Lisa’s Trip – Lisa’s Trip C24
Monster Heaven
Monster Heaven is…kind of ambiguous and fairly anonymous. On purpose. I will leave it at that.
Lisa’s Trip is a project you’ve likely not heard of just yet, but I am certain you’ve heard the likes of it’s creator’s project REGOSPHERE, or perhaps the affiliated label, DUMPSTERSCORE HOME RECORDINGS. Andrew Quitter is behind this material, and his game this time is bleak, melting, bending and totally strange. The album title is fitting. I am not sure who Lisa is, but it’s definitely a trip.
There is nothing …

The Changeless Round – Unspeakable 2xCDR
MoSo Label
Here’s a rather enigmatic release from a label whose website appears to be long dead and there are little-to-no links about the project itself. Upon even setting eyes on the package containing these two CDRs one can see the minimalism seeping through, and so I prepared myself for a long journey.
Although the first disc has just one hour long track according to the booklet it is split into 4 movements which are actually quite audible. Each movement seems to have a particularly gaudy subtitle …

Filivs Macrocosmi – Сталкер CD
OMS Records
Filivs Macrocosmi is a project by Sergey Svistelnik also of Old Monk’s Saga hailing from the Ukraine. With Сталкер – which I believe means Stalker – he has crafted an audial interpretation of Andrei Tarkovsky’s classic film of the same name. For those of you who have not yet witnessed it, I strongly recommend it, as it is one of my favorite films.
It is clear that Svistelnik has an understanding of the concept and aesthetic that Tarkovsky put into the film because Сталкер is certainly …

Cincinnatus C – I Don’t Have A Future/I Don’t Want A Future CDr
Self-Released
I have always been a fan of glitchy, strange, completely wacky yet tasteful feedback loop manipulation. It bores and annoys many people in the harsh noise scene, but I believe it to be more than possible to create soundscapes of this type to where they stimulate and even hypnotize. In the sea of feedback loop toggle-flippers and knob-twisters, Craig Hodgkins of Philly/Pittsburgh/DC stands out like a bruised apendage. This is especially because of other releases of his where …

Sunken Cheek – Depths C30
Self Released
Sunken Cheek is a Syracuse noise act, and this tape is his latest output. Variation is for sure present here and Sunken Cheek meshes harsh and sparse sections fairly adeptly. While it doesn’t quite work always, “Depths” overall is fairly solid.
The first side is very minimal most of the way through, with scraping and clanking sound along with whispers that apparently are narrating a tale of habitat destruction, and while one would be unable to tell this as most of the whispering is buried enough …

2673 – A Saffron Wasteland CDR
Self Released
Here’s another dose of minimalism from 2673 and I’m happy to report that this time it works quite well. The tracks are untitled here which leaves little interpretation for concept but the sound is somehow dense in it’s sparsity.
8:31 kicks off with high pitched harsh tones that alternate in sound finally dipping down to a separated bass/treble tone. I really enjoy how the frequencies fuck with your head. My hearing felt “off” somehow during and after this track. You can tell there’s thought put …

Pacing – Pacing & Friends CDR
Self Released
Here’s a full-length from these Buffalo, NY kings of noise featuring many collaborations with friends. It appears it’s mostly collaborators offering vocal performances here with the exception of the last track where a friend Aaron is credited to “scrap”.
The album kicks off very strongly with A Sea of Teeth and Hands which features high pitched electronic squeals joined by intense crunchy noise walls. An assault of vocal attacks appears and we have a full-on war with the listener. The follower Abuse is equally as …

Cloama – Municipality of Marionettes LP
Freak Animal Records
Here’s the latest offering from Finland’s Cloama. This massive LP covers a mix of his more power electronics/noise influences and his drone and electroacoustic influences.
Splitting side A into 4 tracks things are kicked off with Municipality of Marionettes Pt. 1 which features noisy layers of texture over beautiful harmonic drones. Transgressions of the Mountain Lord immediately starts off on a different note with droning feedback, industrial sludge, and PE vocal deliveries. Once again reminding me of the odd amalgamation of sounds that …

Astro / Marax – Split CDr
TRASHFUCK Records
Astro is a Japanese noise project that has been floating around for quite some time now. Since 1997, Hiroshi Hasegawa of Astro has collaborated with the likes of Richard Ramirez, Government Alpha, and Bad Sector. Alongside Marax, who I have previously not heard but has nearly been around for the same amount of time, this split essentially qualifies as HNW but still has a very swirling, Japanoise flair to it.
Astro’s track, Sounds For Unconsciousness Behavior, is a long, pulsating whirl of harsh, spaced noise …

Facialmess/Sleep Sessions – Excessive Force CD
Somnolent Shelter
Fuck yea, it’s been awhile since a harsh noise record really excited me, but this is a pretty incredible pairing of excellent spastic cut-up harsh noise acts. Actually, based on the Sleep Sessions material I have been exposed to before I was expecting longer tracks but I can settle for the merely 12 minutes of his material that this split offers because it’s heavy as fuck and unrelenting with an excellent array of sounds.
Facialmess is up first though and offers roughly 20 minutes of …