Drowner/Sterile Garden – Split CDR
Basement Tapes
Here’s a short CDR split that makes sense. I’m not previously familiar with either of these artists but they each present 3 tracks of lo-fi ambient noise.
There are more characteristics they have in common than not. Most of the noise has a drone core to the tracks with sputtering distorted layers adding to the textures. Squealing feedback harmonies join the mix. Generally Drowner’s material seems a bit noisier and Sterile Garden tends more toward the side of subtlety.
I find the aptly titled Sterile Garden tracks …

A Snake in the Garden/Zerfallt – Einfgall C44+C14
Gryd Complex
Here are 2 cassettes tastefully packaged together the first being a 44 minute split between Vermont’s A Snake in the Garden and Boston’s Zerfallt, and the second being a little 14 minute jammer which is a collab between the two projects entitled Einfgall.
Zerfallt is up first in this orgy of sound with 3 tracks representing a much louder side to the project then what has been released previously. This is harsh noise with a synthesizer base to the sound. However, pedal effects …

V/A – Singles Series Vol. 2 3″DVDR
Table of Contents
Here’s an excellent 3″DVDR – a format you don’t see too often – with really interesting packaging consisting of full-color printed transparency around a sheet of metal. The disc has 2 chapters on it each featuring the visual work of Christopher Cichocki with the first chapter utilizing audio by Warm Climate, and the second by I Heart Lung.
The first presentation entitled Synovial Moves uses Cichocki’s token video techniques of kaleidoscope images, fast cuts, and geometric-like movement of mainly water, but eventually fades …

Lavas Magmas – Black Friday DVDR
Self Released
Lavas Magmas is the ambient/noise project of Luis Gonzalez based out of Portland, OR. From what I’ve encountered many of his works include a video element including his live sets. I was lucky enough to catch him on his tour with Regosphere and The Dios Project where he put on a brilliant performance utilizing video projections, metal sculptures, electronics, and guitar. Black Friday is a DVDR containing a studio version of the live set with the visuals included.
The sound on here is phenomenal. Swaying, …

Mortuor – I’m Waiting for You… CD
Syzmic Records
Here’s another simply packaged CD from the Syzmic Records front, this time presenting about a half-hour of sickened sounds from this new death industrial act Mortuor. With the lines “Dedicated to the memory of Marco Corbelli and the Italian Death Industrial Movement.” on the back it is clear the direction this disc is trying to go.
Luckily Mortuor is not only successful in re-creating the great sounds of Atrax Morgue, …Today I’m Dead, N. and many of the other great death industrialists, he also …

Valerio Tricoli – Metaprogramming From Within The Eye Of The Storm CD
Bowindo Recordings
Metaprogramming is a disc with one long track ranging roughly 30 minutes in length. This is electro acoustic music through and through with long bouts of silences, shuffling about, loud/soft dynamics, random machine sounds, and subtle drones.
Tricoli has an aptitude for building these kinds of sound structures through what seem like random sounds collected and processed but there isn’t really anything that separates Metaprogramming from the bulk of electro acoustic music I’ve heard. It seems very traditional and …

Hugfucks – Vehement Caress CDR
AsteroidMProject
I really wasn’t expecting much from the goofy named “Hugfucks” project but this D.I.Y. flavored CDR is a creeping, lurking, burping, banging, seriously hot mess in the best kind of way. The packaging design is simple and to the point as is the noise here in style somewhat reminding me of Wolf Eye’s Always Wrong.
Once the opening track Self Immolation has worked up to it’s heavy blast of noise from it’s humming beginnings it’s clear that Hugfucks has a way with controlling sound and frequency that …

Halo Manash – Am Kha Astrie CD
Aural Hypnox
As much times as I’ve reviewed Halo Manash they still manage to just stay one step ahead of me. This time however, I believe this is actually their latest release available and I’m happy to report Am Kha Astrie delivers and veers Halo Manash back into the right direction. The release follows the more recent packaging designs that Aural Hypnox have been employing with heavy cardboard stock and silk screened/stamped ink adorning the surface. Simple yet effective, and it all has a very …

Phragments – Earth Shall Not Cover Their Blood CD
Malignant Records
This is my first exposure to Phragments and is more or less what I was expecting based on the bleak artwork. What they offer here is slow, melodic, synthesized dark ambient in the vein of Raison D’Etre, Endvra, or Atrium Carceri. If you’re at all a fan of Cold Meat Industries then you will be sure to dig Earth Shall Not Cover Their Blood in some form or another.
Of course there are negative aspects that come along with this style of …

By Luis Gonzalez

I caught up with Luis Gonzalez on the Lavas Magmas/Regosphere/The Dios Poject Summer Tour 2010 and asked if he could write a tour guide for me. Here, he covers his own tour experience, offers advice for fellow noisers looking to tour themselves, and reflects on his motivations for doing what he does.
This was my third tour around the two month mark. I went with my friend John (Behavior, What We Do Is Secret) from Portland, OR down to Columbus, OH. John flew home and I picked up my …