The Sound Of Lithuania #2

Received my second package from Lithuania last week. A trade off with the magazine "Terror". As the world waits for the magazine "As Loud As Possible", two magazines dealing within the similar area/topic/genre (whatever) have come out. Mikko's "Special Interests" and "Terror" from Lithuania. Both magazines are A5. Packed full of interviews and reviews and has such small print that I have to strain my eyes to read even wearing my glasses! "Terror" features interviews with projects with silly names such as The Hum Of The Druid, Clew Of Thesus and Molester. I also note that most of the projects featured perform or have their pictures taken wearing masks and/or hoods. One chap even poses with a pair of black tights on his head. That made me smile... I've been dipping in and out of the magazine over the past few days and although none of the interviews have made me think I must hear them I have enjoyed the read. Extensive reviews and I have learnt that there is a Survival Unit double CD called "Fentanyl Martyrs" that I want. I will buy issue #2.
Also in the package was the latest cassette release by Lithuanian noise/power electronic project Pogrom whose split release with Oorchach I really enjoy. "Liberal Cunt" on Suomi label Filth And Violence. This full release is a little disappointing. Two long untitled pieces a side, side 1 starts in the USA PE vein. It sounds like Slogun. And Slogun, to me, sound like a poor man's Con-Dom. It ends on a high note of "old school" industrial style metal percussion and noise. Side two is the sound of violent sex and child birth with synth noodling and the odd cries of a baby. Yeah, that's what I thought.....Throbbing Gristle managed it to perfection with "Oltre La Morte/Birth And Death" on the album "Journey Through A Body". (1982).
Also in the package was a promo CD of Girnu Giesmes called "Sau Krastas" (roughly translated means "Yourself Crust"). Girnu Giesmes is a project from Lithuanian artist Laurynas Jukonis who began making sound in 1996. (This CD was released last year). Only 40 minutes long. Five pieces of deep ambient electronic drones. Very bleak, cold feeling sounds. Very spacial. I played it loud and enjoyed - a good discovery. I think it is on sale via Discogs for 4 Euros or something as daft.
There was also a Budrus CD in with the package, all in all good stuff - I await another package soon!

Pictures:
1: Cover of "Terror" magazine.
2: Cover of Pogrom cassette "Liberal Cunt". (Filth & Violence).
3: Laurynas Jukonis.
4: Cover of "Sau Krastas" CD.

The Sound Of Lithuania

Just spent a pleasant while listening to two new arrivals at Hartop Towers.
A couple of weeks back I saw listed on the noisefanatics forum a split tape by Pogrom + Oorchach. I don't know why, but the titles of both projects appealed and with a handful of Dieter Muh 7"'s I still have for trade I mailed off to Lithuania for the cassette. Unbeknownst to me the chap who is selling the tape also owns the noise/PE magazine "Terror", and a review of the single will appear in the 'zine. Chance to shift a few more copies.
The cassette arrived as did a bonus CD of Lithuanian project Budrus.
Budrus are a two-piece who operate in the area known as dark ambient. Beautiful cinematic sound, full on guitar and synth layered drones very akin to Troum, Propergol and/or Inade. The sound of desolation and decay. Stirring stuff with titles like "Glow Of Nuclear Morning" and "Is The Reaping", you know they both wear black.
The split tape (limited to 98 copies) is a different barrel of fish. Oorchach sound like Soldnergeist and/or Genocide Organ did about ten years ago. Very Cold Meat. Luckily I love the sound of this brand of Power Electronics. A Whorle of noise to militaristic vocals. Pogrom sound more organic. Lots of distorted shortwave and interfering with metal springs, again with Lithuanian vocals.
I love discovering new sounds, and this package from Vilnius has not let me down. Oorchach and Budrus stuff will have to be found during 2010, I could do with hearing more.

2010 - Has It Been A Good Year?

Here is a list of what came into Hartop Towers last year. "Has it been a good year"? Re-united with some old gems and found some new exciting sounds, so no complaints! Again Tamsin thinks it is too much....but I still think "too much is not enough":

Alfarmania "Bottenskrapet" LP (Autarkeia)
Antichildleague & Silent Abuse "She Lost Control" 7" (Hagshadow)
Architects Office "353" Tape (Audiofile Tapes)
Astral Social Club "Capitals Collapsed" Tape (Neon Blossom)
Astral Social Club "#21" CDr (Astral Social Club)
Astral Social Club "Happy Horses" CD (Happy Prince)
Astronaut "Prayer For Mitnick" 3"CDr (Field Studies)
Attestupa "Begraven Mot Norr" LP (Release The Bats)
Baraclough "Vulpus Vulpus" (Beartown Records)
BBBlood "BBBlood" (Beartown Records)
BBBlood "Molecular Beam Epitaxy" Tape (Trans-Dimensional Sushi)
BBBlood "Experiment 50" CDr (Trans-Dimensional Sushi)
BBBlood "Lazar House" Tape (Soundholes)
Jacques Beloeil/Michael Anacker "30" CD (Entr'acte)
Bestializer "Random Threats" Tape (K-Hole)
Bestializer "Penal Harm" Tape (Sexcrime Arts)
Bestializer/Rumination "Split" Tape (Thorax Harsh)
Birds Of Delay/Family Battle Snake "Split" 7" (Tome Records)
Jan Borno "Dit Is Voor Jouw" CDr (No Label)
Andreas Brandal "Shipwrecks" Tape (Licht Und Stahl)
Andreas Brandal "Sunken Gardens" CDr (Apollolaan Recordings)
Andreas Brandal "A History Of Labyrinths" CDr (Basses Frequences)
Duncan Bruce "New Glass Tapu" (LF Records)
Budrus "Devyniems Rytams Austant" CD (No Label)
Burial Hex "Bagirwa Hymn" LP (Von Archives)
Burial Hex "Fantasma Di Perarolo" Tape (Brave Mysteries)
Burial Hex "Initiations" DLP (Aurora-B)
Burial Hex "The Tower" 7" (Release The Bats)
Busratch "Tokei Nikki" LP (RRR Records)
Neil Campbell/Campbell Kneale "Neil Campbell/Campbell Kneale" CD (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon)
Neil Campbell & John Clyde-Evans "Live At Transmission Gallery, Glasgow" CDr (Chocolate Monk)
Cementimental "Point!" CDr (No Label)
Cementimental "Molecramp" 3"CDr (Jeshimoth)
Andrew Chalk "Vega" CD (Faraway Press)
Andrew Chalk "East Of The Sun" CD (Faraway Press)
Cheapmachines "Secede" CD (Entr'acte)
Cloama/Mutant Ape "Dementia" 7"+CDr (Turgid Animal Records)
Club Moral "Lonely Weekends" 7" (Dead Mind Records)
Andrew Coltrane/Andreas Brandal "AC/AB" CDr (Twilight Luggage)
Column One/IDPA/MZ 142 "Live Action/Voodoo Bumble Bee" LP (Tourette)
Contrastate "i" Tape (Direction Music)
John Cooper Clarke "Snap, Crackle And Bop" LP (Epic Records)
The Cortinas "Punk Rock Anthology" CD (Anagram Records)
Current 93 "Haunted Waves,Moving Graves" LP (Coptic Cat)
Current 93 "Time Of The Last Persecution" 7" (Durtro/Jnana Records)
Dachise "Sugar Path" 7" (Tochnit Aleph)
Dead Pilots "Dead Pilots" CDr (No Label)
Deaf School "English Boys/Working Girls" LP (Warner Brothers Records)
Deviation Social "From Begining To End:Volume 1" LP (Dias Records)
Aaron Dilloway "Boggs Volume 2" CD (Hanson Records)
Aaron Dilloway "Concealed" LP (No Fun Productions)
Aaron Dilloway "Hatched Eggs" LP&3"CD (Hanson Records)
Aaron Dilloway "Door With No Handle" CDr (Chocolate Monk)
Aaron Dilloway/Carlos Giffoni "Live At No Fun Fest 2007" LP (No Fun Productions)
Doctor Mix "No Fun" 7" (Rough Trade Records)
John Duncan "River In Flames" CD (Anckarstrom)
Mark Durgan With Spoils & Relics "All Mistakes Straightened" Tape (Mantile)
Early Hominids "Bathz" 3"CDr (La Station Radar)
Early Hominids "Alkali/Dilate" Tape (Total Vermin)
Leif Elggren "The Kings Curve" Tape (Razzle Dazzle)
Emaciator "Possesive" Tape (Hanson Records)
Emaciator "Merit" Tape (Arbor)
Factor X "Directions" LP (Excrete Music)
Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim & Der Bekannte Post-Industrialle Trompeter "Toads And Bugs" 2x3"CD (White Rabbit Records)
Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh "Split" 7" (Krayon Recordings)
Floating Gardens/Slag Heap "Split" Tape (Field Studies)
Flutwacht "Breath" CDr (Mask Of The Slaves/The Tourette Tapes)
Flutwacht/Monoid Vs Stillsand "Hirn Milch/Into Nowhere" CDr (Symbolic Productions)
Fordell Research Unit "Heavy Petting" Tape (Krapp Tapes)
Genocide Organ "Archive One" 10"EP (Tesco Org)
Gerechtigkeits Liga/Gehern, Implosion "Centaurea Cyanus" 7" (Verstand Records)
Girnu Giesmes "Sau Krastas" CDr (No Label)
Glaxo Babies "The Porlock Factor" CD (Cherry Red Records)
Grey Park "Wet Amen" CDr (Luovaja)
Gummystumps "First EP" 7"EP (Watts Of Goodwill)
Duncan Harrison & Ian Murphy "A Divine Scrimmage" CDr (Rotten Slushy)
HATI "Die Mechanik Die" CD (Beast Of Prey)
Helm "To An End" LP (Altar/Peasant Magik)
Helm "Optimism" CDr (Trans-Dimensional Sushi)
Helm "Last Journey To Her Altar" Tape (Sick Head)
Hobo Sonn "Olde Smoake, Golden Shred" CDr (Rotten Sushy)
Human League "Holiday '80" 2x7" (Virgin Records)
Hunting Lodge "Shadows Out Of Time '82-'83" 3xLP+7" Box Set (Vinyl On Demand)
Iibiis Rouge "Eponymous" LP (Dekorder)
Iibiis Rouge "Pink Hybrid" CDr (Music Mundane/Winged Sun Records)
Incapacitants "Lon Guy" CD (Harbinger Sound)
Insomnia/Praying For Oblivion "Collaboration" CDr (Mandarangan)
Garnett James "Protect And Survive" CDr (LF Records)
David Jay & Rene Halkett "Nothing" 7" (4AD Records)
John The Postman "John The Postman's Peurile" CD (Overground Records)
Joined By Wire "Black Axis 1-4" CDr (LF Records)
Caroline K "Now Wait For Last Year" CD (Klanggalerie)
Korpses Katatonik "Subklinikal Leukotomy Aphrenia Spasmophilik Lyssophobo Asphyxia Sinister Lethal Avorex" Tape (Nekrophile Records)
LasHtal "Thoum Aeshneith" Tape (Nekrophile Records)
M. Stactor "Thrombling" 3"CDr (Disembraining Songs)
Magic Tits "Stit Cigam" 3"CDr (Disembraining Songs)
Maldur Altai "Alarm" 7" (Autarkeia)
Charles Manson "Inner Sanctum" 7" (Holy Terror/ATWA Records)
Militia "Live Provocation 1&2" Tape (Destructive Industries)
Moon Unit "New Sky Dragon" LP (Krayon Recordings)
N. Strahl. N "Grauholz" 3"CDr (Apocalyptic Radio)
N. Strahl. N "Transmitter" 2xTape (Deserted Factory/Licht Und Stahl)
N. Strahl. N + Mystified "Maschinenfungen" Tape (Licht Und Stahl)
Nurse With Wound "Memory Surface" CD (United Dirter)
Kristian Olsson "Att Vara Dar Jag Var Innen Jag Var Jag" LP (Nattmaran)
Onomatopoeia "Irrelevant" LP (The 7:17 From West Wittering Is Late Again)
Oorchach/Pogrom "Split" Tape (No label)
Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark "Messages" 7" (Dindisc Records)
Andy Ortmann "Provocative Electronics" LP (Pan-Act Records)
Para-Noise Terminal "Live Document" Tape (Raum 312)
Mark Perry "Snappy Turn" CD (The Borrowers Records)
Dave Phillips "They Live" LP (RRR Records)
Plurals "Six Eyes" CDr (No Label)
Pogrom "Liberal Cunt" Tape (Filth & Violence)
Praying For Oblivion "Turm Schweigen" CDr (Obscurex)
Preslav Literary School "Echolalia" LP (No-Fi)
Prurient "Roman" LP (Harbinger Sound)
Prurient "Crossbow" 7" (DotDotDot Music)
Prurient "Cocaine Death" CD (Hospital Productions)
Psychic TV "Just Drifting" 12"EP (Some Bizarre)
Psychic TV "Psychick Videos" DVD (Feral House)
Psychogeographical Commission "Patient Zero" CD (Acrobiotic)
Putrefier "Solar Dragging" LP (Noiseville Records)
Pyramids "Wvndrkmmer" 5xTape Box Set (Small Doses)
Ramleh "Hand Of Glory" 12"EP (Broken Flag/Harbinger Sound)
Jean Noel Rebilly + Cedric Lerouley "Leaving" CDr (CommA)
Red Electric Rainbow "Aerosol Hangover" CDr (No Label)
Rituals "Rituals" CDr (Cold Graey)
Henrik Rylander "Power Model X (Motherboard Drone Live)" CD (Ideal Recordings)
S*Core "Finger Mark" 7" (Drone Records)
S.P.I.T.E. "Violence" 12"EP (Harbinger Sound)
Schrage Musik/Antichildleague "Eternity/III Me, Me, Me" 7" (Schrage Musik)
Schuster "Breaking Down Into His Own Oblivion" CDr (Adeptsound)
Schuster "1-5 Microns" CDr (Adeptsound)
Sinking Ships "Dream" 7" (Recession Records)
Six Heads "Snuffles" CDr (Disembraining Songs)
Space Weather "The Weather's Maiden" 3"CDr (Apollolaan Recordings)
Splintered "Nothing" 7"EP (Shock Records)
Spoils & Relics "A.O.N." Tape (Mantile)
Spoils & Relics/brb>Voicecoil "Split" LP (Harbinger Sound)
Strahlenzentrum "Zentralebene" CDr (Licht Und Stahl)
Strom E.C. "Divine Legions Beyond Psyche" (Malignant Records)
Subklinik "Musik For Dekompositiones" Tape (No Visible Scars)
Textured Bird Transmissions "Blazing Animal Faces" CDr (Dead Sea Liner)
Textured Bird Transmissions/Nackt Insecten "Split" LP (No Label)
Throbbing Gristle "20 Jazz Funk Greats" CD (Mute Records)
Tiny Lights "Flowers Through the Air" 12"EP (Temple Records)
The Universal Indians + Neil Campbell "Live" CDr (Music Mundane)
Vacio Perfecto "Geographica Interiore" CDr (Licht Und Stahl)
Various Artists "Antibiothis Volume 3" CD+Book (Antibiothis)
Various Artists "Archive One" CD+Book (90% Wasser)
Various Artists "Atlantic Waves 2006" CD (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation)
Various Artists "Bacterium" CD (Adeptsound)
Various Artists "Encyclopedia Of Industrial Music Volume 1" 2xCD+Book (Impulsy Stetoskopu)
Various Artists "Encyclopedia Of Industrial Music Volume 2" CD+Book (Impulsy Stetoskopu)
Various Artists "Night Science 4" CD+Magazine (Cipher Productions)
Various Artists "Our Generation" CD+Book (Days Like Tomorrow)
Various Artists "Squeezing Being Issue 2" CDr (Wholeness Recordings)
Various Artists "Stahlerne Lichter" CD (Licht Und Stahl)
Various Artists "The Beat Is The Law" DVD (Sheffield Vision)
Various Artists "Viva Negativa Volume One" CD (At War With False Noise)
Wolf Eyes "Always Wrong" CD (Hospital Productions)
Wounded Knee "Wounded Knee" CDr (No Label)
Nate Young "Half Full" 7" (DotDotDot Music)
Yrsel "Requiem For The 3 Khanites" CD (Aurora Borealis)
Z.O.Voider "Perpendicular Groove" Tape (Hanson Records)
Za Siodma Gora "This Is My Dream" 7" (Obuh Records)

Rumination

I have been listening to / playing a lot of  "noise" releases over the past seven days (great band). Some interesting stuff coming through the door at Hartop Towers. A package from the Lithuanian Terror label held an interesting Body Cargo / Pogrom CD and an interestingly sounding if not a tad formulaic tape by HNW master Knurl, but the couple of releases I managed to get hold of from Italian label Second Sleep are masterpieces. The Lettera 22 7"/Tape was mentioned earlier, now I am playing the release "Weight" by American based project Rumination. I like Rumination. I have the split cassette with Bestializer and like both sides of that release a lot.
"Weight" is a 7"/ C30 Tape packaged in a box with an insert. Four tracks - all titled "Weight". I played the 7" at 33rpm ... there's no-one telling me to do otherwise. Side A has a slowed heartbeat pounding through a mound of gristle and grind, side B has a more confusing sound with warm waves of distorted oscillation, a broken radio and scratched iron  / scraping metal.  
Side A of the cassette is presented in three sections. An interesting slice of experimental music - again, like the vinyl it is slow paced (which makes me think that 33rpm is the correct speed). At the start a heavy 2 note synth pattern is constant, then there's this sound - what is this sound? Could be broken de-tuned shortwave radio or contact mic's dropped in a jar of trapped bees - what is this sound? Whatever, it's a great sound. Second section is a loop of a revving motorcycle and treated voice. Very S.P.K. circa "Information Overload Unit", third part is chaos and sounding like a rework or remix of Side A of the vinyl with a pounding heartbeat and grinding metal / growling gristle. Fifteen minutes is just the correct length.
Now for the second side of the cassette I was expecting a noise attack. I put the tape in the machine and at this point my six year old son (Oscar) came into the room. He described the first ten minutes of this piece as "Star wars light sabres being tested by a babbling brook", and I couldn't disagree.The piece ends by morphing into the sound of wood straining and stretching. Taut sounds, pressure sounds, sounds of weight.
This idea of presenting / releasing an albums length of material in 7" vinyl and C30 cassette in a box with insert is excellent. Style and content - I am mightily impressed with Second Sleep Records. This release is limited to 100 copies and worth hunting down. I want to hear more Rumination, perhaps a split 12" with Knurl?

Pictures.
1: "Weight" Box Cover.
2: "Weight" Tape.
3: "Weight" Insert Art.
4: "Weight" Vinyl.

Helm

I must say that I had heard of Luke Younger but had not heard any Luke Younger, the same as I have heard of Birds Of Delay but not heard any Birds Of Delay. I even have a sneaking feeling that I have met Luke at a gig in London, maybe TG in Heaven or Con-Dom in Stockwell? Either way when buying this LP I had no idea it was the work of Luke. What attracted me was the cover. It just simply jumped out at me. It has the look of an LP sleeve of the mid 1980's. One of those albums I would see in Fon Records or Eastern Bloc (when it opened on the top floor of Affleck's Palace) one day, scrape the pennies to buy and it would be gone on returning. Looks like an album by Pornosect or Tibetan Red or Seven Horns Da Ho or MB. You get the gist.
I do sometimes buy on the way a record/release looks. Discovered BBBlood and Pogrom recently that way.
The vinyl does not let the sleeve down. "To An End" on Alter/Peasant Magik is one of the best albums I have heard in a while - certainly this year. A very satisfying feeling, like when I heard Aaron Dilloway's "Infinite Lucifer" last year - a hidden gem. "To An End" is two long (untitled) pieces. Side One starts with a cough. A clearing of the throat. I've not got many records with coughs on - Derek + Clive and The Hysterics spring to mind, but this is the best record I have with a cough on it. For the next twenty odd minutes the cough is transformed and modulated through a manner of effects whilst scraped strings and other "magical sounds" weave in and out. Whilst sitting listening I was reminded of the Psychic TV "Themes" series, as well as Organum and early Column One work. When the piece finished I was left with that feeling: How the hell did that journey begin? I love it when that happens. Side Two is a more of a meaty drone piece that would not be a miss on a Soviet France LP (think "Eostre" or "Shouting At The Ground"). It sounds live, at some points on the point of disappearing in to a wall of feedback, sometimes like it is going to collapse - it ends in some mechanical breakdown. Once again, the needle hit the record for a second trip. Excellent stuff.
Now I want to hear more Luke Younger stuff. I've ordered the split Birds Of Delay / Family Battle Snake 7" from Tome Records...

I wonder if he plays live?