Pusdrainer – Instant Death/Total Shit 2xC30
Dead Pope Productions
Here is my first formal introduction to the project of Pusdrainer and what is presented is a nice looking double tape package with simple black/white artwork and spraypainted tapes. Quite the DIY affair but one that obviously has some effort put into it.
The sounds here range from – most notably – harsh noise, to power electronics, a small dose of industrial here and there, and finally a good handful of wall-noise thrown in for good measure. To give you a general vibe of …

Lavas Magmas – Phantom Limb C30
Zen Enthusia
Yet another excellent release from the enigmatic Lavas Magmas. The project hails from Portland and uses a smattering of electronic effects combined with guitar, field samples and many times video accompaniment. This release is audio alone, but it is just as effective, if not moreso.
Most of Side A consists of a soaring drone track somewhat reminding me of the best moments of Troum. Drifting and floating to form a clear precise sound, but with enough dirt to hint at the industrial atmospheres that are …

Mazakon Tactics – Adorable Atrocities C30
No Visible Scars
Here is yet another quality release from this consistent tape label. Mazakon Tactics presents the darkest of death industrial sounds in this brutal 30 minute cassette.
Merging the death industrial influences of Brighter Death Now with power electronic death grunts and some clanking metallic sounds Mazakon Tactics has formed one of the most dismal and hopeless records I have heard in recent memory. The cover is quite fitting as this could definitely be the soundtrack to someone being pulled down into the layer of …

Rei Rea -Quel Que CD
Brise-Cul Recordings
Rei Rea’s Quel Que is a short album that consists mostly of ominous drones and lonely ambient melodics. Occasional bursts of distortion appear here but this album is mostly repetitive drones and spacey synth work. Unfortunately, it seems as though the concept has consumed Quel Que, leaving us with a stripped down chunk of boring, monotonous ambience.
Quel Que is obviously supposed to be a haunting and moving piece; the fact is that it is neither. The only sort of variation present here is the difference …

OGOGO – Redux CD
III Records
“Free jazz” and “avant garde” are the two best words I can come up with to describe OGOGO’s Redux. The sound throughout this entire album is very progressive and guitar/trombone based, and while it can be noisy at times, it’s hard to call this a “noise” album in the traditional sense, though I doubt that’s what OGOGO was going for. With rambling tones and endless prog-rock guitar noodling, Redux comes across as fairly sophisticated but also rather pretentious.
I can detect some fairly complex work being done …

Squid Fist – Face/Off CD
Hidden Birdhouse Records
With squealing feedback and rampant drums and cymbals, Squid Fist’s Face/Off is an interesting piece of improvisational work. At times, the beating drums add this strange, frantic effect, as if this album is the soundtrack to a futuristic, ritualistic tribe of savages enacting some sort of grisly rite. At other times, the album takes on a very ambient noise, incidental, found sound feel, as if recording to audio the bizarre situations said savages get themselves into.
The album starts out with Flesh Chair, which reminds …

Hated Bruit Kollektiv – Aktion One CD
New Nihilism
HBK is an ephemeric project held among musicians behind Genetic Transmission, Moan and Nojsens. Aktion One seems to be the groups first release and is a surprising collage of harsh noise, musique concrete, electroacoustic and industrial/dark ambient. The release is packaged in an enormous and well designed poster on heavy matte paper.
Quite lush and intense it really sounds like all kinds of sound sources are used here. Field samples, digital processing, distortion, collage work combined with heavy metallic clanking and even some human …

Government Alpha – Impregnable Storm CD
New Nihilism
To those out of touch with the world of harsh noise Government Alpha is a long standing Japanoise act and often referred to as one of the leaders of the second-wave of Japanese noise. With Impregnable Storm Government Alpha offers a hefty barrage of harsh frequencies by way of the Polish label New Nihilism which has uniquely packaged the disc in an enormous well designed poster.
Impregnable Storm is just that – a wailing downpour of unhindered powerful sound without respite for about an hour. …

Dan of Earth – …I Can Still See The X 3″ CDR
Colbeck Labs
The name Dan of Earth is kind of an ironic name for this artist, because …I Can Still See The X is pretty otherworldly. Taking a  heavily ambient route, this short (it clocks in at just over twenty minutes) but absorbing album sounds like a transmission from some point far into the future. Utilizing avant garde tendencies and a general, Kafkaesque weirdness, …I Can Still See The X is a solid release from this obscure act.
New Smooth Jazz …

Churner – Boneyard CD
Violent Noise Atrocities
Boneyard is one of the many 2010 releases from the prolific Churner, and where he took the lo-fi, melodic sound on the previously reviewed and ill-planned Florescent Bondage, he goes for a much more straightforward approach on this EP. Boneyard is a very appropriately titled EP; the moody, dismal sounds presented here completely evoke the mood of a creepy, fog filled graveyard. Nothing here is very innovative or original; Churner just traverses the soundscape deftly and has created an atmospheric, albeit short soundtrack to an …