Bleak Bliss: December 2016

Various - 沫 Foam

This is a seminal compilation of Japanese artists released as a double LP on Ylem in 1981. It includes people like R.N.A. Organism, Salaried Man Club and Mad Tea Party that featured on the Vanity Records releases that ourselves and Mr Zchivago posted a while ago. It also includes Envois 216 by Merzbow. Although this has apparently been reworked a few times many years later, as far as I am aware this is the only place where the original version exists. For supplicants like me, that on it's own would be enough. Luckily, the entire release offers a unique window into the Japanese sub-underground non-scene of thirty five years ago. This was re-issued in 2011 as a double CD on Super Fuji Discs ... you should track that one down!

Today is a good day! Today is the day when I can say goodbye to 2016. Personally, it's been truly dark. However, outside of my insular concerns, 2016 has borne witness to a spectacular (and hopefully temporary) death of rational thought and evidence based debate. Things will probably get worse before they get better but at least we are clear about what we are up against. Stay informed, stay engaged and carve your own path regardless.

Happy New Year!

沫 Foam

Various - ○△□オムニバス

Frequently, the term post-punk really doesn't cover what was happening in Japan during those heady years. Here's Pale Cocoon, Virgin-Mayonnaise, Vinyl Packs, Green Kikaku, Shokkaku Shounen, Curriculumachine and Funx describing why this is the case.

LP released on Pafe Record in 1981.

○△□オムニバス

Various - Vision Of The Emortion

Quality Japanese post-punk synth wurlitzers and fractured angular guitar from C·C·Mekka = 爬虫類の脳, Ego'n Mole, Funeral Party and Picture Record.

LP released on Pafe Record in 1985.

Vision Of The Emortion

F:AR - Frammenti

If you like your industrial noises grim and ugly, this cassette (issued by Technological Feeling in 1986) by Italian stalwarts F:AR will provide what you need. For fans of Telepherique, De Fabriek, and Sigillum S.

F:AR - Frammenti

F:AR - Presto I Topi Verranno A Cercarci

A rare (and pricey!) LP from Italian smog monsters Final: Alternative Relation, released in 1987 by Amen-THX 1138.

F:AR - Presto I Topi Verranno A Cercarci

F:AR - Final Alternative Relation

Second cassette by the Italian industrial group, released by Technological Feeling in 1982. No hint of the goofiness that band leader Mauro Guazotti would develop with his techno act decades later. Savor that, and pretend that in some alternate timeline it never happened.

F:AR - Final Alternative Relation

Various - Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 1

Happy Conspicuous Consumption Day!

This brilliant five volume collection of Japanese bands is a real treat and just might enable you to get through the arguments and indigestion...

CD released on Sazanami in 2008.

Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 1

Various - Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 2

CD released on Sazanami in 2009.

Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 2

Various - Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 3

CD released on Sazanami in 2010.

Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 3

Various - Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 4

CD released on Sazanami in 2011.

Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 4

Various - Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 5

CD released on Sazanami in 2013.

Girls Sazanami Beat! Volume. 5

Various - Cult GS 7 Inch Box Vol.1 - Red Box

The Rangers, The Edwards, The Lind & The Linders, The Youngers, The Beavers, The Dynamites, D'Swooners, The Spiders, The Gullivers and The Mustang.

Ten 7" single box set of Group Sounds bands released on Miracle Music in 2005.

Red Box

Various - Cult GS 7 Inch Box Vol.2 - Blue Box

The Terrys, The Phoenix, The Half Breed, 491, The Dynamites, Micky Curtis & The Samurais, The Love, The Jet Brothers & The Fighters, Gary Walker & The Carnabeats and The Lead.

Ten 7" single box set of Group Sounds bands released on Miracle Music in 2005.

Blue Box

Various - Cult GS 7 Inch Box Vol.3 - Yellow Box

D'Swooners, The Blue Impulse, The Rangers, The Dynamites, The Lions, The Spirits, The Youngers, The Genova, The Mops and The Cougars.

Ten 7" single box set of Group Sounds bands released on Miracle Music in 2005.

Yellow Box

Mutant Ape - What's Left?

This is a compilation of previously released rare tracks that came out on George's own Turgid Animal in 2008. It's Mutant Ape on Turgid Animal ... of course, it's great!

To cap off what has been a really shitty year, it looks like George has terminated the mission. There endeth what has been the most consistently brilliant British project and label over the past decade. I really love him to bits.

Happy New Year George!

What's Left?

Mutant Ape - Live And Proud

The first side is live in Glasgow and the second side is George with Jamie Stewart (aka Wrest) live in Newcastle. Another quality 7" jointly released on Turgid Animal and At War With False Noise. In 2009.

Live And Proud

Mutant Ape / Seppuku - Split

Mind-bending noise from George split with the Glaswegian all-star doom-mongers on a 7" jointly released on Turgid Animal and At War With False Noise in 2008.

Mutant Ape / Seppuku

Grunt / Mutant Ape - Animal Pain / Controlled Breeding

Mikko's clatter and hum and shouty business alongside the glorious George Proctor an a 7" released on Freak Animal Records in 2006.

Animal Pain / Controlled Breeding

Grunt - Dead Beauty / Dancefloor Wreck

The clarion call for the apocalypse.

7" released on Freak Animal Records in 2006.

Dead Beauty / Dancefloor Wreck

Grunt - Welfare

Controlled brutality from Mikko Aspa on this 7" released on Freak Animal Records in 2001.

Welfare

Cosmonauts Hail Satan / Grunt - Split

Darren Wyngarde (The Lord Of All He Surveys) with Mikko Aspa on a 7" jointly released on Freak Animal Records and Secret Devil Records in 1997. Everybody wins!

Cosmonauts Hail Satan / Grunt

Cosmonauts Hail Satan - Satan, Yuri And You

Wonderfully fucked up!

7" released on Stefan Jaworzyn's Shock label in 1992.

Satan, Yuri And You

Cosmonauts Hail Satan - Hellraiser

"These tracks were inspired by the first Hellraiser film and Coil's unused soundtrack".

7" released on Fourth Dimension Records in 1993.

Hellraiser

Cosmonauts Hail Satan - Cape Cannibal Skull Island Apocalypse

Cosmonauts Hail Satan is generally credited as the work of Darren Wyngarde (aka Filthy Turd) but surely there were others involved? If it's all his own work then he's more of a genius than I thought he was. Regardless, this is great outsider "noise-rock" (in the sense of early Skullflower and Zeni Geva mixed with lashings of Butthole and given a liberal sprinkling of Bongwater) with plundered and manipulated movie dialogue that adds a genuinely hypnotic edge ... the type of hypnosis induced by hallucinogens.

This had a complicated birth, originally due to be released in 1996 it didn't see the light of day until the tail end of 1998 thanks to Will Montgomery Records and Amanita.

Cape Cannibal Skull Island Apocalypse

Various - Psychogeographical Dip

Gen Ken Montgomery, Chop Shop, Geoff Dugan, Francisco López, Sean Meehan, Brian Conley, John Hudak, If Bwana and Pat Courtney. Enough said.

CD released on GD Stereo in 1997.

Psychogeographical Dip

Various - The Architecture Of The Incidental

Pat Courtney, Chop Shop, Sean Meehan, John Hudak, Geoff Dugan, Gen Ken Montgomery, If Bwana, Brian Conley and Francisco López. More than enough to pique your interest.

CD released on GD Stereo in 1999.

The Architecture Of The Incidental

va - Thee Book

Christmas is right around the corner, and I already got you a gift! This here is one of the most legendary (and rare) compilations of experimental industrial and noise music ever made. One could even argue that it is THE archetypal cassette-culture compilation. "Thee Book" is part of a very elite group of genre-defining compilations with "Dedication", "The Elephant Table Album", "Rising From the Red Sands", "Come Again" and the "Dry Lungs" series. It's that good.

The album was released by Graf Haufen Tapes, a German cassette label for synth weirdness and noisy punk, as a set of two tapes plus artwork in 1984. Just a few of the artists on this are Smersh, Gerechtigkeits Liga, Chazev, Non Toxique Lost, P16.D4, Le Syndicat, Kapotte Muziek, The Haters, Het Zweet, De Fabriek, Commando Bruno, Club Moral, Falx Cerebri, DDAA, Architects Office, Mario Marzidovzek, The New Blockaders, SBOTHI, Vittori Barone... I could go on, but I think you see what I mean.

tape one
tape two

Various - A Persons Healthy Guide To Listening

Nocturnal Emissions, Bourbonese Qualk, Konstruktivists, Asmus Tietchens, Illusion Of Safety, Shock City, Due Process et cetera.

C70 released on Regelwidrig in 1991.

A Persons Healthy Guide To Listening

va - Kassettentäter Vol.4, Deutscher-Kassetten-Untergrund 1980-1984

This is the third volume of the series, with the misleading phrase "Vol. 4" in the title. This was just a tactic to throw punters off the trail. Again, basement electro-squeaks from the German cassette sub-sub-sub-underground were dusted off and pressed onto an LP of (supposedly) 100 copies in 2004, released by some shadowy organization and made temporarily available to a small number of deep-pocketed weirdos. Bands include Sugalo, ZSKA, Steff GBH, Dino Martini, Die Synthetische Republik, Kay, Kasperle Eingeweht, S/O/S and more. Two subsequent volumes, confusingly numbered 7 and 9, were released but bypassed our home. Perhaps some kind reader can help us out?

va - Kassettentäter Vol.4, Deutscher-Kassetten-Untergrund 1980-1984

va - Kassettentäter Vol.2, Deutscher-Kassetten-Untergrund 1980-1983

Second volume in the Kassettentäter series of unofficial compilation LPs of deepest-underground "minimal synth" German hometaper insanity, featuring even more ultra-obscure bleeping nobodies such as Vexierende Textur, Bill Bo, Inex Tremis, and a few whose music eventually became marginally more accessible: Ich, Sauerkeller, Bodenpersonal and more. Again, go search any band names at Tape Attack to see if complete cassettes are posted there.

va - Kassettentäter Vol.2, Deutscher-Kassetten-Untergrund 1980-1983

va - Kassettentäter - Deutscher-Kassetten-Untergrund 1979-1983

First in a series of extremely rare (and very unofficial) LP compilations of homemade German synth-punk and strange noises from that golden age of DIY, the late 1970s and early 1980s. All songs on these compilations were first released on cassette tapes and barely heard outside of Germany. The LPs themselves were rare and expensive to begin with; rumor had it that each one was limited to just 100 copies, and priced accordingly. This initial volume came out in 2002. The bands on this record include 4712, Duotronic Synterror, Der Blaue Traum, Georgie D., Der Künftige Musikant, Reinheit Des Herzens, Steff GBH, Ewig & 3 Tage, Lorenz Lorenz, Hessen Ganz Groß!, Militanz, Täglich, Co-Mix and Sugalo. If you like this one, go search these band names at the Tape Attack blog and discover their complete cassettes, resurrected!

va - Kassettentäter - Deutscher-Kassetten-Untergrund 1979-1983

Magic Is Küntmaster - Nightsongs For Ugly Children

Imagine having a nightmare where you are listening to early His Name Is Alive playing Space Invaders in an alternate universe...

Absolute class from Camilla Ha released on Andy Ortmann's Nihilist label in 2003.

Nightsongs For Ugly Children

Ahlzagailzehguh - Black Destination

Gorgeous harsh noise from James Cooke!

You'll know Jeff Plummer as Immaculate:Grotesque. He released this double C20 set on his own Truculent Recordings in 2004.

Black Destination

Ahlzagailzehguh - Misinterpreted Injury

Double 7" set released on Razors And Medicine in 2008.

Misinterpreted Injury

Yellow Tears & Ahlzagailzehguh - Sitophilic Remorse

Broken brilliant noise on this C10 sold on the joint US tour in 2008.

Sitophilic Remorse

Ascites - Incisional Drainage

Doomed synth opens the way to the deeply unsettling noise that lies beneath ...

CDr and C6 that was for sale during their 2009 US tour.

Incisional Drainage

Ascites - Fluid Excess

Texan noise that doesn't hang around before it starts kicking you around the room.

C30 released on Fonofobi Tapes in 2009.

Fluid Excess

Cranioclast ‎– Iconclastar (Blue)

Final album by Cranioclast, released by Dom America in 1993.

Cranioclast ‎– Iconclastar (Blue)

Cranioclast ‎– Iconclastar (Green) Icons No I-VI

Cranioclast's final work, as far as I can tell, was a two-part album of "Icons" spread across two CDs. This first part came out on Maxima Musica Magnetica in 1992.

Cranioclast ‎– Iconclastar (Green) Icons No I-VI

Cranioclast - Lost in Karak & Somnii Palus

More heavy fog from the mysterious Cranioclast, a 1992 CD reissue of thier 1988 LP in a box with lots of art inserts and some extra audio gloop tacked onto the end.

Cranioclast - Lost in Karak & Somnii Palus

Crainioclast - Koitlaransk & Ration Skalk

A CD that compiles the mysterious German duo's anagramatic first two full-length albums. "Ration Skalk" was self-released as a cassette in 1985, then reissued in the same format by CoC in 1989. "Koilaransk" first appeared on LP released by Principe Logique in 1985, then reissued by CoC in 1989. While the CD, released by the Maxima Musica Magnetica label in Italy in 1994, necessarily dispenses with the elaborate visual art inserts that accompanied the originals, it does present the music with digital clarity. Even if the art is obscure, at least you can make out the inscrutible details.

Crainioclast - Koitlaransk & Ration Skalk

Reynols / Tomasin - Ormis Votas

When not fronting the Argentinian band Reynols, Miguel Tomasin has amassed a quiet cult following of his own centered on his discursive vocal style and the rambling musical accompaniment of his bandmates. Perhaps not the most sought after, but one of the rarer releases of his (I think it was limited to 25 but don't quote me) is this bit that functions as a split with the band, equal parts drum-fueled monologue and freak-out jam. If anyone out there in the "cyber" has the 10" on Freedom From now would be as good a time as any to share!

A 3" CDr released on Gameboy in 2001.

happily...

BizarreϟϟMania - What's Your Pleasure, Sir?

Genius collaboration between Pasi Markkula, Keith Brewer and Pekka PT (aka Gelsomina and Sick Seed). Enough said.

Ridiculously good LP jointly released on Freak Animal Records and Filth And Violence in 2010.

What's Your Pleasure, Sir?

Mania / Bizarre Uproar - Charnel Heap

Keith Brewer and Pasi Markkula on a double C30 released on Corrosive Art Records in 2010 and reissued by Pasi on his Filth And Violence label in the same year.

Charnel Heap

Mania - Miserable Disposition

It's Keith Brewer (the gentleman formally known as Taint) on a C44 released on Dan Johansson's Harsh Head Rituals in 2005. Boom!

Miserable Disposition

Vomir / Napalm Noise - Split

Vomir is a favorite of this blog and needs no introduction. Napalm Noise is a mysterious outfit I must confess to knowing little about. Most releases are split like this one and appear on the Underground Pollution label. This track veers off the pure noise course and into some heavily distorted beats. A fine outing with some duly apocalyptic artwork...

A CDr released on Maisonbruit in 2006.

Get it!

Streetmeat - Show Me Your Work

Oxyacetylene noise from the flame throwing hands of Robert Newsome. Noise done Houston, Texas style.

C60 and business card CDr (the latter is a brief collaboration with Richard Ramirez) released on the delicious Fusty Cunt in 2011.

Show Me Your Work

Slaughter-Fetus - Destruction Of Private Property Under Influence Of Methamphetamine

On this recording Slaughter-Fetus are Bast (aka Vanessa Gates) and Vargrwulf (aka Joseph Gates). Given the choice of alter egos, this should signal that you are about to go head first into a wall of noise.

C44 released on Violent Revolution International in 2010.

Destruction ...

R.S.P. - Ultimate Fucking

Filth.

Lovely lovely filth from Reptilian Sexual Predator released as a C42 on Human Ignorance in 2010.

Ultimate Fucking

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