Premature Ejaculation - Part 2 ( a blast from the past 2 2010)

Premature Ejaculation - (Part 2) (1981) - Mal 2. Malaise Music

Part 2 was the second Premature Ejaculation tape released by Rozz Williams and Ron Athey in 1981. It was never officially released, only copied for friends. Here in it's fully remastered double disc form, original artwork; it differs greatly from Part 1.

Part 1 was a series of differing experiments within the noise /industrial /experimental genre. Part 2 is one long continuous 45 minute work; it contains a lot of the methods explored in part 1 and it yet attempts to work them all together. Part 2 functions as a journey (or a trip.) across the American landscape. In-between bursts of frequency assault, wind tunnel like sounds move along changing to engine noise and back. Noise is pushed to unbearable frequencies at various times throwing out sounds that would not be out of place in David Lynch's Eraserhead. Deliberately or because of recording quality, sounds are broken for periods of time, either way it is incorporated into the entire sound.

Fractured voices appear regularly; inaudible conversations, Preachers in the street and film dialogue. The voices are never given full clarity, their speed is mutated to become 'other' sounds that work in the entire equation; the voice is abstracted elsewhere. Although not the first, this predates a lot of current voice based noise (Maja Ratkje, Kylie Minoise, and Massona) and lies in a chain of abstracted voice work within experimental music. The vocals are frequent interruptions or stops in the journey.

Further stops include fairground noise, domestic sounds, train tracks and TV ads. These are not glorified, if anything it is an empty lonely dark trip. More and more upon each listen Part 2 becomes re representation of the American landscape as wasteland.

Part 2's use of noise is not pure or focused enough to be considered pure noise or power electronics. However it is clear that there was already a fully formed awareness of all the electronic extreme genres as there are still some industrial concerns in PE at this point. What is very evident is that after Part 1's experiments in sound, Part 2 is a confident successful conceptualized long passage of work. This is far from fully formed in sound, but it is strong and bares some hints to PE's future work. PE would never really do one long work in their label released work, yet ambient passages of sound became their forte; mental associations could always be made to strong suggestive effect. Part 2 does prove PE to be a project well capable of sustaining works for long periods of time.

The bonus disc is not part of Part 2, but five separate recordings Ron and Rozz made around a year later in 1982 tackle religion and noise.  However these do show a better quality of recording and the beginnings of a more cohesive approach to P.E's work. Choir arrangements are boiled and others turn into hallucinogenic nightmares; further religious torment from Rozz. There is a long track from a sex education video of children's voices describing the process of sexual intercourse, the sample is not touched, just played in its entirety and all the more disturbing after the hellish sermons that came before. There are two final tracks that present a more accomplished and aggressive minimal noise assault, very different to what there is today. This is a primitive important document. The journey begins to find its direction.

Choppy Noodles 2010. 

Premature Ejaculation - Part 1. (2010 review, a blast from the past.)

 Premature Ejaculation - Part 1. Malaise Music - 2010 - cdr

Started in 1981, Premature Ejaculation (PE) was the most prolific project of the late Rozz Williams (1963 – 98). Much of the material was released on Happiest Tapes on Earth, Dark Vinyl, Gymnastic, TripleXXX, Malaise Music, Baader Meinhof and Cleopatra records. There was a lot of PE material released by Rozz himself and Happiest Tapes that has never been commercially available to fans and they have now been unavailable for some time.

Malaise Music was a label started by Rozz’s close friend Erik Cristides in the 1990s, one great compilation was released (Merry Maladies), but future plans to release all of the rare PE material on Malaise were cut short by Erik’s untimely death in 1997. Original masters of the cassettes were purchased by John Collins and Malaise Music was reactivated by two German fans. Benjamin Siebert has expertly remastered all of the lost recordings and the first release is Premature Ejaculation part 1. The original cassette has been remastered in it’s entirety onto one disc, it has been broken down into 7 untitled tracks. Additional found bonus material from around the same time has been added onto a second disc.

These recordings were Rozz’s first recordings of industrial and noise music, key influences at this time were Throbbing Gristle, Johanna Went, Monte Cazzaza, SPK and Boyd rice. An additional mind blowing fact is that Boyd and Rozz were meant to collaborate on a project before Rozz’s untimely death.

Part 1 highlights how open ended the later named Deathrock scene was, Rozz was active in Christian Death, yet had a strong interest in Industrial. 45 Grave had an experimental project around the same time called C.E.D.S. (Citizens for the Exploration of Deep Space) Indicating that the movement had a sideways influence from Industrial.

Track one begins with a long passage of synth frequencies, this material is far more aggressive than a lot of PE’s material. I consider this to be an early attempt at Power Electronics, a movement that was at this time in its infancy, Whitehouse were very much in their early days at this time. Due to the lack of distortion here I would consider this acoustic in comparison to what would come from the Power Electronics movement. Premature Ejaculation appear to be testing the boundaries of noise at this time, shooting higher frequencies across the recording at intervals. The synths then break into low frequency drones. Track two begins with some higher frequency passages of noise. As the track progresses it falls between an attempt at music concrete and power electronics.

Track three begins with the sound of bubbling coming from underwater whether this is containers or a person is unclear, however a heartbeat takes over as the solo sound, this is consistently rhythmic and manipulated. A helicopter sample takes over to be quickly replaced by a pulsing synth and sounds recreating baron atmospheres work around each other. This sample would crop up on later PE releases; PE constantly recycled their own sounds on other recordings. It is this track that begins to formulate their later approach to their releases. Human made pulses and sounds bring the collage to an end.

Track four continues sound and sample combinations to more suggestive effect; the human sounds are painful and unpleasant. Suggestiveness is where PE flourished, there are no obvious details, and samples are very everyday such as toys and cheap keyboards. There is a mock religious theme to the overall feel, but it’s not too specific so other avenues of thought are opened. It also predates Current 93s early sound collage work an extent. Tambourine percussion opens five as an intro to a further human chant. The two sources work over and around each other, this being the most effective use of combined sounds. 6 begins with a guitar noise feedback episode which pays light homage to Lou Reed’s metal machine album, considered later on to be a major influence on contemporary noise. Raw frequencies return to build primitive walls of sound that close PE part One.

The bonus disc shows another different aspect to Premature Ejaculation in that a lot of untreated electronic instrumentation and toy sounds unite in a chaotic unstructured jam. This is SMEGMA homage plain and simple; SMEGMA’s Ace Farren Ford would work with Rozz on later projects. What’s interesting is the layering of different sound sources would flourish in PE’s discography where as raw noise assaults and unstructured instrumental work would be put aside and used on early Heltir releases such as Ill Bancheto del Cancri/VC06 and 69 rituals.

Overall this is a very raw recording; each area works individually, but it is a presentation of separate experiments of abstract sound manipulation. It highlights how Chuck Collison’s later involvement was crucial in helping to bond separate threads together as well as reaching higher production standards. It shows an open ended approach before PE tightened its focus on selected working methods. It shows Williams and Athey, in areas to be thinking practitioners of noise with purpose and conceptualisation. The original artwork (redone by Scottie) along with certain tracks are the beginnings of the later P.E. Death Culture aesthetic.

Choppy Noodles 2010.

The death is in the details - Awakening the Waves.

The Death Is in The Details – Awakening the Waves.

Bandcamp Release, 2016, 3 Track Album, download.

https://thedeathisinthedetails.bandcamp.com/album/awakening-the-waves

The Death Is in the Details is a one woman Dark Ambient project based in London UK. To my understanding, there have been several full-length releases made - but this is said to be the best representation of The Death Is in The Details so far.

Submerge crashes in with huge arching drones that create a large display of ambient power, the mood settles into a suspenseful and foggy abstract space. Drones cut in and out of the work, building the work to a climax until it dies. This allows for higher pitched drones to serve as the entrance for The Debris You Created; resonating drones and static hiss intertwine with harsher shifts in tone allowing for a darker more aggressive passage of sound. Hums and drones pulsate to intensify the track towards the end. Heard emerges from a distance, rumbling and farting away to lower more infected sounding frequencies than before. This is the most intense track of the three, it doesn’t rise to the levels of Submerge or Debris, but achieves intensity gradually and subtly.

Awaking the Waves is a strongly ritualistic collection of three individual tracks with distinct individual identities. The use of drones and subtle introduction of various sounds affect the shifts in mood of each track well. It demonstrates direct and concise use of sound to affect the mood of each track, there is no waste or error; everything is organised with clear purpose. This is a strong album I’d gladly recommend.

Choppy Noodles 2017.