music, even the stripped down ambient sections  seems styled or contrived “filler”,  but rather starkly intentional and dynamic, a hard mix to  find in this particular  genre  these days where projects do “industrial” for  industrial’s sake. none of that here folks. this is RAWWWW.

A great tape , HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Will be looking for anything else I can find from this project.

OPPONENTS

OUT OF BODY RECORDS

Decayast REVIEWS : LEVERET “Furs” cassette (Forever Escaping Boredom Records , 2013)

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Decayast REVIEWS : LEVERET “Furs” cassette (Forever Escaping Boredom Records , 2013)

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LEVERET beings with a quiet low drone, which quickly manipulates itself into a squeezing synth oscillation and then churns itself swiftly into a stop start style blast of overblown, in the red style noise assault. The droning bass sound that began the tape is a constant through this short little number. Several signals seem to mutilate each other. Obliterating the mix to a shadow of its former sonic content. This is the sound of sticking ones head out the window at 120 miles per hour while trying to close the window on ones neck . Subtle occasional yelps of voice temporarily bleed through, but are quickly and without care, mauled by the flying oscillators. The signal seems to double. Triple , and then quadruple, and then silenced. This short tape packs a lot of sonic punch for a style which normally sticks with one distorted sound and runs with it. This does that but within the one sound, there’s fifty interesting purring sub sounds which bring this tape above the average. Occasional dynamic nods might do this release some benefit, but perhaps it’s just not in the intent. Just when the sounds start to get somewhat monogamous , the palate subtly, yet swiftly changes itself and TE listener is treated with new oscillator manipulations.

Overblown, self oscillating, midrange distorted fuzz is the major sonic component to this release, and the B side is no exception. Occasional rhythmic components are detected, but they don’t last long, as the monstrous ripping distortion wall comes back with a vengeance, louder and more ornery than its twin sister every time. Subtle sharp volume jumps and slopes give the b side a little more variance, especially near the end of the second side, where all sounds give way to a slow creeping pulse , and then silence. It’s over . The perfect length for a harsh noise tape that DOESN’T seem to want to put the listener in a trance, rather a manic state of distortion.

FOREVER ESCAPING BOREDOM RECORDS (2013 )

Decaycast REVIEWS: Urdwyg The Goldrr – Psychic Volume 2 ” cassette (2013)

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Decaycast REVIEWS: Urdwyg The Goldrr – Psychic Volume 2 ” cassette (2013)

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Urdwyg The Goldrr is a longstanding recording project based out of the UK. Pop this little dirty sucker in and instant audio assault begins to creep through the speakers. Urdwyg The Goldrr blends subtle feedback tomes , voice , the occasional blast of Harsh noise, screeching manic vocals, and big long wasps of screeching feedback. Low fi toilet scraping grumblings regurgitate belches of hot air noise squeezing through the cracks in the skin, kissing and slurping the microphone of the cassette recorder. The tape begins with a women’s voice; distant and distraught As this tape goes on, the oddness and fidelity degrades into a confusing start – stop pause button stream of consciousness composition. Voice melts to tape but the message is lost (or found in the muck. The tape recorder is emphasized through the pops, hisses, and analog artifacts as they build up into loops of scraping, beeping transmissions cast into the trash compactor. No fancy studio editing here, just primitive low fidelity, tape collage. Gurgling mouth sounds are a main sound source, however there’s a plethora of bottom of the steel barrel type “field recordings” cut in through manic pause button nervousness.

The chaos of Urdwyg The Goldrr on this release mirrors audio tape in record mode thrown in a subconscious blender of hissing and pissing, while the voice disappears and reappears through “signing” humming and sucking rhythmic amalgamations of the human voice .

The B side starts off with more direct, low do harsh noise of squeezing, squealing belts being stretched across the damaged audio tape hypothesis. Loops appear somewhat arbitrarily, repeat for a few bars and then are swallowed and subsequently vomited up through non sensual, non sensical surrealist style “voice” and dare I even say , “vocals”. The pitch speed maniac machine of FILTHY TURD’s operatic vomiting of springs in the throat dominates the b side as nervous chatterings of nonsense build a brick wall of confusion and disorientation. The overall lack of bass and low midrange present on this tape leads me to believe that it’s all recorded on a cassette or micro cassette player, and if it isn’t then I’d love to know the recording technique. Mouth meets blown out microphone over and over and over again- blending with the lowest fidelity scraping and breaking sounds to define the FILTHY TURD sound. The garbled voice that agitates constantly through this cassette is probally the strong point, and elevates this release to the status of “truly odd noise” what is the intent and why is the intention so hellishly weird?

The chaos of Urdwyg The Goldrr on this release mirrors audio tape in record mode thrown in a subconscious blender of hissing and pissing, while the voice disappears and reappears through “signing” humming and sucking rhythmic amalgamations of the human voice .

The B side starts off with more direct, low do harsh noise of squeezing, squealing belts being stretched across the damaged audio tape hypothesis. Loops appear somewhat arbitrarily, repeat for a few bars and then are swallowed and subsequently vomited up through non sensual, non sensical surrealist style “voice” and dare I even say , “vocals”. The pitch speed maniac machine of FILTHY TURD’s operatic vomiting of springs in the throat dominates the b side as nervous chatterings of nonsense build a brick wall of confusion and disorientation. The overall lack of bass and low midrange present on this tape leads me to believe that it’s all recorded on a cassette or micro cassette player, and if it isn’t then I’d love to know the recording technique. Mouth meets blown out microphone over and over and over again- blending with the lowest fidelity scraping and breaking sounds to define the FILTHY TURD sound. The garbled voice that agitates constantly through this cassette is probally the strong point, and elevates this release to the status of “truly odd noise” what is the intent and why is the intention so hellishly weird?

PS. These  tapes are recorded as one-offs, all  with slightly different sounds,  so if  you’d like a copy contact FILTHY TURD at their bandcamp and they will give you instructions on how to obtain your very own!

FILTHY TURD

Decaycast REVIEWS : MBD “North Korea” Cassette (Eye Machine Recordings, 2013)

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Decaycast REVIEWS : MBD “North Korea” Cassette (Eye Machine Recordings, 2013)

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Menacing quoted state of war terrorism noise blasted in, fuzzed out blown out distorted wind, pushed in the red, lays the bloody tracks for this interesting and confusing little number. A show of high pitched force bleeds with low fi distorted rumbling sounds with little variance over the first side. What you hear is what you get – low fi noise for the sake of a distorted or failed transmission?

“North Korea” offers little in terms of variety of aesthetics – its all low fi, from the source material, the sounds, the art and the recording itself, but somehow it gels together to create something unsettling,confusing and even slightly intriguing. MBD makes the cassette player seem like its about to consume itself, pinch rollers fold in on themselves and the only sound left is the sound of audio cassette tape transmissions being garbled into morse code of blown out “background” noise that becomes the “foreground” of intent with this release. Slow rumbling mind numbing distortion blocks, most likely akin to the sound of cracking the windshield in a kamikaze airplane at terminal velocity- and then it ENDS. Crash

Flip this cassette over and the B side starts out with more of the same but the blown out mud quickly gives way to fighter jet high pitched feedback rings and oscillations- still recorded in a very low-fi manner, yet the variance and range of sounds and frequencies is expanded upon. Squelching, pulsing square wave weapon destruction bleeds with morse code mayhem- war transmissions of the lowest technological order. MBD is an uncomfortable cassette to listen to and the imagery reads as a menacing surveillance still of atrocious acts. Humanity really just needs to end.

EYE MACHINE RECORDINGS

PEER GROUP “Igbo Basic Course” Cs (Rainbow Bridge Recordings, 2012)

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PEER GROUP “Igbo Basic Course” Cs (Rainbow Bridge Recordings, 2012)

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Another project of the multi project noise bandstander JML and label Rainbow Bridge Recordings, collaborating with Carl Kruger. PEER GROUP is chock full with dense, splattering whirlwinds of sarcastic electronic noise storm washes. this cassette has a raw, low fi crude shrink wrap encasing its clawing and unrelenting swashes of electronic chaos. About five minutes in a section of fluttering wet wood pounding around an abandoned shipyard comes to mind – the ship is sinking and the machines are fighting to the death. Violent analog rhythms clash and decay into squealing circuits; chirping, purging, burping, and pulsing- in “harmony”?, and often in opposition but never in a moment of boredom. Timing is key for me on this release, just as a sound starts to become uninteresting or too dominant in the mix, it’s swallowed up by an off-white noise wall, splatter choking sounds of globs of solder and failed transmissions coming alive. Tiny scratching sounds of a broken motor hissing and scraping- trying to bring itself back to life through walls of stuttering oscillators ticking at each other through nervous collage. Heavy handed autonomous electronic noise boxes belch crude distorted tones that swallow each other alive and regurgitate high paced, anxious electronic pulses and rhythms. At times, LOUD violent scraping, and others subtly random oscillator drone poem, PEER GROUP explores a dense sonic palette of squelch.

The latter part of the first half sounds like it could be “studio” tracks, but still boasts an affinity for a harsh low fi sonic screen.The mastering is in fact pushed to “IN THE RED” levels pwhich allows the tape saturation to act like a fine hair gel compression, gluing this chaos intact.

The b side begins with a quiet static flickering, combining resonating pulses, what sounds like branches breaking inside a reverb tank, with subtle chirping hums slowly escalating in the background. LOUD to quiet, to loud again. Layers of yapping distortion form a convex oscillator orchestra of babbling tones, fighting a war for a place in the mix. Layers of sonic sludge phase each other out and then an alarm sounds ; the mixer is on the verge of melting – and then it does, and you can hear it. The unmistakable sounds of circuits frying on loop regurgitating their own dead cells through speakers; it sounds soooo , comforting. Next , a quiet section is bread and gives breath to mangled voice ? Samples and a distant minimal pulsing , just clipping away on a distant plane, barely audible and then BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ a chopped in bass “doom note” changes the listeners orientation, and quickly escalates the mix from a symphony of chirping oscillators to a menacing caucophanou of disorientating hymns from voice ,noise boxes and malfunction, a sharp appropriate ending for a tape that builds and then destroys , through nervous towers of harsh squeaking and squawking. Xeroxed covers portray a shaky, hand drawn figure with teeth and eyes of confusion. The track titles and lengths really seal the deal for me with titles like, “STD Booth At the Occupy Protest” and “Penis Bleaching in the Google Era” who KNOWS what the motivation behind these sounds, though I would like to hear a proper studio release from this project. Check it out.

Decaycast REVIEWS: ZONE TRIPPER / FALSE FLAG split Cs (Fiorever Escaping Boredom Records, 2012)

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Decaycast REVIEWS: ZONE TRIPPER / FALSE FLAG split Cs (Fiorever Escaping Boredom Records, 2012)

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I like this cassette before I even pop it in. The cover artwork , like a lot of stuff from this label, FOREVER ESCAPING BOREDOM Records, has a clean, intentional design to it . The artist uses provocative dark imagery, without being overly sensational, or shocking “for the sake of it”. Zone Tripper occupies the speakers right off the bat with a dense, yet well mixed dark synth backing track with rhythmic high patched pitched noise stabs over the top, creating a dark, slow hypnotic , minimal industrial landscape, the chaos keeps building and tension rises and next thing you know, your on your back with a shaking maniac screaming in your face through a seemingly endless tunnel of manic shivering reverb. The sound is as if someone is shaking your body so violently that the ears begin opening and closing ago fast that the brain becomes disoriented to the helicopter like air pressure change in the sonic stew. BUILDING, building and building, the yelling vocals begin to build atop pillars of their own decaying existence into and nauseous, menacing swell, and then its over, it feels unnerving and wrong, a stellar short offering from the ZONE TRIPPER project.

The B side is JML of Rainbow Bridge’s under the False Flag moniker, COPS are exposed for the stuck pig knife in the brain in the system that they are – and the baton comes cracking against the listeners ear fresh out of the cell- and disorientation, fear, and distrust begin multiplying by the second. Harsh, industrial pounding, and growling barely audible rhythms of everything that’s wrong with authority , and that’s everything. Super dense, dark, evil zones of sonic corruption on this tape of bloody evidence gone bad. No silly squealing or squelching, just dark punishing oscillators sonically soaked in pigs blood. Thick, evil sounding walls of motorcycle engines rearing their output to light a sonic molotov cocktail of screaming noise- DARK DARK SOUNDS, the HOPE YOU HAD IS GONE ; a sonic manifestation of the failed system . Toward the end, yelled  manic vocals pulse in, but  still give the mix  it’s space; a nice touch.  I don’t know what else to say but this tape SLAYS. Two really strong sides of murky, fuzzed out fascist killing industrial noise works. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

FOREVER ESCAPING BOREDOM RECORDS

Decaycast REVIEWS: BAH, TSAR, JENNY, TROTH “Deft Auksis” cs (Rainbow Bridge Recordings, 2012)

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Decaycast REVIEWS: BAH, TSAR, JENNY, TROTH “Deft Auksis” cs (Rainbow Bridge Recordings, 2012)

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This tape is a bit confusing, not sure it’s a compilation. split, or what? But whatever it is , it comes out if the gate screaming with overblown tsunamis of undulated noise washes. Lots of high pitched distortion and what sounds like metal scraping bleeds together to a menacing climax and then it drops – AND TO WHAT ? Minimal keyboard swashes with a clear concise, punching yet sparse beat and drone pulse in the background. the track is given a whole new breath and the drums and reverb pings decay into their own spaces. A low, quiet background rumble creeps up from the ambient textures, slow and determined to climb to the top of the mix. Before the listener knows what’s going on, or off, they are immersed in a sandstorm of over driven droning fuzz, ripping and pecking at the speakers, as If the sounds are trying to rip out of the cones.

The aesthetic gears on this tape were switched back and forth so quick I could barely get a grasp of what was happening I found myself wanting more of that ambient, textured gem that was so suspiciously placed in the middle of the track : would it come back or just lost in the chaos storm of blended noise. The noise blends and barfs on itself , occasionally allowing other sounds and frequencies to escape but for the most part remains somewhat monotonous harsh noise. The amplitude stays more or less the same, and through subtle, yet stubborn modulations a VERY TINY sound swells up- and there it is again – THE REVERB PING ; A BREATH ; OF SPACE , just took over a swelling pus of nearly speaker shredding hell—- then click , the tape stops, just like that, leaving me somewhat unfulfilled and wanting more ? Not wanting more of the monotonous wall, but the experience itself, of not knowing what’s next, was the richest aspect of this album so far.

The second side opens up with a similar collage like wall of over driven noise blasts. ebbing and flowing through mid range dominant feedback pulses. Once in a while, it seems as If struggling, coughing voices are being squeezed of life, off so distant in the background, but the. sound is modulated in away which destroys the “voices” own anthology and scatters off into the mix like a bleeding hyena. The tape goes on with more crude sounding oscillators battling each other, with interesting and average results, but the difference in styles and the way these difference are mixed and blended is still the crux of this release; truly weird and different. The second side overall, is a bit more risky in the dynamic range, however it leans on the dense construction of an army of oscillators and noise boxes, blurping, their best and most intricate rhythms. Hand painted labels on the shells with a “surreal”/fluxus looking non sensical drawing on the cover in purple shells, which adds a nice touch to the yellow. An interesting and unique blend of slurply, wet, dense, and textured digital and analog sounds, but the harsh pinnacles of amplitude could stand to have some more dynamics to help stitch it with the more ambient section(s) , but by no means comes off as sluggish or amateur, just slightly monotone at times. A decently solid release overall.

RAINBOW BRIDGE RECORDINGS

Decaycast REVIEWS : ENDOMETRIUM CUNTPLOW “Growth Into Conbustion” c16 (Rainbow Bridge Recordings, 2013 )

Decaycast REVIEWS : ENDOMETRIUM CUNTPLOW “Growth Into Conbustion” c16 (Rainbow Bridge Recordings, 2013 )

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A short little blaster from California’s Endometrium Cuntplow, say what you will about this guy, But whatever you do , don’t say his name isn’t original. I first heard of E C about five years ago on a compilation that a friend released on Placenta Recordings, and the name I have never been able to shake from my head. Whatever it means, or doesn’t, it seems to go well with the sounds?? I’ve seen Dave perform on numerous occasions and it never disappoints, and I think this cassette may be a live recording? – or at least a very raw studio recording. everything about this tape is raw – the fidelity, the sounds , the composition , the artwork , and even the title – there is no frills here folks, just straight up harsh noise. E C sound could be a steady wall or a manic archetype journey through distorted and rough sound manic anthology, but this one is pretty monotonous and unchanging – but NOT boring. After a few minutes, the walls of dust and fiber begin to grow on the listener and induce a hypnagogic type state through the blasted out, distorted, whipping in the wind, dissonant radio transmissions. Endometrium Cuntplow leaves the superfluous  sounds at home for this one in favor of one long muddy , dirty drone of muck, no music, no melody just globs of thick feedback noise. Subtle tonal and feedback modulations ebb and flow occasionally through the muck, but a very dark monotone poem is layered out on this cassette ; don’t hold your breath for the “hook” or “pulsing synth beat” cause it ain’t here, and that’s just FINE. E C explores a  nice  sonic landscape with minimal  tools in the mix. Super minimal approach and presentation works well for this release. Look out for the artists visual work as well, under his name, David Lucian Matheke, which explores many visual and sonic themes through painting , drawing , installation , video and sound, top notch stuff

RAINBOW BRIDGE RECORDINGS

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