Wether/A Snake in the Garden – Split C20
905 Tapes
A perfect pairing of only the grimiest of harsh noise hell. This is a no frills release with the sickest sounds from Delaware’s Wether on one side, and Vermont’s A Snake in the Garden on the second side.
Side A is Wether’s turn for air time and they present one track entitled “Spoken in German”. Well, everyone knows that German sounds bad-ass and this track is no exception. Of course I can’t hear any actually spoken words, German or otherwise, but what I …

Content Nullity – Rotting Walls of Decaying Sound 3″CDR
Scrape Tapes
Here’s a sexy little 3 incher from England’s prodigal son Tommuel Reynolds. This is the first full release I have heard from Content Nullity and it is no suprise to me that the sound here is absolutely beautifully layered death industrial noise.
Opening this 5 track disc is the quicky “Mould” immediately foreshadowing a gloomy mood with some subdued harsh noise and spurts of high-pitched feedback. “The Infinite Void” starts off slowly, like a machine just kicking off. Before I know it …

Clew of Theseus – Meridian CD
Cathartic Process
Clew of Theseus is the ambient/noise/industrial project by main proprietor of Cathartic Process Ben Brucato. I believe this is the first that I have heard from the man, his project, or his label. First off, the packaging comes across as quite artsy. Different textures align all sides somewhat reminding me of a Groundfault release. The information is plastered on in a small box but colored to blend in just right.
The sounds are not too far off from what the cover represents. The tracks are …

Sujo – Arak 3″CDR
Inam Records
This one knocked me on my ass, but quite softly. Arak is about 20 minutes of pure drone bliss from this group I am not familiar with. Smartly packaged in a little pink slip with something like two fighting prehistoric sea creatures printed on a folded transparency, it has the mark of a quality DIY operation. It’s the sounds on the disc though, that really do rise above the expectations set by the outer packaging.
A slow rhythmic dirge quickly kicks in mixed with high pitched wailing …

V/A – “It’s Battery Acid, You Slime” C60
Heavy Psych
I always find compilations such a fucking pain in the ass to review. Having so many artists jammed into one release, so many different sounds and visions and worrying about those each specifically. Then there’s always the question of how uniform you prefer things to be. Should all the artists sound very similar? Should they all bring something different to the table? Add to that an unlabeled cassette tape. You have to either remember what track you’re on or pay attention very …

Benjamin Nelson – Untitled C42
Semata Productions
This is the debut release from Boston’s Benjamin Nelson presenting two fluid tracks of minimalist modular synthesizer drone. The description alone is already well-treaded territory so it’s a wonder that Nelson succeeds in using this method to create these gorgeous flowing sounds. Given that Untitled is almost devoid of any threads one could grasp that could lead to a concept here it’s quite surprising that the sound is one of deep emotion and mental clarity.
The creatively titled “Live at the Piano Factory 9.23.08” lives on …

Jute Gyte – It was a Great Marvel that He was in the Father Without Knowing Him 3″CDR
Jesimoth Entertainment
Here’s a little three incher blast of noise and subversive atmosphere from the enigmatic Jute Gyte. Not sure exactly why this project seems so strange to me but there’s something about the titles, the sounds, the overall feel of his work that has depth to it. It was a Great Marvel that He was in the Father Without Knowing Him is no exception, and it’s impressive how Jute Gyte can manage to …

V/A – People Who Do Noise DVD
Cold Hands Video
People Who Do Noise is a documentary video about noise in Portland. The director has chosen to portray the current state of the Portland noise scene through interviews and staged performances with the artists involved. This decision was probably for the best because I would only imagine having some disembodied narrator attempting to set some kind tone for the film either being too serious, or too flippant to get the film’s point across. But, it’s really the lack of agenda that seems …

Sharpwaist – The Night Of and the Morning After C22
Nil By Mouth
Unnggghhh, this tape is like a fucking heavy punch to the gut. I’ve been experiencing Carl Haas’ live assaults as Sharpwaist for quite sometime now, and sometimes it stabs like a knife in the back, sometimes it’s a raw thud in the gut. But after hearing a few of his releases I’ve noticed he has some trouble capturing all the ferocity of his live performances. Apparently this is an issue no longer because with The Night Of and the …

Ginger Leigh – Merchant of Death CDR
Self Released
Here is another disc by Ginger Leigh, once again bringing the strange, Middle Eastern psych rock mixed with the rare noise outburst and distorted vocals. It’s like a sample-based Muslimgauze because this feels more like someone got their hands on a large library of old-school psych records from Cambodia (yea, Africa I know, still a similar sound) and edited the tracks ever-so-slightly adding an electronica element here, and experimental noise element there.
With 19 tracks on Merchant of Death it’s pretty surprising how consistent …