Night Science

Got a copy of the latest "Night Science" magazine through the post last week. Two or three years in the making, but worth the wait. There are very few magazines dedicated to "outsider" sound (call it Noise, call it PE, call it Freakzone, call it what you like...perimeter music...I just made that one up) that are worth a read nowadays. "Special Interests" and "Terror" are good ones and "Night Science" stands above both of them.
In depth interviews coupled with honest reviews. No pandering to friends or advertisers. The guy behind the mag - Chris Groves - writes it like it is. I like. Another aspect which makes the magazine a necessity is that it comes with a CD featuring the bands interviewed/profiled. Like Freak Animal mag used to. Excellent, because chances are, I have never heard the project I am reading about but now I can listen to them whilst I'm perusing the pages.....
Recently I got a similar magazine "Archive 1" from Germany - interviews, overviews, artwork and CD. Indispensable.
"Night Science 4" kicks off with interviews of : Hum Of The Druid, Daniel Lowenbruck (Raionbashi), Golden Serenades, K. Endo, Dieter Muh, The Haters, Halthan, Posh Isolation + live event overviews of KK Null and Dave Phillips before launching in to pages of reviews, and like I mentioned before the reviews are honest and prove that at least Chris has played the damn CD (record, tape, DVD whatever)....
The Dieter Muh interview began at the start of last year and took a strange turn when Dave left in September 2009 - but I completed the interview. Chris (as interviewer) came across as very learned about Muh activities and such like. Great interview!
The CD kicks off with a track by Hum Of The Druid. "Endless Leadership" is crunchy noise attack (could be anybody) very American - in the vain of Slogun or Solotroff. Raionbashi track is like a performance art piece. Bells, balloons and bodily functions. As beautiful as it is abstract. Golden Serenades is noise and was fast forwarded. Nothing new. Kazumoto Endo - who gives a great interview - provides a track of random chaos. Synthy noodles, metal scrapings, resonant springs all enter and almost as quickly leave the aural arena. "Iruka No Misoni" is akin to listening to The Hafler Trio on speed. The Dieter Muh track is an extract from the "Equinox Festival" performance. 14/07/09, and is the final release of Muh with Dave Uden as a member.
The Haters (again, great interview) sound like The Haters. Halthan - a band I have never heard of - provide the PE by numbers track. It's not bad but has appalling vocals where if they had left that out and stuck with the tape looping it would have got an 8 out of 10. The CD ends with a slow ambient piece by Hum Of The Druid called "Gammadion Rotates South". 51 minutes of good stuff (OK, forget Golden Serenades) to read the magazine to...
Printed matter is important. I don't read online magazines and I don't listen (much) to online music - the odd YouTube or MySpace tune but I certainly don't download or burn shit on to CDr - I listen to vinyl, tape, CD and I read printed matter. "Night Science" is a jewel and should be supported. It is produced by Chris Groves at Cipher Productions in Tasmania. Google and buy.

The world awaits "As Loud As Possible"

Picture:
1: Bad picture of "Night Science 4". (sorry).