Closer Bones - The Destroying Angel

Closer Bones – The Destroying Angel – 2019 – Digital release.

https://closerbones.bandcamp.com/album/the-destroying-angel-2

https://reclaimedvoices.org/en/

I confess to being new to New Hampshire’s Closer Bones, the project has been active since 2013 and done four releases since then. This is a Non-Binary, pansexual project that has appeared on some impressive Queer Noise compilations such as ‘A Queer Noise to Drown Out the TERFs’, sharing album space with Apk ♀ ᴎᴇᴛ ☯ LtdFAX and The Answer to All Your Questions.

The album’s main theme is that it is dedicated to those who are still trapped by the Watchtower or Bible Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) all profits go to Reclaimed Voices who campaign for change in Jehovah’s Witness policy, such as keeping sexual abuse secret.  A couple of tracks deal with growing up closeted queer in the Jehova’s Witnesses. 

It features different guest appearances on each track, these include: Fire Toolz, Poète Maudit, porcelain MagGot, SBTDOH, Swamp Temple, Feedback Queen, peasant Farm, Wormhoudt and Straight Panic.

The album’s opener Old System displays some futuristic, concise dialogue sampling, the vocals go off in the foreground and sometimes right to the background behind everything. Tracks boast good crunch and high-pitched sound that combine for some odd, violent noise. I use the word as there are a lot of wtf sounds going on, there is a kazoo like drone that teases throughout Old System or the tinkering pianos on ‘Fragmented during Formative Years’. This plays with a lengthy Death Industrial Chug along on that blisters into ambient territory for dialogue samples to play out. Neglect of Faith is noisy and ethereal – it builds upon the sharp trebly assault that was in the opening track, this then carries through in Blood and Fear which demonstrates raw, urgent, anxiety causing, esoteric electronics that pulsate loops of hiss. The vocal outburst is impressive. Muddy beginnings are destroyed by Organs and further displays of hissy sharpness on Scoptophilic Transgression as samples taunt. Psalm 94.19 combines distraught dialogue samples, sermon and noise; reaching relentless, insane revving levels of intensity.  01000101 01101110 01100100 uses samples and tickles with choppy, restraint quickly shifting the albums territory elsewhere. Snubbed and Spat on is a real shit kicker, the choppiness of the previous track is intensified to deceptively function like a wall. I find the assault very direct; it’s cut into with sharp noise like wall’s are, but everything is very direct and doesn’t allow for it to function in a void-like or ambient way. As soon as the vocal arrives, the track is saying “Die” and flirts with the rawer, course aspects of British Power electronics to amplify the hate. New System carries on the violence eventually smoothing it into Wall like death as the vocal rage continues in the background.

The collaborative/guest aspect on each track keeps the album fresh and inventive. The noises converse between themselves on different tracks, they re-appear on different tracks too. This isn’t a simple album; it’s layered, complex and does demand further listening each time as there are many minor details, samples, textures and patterns woven into the work. There’s a holy sadness that reoccurs through the album as if addressing religion directly. Samples from religious services are used in parts too, either way it is frequently presented back directly to the target throughout the album. What I admire is the album isn’t fashionably blasphemous, it tackles the many issues of creator with the Jehovah’s Witness directly through the samples and tortured vocals. The Destroying Angel is an ambitious album that pushes beyond its boundaries continuously. I can’t decide if it is good or great. If it’s very good, I feel this project could potentially go onto true greatness once the focus is even further sharpened and the quirkiness allowed to grow. Good or great? I'll keep listening and find out. 

This is currently a digital only release and will be released on cassette in July on Black Ring Rituals Records.

https://blackringrituals.bandcamp.com/music

Choppy Noodles 2019

Closer Bones has also been kind enough to compile and email me a list of recommended Queer and related noise artists to this project. I feel this allows the reader to investigate more great stuff.

Abhilasa (Columbus, OH)

https://abhilasha.bandcamp.com/

Clown Doll (Phoenix, AZ)

https://clowndoll.bandcamp.com

Carrion Eater (Fall River, MA)

https://carrioneaterindustrial.bandcamp.com

Glass Spitter (Bethlehem, PA)

https://glassxspitter.bandcamp.com

Ragk (Junction City, KS)

https://ragk.bandcamp.com

Pain Chain (Lowell, MA)

https://pain-chain.bandcamp.com

Dysphoria (Greensboro, NC)

https://dysphorianoise.bandcamp.com

Angelsbreath (Worcester, MA)

https://angelsbreath.bandcamp.com

Goth Girl (Toronto, Ontario)

https://gothgirl.bandcamp.com

Straight Panic (New Orleans, LA)

https://straightpanic.bandcamp.com

Niku Daruma (Pittsburgh, PA)

https://nikudaruma.bandcamp.com

E. Hernandez (San Francisco, CA)

https://ehernandezmusic.bandcamp.com/

Ritual Chair Overview.

Ritual Chair – Brock Turner (Download, 2018) – Ashamed – (Download, Cassette, 2019).

https://ritualchair.bandcamp.com/

https://houseofruthinc.org/

A noise project based out of Pomona, CA. An ex-sorority girl who didn’t fit in, a girl who is trying to piece together how to move on through PTSD and depression.  Taken from Ritual Chair Facebook page.

I discovered Ritual Chair through a recommendation of her tape Ashamed on Facebook. This led me to the Bandcamp of the project that has a mass of Ritual Chair recordings to play and download, which lead me to the Brock Turner recording amongst others that she’s done.

Brock Turner – 2018. What’s effective in this recording is samples from the news coverage of the Brock Turner’s rape case are layered over noise. 20 minutes of action is the term Turner’s Father used in his reference for his son to the judge, that got him a reduced sentence of 6 months of which he only three months. The entire recording focusses on how Turner’s 20 Minutes of Action virtually ruined someone’s life, yet the defence turned this round claiming the incident ruined the rest of Turner’s life and his dreams rather than that of the victim? The use of noise throughout, creates tension and anxiety over the samples which emphasise the horror and effects of rape culture, white male privilege, Frat culture and flaws in the justice system.

The use of noise mocks and emphasises the words on the recording, the noise is the presence of the creator of Ritual Chair throughout. This highlights the hypocrisy and real-life horror of what happened. It demonstrates impressive use of Death Industrial noise; the drones are powerful. The infected hiss says plenty, it is a blade that rips open the law or society’s hypocrisy where rape is concerned and it is as hard hitting and effective as noise can get, this is a brilliant recording.

 The two titles of this years Ashamed cassette release are Rape and Assault. They are recordings of the artist (I assume) detailing two said events that happened in her life. Prior to this the narrative/vocals were tied in heavily with the noise to the point where it couldn’t easily be made out. On this the recording the narrative is dominant. The details of the Assault are steady and slightly distorted through crackling hiss. The horror of the events builds up gradually and details the grim sexism and sexual assault that happens in some people’s lives. It highlights the culture of guilt reversal.

Rape again uses narrative and no noise, it is entirely reliant on Ritual Chair’s spoken word. It highlights Rape through intoxication, blurred persuasion and the taking a condom off during sex without permission. The recording creates horror through description of real life events, it isn’t a character created, but a real person’s trauma and pain. The narrator questions herself, his actions, explains the aftermath, hopes for his death and so do I.

The direct nature of these and many recordings on the Ritual Chair Bandcamp are powerful and very personal. They highlight the results of the horror of some people and their actions. The use of noise on these two recordings is fairly minimal, it can be a lot busier on other recordings and vocals can be layered into the noise too. Here everything is precise and often well considered. Looking at the project’s Facebook, the live shows are well presented, punishing, intense rituals and they differ greatly each time. On one show a massive crescendo of noise is overtaken by dialogue, Ritual Chair comes from behind the equipment desk and gets right up to the audience. My main criticism is that leaving this project to the realms of Band Camp is like leaving something to the mercy of MySpace, I hope there will be more physical releases over time. The more I investigate this project, the more I’m blown away, is all I can say.

Choppy Noodles 2019.

Blood of Chhinnamastika.

Blood of Chhinnamastika – The Promise of Delusion - Cassette – Fusty Cunt – 2018 – FUC202.

http://fustycunttapes.blogspot.com/

https://bloodofchhinnamastika.bandcamp.com/

1.       Kreem.

2.       Master.

3.       Old Beliefs. 

4.       Hum.

5.       I Am No Self.

Blood of Chhinnamastika is an anonymous California based noise project that has done three releases throughout 2018 on Fusty Cunt and The Pet Goat Records. I don’t know if the project comes from another unit, or this is a first-time artist. The Promise of Delusion is a five-track cassette and their latest release.

Tortured, screeching sounds and vocal noises come in from the distance to introduce the cassette, which is an immediate hellish nightmare. The pulsating electronics of Master throb repetitively, to break up into a vortex of noise that is cut into with sharp noise before vocal chaos erupts. The vocals are an incoherent noise that blasts away. I like how the electronics keep dying off and faltering suddenly only to burst back with more vigour. The faltering increases to become a key component, the vocal noise is impressive; I’d like to see how this act copes on a live front. Old Beliefs demonstrates impressive, choppy, Harsh Noise. This builds into a massive noise assault, sounds are jacked, choppy and the work continually cuts itself up. Where as Master had a more occultist /Blackened feel, this is more ‘Fuck yeah!’ type noise that gets more beastly as it progresses and erupts to an end.

Hum falls right in with the violence of earlier tracks, there is a sense of esoteric noise to the background noises as chaotic contrasts of noise overlay it. Like earlier tracks (Master) this does dramatically keep dying off to allow the noises to reconfigure themselves and erupt. This eventually dies off into minimal squeal. I am no Self is very choppy, with deep Harsh Wall crackle that is continually broken up by a choir of noises, this shifts to use repetition, raging vocal noise and urgent noise to become something else entirely. This is the most violent display on The Promise of Delusion, delivering a big finale.

Promise of Delusion continues the tradition of American choppy noise, whilst maintaining an esoteric, occasionally blackened feel. It varies itself well, becoming impressively harsh at times. The work shifts rapidly throughout, cutting everything up as it just manages to hold all its ideas at once, allowing for a wider identity to the project. Good release.

Choppy Noodles 2019.

Le Syndicat.

Le Syndicat FactionVivante – Interaction Sociale – Aussaat – LP – Aussaat 08 – 2019

Side A.

Live at the Brellfest – Recorded in 2016 at Clisson/ France – 22m 07s.

Side B.

Live at HY! Festival – Recorded in 2017 at Copenhagen / Denmark – 22m 43s.

I am feeling the blog pressure, after I reviewed Entre Vifs and L’eclipse Nue on here for Aussaat, I got sent a vinyl of the new Le Syndicat Faction Vivante live album. This is my first free vinyl album (courtesy of Aussaat) for the blog, I feel special. The sophistication of some recent releases by Entre Vifs, Abysse and Tetsuo has really opened my eyes to new stuff from our French neighbours, I sure hope Brexit doesn’t happen as these little pangs of brilliance make me long for an (easier) visit to France. The blog got a little political there, I hope you all stay with me.

I know jack all about Le Syndicat (the syndicate), all I have is the excellent, choppy, violent tracks that are on this year’s main birthday present for me - the Broken Flag Box Set (2012). They have been releasing work prolifically since 1982, I also know there is a loose link with the amazing Entre Vifs whose cd I reviewed recently too. For this album they are ‘Le Syndicat Faction Vivante (The Living Faction Union.) This album compiles two live sets from 2016 and 2017.

The first set starts with churning repetitive noise as waves of wall like distortion and samples make things chaotic, causing a rise in intensity. Urgent, interruptions of noise and high-pitched squealing noise cut in and disrupt the prominent sounds. The work does cut itself up and shift into other areas rapidly, this functions to break the work up into different categories so monotony can’t cloud the proceedings. The work also raises in violence frequently and quickly falls to allow curious conversations of noise to occur, aside from being noise, there is an avant-garde quirkiness that overshadows the work.

The second set is a lot more murky, menacing and vocal; it uses some impressive digital sounding noise. The sounds are way more conversational with each other, vocal noises are inaudible but add to this. The work simmers in quieter regions a lot, taking it back into menacing territory when things get playful, this also frequently allows for minimal passages of sound to play out. There then seems to be a lot of dramatic shifts in speed and it seems as if noises are dragged backwards across themselves after they have played out, so that they can repeat in a different context.

This is a quirky, consistently interesting, strong live recording. I really like Le Syndicat, like other French projects in my radar, they demonstrate a unique, sophisticated approach to noise.

Choppy Noodles 2019.

The Infernal Kitchen Scandals

The G.R. Orchestra – The Infernal Kitchen Scandals - 2019 - https://thegrorchestra.bandcamp.com/releases     

1.       Fuckin’ Disaster.

2.       Fuckin’ Critical.

3.       Fuck Yourself.

4.       Don’t Call Me Fuckin’ Mate.

Denmark based G R Orchestra’s ‘The Infernal Kitchen Scandals’ was originally recorded in 2016 by Per Najbjerg Odderskov. It will be released on CD in April 2019.  Its theme is foul mouthed TV celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, known for his aggressive verbal outbursts and confrontations that frequently erupt on most of his Television programmes.  There have been enough Ramsay TV confrontations to provide this project with enough sample material for a very large discography. I am unsure if all the samples are Ramsey based or if there is cross contamination with other sample sources.

All the tracks use the said Ramsay samples to provide a verbally violent sample base for each track. These are then coupled with massive Death Synths, Power Electronic noises and distortions. Samples are looped, placing emphasis on shouting and arguing to the point of insanity; making for aggressive, tense landscapes of noise and samples.

This recording demonstrates a unique use of mass media sampling that isn’t themed on the usual criminal interviews, disaster newscasts, victim statements etc. It does have a quirky avant-garde quality to it through its playfulness and humour in how the samples are tweaked and looped - this shifts the sample context a lot and contrasts with the consistent tension in the work. It also in parts, strips itself down to a minimal use of sound and can move into some ambient territory at times; along with the areas of overload allows for the samples to be consistently effective. I found it very tense and hard to review at the same time. But still, this is a good, well thought out fuckin' recording!!!!!!!!!

Choppy Noodles 2019. 

Treriksröset – Kristen Musik Från Rågsved

Treriksröset – Kristen Musik Från Rågsved – Harbinger Sound – LP – HARBINGER179 – 2019.

A

Filantropen (irate, peeved).

I tacksamhet.

B

Kristen Musik Från Rågsved.

As of yesterday I now own a Tommy Carlsson record. All I knew of him prior to this receiving the Treriksröset record was the outspoken interview he did in Special Interest magazine a few years ago*. He also ran a label called Segerhuva that re-issued the RJF album a decade ago as well as contemporary noise acts such as Government Alpha, Sewer Election and Incapacitants amongst many others over an eleven-year period. This, his latest 12” record was also recorded in Mono.

Humming resonates as voices (possibly sampled) converse in the background, a grey wall of distortion and feedback go off, the mono aspect makes it bleaker in sound. It’s like an alpha male Harsh Wall, solid, dense, thick and virtually impenetrable. We only hear the background noises we’re allowed to, it’s as if strictly controlled beyond belief. Layers of distortion are introduced throughout, until it dies off to an end. This is a bold, firm introduction to this work.

The second track begins as choppier bits of noise, it seems to be demonstrating how to use machinery and feedback to make good noise, words* put into practice. As the wall of distortion begins to rise, the electronic noises argue defiantly. Like the first track, the wall seems dominant, allowing certain sounds to come through the wall and others to enter from the outside - a fight of sound if you like.  It is as if the creator is playing around with the walls of noise as they shift around continuously, dramatically faltering and accelerating.

The longer title track forms the B-side of the record, it’s immediately thick and clogged by grey noise. Sharp itches of feedback noise struggle in the background, the wall dominates; this track is the most suffocating work on the album. Due to its length it seems larger in sound, as if making full use of the time it has. The work strips itself back so only the wall of distortion radiates allowing for a clear definition of the sound interruptions, it then gains momentum as if to force itself into overdrive until it melts down again.  Density increases as the work exhausts itself for minimal elements such as low hum feedback and hiss to dominate. Things splutter and fight until a locked groove signifies the end.

The dense mono sound blackens and greys the work throughout, but the work continually fights against the restrictive mono which makes for a very effective sound. This is a masterful, dominating piece of work, another highlight of 2019.

Choppy Noodles 2019

S.T.A.B. Electronics - Enemy of Pigs

S.T.A.B. Electronics - Enemy of Pigs - 2019 - LP/MC - Unrest Productions.

I was on the phone to someone tonight talking about music, we got to talking about the S.T.A.B. gig last Saturday and why I like S.T.A.B. so much, I didn’t do a good job of explaining why. So the purpose of this review is to persuade you to get this album and explain why S.T.A.B. is so good. I am feeling the pressure.

Like may listeners I like to discover stuff that I haven’t heard before, but sadly with a good percentage of Death Industrial and Power Electronics I often arrive after the party and a lot of the older acts that still exist today are a parody tribute to their former selves and I can’t be arsed anymore paying daft discogs prices for that stuff. And what’s the point of spending all my cash doing that and going to all these fucking US and Euro Industrial Fests to see the best acts and line ups - I prefer to hold out for a stronger local scene instead. Reading a recent interview in Special Interests that you’ve all no doubt read, led me to S.T.A.B. and I took the dive and bought two S.T.A.B. albums. It was exciting for two reasons, the standout tracks on Day of the Male absolutely blew my head right off, it is a now project, next level and better than most stuff from back in the day and now if I'm honest. Finding a good, present day act is a massive reward to me as a listener.  Months later I’m in London in a crowded room while S.T.A.B. shouts in my face, it wasn’t glamorous, it was raw, real, now and it seemed to happen at me. As soon as the gig was over, I went back to the hotel and wrote my review, I could have made lots of new friends and connections, but I really wanted to hold on to what I saw and heard. As soon as I got home the next day, I played Enemy of Pigs through twice and was really surprised.

Repeated vocal samples of ‘Mother, Mother Mother, please’ form the base of High Infant Mortality, whilst drones radiate ominously, and the vocals rage away from the background to the foreground continuously. The drones do tease slightly at the past while the vocal is anchored in the present; I feel in the middle of the elements experiencing the dialogue.

Slugs delivers aggressive, threatening humming feedback and faltering wall noise while the vocal is way uglier and more direct. The vocal is more like what was spat in my face last Saturday so it subconsciously seems directed at me whilst the electronics try desperately to interrupt the diatribe, they try, they don’t give up, but they don’t win either. I don’t know if I am taking this personally or happily reminiscing.

Her Dead eyes is horrible, overly descriptive to me it seems to describe the horror of extreme porn/sex, but it makes you think, it really challenges you, everything yet nothing is revealed, the high-pitched squealing vocal is less effects laden than previous recordings, it raw, rank and very real.  This is the end of the first side, it’s muddier, yet vocally a lot less effects laden than earlier work and retreats into the murk to deliver a horrible, harsher dose of reality.

Of Misandry is sampled dialogue that serves as a bass for massive drones to spread their horror as the vocals distort in the background, by doing this, you’re forced to concentrate on the vocal. The drones are as radioactive as they can be, as if diseased and echoing death. The gender war continues within S.T.A.B.

Sic Semper Tyranis (Thus always to tyrants) radiates sickness as the drones intensify continuously and the vocal spews and curses away from foreground to background. The electronics are simple and effective. Violent Reprise boasts an inhuman, grotesque vocal and sicker electronics, the album is intensifying continually. Prayers form I am going To Die (And so are You), they’re temporarily eclipsed by urgent, repetitive electronics as the vocal really comes to the forefront, it’s as if the best is saved until last, vocally.  The sample’s continual re-emergence amplifies the songs context massively.

Enemy of Pigs isn’t dominated by a few Standout tracks, it is consistently strong and I’d argue that the vocals don’t reach the same levels of intensity as Day of the Male did (barr I am going to die). In a way it steps back to find a solid continuity and really defines S.T.A.B. as an act in its’ own right - there’s way less Homage on this album. There are newer, interesting vocal techniques demonstrated throughout – Sic Semper and violent are key examples. Here the act moves on, progresses, it’s stripped back reinforced by some conceptually strong sampling and dirtier, muddy electronics. I’d say its way more depraved from the inside, rather than projecting outside themes, but that’s been ongoing too. In some ways this is a person becoming the performance, the self’s past and present are the theme, but done in an original way. S.T.A.B. was in the right circles from the outset (Unrest, Urishma, Filth and Violence) from looking and listening it got better until it got this good. But is this radioactive, headfuck slab of vinyl S.T.A.B.’S best or one of its best? Time will tell, but for now, it is stuck in my head and I can’t stop listening, I really wish I could, but I can’t. Let’s see if anyone matches it this year.

Choppy Noodles 2019.