Inner Demons Records #10 - Sci-Fi Sunday.

 Inner Demons 2020, random releases not yet covered here. 

 https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/

THIS NOISE KILLS FASCISTS.

PROMOTING EQUALITY WHILE DESTROYING INTOLERANCE AND RIGHT- WING IDEALS.

 

Quote from website 2020.

 

Subjective Device – Analysis – 3”CDR – 2020 – IND074

1.    Metocin.

2.    Metacetin.

Subjective device (active since 2019) seems immediately futuristic in sound. There is a lot of releases on this label that look forwards in some ways, either through dissecting sounds or taking a Sci-Fi approach. This is very sci-fi; the buried vocals seem to chant as if in meditation to the continual wall of distorted noise. Both titles are named after different psychedelic drugs, were both tracks recorded whilst using each drug?  They both have the same sense of looking forwards. The sound is minimal, yet captivating, I am taken by this. In parts the sound seems to sing as it warbles, it really does resonate massively as it does this. I know resonating synthesizers is a common thing in noise, but here they are stripped back and meditated on for long periods of time. Analysis is an intriguing release and strong work.

Fail – Dated 10 – 3”CDR/Download – 2020 – IND080

         1.    191113

         2.    060725 

Fail is Dan Fox’s prolific project that has been active since 2005. This work is stripped back, minimal mediations of sound, it isn’t as fixed as Subjective Device, but it does move along as different noises are introduced. There is a depressive, impending doom feel that tracks seem to resonate. As this builds up psychedelic elements arise and as those elements collapse there are mediations of feedback and high-pitched squealing noise. 060725 takes a more deconstruction heavy approach, taking masses of noise apart and allowing spacious interactions between sounds, this is a very common thing that happens on Inner Demons releases, I feel the label cares about the future of noise and there is a brief given to artists ‘please try to be original and take a forward thinking approach to noise, we will reject any clichés.’ Back to the noise, I find myself able to climb inside Fail and feel how it is working as if locked in my own headspace. Dated 10 has a lot of breakdowns, collapses so things can quickly be broken down to allow minimalism to happen until there is another build up.

Ghost – Spectral Mechanics – CDR/Download – 2020 – IND083

achineseghoststory.bandcamp.com

         1.Spectral Mechanics.

Ghost is Julien Skrobek, the master of many projects such as Tetsuo and Abysse and many, many other projects. We are now listening to French noise, bonjour!!! Skrobek essentially soundtracks modern Paris with a diverse massive body of work. This brilliantly combines synthesizer harmonies and distorted, choppy noise to excellent effect. In the Inner Demons cannon, Ghost is very forward thinking as if giving a report from the future. This is very minimal in comparison to the other releases I am covering today, yet equally sophisticated and graceful. I feel I have picked three gems from the pile today as Spectral Mechanics ties into what I have heard today. This is a captivating work, a 3” gem of beauty.

As ever Inner Demons Records provides 3 absolute gems for a strange Sunday that are much appreciated.

Dorcus Maximus 2020.

Tetsuo - Gabber DNA / Empty Warehouse Mix.

Tetsuo – Gabber DNA / Empty Warehouse Mix – 3”CDR – Self Released – 2019.

    Tracklist.

01. Gabber DNA [08’45’’]

02. Gabber DNA (Empty Warehouse Mix) [08’45’’]

I’d only heard the name Gabber back in the 1990s without knowing anything about what it was in terms of musical style. Then very recently I saw some ironic postings on Facebook of videos of different people from the early 90s demonstrating Gabber dancing to Gabber music. I was meant to laugh at it and add a twatty comment, but the sounds and insane style of dancing were mesmerising to watch, more than Breakdancing or Robotics ever where. This was a real underground club movement of the past and how the human body can make itself do that style of dance - I will never know. Because of that video Gabber dancing and music is stuck in my mind forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkxGs4ETeg4

The gabber DNA track resonates with the repetitive rhythmic beat incorporated into so much Gabber music. However, there are none of the rave like sounds and electronic euphoria that often accompanied those beats, instead we have Julien Skrobek’s delicate high frequency noises circulating around the stripped down beat as if it is just a subtle high-pitched, distant feedback. In a way we are left with a partial memory of Gabber or its skeleton and nothing else other than delicate background noise that surrounds.

The Empty Warehouse mix is like silence (or emptiness) with distant high-pitched noises in the background, like the ones on the other track, yet there is no beat, the beat is dead the emptiness is the foreground. The whole concept of ‘empty warehouse’ signifies the party is over, perhaps the original movement is over. Whereas the original track may be a reflection on the past, this is the reality of the present.

Maybe this release revels in nostalgia, yet at the same time it also fully presents the fact that it is just Nostalgia and it isn’t now; now is something else completely and far less attractive, or perhaps more so if you’re inclined. Another beautiful 3” Neo – Paris jewel.

Nevis Kretini 2019.

Tetsuo - The sound of Neo-Paris.

Tetsuo – Eternal Respect. – cdr – self released. – 2019.

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01 Access [13’07’’]

02 Levels [10’54’’]

03 Eternal Respect [13’14’’]

Tetsuo is a new project by French artist Julien Skrobek, who is responsible for Abysse amongst many other projects. These are Hardware live-sets that he tends to favour, often in front of a small audience.

Years ago, before I moved area, I used to catch the tram home at night. I would always pass by this terraced house as I walked home from my stop. It looked perfectly normal; nice nets, clean front wall space, painted window frames, curtains and ceramic ornaments in the window. Upstairs there would always be a dim blue light in the front bedroom and a slow techno beat could always be heard at night, not much else ever accompanied it. It was never at an offensive volume; the sound could be heard slightly, travelling out of the window into the warm night air. It was beautiful, I always wanted to knock on the door and ask what was playing. Were they playing minimal Techno or making it? This went on for a few years until the beat never came back; did they move on, stop, pass away, I’ll never know? It wasn’t uncommon to have people making or playing electronic sounds in their houses in this area, there was just something alluring about this one.

I mentioned Abysse earlier, because Tetsuo treads the same noise/warped techno no man’s land. I often wonder if there are any direct contemporaries to the project. It reminds me slightly of Abysse, with a bit of subtle aggression added to the mix. It also takes me back to the noises that came out of the small house’s window. But this has slight noise and delicate wall properties that make it very interesting to me. This is a subtle juxtaposition of slow beat, distorted crackle and high-pitched feedback - it’s gentle but simmers away. The middle track uses odd repetitive laser like sounds, high pitched feedback and simmering distortion to about the maximum (or perhaps beyond) acceptable levels of repetition. The last set is just a repeated single beat that resonate over a distorted under base, the beat echoes on it and becomes the central focus whilst stuff goes off in the background. By this point the boundaries of repetition were crossed ages ago, I had to stay in the zone with the work.

What I like about this work is it is typical Skrobek work of the present day in that it’s released in tiny runs, content to be solely in his own odd thing that doesn’t really sound like anyone else. The cover photo of flats looks great and appeals to me greatly. I like what I’m hearing and truly love the wilful obscurity.

Choppy Noodles 2019.