Update from the Ether #64

Four stars for Mercury Kisses from MusiqueMachine! Chuffed!

“Mercury Kisses” is the 5th release in Sweet Solitude’s ‘Shades of Grey’ series- each title in this series finds a HNW artist theme their release around a famous murder case, murders or criminal cases/ police work. This release from Ireland’s Where Is This is themed around the persecution of Gays by the ‘Lily Law’ in 1930′s America.

Lily Law was the name used for the police by gay men in 1930’s America. During this period, San Francisco’s Market Street Theatre was a big hang-out for gay cruisers, so the police decided to place comely police cadets in plain cloths through-out the theatre.  The cadets had mercurochrome paint  on their penis, so when the cruisers performed fellatio on them the  police where awaiting in the lobby to pick-out the culprit’s who had red lips.

This CDR offers up four fairly short shots of layer active walled noise, and these fall in-between just under the five & a half minute mark, to just shy of the twelve minute mark. First up we have “In The Theatre” which sears together a roaming, buzzing & juddering noise tone wall with often a mass of jittered ‘n’ juddered unrecognisable voice samples trails on top. The  track is mostly very dense ‘n’ muffled with repetitive noise textures, yet there’s this  sort of violent textural bounce & throb to the proceedings; & the longer the tracks goes on the more violently on ‘n’ off it seemingly becomes.  All told it an effective & original take of ‘wall-making’, and it sets the sonic tone nicely for the rest of the release.

Track two is entitled “In The Lobby”, and this track is built around  the urgent  interlocking between billowing & galloping noise drones- first you have a cluttering yet thin drone element, and this is fed along side a rapid billowing sustain.  The ‘wall’ is given this rather effective muffled tunnel like feel which makes the whole thing very oppressive & brutal, yet aged & sleazy.

Onto track three, and we have “In The Backseat With Lily Law”, and this is the longest of the four tracks at the 11.59 mark. This track burst in with a energetic & throbbing ‘wall’ that mixers together purring ‘n’ slowly darting industrial tone drone, swirling ‘n’ circling noise jitter, and the odd fix of overloaded dialogue sample & sear. There’s a very slurred ‘n’ sleazed sort of vibe to the track and it’s the highlight here for me.

Lastly we have “Advised Not To Take The Stand”, which is another dense yet layer active slice HNW. It’s built about a  massive descending wave of churning ‘n’ billowing noise tone, which ever so often  is shifted by violent ribbons of muffled  dialogue samples, or  swirling/ spiralling noise layer shifts.

“Mercury Kisses” offers up an rather effective selection layer active & intense walled noise, and  the rather bizarre & perverse historical police theme adds an interesting sleazed edge to the proceedings.

4/5

Vol 2, nos. 11 and 12

I sent these out today. Sorry for the delay. Thus concludes the second year of The Richard Ramirez Subscription Series! (There’s no series this year, but in the future, WHO KNOWS? What there WILL be is a box set at *some* point this year)

November:

December:

Update from the Ether #63

I’M NOT DEAD. I PROMISE.

I am however, behind, on label-y things. But I am catching up!

November and December’s discs should be finished this week and posted soon after. (So, so sorry about the delay. I’m normally prompt, and am now mortified!)

Up next after that:

Sleep of Ages / Where is This – History is Written by the Handsome (cdr)
Female Harakari – The Wave Petals (cdr)
Where is This – Learning to Drown (3″cdr)

SOON, MY PRETTIES, SOON.

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Also, for those interested in the other side to me, I’ve a writing blog here if you want to follow it. My poetry’s getting published for the first time in April!

Vol 2, nos. 9 and 10

Here be September and October’s discs. Sorry September’s is a bit late, I got a bit behind, but October’s disc has gone out too!

September

October

NEXT MONTH: Blood Song - All In Your Mind

Update from the Ether #62

SO! Quick update. I’ve been upto my ears with stuff and got a little behind so September RR discs are going out on Monday with October’s RR discs (which are done and everything, go me!). Sorry for the delay!

Secondly, MusiqueMachine reviewed Rue Des Lombards (its first review!) and it got FOUR out of FIVE STARS! I’m chuffed, and the review is very complimentary too! I quote it in full here:

Where is This – Rue Des Lombards [Bored Bear Recordings - 2012]

Well, this is somewhat of a rarity in the Harsh Noise Walls scene – a pro-pressed cd and printed booklet, in a healthy edition of one hundred copies. A brave venture from Where Is This, which should pay off given the quality of the sounds within. The cd holds four tracks, and is wrapped in wonderfully shadowy, decayed artwork; which reminds me of the beginning of the film “Irreversible”.

The first piece, “Underground Cavern (Bear’s Den)”, is also the longest – a twenty-five minute track dominated by harsh “digital” sounding fizz and hovering feedback tones. This has several shifts in intensity, which are often achieved by variations in density, rather than changes in equalisation or frequencies – indeed, its notable that the track has precious little low end to speak of. The whole piece is quite static in many ways, often feeling more like a very harsh drone; built on dark, drifting tones, which are buried beneath the scouring, surface fuzz. A strange sense of winding down is evoked here, an atmosphere of melancholy; aided by the very delicate rain-like textures that appear near the end.

“Marco In His Work Clothes”, following, enters with a bludgeoning flurry of noise; virulent surging noise that doesn’t let up till the track ends. The skeleton of the piece is a dirty, lo-fi drilling-esque sound; which pushes and pulls throughout the track, before emerging more clearly in the final moments. This spits out skittering gusts of treble, as well as juddering blocks of bassier frequencies; all of which are covered by a blanket of fizz.

The third track, “Wolf Bar”, is possibly my favourite piece here – a ominous mixture of clipping, bass driven rumbles and more delicate crackling. It starts with these elements equally represented, alongside some breaking-up tones; before switching the emphasis to the slow churn of the bass. The more trebly crackling lurks around the edges of this forceful rumble, until it rises up and the track breaks open – with the treble elements scratching and skittering through the speakers. Unexpected details come in the form of a sudden outbreak of tonal, synthy sounds and a filter swish into bass – probably clues to the set-up utilised by Where Is This.

“Greg In His Sports Gear” closes the album, and it closes it intensely. Its dominated by a very rough, droning tone; which has a hollow quality to it. This streams out of the speakers at a fast rate, until about halfway through; when it pulls back a little, allowing crunchier details to emerge. The rather cryptic sound that is produced – odd, echoing grains of noise – is soon joined by cautious crackle that creeps into the shadows, with accompanying bass tones. The piece ends by pulling the beginning tone into greater realms of hollowness: though, whether this is despair or ecstasy, is unclear.

Curiously, “Rue Des Lombards” is largely devoid of the one thing I most enjoy about Harsh Noise Walls: crunchy textures. There really aren’t too many passages of intense textural concentration. What is more curious, to my ears, is that the album has an overwhelmingly tonal feel to it; which is incredibly unusual in HNW. This gives some of the tracks great emotional weight, as well as giving it an overall sound that stands out. So, despite the lack of my sacred crunch, this is a very interesting release. Its essentially static, without being remotely clinical – though a track like “Marco In His Work Clothes” is more Harsh Noise than HNW – and it has a lot of colour and detail to it – some hidden, some paraded. Its an interesting work and, given the edition, one you have no excuse for missing out on.

4/5

Vol 2, no. 8

All copies of this month’s disc, along with all orders and trades were sent out this morning. There are still copies of both the Clive Henry and Alois Richter discs, so get ordering.

NEXT MONTH: Gäap – The First Chapter

Two New Releases August 2012

Huzzah! FINALLY, two new releases that I’ve been dying to get out for SUCH a long time.

Clive Henry - III (cdr, 25 copies)

Messr. Henry is one of my favourite HNW acts  on the scene, if not my fave. His walls are stunningly crafted sonic blasts that cut to the core. On III, two longs tracks of HNW stand either side of a short track of musique concreté. This record is why I put out records. Listen and worship.

Alois Richter - Ondes Pures (cdr, 25 copies)

80 minutes of bass heavy, crackly drone music from the mysterious Alois Richter, one half of HNW duo The Sandman Wears a Mask. Minimalist drones that creep into your head and fuck with your DNA. Unlike anything that Bored Bear has ever released, and I’m delighted to be releasing this. I’ve often thought that excellent drone like this is the flipside, and counterpart to HNW.

Both cdr’s are 4EUR each. P&p is extra. Trades considered.
Contact: anotherthreewordbandname [at] gmail.com
Orders/trades will be posted out next week at the earliest.