Inner Demons #14 – New July 2021 Batch.

 

Inner Demons #14 – New July 2021 Batch.

https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/

THIS NOISE KILLS FASCISTS.

Inner Demons.

Following on from my recent interview with Dan Fox who runs Inner Demons Records, I have received the latest batch of releases by the label. In this one, there are 11 recordings, all are housed in the familiar Inner Demons 3” CDr format with Dan’s Black and White artwork – the obsessive eye to detail of the formats the label demonstrates impress me a lot. I believe that this may be their biggest batch of releases so far.

Over the last 15 years, Inner Demons has stayed true to its own ethics and done close to a hundred releases of different artists from around the world. The label has established itself as a leading light in the present-day noise scene. Inner Demons #14 is an overview of their latest batch of 11 new releases.

 

Yasuyuki Uesugi – Untitled - 3” Cdr/Download – [IND091] – 2021.

https://yasuyuki-uesugi.bandcamp.com/

      1.    Untitled – 20.17

Yasuyki Uesugi is a new Japanese Noise artist who has been active since 2019, his single Untitled track begins as a sudden explosion of distortion that creates a wall of Harsh Noise. The texture of the sound is thick with a sharper blast that undulates around the main body of distortion. A fluid medium roar creates a subtle shift in sound as it becomes a part of the texture later on in the track by altering the layers that create the whole sound. The energy of the track splutters erupting menace and danger. The ripping blasts of distortion alter throughout the Untitled track.

There is a feeling of the past in the sound as if on an old rail journey many centuries ago, the creaking of the noise does this, yet the roar contrasts it as if on a high-speed, modern-day journey. Solid contrasting HNW delivered, good work.

 

Platonoff – The Grapes of Wrath - 3” Cdr/Download – [IND093] – 2021

https://platonoff.bandcamp.com/releases

      1.    Communism Great Construction Projects.

      2.    Railway Gulag.

      3.    The Grapes of Wrath.

      4.    Wunderwaffle.

‘To hell with politics, Gestapo will die by itself )) There is no other way here.’

Platonoff 2021.

Platonoff appears to be a new project based in Russia. I get the impression members may be linked into other projects.

Having checked this and their Uno Lump album from 2020 on their own Bandcamp, this really differs from anything I have heard on IDS before. Their work is rhythmic, heavy industrial, noises collide for a time until a slow rhythm kicks in and guides the sounds into order. The noise seems to either stay as disciplined as the rhythms or suddenly go off and flood the proceedings with mayhem. Tracks seem to find a solid rhythm and then go off on screwy tangents, warping themselves so that they become something else entirely - this can be drawn out slow moving ambient landscapes for which the distanced beat becomes a faint pulse. At other times complete noise mayhem goes off over the pulsations so everything is reduced to a distant broadcast from wherever the chaos takes the sound.

The hypnotic gem of a release that is Grapes of Wrath is spread across 2 Cdrs, creating a long, shifting journey worthy of further listening.

 

Dragon and Jettenbach – Roche Limit – 3” Cdr/Download – [IND094] – 2021

https://meektapes.bandcamp.com/album/constraints   

https://edgewood112.bandcamp.com   

https://jettenbach.bandcamp.com  

https://lessthanone.bandcamp.com/music

    1. <●>°•    

    2. ○)°)•

    3. ○)) ●))

The Roche Limit: The point at which one celestial body can no longer maintain its own gravitational self-attraction and disintegrates due to the gravitation and tidal forces of a second celestial body.

This album is a collaboration between two UK based artists DJ Peter Adjobia (Dragon, Edgewood) and Paul Jetten (Jettenbach) working together for the first time.

I like this release from the outset, it has the feel of a soundtrack casting pleasant ambient landscapes as drones play out. The three tracks flow into each other beautifully and the sound is like a gorgeous dreamscape, Roche Limit is slightly sinister, rich ambient music, at times I think of Nite Fights era Walker Brothers. It is impossible for me to be critical about this album, I think it is amongst the best that the label has produced.

 

Gen 26 – Recessive Gene Mutation – 3” Cdr/Download – [IND088] – 2021

http://matjaz.jezakon.com/

      1.    Recessive Gene Mutation I.

      2.    Recessive Gene Mutation II.

      3.    Recessive Gene Mutation III.

I am a fan of the explosively consistent Gen 26 and it is great to see a release on Inner Demons by this Slovenian heavyweight. Gen 26 has produced a body of impressive Harsh Noise over its’ two decades. Here we are presented with 3 passages of Recessive Gene Mutation. Each Mutation is a blast of distortion in wall form with subtle differences spreading across the tracks in the examination of tone and texture. The Inner Demons Records format of 3”Cdr works well for Gen 26 as his sound explorations tend to be short maintain interest and allow comparison between different takes. The first two are crisp in their sound, the third has a muffled restraint creating strong contrast against the other works. Great work as you’d always expect from Gen 26.   

 

eR_Ka – NoisegrinDrtitch – 3” Cdr/Download – [IND092] – 2021

http://napalmed.cz/

      1.    Gojko Mrvitch.

      2.    Laco MrtWitch.

A fear comes over me as soon as I hit the link provided in my presearch I know what I will be reviewing! A side project of Czech noise terrorists Ein Stunde Merzbauten of whom I have reviewed quite a bit of stuff. Like other Czech noise projects, it (visually) appears funny, like a comedy project but the delivery will always be very thought out and serious - the name throws you off balance.

Goiko Mrvitch rains distortion on the listener, the sound is fast and shifts around a lot within its own parameters to keep attention focussed on the work. The sound is also slightly restrained to contrast the adrenalin fuelled delivery and this creates a real tension throughout the track. Laco MrtWitch uses similar methods to the opener but seems to function at a sharper level playing with choppier noise and hitting highs of screech and feedback a lot more. NoisegrinDrtitch is top tier Harsh Noise delivery like a fast ride in a speeding car.

 

This Is What I Hear When You Talk - TUCKFRUMP IV – 2 x 3” Cdr/Download – [IND086D] – 2021.

      1.    Nope.

      2.    Also Nope.

This is What I Hear When You Talk, the name implies personal and political connotations depending on the release, the TuckFrump series really leans the name to the political. This is one of Dan Fox’s projects, many of the releases can be found on the Inner Demons website. This is the fourth TRUCKFRUMP release.

Wow, ‘Nope’ has an impressive use of loud bass within its roar, there is an immediate tension between this and the distortion that drags across it. The depth of the sound feels as if I am in the middle of surround sound – I feel contained within this. Nope is energetic, loud and unchanging.  Also Nope uses a restrained bass that seems to be cut into, it also has a bounciness as a crackling distortion plays over it. This track is like broken techno masked by the crackle: the first track also has this, but it isn’t as easily recognisable whereas Also Nope sees to revel in it. Both tracks are strong and differ from each other - this is another impressive album by This Is What I Hear When You Talk.

 

The [Law-rah] Collective – Live 2018 – 2 x 3” Cdr/Download – [IND069D] – 2021.

https://www.facebook.com/darkambient

      1.    Den Haag, September 28^th.

      2.    Den Bosch, September 15^th.

I like the idea that there is noise collectives out there,keeping a sense of community and collective creativity - it gives a sense of organised assault to the genre, The [Law-Rah] Collective  goes back to 2000.

This double live album was a surprise that shows how Inner Demons keeps variety in the mix of its output. I am very impressed by this collection of live performances. It is the kind of work that you can play and drift away with. The sound evolves and resonates in each set, it has a hallucinogenic, dreamlike quality. The second disc is a lot more ominous than the first. Things break up a lot and it becomes a distorted pulsating conversation of fractured sounds. It is difficult to write a lot about this beauty of a release as I kept getting lost in it, I am converted - this is gorgeous work.

 

This Is What I Hear When You Talk – Half of A Whole – 2 x 3” Cdr/Download – [IND084D] – 2021.

      1.    I.

      2.    II.

The second release in the batch by This Is What I Hear When You Talk has an ambiguous title, are we referring to the release or something personal? Who knows, Dan Fox’s work has many sides and dimensions to it.

‘I’ creaks into action, this piece has elements of Wall that juxtapose with Industrial and Ambient leanings. It has the dark qualities of Dan Fox’s Loss work whilst keeping hold of aspects of the wall elements of This is What I Hear When You Talk. Distortion continually seems to splash across the entire track. Along with the genre juxtapositions, there is simultaneously repetition and subtle change happening across the track.

The second disc II is immediately busy with an Industrial and Noise Wall feel, throwing a very busy, creaky, full sound at the listener. It juggles approaches again, but this time Dan seems to get it all in his hands and really pat it together into one mass. II also never seems to stop getting thicker in texture.

I like that someone is doing that, throwing big ugly masses of noise out as an abstract piece of sound, questioning and challenging their own genre continuously. I have done a lot of reviews of this project and can’t praise the work enough.

 

Noise Hangover – Event Horizon – 3” Cdr/Download – [IND089] – 2021.

https://noisehangover.bandcamp.com/     

     1.    Event Horizon.

     2.    Gravitational Collapse.

Event Horizon appears to be the third release by Russian act Noise Hangover who have been active since 2019. Apart from the two releases on their Bandcamp, Noise Hangover remains a mystery project.

Event Horizon is a dark release, breathing synthesiser heavy drones that are like a ritual nightmare. So far, I’d say this is the darkest release of the batch. The sounds seem part vocal, part synthesised as they intertwine. Gravitational collapse has a similar mood but shows a change of sound palette. This hisses with higher frequencies overlapping punctuated by restrained distortion. The sound frequently thins out to let sounds work alone or in small groups and does it well.

This is a great release that is a credit to the label and the project.

 

RaK – ElecTrick – 3” Cdr/Download – [IND090] – 2021

http://napalmed.cz/

      1.    210314_02

      2.    210314_03

On this release, I realise it is more mayhem linked to those Czech purveyors of crafted noise insanity - Ein Stunde Merzbauten. The first track on Elec Trick is a collage of electrical glitches, it has a humorous, chatty density to it. The track drops to warping drones and smaller glitches going off around it, this shift seems to clear the table and let things be rearranged again. A pulsating beat tries to bring a sense of order the process, succeeding slightly.

I talk about conversations of noise and this really does that, it isn’t like a lot of Harsh Noise where a texture is built up, this is lots of glitches, beeps and buzzes having a party. If you can imagine lots of little robots going off at each other, this is like that. In relation to the rest of the IDR batch where there is some dark, threatening landscapes or clinical experiments with sound, the playfulness of this is a contrast that makes Elec Trick stand out. As the recording moves into the second track the sound is very fractured, as if we are being continually moved to different interactions for brief periods of time, it differs greatly to the first track.

In my reviewing I have to dart around the scene a lot, checking in here and there, so I only get glimpses of artists at times. My take on Ein Stunde Merzbauten is that like Entre Vifs, Gen26 this is a focussed project experimenting in isolation with a playful, sheer focus on what it does. This one gets a thumbs up and an A* for good work.

 

Andreas Davids – Digitale Asche – 3” Cdr/Download – [IND087] – 2021

http://andreasdavids.blogspot.com/

      1.    Part 01.

      2.    Part 02.

This is Andreas Davids third Inner Demons release. Davids in an experimental musician and DJ based in Germany.

I notice the stripped back sounds immediately, this kind of noise comes on my radar occasionally, Julien Scrobek’s Tetsuo being a great example of this. This has an oscillating timer ticking whilst the drones radiate together around it. Part 01 Simmers away like this, small interactions that seem to relish space and quieter volumes. It intensifies gently through distorted hiss or pulsating electronics. There is a Science Fiction feel to some of the sounds, but in a 70s film, so I like the nostalgic futurism within each track. This album is noise that functions by playing off the space left by low volumes, it works well. I like this release.

 

Inner Demons Records never ceases to amaze me, this is a strong batch of releases that throws up plenty of surprises. This label is worth keeping on top of and I am proud to add this lot to my Inner Demons Collection. 

Coventry Soul 2021.