Revisiting the Premature Ejaculation Discography 2 - Part 2 - 2010.

Premature Ejaculation - (Part 2) (1981) – 2xCDR - Malaise Music - Mal 2 - 2010.

Part 2 was the second tape released by Rozz Williams and Ron Athey as Premature Ejaculation in 1981. It was never officially released, only copied with artwork and distributed to friends. Here it was fully remastered in double disc form, original artwork; it differs greatly from Part 1. This was released at the same time as Part 1 by the second version of Malaise Music as intended by the original Malaise Music in the 1990s.

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 via different field recordings. In-between bursts of frequency assault, wind tunnel like sounds move along as if moving location until changing to engine noise and back. Noise is pushed to unbearable frequencies at various times throwing out sounds so warped they become abstract and their sources undetectable. Deliberately or because of recording quality, sounds are broken up for periods of time into fractured rhythms, all 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 within the entire equation; the voice is abstracted elsewhere. Although not the first, this is primitive voice-based noise that lies in a chain of abstracted voice work within experimental music. The vocals are frequent interruptions or stops within the journey until we are moved along. At times I am sure I can hear Rozz’s voice within 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 and commentary on the American landscape that existed at this time in Rozz and Ron’s lives.

Part 2's use of noise is not pure or focused enough to be considered pure noise or power electronics, but it tries and comes close. However, there was already a fully formed awareness of all the electronic extreme genres as there were still industrial concerns in noise at this point, whereas today those concerns seemed to have returned to the forefront. What is very evident is that after Part 1's experiments in sound, Part 2 is an attempt at a conceptualized passage of work. This is still far from fully formed in sound, but it is strong and bares more resemblance to PE's future work. PE would never really do one long work in their later label released work, yet (dark) ambient passages of sound became their forte; mental associations could always be made to strong suggestive effect. Part 2 does prove PE to now 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 a year later in 1982 tackle religion (a constant Rozz theme) 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 drowned whilst 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 more disturbing after the nightmarish sermons that came before. There are two final tracks that present a more accomplished, aggressive, minimal noise assault, still very different to what there is today. This is a primitive yet important document that shows the journey gradually beginning to find its own direction.

The beauty of reconnecting with this project is immense.

wejustwantyoutoseethingsasclearlyaspossible

Choppy Noodles 2019.

Revisiting the Premature Ejaculation discography 1. Premature Ejaculation - Part 1. 2010

Premature Ejaculation – Part 1 – Malaise Music – 2010 – 2 x CDR.

Started in 1981, Premature Ejaculation (PE) was the most prolific and favourite project of the late Rozz Williams (1963 – 98). Much of the material was self-released and on labels like Happiest Tapes on Earth, Dark Vinyl, Gymnastic, TripleXXX, Malaise Music, Baader Meinhof and Cleopatra records. There was a lot of PE material released privately on cassette by Rozz himself and Happiest Tapes that has never been commercially available to fans and they have now been unavailable for some time. With Malaise now gone, this review revaluates my original reviews of the project from when the series of Lost Recordings began in 2010. The Lost Recordings were the tapes that Rozz did himself and gave to friends.

The original Malaise Music was a label started by Rozz’s close friend Erik Cristides in the 1990s, one great compilation was released (Merry Maladies), but 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 expertly remastered all the lost recordings and the first release is Premature Ejaculation part 1.  Alex Scott remastered all the original the artwork. The original cassette has been remastered in its 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, this was then released in 2010.

These recordings were Rozz’s first recordings of Industrial noise material, key influences at this time were Throbbing Gristle, Johanna Went, Monte Cazzaza, SPK and Boyd Rice. It was also known Rozz preferred Industrial sounds over most other music throughout his life.  An additional mind-blowing fact is that Boyd and Rozz having become friends (after Rozz used to stalk Boyd and watch him eating his salad at an LA restaurant) were meant to collaborate on a project before Rozz’s untimely death.

Part 1 (recorded in 1981) also highlights how open ended the later named early 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. 45 Grave drummer Don Bolles was renown for wearing a Throbbing Gristle badge in early group shots. Nervous Gender trod a fine line between Post Punk, Deathrock and Industrial making their own unique odd sounds.

Track one begins with a long passage of synth frequencies, this material is far more aggressive than a lot of PE’s later material. I consider this to be an early, primitive attempt at Noise with a slight leaning to Power Electronics, a movement that as we know it now, was in its infancy, Whitehouse were very much also in their early days at this time. Due to the lack of distortion here I would there is an untreated rawness that reaches high levels of aggression through merciless repetition.  Premature Ejaculation appear to be testing the boundaries of noise at that time, shooting higher frequencies across the recording at intervals. The synths then break into low frequency drones. Track two indulges displays of higher frequency passages of noise stretched out for long periods. Track three begins with the sound of bubbling coming from underwater whether this is containers, or a person being held under 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 as they work around each other. This sample would crop up on later PE releases; PE constantly recycled their own sounds onto other recordings to tie works together. It is this track that begins to formulate their later approach to their releases as human pulses and sounds bring the collage to an end.

Track four continues sound and sample combinations to more suggestive effect; the human sounds are looped, painful and unpleasant. Suggestiveness is where PE flourished, there are no obvious details, and samples are very everyday such as toys, video loops and cheap keyboards. There is also a mock religious/esoteric feel to the track, but it’s not too specific so other avenues of thought are opened. Tambourine percussion opens five as an intro to a further human chant. The two sources work around each other and morph as one, 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 to be a major influence on contemporary noise. Raw, abrasive 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. There is some SMEGMA homage plain and simple; SMEGMA’s Ace Farren Ford would work with Rozz on later projects including Heltir. What’s interesting is the layering of different sound sources that would flourish later in PE’s discography. 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 and is best seen as a presentation of separate experiments in abstract sound manipulation. It highlights how Chuck Collison’s later involvement was crucial in helping to bond separate threads of interest together with his own, as well as reaching much higher production standards. It also show’s Ron Athey’s role in the early US Industrial/Noise scene before taking off as a solo performance artist, widely respected in the history of Body Art. It is unknown as to how many of these recordings feature Athey and which feature Collison or are Rozz alone. It shows an open-ended approach before Premature Ejaculation tightened its focus to selected working methods. It shows Williams and Athey, in areas to be active practitioners of Industrial Noise with purpose and conceptualisation. The original artwork along with certain tracks mark the beginnings of the later P.E. Death Culture aesthetic.

wejustwantyoutoseethingsasclearlyaspossible

Choppy Noodles 2019

Premature Ejaculation - Rise (2010)

Premature Ejaculation – Rise – Date Unknown – Previously unreleased. Malaise Music – Mal 6 - 2010.

Rise is one of many previously unreleased Rozz Williams experimental recordings that have recently surfaced. Listening to Rise I would say it was made after Premature Ejaculation Parts 1 & 2 and somewhere around A Little Hard to Swallow. Therefore it dates around 1982 – 83, it is unique as it pre dates Body of a Crow in each track being broken up into 12 different titled pieces. However the advancement of some tracks suggests this may have been compiled with later 84 – 87 era Premature Ejaculation sound experiments. A mystery? It features 12 different assaults of sound and the tapes was backed with Come Orgs’ Necrophilia album, unlike PE parts 1 & 2, Rise is very clearly trying Power Electronics on for size and anti music with more successful results.

The cover features a triumphant soldier with a beheaded head on the floor in front of him and an army behind him. This is probably from the pre World War 2 holocaust ‘The Rape of Nanking’. The sheer horror associated to these events sets a violent theme to Rise.

Not Receiving is an assault of radio tuning distortion that really lays the groundwork for the later Happiest Tapes on Earth obsession with static. Voice abstraction (a continual Premature Ejaculation favourite) is simplistically demonstrated by settling on broadcasts but moving on before a sentence can be formed. Passages of music are only briefly allowed to blend with the static. Momentary flashes of American culture are briefly revealed before being violently erased from our minds by violent blasts of distorted static. The critique of American culture would be a continuous theme for PE.

Snakepit (Hide the Child) and Tunnels Turn to Walls offer raw instrumental passages of anti music, that offer brief but compelling passages of sound that would resurface in Premature Ejaculation at different periods.

Vacuum: Bolts of lightning like ignition break into a raw vacuum cleaner soundtrack, plainly conceptual in its everyday assault. The title adds a darker connotation, but the artful playfulness shows PE testing and poking at the seriousness of the noisier end of the industrial movement. This is funny, but a slight treatment of sound would have made this a lot more effective. However does this everyday event pull the horror of Rise into our daily life??

Reaching for Heaven is a pure tape assault, speed is slowed down to make the source totally unrecognisable, but it is a good and brief example of noise methodology. Business As Usual does the same but with an eruption of chaotic rumble. Both are good short demonstrations of noise, nothing more.

Vicious Circle is the best example of abstract guitar on Rise as it makes slight nods towards the quieter parts of Glen Branca but without the fullness of sound, Vicious Circle is sparse and spacious. Think Branca’s Ascension crossed with Earth’s Hex. Guitar would feature in some PE live shows and Living Monstrosities/Descent and was never really allowed much development in the later Rozz noise work. This is a shame as it began to flourish around this period.

The last five tracks tend to work around percussive effects and sample combinations more. The Coming of the Glory is a clickety clack racket. Rise breaks into dark ambient noise and falls into industrial percussion, Un…. carries the percussion on combining with a vocal distortion creating ritualistic repetition. (Not A) Laughing Matter offers a heartbeat rhythm, and noise box effect winding around eerie echoes a brief triumph of dark noise, all very symbolic of later PE. All these tracks offer rhythm without stumbling onto the dance floor as key and later industrial bands would.

On the Verge is an aggressive vertigo with ratchet like bursts of rhythm that descend into a rhapsody of rhythmic assault. Different sounds take on the rhythm for the periods of time. This is industrial repetition stretched to full on nauseous effect.

The minimal means of some of these pieces adds an element of dark humour to Rise; this was a key element to Rozz as a person that shines through here. However each track still achieves aggression successfully which works as an overall theme; tying in well with the brutality of the cover. The variety of approaches was characteristic of Rozz’s experimental work around this period; it stops the recording from becoming boring. The striking cover image and deliberate lack of audible samples make Rise very reliant upon the tracks made to achieve its’ aura of violence and serves to document a major step forward in Rozz’s early recorded work.

Choppy Noodles 2010.

Premature Ejaculation and Heltir; a history.

With Malaise Music releasing all of the long lost Premature Ejaculation material, a lot of long lost tapes came out. Sadly Malaise folded a few years back. The series was well worth supporting, I do feel sad at the loss of what could have been, but then thrilled at what was achieved. Ben, Larry, Anton, John and Alex did a good job. Malaise's main label Cathedral did some great new and archive releases. Due to the Rozz themed name of the Blog (this was Rozz's last address), I will use it as a platform to do and repost in depth reviews of Rozz's Premature Ejaculation material and do others. Mostly the blog allows me to review new noise works and related music that I find interesting. 

Premature Ejaculation has been defunct since Rozz William's death and was one his most prolific projects, a lot of this material was just released on CD, vinyl and small tape runs. Here is my near decade old article on Premature Ejaculation, which was researched and written before the series came out. 

At many times, I wanted to expand the series based on what I had later reviewed, but things kept indicating that this was as far as I was going to get. I managed to get a wealth of info off Ryan Wildstar, Gene Evans, Lee Wildes and began to interview Paris Sadonis which was all exciting. RIP to Lee Wildes who was lovely and very exciting to talk to, he was very generous with information. Ryan Wildstar's bandcamp is well worth checking out too; https://ryanwildstar.bandcamp.com. 

I'll never be able to expand on the article, the info was lost with computer crashes.  But to honour Rozz and Lee, further Post-Release Premature Ejaculation the reviews will appear on North Fuller Avenue. Respect also goes out to Chuck Collison - https://m.soundcloud.com/chuck-collison

My Heltir and Premature Ejaculation article.  

Premature Ejaculation discogs page. 

Choppy Noodles 2017 

Premature Ejaculation - Dead Whorse Riddles.

Premature Ejaculation – Dead Whorse Riddles – Malaise Music –  Cat No: Mal9 (2cdr)

Dead Whorse Riddles is a compilation of Premature Ejaculation material originally intended for release through the first Malaise Music label run my Erik Christides. Sadly it was never released.  The music has been remastered by Benjamin Siebert and Artwork by Scottie. This is the ninth cdr of the series containing tracks previously released on the Anaesthesia and Descent as well as 4 previously unreleased tracks. 

The Nature of Pain opens the album rumbling and shuffling menacingly. Pitches of feedback enter and build to almost vocal symphonics; it’s quite a unique instrumental for PE as music box noise also really adds that early 20th century avant-garde quality to the Nature of the track. A vocal dialogue brings things to an end.  Chuck Collison’s involvement is evident here because as I’ve mentioned he was pivotal to the cleaning up and sharpening of the Premature Ejaculation sound, I can never understate his importance enough.

Partial and Complete echoes with electronic low level power noises and loop rhythms. Inaudible vocal samples enter and then leave periodically while noises are injected and rejected. Red now a Premature Ejaculation classic pulsates through while dialogue accompanies it and rockets off into inaudible hyperspace where the vocal becomes a roar.  The pulsations loose their rhythm and noises break into the track.  Red in an updated manner tidily tortures the listener like the PE of early years. Atrophy layers more sampled dialogue over pulsations far more politely than Red; backed by keyboard drones rising in intensity with the sampled dialogue. Fistula in Ano combines an aggressive loop rhythm pulsating violently to further dialogue with interruptions of alarming noise and everything finally slowing down into a collapse. Untitled revels in inaudible vocal ambience that sounds as if it is being played in the wrong direction, sounds are overlaid to confuse and disorientate the listener. Night sounds as if from a field recording take over shifting the track into an entirely different context. Taking Good Care of Your Fear beats things back to Fistula methods and sounding like a timed, repeated, crash shooting. A guitar riff underlies the track, bringing instrumentation subtly back into the PE mix. The Most Astounding Living Monstrosity is like a violent and distorted cousin of Kraftwerk’s autobahn and Transillumination is a nauseous, spiralling dream assault that shoots out bursts of Heltir static.

Disc two is punctuated by three excerpts from the previous Malaise disc Descent and one Anesthesia track Salvation, Deliverance, Prayer for the sick which is very electronic in comparison compared to the Descent excerpts and builds up an intense nauseous density of drones, vocal samples and frequent differing noises. An Untitled passage begins with church organ like keyboard drones (not too unlike the later work of Paris Sadonis) builds to a symphony of frequencies that simultaneously harmonise well and work against each other to peak to a heady delirium.  Further Descents slow things down keeping the ambient darkness at a low simmering point and in its’ second excerpt allows things to rise. The first of the final two nine and a half minute Untitled passages bring instrumentation and field recording together backed by pulsating drones. What sounds like string instruments within bring an added dimension previously unseen in PE, it’s not as abstracted as previous strings in their discography just very considered and beautiful, but never again expanded on. This simultaneously ties together all the methods used in the different tracks on the album and treads newer territory.  The second passage of Untitled feels more electronic, tortured and groaning very similar to the work of the Anesthesia tracks presented within.

Dead Whorse Riddles serves as a good compilation of selected aspects of the mature sound of Premature Ejaculation. It highlights a more complex range of atmospheres and techniques. It throws up a lot of surprises and is a celebration of Premature Ejaculation in full stride at the height of their powers, a height that would continue to Rise right up until the finale Wound of Exit.

Choppy Noodles 2011.