Panther Modern – White Light Power Electronics CDr
Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
White Light Power electronics features an odd mix of styles and sounds which may somewhat be attributed to its wide cast of contributors that include D of Black Bloc, T.O.M.B., Colin Orr of Suicide, and even an organist from a church. What this amounts to is an album that features some off kilter experimental tracks and combines them with seething feats of industrial and power electronics.
Sometimes I feel the more experimental tracks are a bit jarring and don’t mesh too well …

Regosphere/Harold Shipman – Split CDr
Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
Combining the sound of layered synth centric industrial and barebones experimental harsh noise is not something you see too often, but the 43 minutes of this disc offer just that. The first track is the only Regosphere track clocking in at 18 minutes it’s a tour-de-force of what Andrew Quitter does best. Carefully composed drones and noise merging and morphing over the course of it’s running time. This is the kind of material I’ve come to expect from the project and it’s just as …

156 – Frontyard/Backyard C30
Acid Casualty Productions
This tape presents a very strange sound indeed. I am not familiar with the works of this NYC-based artist but Frontyard/Backyard is quite clearly based off of many field recordings from various areas. I might assume they are from around the artist’s living space. That said, editing is very seamless yet also quite jarring in the recording’s contrasting atmospheres.
The tape alternates between more raw/unedited excerpts of field recordings and other recordings of sound effects type material like junk sounds, scrap metal, and even sounds that …

Biava/The Smartlemon – Split C55
Heretic Recordings
This is the first tape release for the Italian label which also offers material from these two Italian artists. The split tape contains a wealth of material from both artists with Biava being featured on side a and The Smartlemon on b.
Biava’s material is much more to my liking here. Although it sounds quite digital in many places the artist manages to create a cohesive and engaging showing of morphed sounds using various effects. The sounds are quite unique yet perhaps remind me of the …

Nyodene D – Edenfall CD + Bonus CD (feat. Sektor 304)
Malignant Records
This is the second full-length CD release from this Ohio based death industrial act. If you are not quite familiar with the project yet Nyodene D focuses on repetitive crusty noise reminding me of a combination between Brighter Death Now and old school Grunt.
On Edenfall the influence of Europe After Storm-era Grunt is quite palpable. The most obvious element here is the repeating loops that act as a backbone to each track and then added noise and distorted vocals. …

FRKSE – Scholar Drugs C40
I Had an Accident Records
FRKSE is back with this conceptual cassette representing something quite different from the project. If you’ve read previous reviews you know that FRKSE normally merges industrial, middle eastern music, noise, and even hip-hop into a strange 70s psychedelic trip. Live, they come off more as an old school death industrial unit presenting pummeling dirges – but playing AKAI samplers with drumming fingers – it’s a strange and wonderful site and sound to behold.
But with this tape they offer droning dark ambience combined …

Sigulda – Sickness and Health C20
Side of the Sun Recordings
Here is both a label and an artist of which I have no previous exposure. Both seem to have been mostly only active in 2010 so who knows if they are still functioning. Either way, the release must be documented.
The tape is split into two tracks with one on each side. Side A features Sickness which uses electric oscillator drones to kick things off with delay and modulation and quickly build to swashes of noise. The noise gets aggressive yet continues …

Katze – Berg CD
Individual Lines
Katze is a project of which I have some familiarity, I’ve performed on the same bill with the project and witnessed their live set which is quite fantastic. This is my first exposure to their recorded material and it bears a different sound.
More cerebral and minimalist than their live performance is, the style falls more on the electroacoustic side of things rather than noise/drone. The first two tracks A Man A Plan A Canal Panama and Meeps are digitally source driven tracks. Delicate buzzing drones collide …

The Dadacomputer – The Birth of 5XOD CDr
Iceage Productions
The Dadacomputer was created in 1981 as an experiment in long-distance collaboration from Cardiff to Bristol which were separated by the Bristol Channel and are about 40 miles apart. The collaborators are Mark Phillips and Robert Lawrence who had met about 6 months earlier in Bristol due to Lawrence putting an ad in a record shop looking to work with similar musicians quoting Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, Chrome etc as influences.
It took several years for the collaboration to finally be complete but on …

Brume – Quicksand C70
Cipher Productions
First of all, the packaging on this one. Hoooollllyyyyy sshhhhiiittttt!!! A sealed clear plastic baggy silkscreened and filled with sand! Inside the baggy is yet another sealed plastic baggy holding the tape so as to not get sand in it. Very well done. My only complaint is that it’s difficult to preserve if you want to open it. I guess that means I suggest you buy 2 copies each, one to open and listen to and another for your collection.
This work is a bit different for …