Blessed Sacrifist – Falling CDR
Bullart
Blessed Sacrifist’s latest effort Falling is a release fraught with contradictions. It’s a quiet power electronics album, filled with moments of silent sound textures, it begins with “An End” and each track contains at least 3 or 4 different tracks in itself. All this and it still only clocks in below the 30 minute mark. Is it a full length, or an EP? Only one thing is certain here and that is that Falling is one strange beast.
The opener “An End” really does feel like one. …

Carlos Giffoni – Adult Life CD
No Fun Productions
After witnessing 4 of Giffoni’s sets live at No Fun Fests this is actually the first time I’ve ever heard any of his recorded material. Adult Life has all the aspects that should make up a great release. A thick cardboard digipak with great printing of some classy artwork, interesting and cryptic track names that give the illusion of depth, and some great thick and full production for the sounds. Adult Life does offer some solid strange synthesized atmospheres but tends to be …

Medroxy Progesterone Acetate/Regosphere – Split C60
Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
Here’s a great split from these two artists who are both new to me. The tape is nicely packaged on some off-white paper stock with clear black print. It’s simple and effective and looks quite classy right off the bat. Each artist has one side with Medroxy Progesterone Acetate kicking things off on side A.
MPA’s track – entitled “Scum of the Morning Star” – is a noisy drone fest that makes up all of side A. Screeching synths, shiny wails of feedback, incessant …

TL0741 – Back To Minus CDR
HC3 Music
Back To Minus is a detailed disc of ambient textures ranging from squirming digital synths, to analog hums, delayed guitars, subdued feedback and probably even some subtle samples here and there. Clocking in at about 50 minutes the tracks are layered, lush and dynamic. There is almost too much going on here as one sound leads into the next so quickly. The overall feel of the record has a mostly digital synth quality, the sounds are well produced, mostly light sometimes wandering into glitch …

Mystified – Phantoms 3″CDR
Jesimoth Entertainment
I really love 3″CDRs. Their whole concept goes so against the idea of “convenient listening” which permeates so much of people’s music listening habits today. Only allowing about 25 minutes on a disc really let’s the artist focus on each second with more fervor then before. Something about their restricting play time just encourages artists to really “make it count” a bit more. Mystified uses the 3″CDR format in a good way with Phantoms delivering 4 noisy digital drone tracks in about 20 minutes.
Each one of …

Sektor 304 – Soul Cleansing CD
Malignant
Here’s a little something different from the Malignant camp. Sektor 304 plays rhythmic industrial in the old school vein reminding me much of bands like SPK, Test Dept., and maybe even a little old school Skinny Puppy thrown in there. A lot of drum-machine type rhythms and beats but always on the more distorted and aggressive side of things. That combined with noise, subtle guitar layers, and plenty of synthesizers and samples create a densely layered and composed album.
Probably my least favorite track of the …

DeepKiss720 – DK720 CDR
Unverified
Another one from Unverified which I was really dreading and rightfully so. Although the disc is off to a decent start with some choppy, very noisy experimental electronics a la Jazzkammer. Once the “vocalist” is introduced into the mix during “Removals/Set One” – an epicly annoying 19 minute track – this gets pretty unbearable. The first 10 minutes are ok, not at all my preferred style of noise, but fine for what it is but I really wanted to just turn it off after about the 10 …

V/A – Bullshit Detector 2008 CDR
Audio Immolation Industries
Now THIS is a BAD ASS noise comp!!! First of all, fucking awesome idea. Bullshit Detector offers noise remixes and re-interpretations of anarcho-punk, hardcore, and metal songs. With many of the people on the punk/hardcore/metal end of the “extreme music” spectrum doubting the power of noise/industrial let them doubt no more and look no further then Bullshit Detector 2008.
There’s not one track on this compilation I dislike. Every artist delivers their best here with an absolutely consistent lineup. Concrete Violin offers a great …

+Dog+ – Spiritual Awakening CDR
Love Earth
Expectations are a funny thing, they can really affect how I end up feeling about something. The god-awful design on Spiritual Awakening really sets the bar very low and got me expecting the absolute worst from this full length. Of course, looks can be deceiving, and a good musician does not always a good graphic designer make. Am I still making any sense here? Well, Spiritual Awakening is about an hour of what I can only describe as “mid-paced noise”. The material presented here is …

Climax Denial – The Absolute Bottom C45
Husk
Climax Denial’s The Absolute Bottom makes for some great late-night listening. And, as I’m finding out now it doesn’t have to only be enjoyed at extremely loud volumes. The tape is decent quality, the mixing and production are lo-fi but extremely full and powerful right in all the places it needs to be. With two tracks on side A and 4 on side B it’s well paced and varied enough to provide interest for many repeated listens.
The opener “What I’ve Seen” is so simple …