Bring the (harsh) noise !

[Salty Swift]

Justice Yeldham's Cicatrix CD is one of the best things in this field I've heard in a long time. Voice and amplified glass, sounds like very little else I know of.

Junko's solo album Sleeping Beauty is also a high-water mark

For me noise cut-ups never got better than Evil Moisture and Masonna.

Haven't heard that, but here's a pic of how he "plays" the glass...

Care to share a bit of background on this picture?
Looks like self-mutilation.....is the music as painful

[faster]

He plays a pane of glass (found) with a grand piano transducer (mic) on it. He usually lubes up with KY or something, then presses the glass against his face and blows, yells, makes raspberries, etc. It's all processed through a belt of guitar pedals into a roaring noise explosion.

The glass often cuts him, and sometimes he finishes the show by leaping shoulder-first onto the ground, smashing the glass all over in a grand finale of self-mutilation.

[sound plague]

Quite often the vibrations alone will shatter the glass. There's an mp3 of a live performance he did for an Australian show called "Set" here:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/set/default.htm" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false; Just scroll down a bit.

There's plenty of live footage to be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... arch_type=" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dan Warburton]

He plays a pane of glass (found) with a grand piano transducer (mic) on it. He usually lubes up with KY or something, then presses the glass against his face and blows, yells, makes raspberries, etc. It's all processed through a belt of guitar pedals into a roaring noise explosion.
The glass often cuts him, and sometimes he finishes the show by leaping shoulder-first onto the ground, smashing the glass all over in a grand finale of self-mutilation.

Presumably people only come along to see him cut himself up. Really can't see the attraction, myself - but I never did get off on all that body art stuff - and what I've heard doesn't sound all that interesting. Dilemma, then: records don't seem to do him justice, and I don't feel like seeing a live gig. So I think I'd better just pass.

[free math]

he played in my living room once as DJ Smallcock

[free math]

as for harsh noise, i was a fan of metrocide when that existed and was really impressed by pedestrian deposit and oscillating innards live.

[jpeatt]

Presumably people only come along to see him cut himself up. Really can't see the attraction, myself - but I never did get off on all that body art stuff - and what I've heard doesn't sound all that interesting. Dilemma, then: records don't seem to do him justice, and I don't feel like seeing a live gig. So I think I'd better just pass.

The record of Lucas' I can most heartily recommend is DJ Smallcock 'yin yue'. It's recordings of chinese radio subjected to nonstop pause button editing. Surprisingly successful, especially in the context here. The Justice Yeldham 7" singles are an ok representation, in that they're one complete live show per side.
I understand your dilemma there Dan, such as it is. Lucas frustrates me greatly, in that he IS, unquestionably, a really good musician. He's also really inventive with what he chooses to make noise with, and his repurposing of stuff to that end. I've seen him play dozens of times over the last 10 years or so, and the first few years, he was ALWAYS doing something different. Variations on a theme perhaps, but never exactly the same. Unfortunately, he seems to have gotten stuck with the glass. It's a really engaging show, the 1st couple of times you see it, and it sounds awesome, always. He loves touring, and this is an easy to transport show, which generates a buzz, he can tour almost constantly with it, and does so. I think Lucas' heart is really in rock n' roll. He hates most improvised music, and calls EAI type stuff 'tablecore'. This really frustrates me, as I'd like to see him in improv situations with others.

The best shows I ever saw from him were:
The amplified trampoline show, at an outdoor festival.
The Freddy Kruger glove: WOW
5 skewers attached to contact mics serve as styluses for records attached to power sander motors and things like that.
One of the best noise shows I've ever seen.

His lable, Dual Plover, is also really interesting. Puts out either absolute gold or absolute shit. Nothing in between.
Favourites:
Mascara Sue 'Biro Biro'
Nora Keyes 'Songs to Cry by for the Golden Age of Nothing'

(Sorry for length)

[sound plague]

His lable, Dual Plover, is also really interesting. Puts out either absolute gold or absolute shit. Nothing in between.

Truer words were never spoken. I have heard that getting CDs pressed by Dual Plover is very good value for money.

[faster]

His lable, Dual Plover, is also really interesting. Puts out either absolute gold or absolute shit. Nothing in between.

Truer words were never spoken. I have heard that getting CDs pressed by Dual Plover is very good value for money.

Yep, great prices.

JPeatt pretty much said what I think about Lucas. Good dude, creative, etc., but obviously in it for reasons other than my own. Hope he comes back to Seoul one day.

[Dan Warburton]

Thanks for the additional info, guys. Yes, I would like to hear him playing with others in different contexts too.

[jon abbey]

up for Bill Hutson, who wrote in the Recent Purchases thread:

hundreds of noise releases preempted SHM

I'd like to see some specifics on that if you don't mind, and I'd like to hear your favorite noise releases of all time (I don't think you contributed to this thread before, sorry if I missed it).

[vomir]

werewolf jerusalem
the rita
concrete threat
cannibal ritual
sewer election
kakerlak
the cherry point
panther modern
rough/mutant sex quartet
inseminoid
haemorrhaging fetus
paranoid time
....

[William Hutson]

sheer hellish miasma is certainly one of my favorite noise cds ever. my point, though, was that when it came out, it felt like a logical step in the evolution of the genre, not something from out of left field. for drumm's own development, it was, of course, a huge, unpredictable, step.

i'll post a list of a few personal favorites shortly.

this is also a bit unfair, at least from my perspective. I personally had heard a fair amount of noise at that point, but what was so impressive to me about SHM was the density and sound quality, the latter exceedingly rare in the noise scene in my experience.

i was making a general observation based on my memory of the reaction to the cd when it came out. i didn't mean to suggest that you were somehow out of your depths and had no right to comment on a noise album!

precursors in terms of density, and the type of textures drumm achieved on that cd: macronympha's late 90's output (if you can ignore the childish bullshit of their themes) and a lot of richard ramirez's projects from the time. some skin crime, some sickness, some stegm/flatline construct, some pcrv, some xome. (i'll have to go back and listen to some of the stuff i'm listing to make sure i remember it correctly and it's not just pure crap). most of it isn't nearly as good as SHM, but it's pointing in that direction. merzbow and some of the other japanese musicians went for a hi-fidelity piercing sound, rather than the density that drumm nailed.

[jon abbey]

thanks for that. yeah, what I loved about SHM was exactly what you were saying, that it was "a logical step in the evolution of the genre" at least as far as my knowledge of the genre went, which I thought was especially impressive coming from someone so new to the area. you might be right about that being the first noise disc that some EAI fans heard, but I don't remember too many reactions along those lines.

[mudd]

relevant to how i received SHM at the time, it arrived to me in the same package as "a taste of merzbow". opening the box, that was the cd that immediately caught my eye, as i hadn't heard an awful lot of drumm at that stage.

years later i can't even remember the last time i listened to the merzbow cd.

m

edit: i don't know that it would have been the first noise disc that eai fans would have heard, but probably the first that a lot of indie or electronica fans did. coming relatively soon after endless summer will do that to a record.

[Joda]

merzbow and some of the other japanese musicians went for a hi-fidelity piercing sound, rather than the density that drumm nailed.

Probably not specifically a precursor to SHM's sound, but the late Koji Tano a.k.a. MSBR produced some pretty dense noise during his time compared to some of his contemporaries. His noise sound was quite thick, with slowly evolving textures giving it a hypnotic feel as opposed to harsh, piercing, or violent.

I base this opinion mostly on his live performance, as I don't own that many MSBR releases, but this disc: ERG & MSBR & Das Synthetische Mischgewebe - Geosynclines has a unique sound for a noise album.

[vomir]

are we going to talk over & over again about the noise classics ?
everybody knows the goods of SHM, MSBR, Haters, TNB, Incapacitants, Hijokaian and on and on and on

Mattin does good work, but sometimes he talks bullshit after the noise set ; )
Wind (patagonia) by Lopez is good noise !
and Maso w/ R&G reissue on Tochnit Aleph
Gert-Jan Prins 'break before make' mego
chop shop 'oxyde' 23five
Lasse Marhaug boxset
...
& hopefully we won't neither talk about prurient

[mudd]

everybody doesn't, vomir. and i'd personally much rather discuss that than have to talk about any noise mattin made after pinknoise.

feel free to make your own contributions, but don't try to limit the conversation to your personally hobby horse.

m

[vomir]

feel free to make your own contributions, but don't try to limit the conversation to your personally hobby horse.

you can't blame me for trying...

[Joda]

are we going to talk over & over again about the noise classics ?

To clarify, I was trying to describe my impression of MSBR as a live performer, mostly because I find that noise music is best enjoyed live and I thought it was a good representation of his sound. I have a VHS recording of the show from 1999 that I am referring to, which I will try to get it onto the internet. I'll post it to the youtube thread once I do.

FWIW, I never noticed before that the material for Geosynclines is based on field recordings and ERG is actually mnortham and jgrzinich. It's up on this blog, but only at 128 kbps.