Nevis Kretini/Choppy Noodles - 2019 Best of list.

Choppy Noodles > Nevis Kretini – Best of 2019.

This has been an amazing year, so many ace releases. Too many names to mention, it was impossible to limit to 10,so here are my 12 favourites.

Rusalka – Base Waters. Absurd Exposition – LP – 2019.

I knew of Rusalka, but this was the first time that I really listened - I reviewed this on first listen. Base Waters shifts through a lot of changes in Sonic Language over two tracks to create an album of powerful conceptualised effect. The sound builds to massive proportions as the language shifts and I am now very aware of this top tier project.

Nacht Und Nebel – Limitations – Self Released Cassette and Download– 2019.

I’ve gradually accumulated a lot of Nacht Und Nebel releases over the years through seeing the project play live. Both live shows and releases are always consistently strong with the project playing with acts like Ramleh, Blackcloudsummoner, Vampyres, Culver and many more over the years. However, this release really does stand out against the others, here the project really ups its game. Sounds are all sourced from a Cello and treated to varying degrees, overlaid to make epic compositions.

Ordeal by Roses – A Petty and Childish Obsession – Outsider Art – Cassette andDownload – 2019.

Both releases by Ordeal by Roses on the Outsider Art label this year have been very strong, I could have picked either of them. I’d call this a stand-alone, outsider project based in Cardiff, Wales that has come from trauma to the self. This took me by surprise, and I see this as a standout project amongst newer artists.

Niku Daruma – She Gets What She Wants – Black Ring Rituals – 2019.

Niku Daruma have been prolific this year, they featured on a lot of great split releases as well as their own. They all do other noise related projects, but this one really stands out. Some of the releases are base raw and work even better and I could pick from a few of their releases. They seem like nice people who turn into hysterical, violent monsters when performing, making amazing Harsh Noise whilst erupting everywhere.

Suffer In April – Pomona. Corde Raide Productions – Cassette – 2019.

I met this guy as he runs a tribute page to another noise artist, we got chatting and he said he had his own project called Suffer in April. The first release Femme Fatale is what I would call forward thinking Power Electronics, in contrast Pomona carries on these methods yet goes elsewhere and radiates immense beauty.

Entre Vifs – Offrande et Partage - Aussaat und Ernte - 2019.

This is a beautifully presented cd that cases the angrier side of Entre Vifs. I liked the previous album Ontologie a lot, but Offrande seems to go to much higher levels of intensity. Entre Vifs use their own self-made instruments to create an elaborate sound that is simultaneously structured and chaotic, yet to me they remain one of the most brutal noise acts of the present day.

Wolvestribe – Understanding the Ecological Role – Aaarrrg.

Wolvestribe came to my attention when a label called Harsh Noise London sent me some of their releases. HNL tend to put different artists on compilations together on recycled audio cassettes – Wolvestribe were part of a 4-way split. I was very impressed and had to investigate further and I was suitably convinced that we have a new heavyweight amongst the newer UK noise crop. Wolvestribe release their own lathe cut 10” records and frequently produce new material that is consistently of a high standard.

Testing Vault – Amnesia Milk. – Looney Tick – 2019.

I’ve followed Testing Vault for over a decade now, the project has changed and shifted gradually – with side projects that experiment in other areas of sound. The output by the project has been consistently strong, but Amnesia Milk seems to take the sound of reeds and drones that have been lurking in recent releases and take a massive leap forward with them to perfect things. Amnesia Milk eclipses Complete Shit Exorcism as the best Testing Vault recording so far.

S.T.A.B. Electronics – Enemy of Pigs – Unrest – 2019.

S.T.A.B. grabbed my attention as a strong modern-day project. On ‘Day of the Male’, the vocals were next level. ‘Mother, Mother, Mother please’ as a repeated opening sample opens Enemy of Pigs, this album is just bleak violence and pushes the project forwards to new levels of intensity and quality. Seeing the project live at the opening party for the release was something I will never forget. This album is strong on every track, a consistent, impressive step up.

Satori – The Braver the Bull, the Better the Bullfight – Outsider Art – 2019.

Outsider art often releases Knifedoutofexistence and does batches of four cassettes, all by different artists. The acts featured are often newer artists on the UK scene, however this time veteran project Satori was featured. It’s a repeated rule in PE that newer artists are where it is really at and older acts are often seen to be not what they were once. When I saw Satori live this year, that wasn’t the case, Dave Kirby was an unnerving presence which made for an effective show. Satori has this distanced rage that I see come through in other Outsider Art acts of the present day such as Ordeal by Roses and Knifedoutofexistence to a point where I see it as being influential. To top it off this cassette is excellent – clear evidence of an older act at the top of its game.

Active Denial – What Dreams are Made Of – Outsider Art – 2019.

Both releases by Active Denial are powerful, but this one is the best one, the sound is stripped down, raw and intense. Horrible noise and ranted sermons of bile. Active Denial are a name to watch as recordings and live performances are amazing. Get both recordings if you can, this was so popular it was gone in the blink of an eye and Research Laboratories reissued it. Thomas Laroche (one half of AD) has a whole bunch of stuff on there that is a whole new nightmare running parallel to this. I’m still not over the Summer of Hate, don’t know if I ever will be – you’re still it.

Detrimental Effect – Your Truth – Tesco – 2019.

I often talk about distanced Power Electronics; this however uses restraint in its sound – the tension that builds up as a result of this on Your Truth is enormous and makes for an effective, powerful release. Noise and samples play off each other, things pushed a hair’s length from their breaking points. This depiction of the lies used in politics and media is the soundtrack of today.

Nevis Kretini 2019. 

More Thomas LaRoche Insanity - Creep of Paris and House Dust #1!

Thomas LaRoche. House Dust #1. 2018 Edition of 25. Research Laboratories.

https://researchlaboratories.tumblr.com/

      a.       House Dust #1

      b.       House Dust #1

Thomas LaRoche is one half of Active Denial who produced two amazing cassettes in 2018 and 2019. House Dust is one of his many other projects on Research Laboratories. This short tape is in a limited edition of 25. It’s described as Musique Concrète; wavering tonal frequency continues in a steady line whilst metal scrapings drag out around, through and over it. Energy build as the scrapings and clattering grow. The scraping is relentless and becomes intensified as its’ sharpness rises, this is raw. I assumed the programme was repeated on the other side, but the tonal frequency seems to dominate the clatter. The tonal noise eventually takes over and it’s done.

I like this, another obscure gem from Research Laboratories.

C.O.P. Gavia Immer. Cassette. Research Laboratories.  https://researchlaboratories.tumblr.com/

a. Untitled.

b. Untitled.

Whereas House Dust was a new tape with hand painted cassette case and artwork inside, Creep of Paris – Gavia Immer is way rawer. It’s a recycled cassette that is spray painted black, the cassette case is covered in packing tape with the name written on in pen and some details printed off and stuck on the back. Also, Gavia Immer is another name for a Common Loon or A Great Northern Diver bird.

Old instrumental Jazz music plays, it has some amazing drumming, this plays out until some recorded dialogue appears over a microphone. A man and a woman converse. A woman then talks, it seems to shift through different passages of dialogue with different characters. How old this is I don’t know, how it was obtained is a mystery. Old music takes over, the crackle of the old vinyl very prevalent as it dies off.

The B Side, contains old film music spliced up between passages of Field Recordings of inaudible dialogue amongst crowds, the two are cutup and play for periods of time with each taking over for a duration. This just continues, but it works and is the most effective side of the release, the relentless repetition of the two sources is good. It continues until a piano recordings and jazz play out. I found I was able to get into this more that the first side, I engaged more..

All in All it’s been an enjoyable morning of experiments from the Laboratories.

Choppy Noodles 2019.

Enemy of Pigs launch night.

S.T.A.B. Electronics, Iron Fist of the Sun, Antivalium, Active Denial. The Castle, London, Saturday 31^st March.

I went to this gig alone, upon 10 minutes of my arrival I’d met Phil from W.I.P., Lee from Iron Fist of the Sun, Keith from S.T.A.B. both guys from Active Denial and Winston from Shift/Unrest. It was great to meet the faces behind the projects that I love. The occasion was S.T.A.B.s first live gig in 3 years to celebrate the release of Enemy of Pigs on Unrest Productions, I’m playing it now on my turntable.

I’ve reviewed both Active Denial tapes in the past and I was keen to see them in a live context. I believe they haven’t played a lot of live gigs prior to this. The set up was simple vocals, keyboard and four Walkman portable players that all into a mixer.  Adam Apple screamed and shouted into the mic, got right into people’s faces throughout their set. Sometimes both Apple and Bucorvus Leadbeater did vocals together, the noises were primitive like those used on their recordings. For a moment I felt it waned briefly, but sudden a strobe pointed at the audience and a resurgence of rage pushed things up another few notches. I thought this was a great performance that set the bar high for the evening, the rage seemed endless: The Summer of Hate was back with a vengeance.

Antivalium came dressed in suits and masks, their stage presence and image were strong. Their brand of synth dominated industrial noise with beats was good and it shifted a lot in sound. At times it was hard not to dance when they became more animated as beats took prominence. There was an air of deep broodiness throughout an impressive set that really stood out - the excellent taste in vintage microphones certainly helped this. Their sound and intensity were different to the other acts and stood out most as the odd act out, still great and this seemed to allow the differences between all acts to shine through. When researching after, I found out they were both in KnifeLadder with the late John Murphy as well as Black Light Ascension which is impressive, but Antivalium stands as a strong project, this was demonstrated by their performance - I look forward to investigating their work more.

The gig did have an air of sadness as it was to be the last performance from Iron Fist of the Sun. I love this project as I reviewed a lot of his work over the years and have most of the releases. This is a top tier project of present day that I know can deliver live and on record. As he began it was crisp, concise and everything was delivered with precision. He shouted with his back to the audience at the rear wall of the venue or sideways to the audience and it was effective as he became angrier and the sounds intensified massively. The way the vocals weren’t as in the faces of the audience as the other acts seemed to allow for it to really project outwards at the audience. The sound and set up he had was complex and wouldn’t have worked so well in less competent hands, he then flicked a switch and the familiar, powerful death drones of Smile Like Sword kicked in to cheers and shouts. The vocals were great, he shouted and screamed and had some effect that doubled the vocals up when it was used – amazing wasn’t enough to describe it. His set became choppy, chaotic and noisier at the after Smile Like Sword and made for an effective contrast that died out to an end to be greeted by huge applause and enthusiasm from the audience. I’d only ever seen IFotS live once this was even better than that. To end on such a high with a consistently solid, evolving body of work is noble. However, my personal view is the integrity of the project would have kept it great for a long time to come, but greatness is as greatness does.

The night seemed like a series of championship fights and S.T.A.B. continued to up the levels of intensity with a savage, manic performance. He was continually right in our faces shouting, the mic seemed to die out at one point, and I am not shitting you, it made no difference to the vocal levels at all, he continued to yell over the electronics until the mic worked again - vocally S.T.A.B. continues to be next level. His personal, nasty take on Death Industrial was complimented by videos of violent gang fights and sadomasochistic penis abuse. The images of a guy continually being ball punched by a Dominatrix made me hold my balls in protective fear whilst S.T.A.B. seemed to continually grab his balls hard to raise the pitch of his vocals. The set was mostly newer material as I am recognising a lot of it as I play my copy of the excellent Enemy of Pigs; there was a lot of really, muddy, murky noise that was dominated by the louder than loud vocals, the level of performance used to work the vocals from the background to the forefront repeatedly was something else. Height wise he was huge, which amplified his stage presence, he was all over the stage in the audience’s faces, yelling and gesturing; the intensity and menace never let up for a minute. I’ve been listening to the S.T.A.B. cds I have a lot over the last 6 months since discovering the project, this live performance was even better than I imagined it would be and the new album ups the ante.

Four solid performances made for an excellent night.

Choppy Noodles 2019

Unrest Productions 

Cheap Food Records and Research Laboratories.

Brighton based Cheap Food Records and their parent label Research Laboratories have been releasing experimental noise cassettes and records since 2011. Thomas Laroche is the main man behind both labels: he has worked with Vagina Dentata Organ and Kommissar Hjuler und Frau and actively recording and releasing his own work since 2012. Other artists released on the label include Sexton Ming, The New Blockaders, Evil Moisture and Active Denial. This review includes a batch of recent cassette tapes from 2018-19.

Rotting Shrine – Do You Believe in God? – Cheap Food Records – Cassette - http://researchlaboratories.tumblr.com/

Rotting Shrine is a Thomas Laroche Project, there have been two Rotting Shrine releases on Cheap Food, a self titled tape and this one ‘Do You Believe in God?’ Themed on the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre. It seems to focus on one of the two killers - Dylan Bennet Klebold, the cover image is also of Klebold. This is a short release with a recording of a woman talking about her relationship with religion and joining a Nun convent. As the dialogue unfolds, static noise that is made to sound like possibly gun fire combats the dialogue. Both compete for dominance over the recording. Background reading about the subject matter intensifies this massively. Do You Believe in God is short, sharp and not very sweet?  An effective, impressive tape.

Thomas Laroche – Bacteria Community – Research Laboratories – Cassette limited edition of 25 - http://researchlaboratories.tumblr.com/

The album tunes itself into blasts of noise and seems to use the noise tuning method, as if shifting rapidly from frequency to frequency. The noise is sharp and harsh, music occurs in the background, music of an older age. I am unsure of the conceptual intention, is it tackling rest homes; old age or building a time warp of sorts through the noise? Either way it makes for a haunted noise recording. Like the Rotting Shrine release the noise seems to interrupt and disrupt. A strong recording.

Concrete Emptiness – Le Temps Detruit Tout – Cheap Food Records – Cassette - http://researchlaboratories.tumblr.com/

Concrete Emptiness is a Harsh Noise Wall project on Cheap Food; this is their first release. This displays a warm crackle with deep backing resonance.  It gives a good tunnel blast of noise, that falters out towards the end. Le Temps Detruit Tout (time destroys everything) is based on the works of Gaspar Noé pointing towards his 2002 film Irréversible and the cover depicts the rape scene in the said film that caused a lot of controversy. This is the bleakest recording of the three.

Many of the recordings are enhanced by background reading while listening to them. In contrast Bacteria Community stands alone as an impressive recording. Both labels have delivered raw, conceptually engaging and consistently strong works. Go forth and knock yourselves out.

Choppy Noodles 2019.

Active Denial

Active Denial – S/T – Cheap Food Records – Cassette – Limited Edition of 50 - 2018.

Website http://researchlaboratories.tumblr.com/

Psalm.

Smoke.

Champagne.

Active Denial are a Brighton based noise duo of vocalist Adam Apple and soundman Bucorvus Leadbeater; this is their debut three track tape recorded live in the Summer of Hate 2017. 

The cassette looks like an early Con-Dom or Grey Wolves tape, it’s black text on white card, the sound is raw, it lacks the overly sharp production of a lot of modern Power Electronics which endears me to it immediately. To be honest when the project contacted me out of the blue via my FB page, I had a gut feeling this was going to be something special.

Psalm begins with a lot of chuffing repetition whilst sharp noise is pitched over this, Adam Apple rants with increasing anger, this never seems to end or loose momentum. Holy chants wave calm over everything until electronic noise interferes to make way for vocal samples telling everyone that they’re shit. It is then everything explodes, this time the use of noise is far more manic and assaultive. The vocal explodes in temper cursing at the sample, hating it repeatedly. Smoke or Champagne is more of a fight than an abstract passage of sound. The noise seems to antagonise both, making this a three-way assault.

This is a strong debut for the sheer brutality of the given performance, it’s very Street PE, it doesn’t seem to be a gear fest. It bears parallels of stripped back rawness to Scum FC, obviously different in content for sure, it’s way more continually switching between inward self to outward self. But it is a brief burst of raw, unpolished explosive, sonic energy. This is undoubtedly my favourite PE/Industrial recording of 2018. Active Denial you’re it until I find something better.

Choppy Noodles 2018.