Requiem – Provenance CD
Consouling Agency
Requiem is the artist David Graham who has been operating out of Pittsburgh for quite some time (I believe the late 90s?). Under the moniker he creates epic soundscapes of industrial tinged post-rock and Provenance is certainly a showcase of his skills and aesthetic.
My favorite thing about the release are the intense and explosive moments where a new level of heaviness is achieved. Moments like the last part of This Story Ends the Same Way it Begain where there is an explosion of pummeling industrial hits, …

Husere Grav – You Are Transparent CD
Crucial Blast
The low key ambient drone artist Husere Grav is back with this release on the surprisingly high profile label Crucial Blast. Delivered in a DVD case with fuzzed-out photography containing a sticker, a pin, and a cool insert-booklet this makes for a sick little package that truly does justice to the bleak soundscapes within.
Throbbing low frequency drones, shifting textures in the mid and high ends bring to mind the empty industrial spaces at night. When the machines are on autopilot and the electric …

Destroy Date – Inner Dialogue CD
Love Earth Music
They pulled out all the stoppers for this one. From the extremely shitty design to the re-hashed pop music within; this presents perhaps everything that I hate about experimental wankery.
I really shouldn’t even continue this review past the first track entitled Los Angeles Music Test which consists of a computer-type voice narrating the track number and then playing a 3-5 second clip of a classic rock song. This track is 13 minutes and goes up to 94 clips of classic rock songs. …

First Human Ferro – Homo Shargey CD
Old Captain/New Nihilsm/Requiem/Triangle
Homo Shargey continues the development of this long-running project which by this point has run the gamut of different styles and sounds. Over the years the project has progressed from lo-fi death industrial – my personal favorite incarnation – to haunting abstract folk and now settling into detailed synth-based ambient.
With Homo Shargey FHF deals with the concepts developed by Alexander Shargey (who I guess is also known as Yuriy Kondratyuk) that consist of using a particular method of space travel to land …

V/A – BG/BTW/HP/ORU July 2013 Tour 3xC20
Self Released
This release is a tour-de-force of harsh noise heavyweights from their tour last year. Three tapes chalk full of the filthiest cut-up noise attacks I’ve heard and it’s absolutely brilliant and devastating.
Brad Griggs is up first – a hidden gem of the midwest – who’s noise is reminiscent of early Pedestrian Deposit. It’s crunchy as fuck and rough around the edges. Mostly a constant barrage of junk attacks but there is a contact mic shuffle breakdown about 1/3 of the way through.
Side B …

Climax Denial/The Rita – Preparing for Pointe C40
Lake Shark
I have grown to appreciate The Rita’s persistent use of salient themes for his work, be it skateboarding, or in this case, ballet.  Joining the fray is creepy harsh noise stalwart Climax Denial. The result is a very densely packed blast of ebbing conversation pieces.
Climax Denial’s salacious disposition makes for a very nice background motif on side A.  I’m not a fan of explicitly referenced sick-shit noise in general, so my voyeuristic sense is prodded with Climax Denial’s oozing synths, sound samples, …

Death Jenk – s/t CD
Phage Tapes
This Phage Tapes offering consists of four tracks of swelling feedback assaults, and damaged vocals which hang somewhere in the background, surrounded by synthesizer and distorted drum machine treatments. I appreciate this type of chaotic harsh noise because it seems to lack any major over-thought and any opportunity for obvious high-falutin conceptual morass. It instead relies on a nice palette of crushing sounds.
This album goes in head first as furiously as possible, concept or no concept.
The first two tracks bleed into each other seamlessly, sometimes stuttering …

Alan Courtis & Cyrus Pireh – Uritorco C32
Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
The flavor of the day is experimental noise and if you don’t like it I suggest you skip this one. Side A is lo-fi and awkward and gives us have moments of harsh noise in Yek and much guitar fuckery featured in both Do and Seh. This type of stuff is wholeheartedly not my kind of thing but I can imagine it will appeal to some.
Side B starts off on a more solid note with Chaahr a short industrial field sample. …

Weltschmerz – Dünnen Faden Des Lebens CDr
Kadaath Records
Nothing like a CDr in a DVD case limited to 20 copies. This is my kinda thing. I’m not exactly sure where this artist hails from but the tracks have alternate titles in Russian so I’m guessing that’s where. The overall mood is bleak as can be and the audio here reflects that.
In Dünnen Faden Des Lebens Weltschmerz mixes dark ambient and black noise to form a grey slated aural field of post-apocalyptic atmospheres. Angst is a slow burner of a minimalist noise …

Typical White Male/EUU – Split C60
You Don’t Like It
There’s something mysterious about this tape yet you have to have in-depth knowledge about the artist to know what it is. Of course, if you are reading this you deserve to be in-the-know so I will divulge it for you; TWM and EUU are two sides of the same coin, two minds trapped in one flesh-bound body. It is with this knowledge that you can finely begin to decipher the puzzle that this split poses.
TWM appears on the bulk of side A …