Lines In Wax

TWELVE YEARS OF UNWANTED OPINION

Month: December 2013

The Angels of Light – Angels of Light Sing ‘Other People’ (2005)
folk, neofolk & acoustic

The Angels of Light – Angels of Light Sing ‘Other People’ (2005)

This is the closest that Angels of Light ever came to Gira’s bare bones solo work; …Other People is a stripped down acoustic, folky romp that sees Gira and co. writing homages in song form to people that…well, deserve songs written about them, I guess. It’s all very artsy-fartsy, and whilst I don’t feel it’s the best Angels of Light album in any universe, there is still a fair dollop of good tunes here. The first notable difference here is that drums (or percussion generally) are absent for the entire album, rendering the whole thing with more of a Gira ‘n’ Pals kinda vibe than a full-blown Angels of Light record. For the most part, the songs are driven by Michael Gira’s voice and a simple acoustic guitar, decorated now and then with some other sparse instrumentation and gang-style backing vocals on the choruses. My favourite song by a country mile is “Destroyer”, although there is a whole bunch of decent tunes here, such as “On The Mountain”, “Michael’s White Hands” and “Purple Creek”. For me, this is a funny one in the Angels of Light discography; in no way would I consider it vital, like How I Loved You, or We Are Him, but it is also by far the easiest Angels record to get a hold of on wax. I got this for a tenner, which was an absolute bargain considering how much original presses of earlier records of theirs cost. In a short conclusion then; worth a listen if you enjoy the softer side of Swans or Michael Gira’s solo work (the acoustic stuff, rather than the abstract stuff), but for beginners I’d say definitely start with one of the above-mentioned records rather than this one.

Shoot The Bastard ‎– Demo 2012 (2012)
grindcore punk & hardcore

Shoot The Bastard ‎– Demo 2012 (2012)

This is one of my favourite grind-related things of 2012. Everything about this thing is just perfect; the production, the balance and the over-all vibe is amazing. Shoot The Bastard are a fast, punky grindcore act that features members of boozing grind unit The Afternoon Gentlemen. STB are most definitely more “to the point” though, with a stripped-down affair of super-fast hardcore goodness. Imagine Crass on amphetamines crossed with, I dunno…Unseen Terror or something. That’s a pretty far-out comparison for such a simple, no-nonsense sound, but fuck it. I caught these guys supporting Weekend Nachos at some crazy grind/hardcore all-dayer in the now sadly-defunct Croft venue in Bristol, and that’s where I picked up this demo for £2. Best £2 I ever spent, I think (and that’s coming from someone who’s bought a lot of bottles of Estrella). I award Shoot The Bastard bonus points for the cover art. Whilst I don’t think wetting up Cameron with hot lead would solve any of the country’s problems it would be extremely funny to see, because obviously, he is just a dummy stuffed with used bank notes; a capitalist puppet on a series of invisible strings. Yes. Time to stop writing now. Enjoy the music!

Scorn – Logghi Barogghi (1996)
electronic hip hop

Scorn – Logghi Barogghi (1996)

This album was the final recording that Mick did with any connections to Earache. The album itself was produced and “marketed” by Earache Records, but released by Mick’s own label, Scorn Recordings. Logghi Barhogghi is only the second Scorn album after the departure of Nik Bullen, and still sounds a bit bare and unsteady on it’s feet, just like it’s predecessor, Gyral. Although, unlike Gyral, LB is much more straight forward and was a definite sign of what was to come with Scorn from this point on. The name Logghi Barhogghi came from when Mick Harris over-heard an American tourist trying to pronounce the town Loughborough; that’s fecking highlarious! From start to finish, LB is a stripped-back affair of clanking percussion and heavy beats. The moody synths and unusual atmospheres are held right back. LB is all about the beat! On the first few listens through, this took some getting used to. I thought this was a remix album or some sort of experimental spin-off project, but this is a fully-canon Scorn album, despite it’s very basic approach. Some tracks are stompers; heavy programmed percussion looped over and over until your brain just can’t take it no more, other songs are a bit more laid back; some even barely audible, with just a purring bass line and ticking beat. Every now and then the phatter-than-your-mudda bass lines come in, scarily pre-dating all this dubstep stuff by well over a decade. That’s fucking incredible. I will say though the basic beats make this record a great buy for rappers to practice / freestyle / write tunes to. However, for most folk this Scorn album is definitely going to remain a challenging listen, and sadly will more than likely remain unknown to the festering masses. But, despite its awkwardness, LB is so goddamn far ahead of it’s time it’s literally frightening.

To The Lovers, Farewell / Sex Funeral – Split Tape (2013)
noise & power electronics

To The Lovers, Farewell / Sex Funeral – Split Tape (2013)

Ah, noise tapes! Sex Funeral comes on sounding a bit like Dead Neanderthals crossed with the first LDOH demo; opener “Success in Battle, Crunch in Milk” is a dirging mess of (I assume) power electronics, saxophone sounds and crude percussion. It sounds like hell, which is absolutely OK in my book. I can’t really define when one “song” ends and another begins, but there comes some really light reed-sounding instrument after a while, that almost sounds like a nice female vocal. After a while it dawns on me that this recording is of a live performance, and I chastise myself for not figuring this out sooner. To The Lovers, Farewell present to us some very experimental saxophone pieces; I’m not sure if this is played live or manipulated in some way, but it sounds pretty awesome and makes me want to go out and buy a saxophone, even though it will probably just end up gathering dust (and rust) in my attic after a week or so. This cool little blue tape was put out on Personal Archives, which I think is the label run by Sex Funeral. I got my copy off To The Lovers, Farewell at one of the Genre X Genre shows he’s been putting on lately in Cardiff. Noise, in Wales? Yes, it’s happening! Check it out! Oh, and buy this tape.

Rompeprop – Gargle Cummics (2010)
grindcore

Rompeprop – Gargle Cummics (2010)

Ah, Rompeprop! Surely, listening to this band is one of the finer things in life. I don’t think there’s a song in the entire universe that can put me as quickly into party mode as “Quackquack” can (except maybe “Int(I)Ro(L)” from the previous record). Boasting one of the sickest and most amazing pitchshifted vocal styles in the history of life, Dutch goregrind groove masters return for their 3rd long player. A slight line up shift aside, Rompeprop just carry on what they did with Menstraul Stomphulk and Hellcock’s Pornflakes…reducing you to a twist-dancing, comically-dressed idiot who wants to fly to the Czech Republic every July and dance in a field with other comically-dressed idiots. The second track “Foreskin Fart” is a touch on the slow side, but the puzzlingly-titled “Pikzwarteflikkerkak” is a lot faster and upbeat, with an insane groove. “Gr(e)Indhoven” is another stone cold Rompeprop classic with epic amounts of chuggy goodness. “Horrible Hangover” tells the tale of the price one pays for too much dancing in fields in the old Eastern Block. The icing on this 16 track cake of gory goodness is the inclusion of a cover-version of the song “Born to be Wild”, with the name (and lyrics) changed to “Porn to be Wild” in true Rompeprop fashion. You simply haven’t lived if you haven’t heard this rock’n’roll classic sang through a fucking pitchshifter. Gargle Cummics is a well-rounded, super-fun take on the punishing goregrind sound. If there is ever an instant “in-road” to this kinda shit without trudging through a maze of metal sub-genres first, then I think Rompeprop could be the link. I’ve yet to see Rompeprop live; something which I need to sort out sooner rather than later. Out on Fat Ass Records and Bizarre Leprous Productions, and limited to only 500 pieces. Blergh!

Chloroformed Female Victim – Demo #1 (2012)
grindcore noise & power electronics

Chloroformed Female Victim – Demo #1 (2012)

There comes a time in every musician’s life where they must stop and think “why do I do this? What is the point in my existence and in turn, my creative output?”. I’ve definitely asked myself that question many, many times. I assume then, that gore-legend and general all-round good egg Bobby Maggard never has, what with his seemingly never-ending repertoire of projects, bands and label releases. The amount of stuff this guy (and his cohorts-in-gore) churn out never ceases to totally astound me…what we have here is a fellow totally dedicated to his scene, his sound, and his dodgy xeroxed gore artwork. Chloroformed Female Victim is one of Bobby’s many hundreds of thousands of goregrind-related projects (slight over-exaggeration), who recorded their first demo abouts a year ago. What we have here is a 2-person aural assault of drum-machine fuelled, unrelenting goregrind. Or is that gorenoise? I’m not sure really where the line between the two blurs, but this is pretty abrasive stuff! The “21 Untitled Trx” are over in just shy of 15 minutes, so it’s a short journey of blasting hellnoise, complete with the odd creepy spoken sample to really set it off. Sexy! If you’re familiar with the works of Mr. Maggard (and Mr. Astor) then you will no doubt know what to expect from a release such as this, but if you’re not sure about things then be prepared to have your head cut off, hollowed out and stuffed with faeces. You heard. Self-released on Regurgitated Stoma Stew Productions.