Qualm - Passive

'Passive'
Qualm
2014

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Hardcore
For Fans Of: Sexdrome, Perspex Flesh, No, Church Whip, Vile Gash

Here at FBN we automatically assume you like it raaawwwwww (baby), even more so if it's paired with hardcore or black metal, so naturally I've dug up the ugliest release I could find for your listening pleasure.
Qualm are a relatively new hardcore outfit from Amsterdam, Netherlands and this here is their relatively new tape, Passive. The nine tracks here are as a negative and dark as they come, and with song titles such as 'Self Loathing' and 'Despicable', you've got a fair indication of the themes on this tape. One could easily liken Qualm to a blackened punk band, with filthy, raw vocals and tinny guitar sound and noisy, dissonant solos, but this thing's just brimming with primal, stompy hardcore energy - just listen to that drum intro on 'Numb' and you'll understand.
Passive, and the band's demo are available on Qualm's bandcamp as pay-what you-want downloads. Keep an eye out for the upcoming physical release too!

TRACKLISTING:
1. Numb
2. Force Fed
3. Trust Issues
4. Despicable
5. Passive
6. Self Loathing
7. Hollow
8. Stretch Marks
9. Filth

Bandcamp

Interview with Mutton

Interview by Brayden Bagnall

Australia's alternative music scene has always had something of a fascination with the scuzzier, burly side of  musical spectrum - just ask The Scientists, The Birthday Party, Feedtime - or Mutton. The Melbourne four-pieceplay fuzzed out noise rock that owes just as much to Am Rep as it does to the barren wasteland in the middle of the ocean that is Australia. I talked to Rob, Max and Dorian from Mutton to get the lowdown on the band. 

FBN: Hi there! What's your name and what do you do?

Max: The animal we birthed answers to the name, "Mutton". We attempt a blend of scuzzy noise fueled discord.

FBN: Tell us about the band - how did you guys come together and start writing music together?

Dorian: Matt put the word out about starting a band and I was into his idea. After few practices I asked Rob if he wanted to play bass and Matt asked Max to try out on vocals. That's literally how it all came together. Early writing involved a bunch of songs being reworked, some of which got ditched, and the remainders were what became the self-titled EP.  

FBN: What does the song writing process usually look like for you guys?

Max: Dorian or Rob bring pre-written riffs to a practice and they'll jam these basic parts in a linear fashion with Matt. Whilst this takes place I'll try and get a rough melody and some words formed.

Once I've got an idea for a possible structure, we'll run through it a number of times and talk out what’s going to work.

FBN: Are there any bands in particular that have heavily influenced your music?

Max: For me The Jesus Lizard and Pissed Jeans are two bands that have been influential.

I've always preferred character vocalists over pitch perfect singer/song-writer types.

Rob: Amrep as well as Touch and Go affiliated bands, but it always changes. As of late I have been pretty inspired by watching local bands.

FBN: You've got some pretty off-center lyrics, actually I'm reminded a lot of some King Buzzo has written for the Melvins. What themes do you tackle with your lyrics?

Max: More often than not my lyrics are based on social observations or the similarities I notice between human behaviour and that of animals. I have an unsaid rule of thumb to avoid the obvious bullshit themes of cars, girls and politics. I often like to use metaphors to colour and give multiple meanings to a song.

There's a line in our track Bladder where I say, "Back on the silver saddle of love". It's a metaphor I coined for drinking cask wine. The track Mutton Man is based on a mate who is a nurse. I was chatting with him one night and he made an in jest comment that he could clean up an old women's snatch real nice...his words not mine! Oddly enough that inspired me to write a song about a male nurse.

FBN: How do more 'punk and hardcore' oriented crowds react to your music?

Dorian: We’ve received some interest from punk/hardcore crowds, but we don’t see them so much at our shows, especially when you compare them to crowds that are more into noise rock. But because we have so many bands here in Melbourne, people can get picky on what type of bands they play with or what shows they go see. It's stupid because it limits people's taste. But then again, sometimes you’ll get a corker of a festival that offers mixed bills and they're great.

FBN :Your band is called Mutton, and you have a shirt featuring Sam Kekovich getting torn apart by sheep. Are you protective of your bovid brethren or do you just think Sam Kekovich is a wanker?

Max:  It's more the parody of him being a meat eating advocate been eaten by the animal he promotes as food. Also, the visual ties in with our name, so why not!

Rob: A couple of us don't eat meat, but that wasn't why the t-shirt design came about. I think the image of Sam Kekovich (the "lambassador") being eaten alive by the same animal he demands Australians eat on Australia Day is pretty amusing to us. Digging a little deeper, I think it's a means of distancing ourselves from being associated with that particular notion of Australian nationalism in which prejudice is inherent.

FBN: Australia's history is rich with scuzzy, noise rock bands, and there's quite a few bands carrying on the tradition nowadays. Who are a few Australian noise rock bands (past and present) you think more people should know about?

Mutton: Lubricated Goat, feedtime, Grong Grong, Iron Sheiks, The Triffids, Useless Children, Heads of Charm, Worm Crown, DEAD, Scul Hazzards, Halt Ever, Bone and Batpiss. I'm not sure if you'd call them noise rock, but they're all great bands in their own right.

FBN: What's on the books for Mutton in the near future - shows, releases, tours, etc.

Mutton: Our 7" EP shouldn't be too far off, let's say we'll have it released before the year is out. In terms of shows, we've got a whole bunch lined up throughout July and August, all of which are in Melbourne. But we're not neglecting the rest of the country as we're planning to head up to Brisbane towards the end of year. 

FBN: Lastly, any thank yous, shout outs or advice you'd like to share with the general public?

Thanks Fucked By Noise. Suss us out at - https://mutton-men.bandcamp.com/

And a massive thank you to Mutton for the interview! If you're lucky enough to be in Melbourne, than go suss out Mutton at one of these shows:

11th of July @ The Public Bar w/White Walls, Cuntz & Weedy Gonzalez

16th of July @ Slow Club w/Young Liberals & AD Skinner

18th of July @ The Public Bar w/Scul Hazzards, The Shifters & Worm Crown

29th of July @ Old Bar w/Gold Class & White Wash

11th of August @ Monday Night Mass - Northcote Social Club

15th of August @ Tote w/Mighty Boys, AD Skinner & WOD

30th of August @ Old Bar w/Bad Vision

Clotting - Sensory Secretion

'Sensory Secretion'
Clotting
2014

(Band Submission)

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Power Electronics
For Fans Of: Deathpile, Slogun, Bastard Noise, The Rita, Grunt

I can't decide whether it was the True Detective sample that opens this release, or the bastardization of Take My Breath Away on the closing track that cemented by firm approval for Clotting's brand of power electronics. This four track cassette from the Chicago based project contains quite a few samples, such as the aforementioned two, as well as some uttely ferocious walls of fuzz and distortion, and powerful vocals thrust straight to foreground. The vocals sit very highly in the mix, sometimes receding into the pulses and swashes of the background noise, and divert time between a more standard bark/command and beefy gutturals, not too dissimilar to that of Eric Wood's subterranean growl. The noise on the other hand sits somewhere between straight up harsh noise walls,  interspersed with a manner of distorted squeals, wails and synth pulses. All together it's a fairly minimal, primitive take on power electronics, composed in a manner that allows the vocals and samples to form a narrative. Simply put, it's a well constructed monolith of sound that also happens to be collapsing on your person, and will surely crush you and your precious vital organs with it's static-y girth.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Sensory Secretion
2. Mindless Digestion
3. Compromised Machine
4. Abducted Breath

Bandcamp

Interview with Foot And Mouth Disease

Interview by By Zach Dion

Foot And Mouth Disease is a dark ambient/power electronics project out of  Rochester, New York. Lead primarily by Lawrence J. Patti, and joined by David Voekl, FAMD's noise delivers unsettling atmosphere through synth and noisy electronics. 

FBN: How did you get into noise?

Lawrence:  Well my main inspiration was originally Patti Smith, who wasn't a noise artist but opened up the possibilities of music for me.  The first I heard of noise music was early Cabaret Voltaire, which happened when I heard their later new-wave/disco semi-hit "Just Fascination" and was seeking out the album that was on.  I wound up with an earlier album called Red Mecca that had some vivid artwork but wouldn't say what the tracks were.  When I played it I was in for a shock -- it wasn't music as most people would expect, it was noisy and quite odd, but the more I listened to it the more I liked it.  Later I would find out about Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse

FBN: And what prompted you form Foot and Mouth Disease?

Lawrence: Foot and Mouth Disease started while I was also in a project with local artist and poet Greg Lattanzio, originally called Nihilistic Ambience but later changing the name to the Little School.  I was originally doing recordings before then with a Casio SK-1 and a cheap breadbox-sized two-track tape recorder -- those recordings were lost anyways.  Around 1996 I bought a Fostex four-track second hand from Michell Album who was doing a noise project called Law in Fort Bend, Indiana.  I got that mailed to me and I found a cheap Korg Poly 800 synth at Sound Source.  So at the time I thought of a name and just at the moment I found a book about skin diseases at a garage sale, found a funny picture of a guy who had Foot and Mouth Disease and there was the name, which would be household for awhile years later...  Basically I just thought it would be great if there was something like Throbbing Gristle in Rochester and also I found out there was a Buffalo/Syracuse noise band called 666 Noise Volt Battery or something and was unimpressed by one of their tapes.  I thought even I could do better than that, so that prompted me to start FAMD.

FBN: In your opinion how is the current state of noise?

Lawrence: I'm not sure about noise's future.  Noisy ideas have been used in modern pop music since 1983 with Shannon's smash-hit "Let the Music Play" (which I always found more irritating than noise usually is...)  I don't think it's likely noise will become mainstream but weirder things have happened anyways.  As long as it holds interest I'm sure there will always be noise acts.

FBN: Again, in your opinion where is noise’s place in the extreme underground scene?

Lawrence: Hmm I always thought noise WAS the extreme underground scene, unless maybe you're talking about Heavy Metal...

FBN: Is there a place in the mainstream music scene for noise?

Lawrence: Again mainstream music has always picked up on noise since the 80s, and I think that will be a given -- not saying it's become mainstream or that all mainstream music is that way (obviously) but there's lots of smart people in the genre who want to add that special spice to their layer cake, so to speak...

FBN: What artist are you listing to today and is there any artist that you feel need more attention?

Lawrence: I'm trying to think of any current noise acts I've been listening to.  Mostly it's been local acts, especially Waves Crashing Piano Chords and Swallowing Bile.  Iron Fist of the Sun put out a couple of good albums lately, and William Bennett's current project Cut Hands has always been interesting...

FBN: What is the future of Foot and Mouth Disease?

Lawrence: FAMD has lately been dormant due to lack of requests for shows or recorded material.  My current Dark Ambient project Spaghettiman is still going to this day, mostly because it's stuff I do on my computer.  Right now I'm mostly focusing on a "rock" project with Larry Feldman (ex-Nod) -- I'm not sure how it would evolve or if there will be noisier elements brought to it, but stay tuned anyways...

While Foot And Mouth Disease don't have their own bandcamp, you can listen and download several of their releases at the links below. Here's hoping we can hear some new tunes in the future.

Split w/ Beard Without A Mustache 

Split w/ Svartvit

Split w/ Ginger Cortes

Split w/ Ground Zero Mosque

Pigeon Religion - DISCOGRAPHY (kinda)

(incomplete) DISCOGRAPHY
Pigeon Religion
2009/2010

Review By Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Noise Rock
For Fans Of: Flipper, Stretchheads, Scratch Acid, Drunkdriver, Pygmy Shrews, Kilslug

Pigeon Religion came out of the same scene that's given us Avon Ladies, Tempe SS, Destruction Unit and Marshstepper - so I can almost slap a quality guaranteed sticker on this right now. But for those of you who want a little more information, Pigeon Religion were a noise rock group who existed from 2008 - 2010. In that criminally short time frame they cranked out some of the most uncomfortable, awkward noise rock dirges this side of Flipper's Generic, with little or no regard for whose ears they hurt in the process. The guitars are sloppy and sludgy, and have no qualms with letting the feedback to the talking, while the vocals come from the school of David Yow yelping - with a slightly more unhinged, caustic edge. As energetic as they were lethargic and drugged out, Pigeon Religion pretty much played the best modern take on weirdo, outsider noise rock. Too fucking bad they called it quits.
This is a frustrating post for numerous reasons, mostly because this is one of those bands with a ridiculously small discography, and excellent music. Godfuckingdammit.
Secondly, of this small discography - that includes a few live recordings, a mysterious LP, some 7"s and tapes I CAN ONLY FUCKING FIND the 7"s and a single tape online. URGH.
So if you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the missing releases, please oh please hit me up. I'd like to listen to them for starters, and then maybe share them with the general public.

TRACKLISTING: (aka please give me the missing releases)

Warm Insides CS
1. Warm Insides (I swear this is a cover of 'I Saw You Shine')
2. No Boundaries

Scorpion Milk
1. Scorpion Milk
2. White Fluff
3. Shootist

Dead Boss 
1. Dead Boss
2. Henderson
3. Huge Bummer

Crystallized Meth 
1. Crystallized Meth
2. Dust
3. Rust

Download

The Hague - Luxollid

'Luxollid'
The Hague
2014

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Ambient, Drone, Synth, Noise
For Fans Of: Hvide Sejl, (the less screechy side of) Atrax Morgue, Croatian Amor, Rose Alliance, Mutant Video

Minimalism, funnily enough, is a tricky thing. Artists - musicians in particular - must strike the balance between simplicity and captivation, and avoid drawing a composition out to the point where they become droll and pretentious. Enter, The Hague.
On Luxollid, The Hague proves adept at crafting cinematic, brooding tracks that retain the spartan appeal of minimalism, but sport meticulous attention to detail and songwriting. Layers of cold, 80s flavoured synth , soft background ambience and harsher tones (such as the shrill, piercing wails on Monk's Hood) form the melting pot of drowned out, almost apathetic soundscapes that is Luxollid. It's not hard to imagine these tracks accompanying an x-rated VHS or an obscure European art film, as The Hague's subtle, musical progressions play out like a soundtrack to a non-existent film.
Luxollid is stuck somewhere between EP and LP purgatory, coming in at roughly 20 minutes. While it's a short lived listen, it stays with you and demands multiple repeats - even if for pleasant background noise.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Fear of Home
2. Monk's Hood
3. Never Leave
4. Crown Of Laurels
5. Sin Collector

Bandcamp

Homage To Nothing - First Failure

'First Failure'
Homage To Nothing
2014

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Harsh Noise, Noisecore, Free Improvisation
For Fans Of: Sete Star Sept, Full Of Hell, 7 Minutes Of Nausea, Limbs Bin

Homage To Nothing's bandcamp displays a somewhat accurate description for the sounds contained within: 'FUCKED UP DRUGGED OUT LO-FI SPAZZTIC NOISE AND DRUM CACOPHONIES'
Curiosity not quenched? You're not hovering over that bandcamp link button below already? Okay, allow me to elaborate.
On First Failure, Homage To Nothing combines the spaced out squelches and squeals of a synthesizer (a Korg Monotron by the sounds of things) and pairs them with fevered drum blasts. The duo play in reckless unison, joined on and off again by screams and yelps - to great effect. The spaced out squeaks of the synth and harsh drumming barrages may seem like and odd couple at first, but as the tracks progress, the two intertwine, duck, weave and duel each other until some semblance of balance is achieved.
You could say that this is the result of a noisecore album being recorded in the cockpit of a UFO whizzing through the skies in a 60s sci-fi flick - on that other hand it could be the sounds escaping from the mouth of a junkie passed out in his own vomit. Analogies aside, it is an interesting rendition of a genre that for the most part sounds the same, and you'd do well to ingest copious amounts of drugs and check it out.

TRACKLISTING:
1. MOVER OF MOUNTAINS
2. THAT CROW NEVER STOPS
3. I BURNED ALL OUR BOOKS
4. NO ONE MAKES IT
5. DRIVER NOT BELTED
6. DIRGE

Bandcamp

An introduction

First off, I would just like to say thank you to the FBN crew for letting me join on to the blog. It is good to know that there are people who care about the super obscure and underground sounds of terror that I myself have come to enjoy. I listen to anything that offends, scares, and horrifies "normal" people would scoff at and cast of as just mindless noise (no pun intended). I remember not to long ago having my mom ask me to shut off the Whitehouse record "Birdseed" because of the rape testimonials in the title track because she couldn't handle the offensive nature of the track. I chuckled as i turned it up louder. I also have my own power electronic project called Mr. Potato Head is a Tranny, or MPHIAT for short.

Here is good times and good tunes

Zack

Fejhed - Self Titled

'Fejhed'
Fejhed
2014

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Power Electronics, Industrial
For Fans Of: Puce Mary, Damien Dubrovnik, Cremation Lily, Pharmakon, Hvide Sejl

Fejhed is the collaboration between Frederikke Hoffmeier (Puce Mary) and Jesse Sanes (Hoax) - and while that may be exciting, wait until you hear this thing.
Fejhed utilises a quieter, more restrained approach to power electronics, that is heavy on atmosphere and tonality. Primarily synthesizer driven, Fejhed boasts beautiful sub bass rumblings, minimal sampling and eerie background ambiance courtesy of Hoffmeier, whileSanes provides the vocals, both harsh and spoken, which are pleasantly buried in the mix.
There's a particular ebb and flow to this tape - a very deliberate use of more muffled tones and volume surges, and much like the loops of a boat rocking in the water on Haunt, Fejhed sways back and forth between intense industrial/power electronics and soft ambient sections.
If you've been keeping up with the exciting Posh Isolation noise scene, and its numerous offshoots and contemporaries, then you'll be enthralled with this release. I can't say the same for Hoax fans though.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Intro
2. The Edge
3. Haunt
4. Drinking Spit
5. Hydrophobia
6. Sorry
7. Transatlantic
8. Haunt II
9. Silence

Download
Bandcamp

Euthanizer - Permanent Damage

'Permanent Damage'
Euthanizer
2010

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Blackened Hardcore, Grindcore
For Fans Of: Horrid Cross, Church Whip, Nak'kay, Ancestors

SWEET MOTHER OF BLOWN OUT HARDCORE
Prepare to resign about five and a half minutes of your life to this ugly fucking tape from Euthanizer. Fuzzed out guitars, washed out drums, feedback and garbled, strained vocals are on the menu here, all presented in cassette quality, low-bias, for your listening displeasure. I'm conflicted as to whether to really label this as 'grindcore', but this thing comes at you just as hard as any grind band could, albeit in a much more straightforward, primitive manner. If they ever managed to convert rabies to an audible form, I'm sure it'd sound a heckuva lot like this.
I am a little bummed that this, and a self titled tape are all we've heard from this band since 2010, and all we're likely to hear given it's a Youth Attack release, and it's now coming up on 2015 buuuuut on the other hand this is REALLY GOOD so it balances out. Sort of.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Dying Awake
2. You're Here
3. Self-Deception
4. Conflict
5.Meaning
6. Close
7. Useless
8. Know Why
9. Tied

10. Head Control

Download

NOISE MEGAPOST

It's that time again

'The Harsh Weight Of Anxiety' - Eating Scabs For Protein
Certainly an inventive name, and pretty indicative of the raw, primal sounds that are about to be thrown at you. ESFP is self described 'rudimentary power electronics', though on this release it's entirely 'instrumental' noise, comprised of squealing feedback and gigantic static walls fighting for dominance in the background. This is the sort of noise that makes you want to curl up into a ball and chew your fingernails.
Bandcamp

'HATRED' -SBTDOH
Isolation and discontent with the work-centric world we live in are the basis of this release by SBTDOH. HATRED is comprised of two lengthy tracks that share stylistic similarities to HNW, but break the usual monotony with bursts of dynamic noise. It's an interesting combination of styles and sounds and definitely worth checking out.
Bandcamp 

'I Can Never Know You' - Wolf Cartography
I Can Never Know You is the new 42 minute long tape from Massachusetts based noise project, Wolf Cartography. The solo project takes its cues from the likes of artists such as Glenn Branca or Otomo Yoshihide and delivers harsh, improvised guitar based noise. While there's plenty of guitar feedback, you're also assaulted with string scratches, painful string bends and an assortment of distorted wails and chugs.
Bandcamp

'Vessels' - Rui. P Andrade
More guitar oriented noise, but this time from sound artist Rui P. Andrade. Vessels is composed from numerous sources: prepared guitar, synthesizers and field recordings, all of which intertwine to create a slow, haunting build up of ambient noise. The two tracks here are certainly lengthy, but rewarding in their own right - each layer of sound is so meticulously crafted that you have to listen.
Bandcamp

'Machine Death' - Frequency Killer
Coming at you from Florida, USA is this debut from Frequency Killer, Machine Death. 
Over thirty, short, violent tracks you are slammed with seething, bubbling noise via unrestrained feedback and chaotic distortion. Definitely an endurance test for the ears.
Bandcamp

'Bitch Status' - Stricture Divulsor
Traditional instrumentation, noise, sampling and field recording and an interesting interpretation of Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car' all collide on this debut EP from Stricture Divulsor. Somewhere between musique concrete and avant-garde rock is where I'd place this, but there's elements of traditional noise and electronica as well. An incredibly well put together collage of genres and an intriguing listen for sure.
Bandcamp

Abjection Ritual - Self Titled

'Abjection Ritual'
Abjection Ritual
2014

(Band Submission)

Genre/s: Industrial, Death Industrial
For Fans Of: IRM, Pharmakon, Skin Area, Nyodene D, Navicon Torture Technologies

If you're looking for something bleak, noisy and absolutely APOCALYPTIC to ruin your day then look no further, for you have found it here. Abjection Ritual is a solo death industrial project from Pennyslvania, USA, and this here is the stunning self titled debut release.
Abjection Ritual is built around numerous components - synth, noise, samples and vocals - delivered in massive, exquisitely composed tracks. thats tows the line between creepy ambient pieces, and the aforementioned APOCALYPTIC industrial dirges.
Each track sees new ideas and sounds explored - tracks such as Wastrel utilize minimal percussion and vocals pushed to the foreground of the mix, while Haunted Distraction is entirely 'instrumental' and serves as as a chilling soundscape. 
As much as I love my improvised noise, there's no denying the power that deliberately composed pieces have, and Abjection Ritual most certainly demonstrates this on this release. Turn this one up loud and enjoy the sounds of the end of the world.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Wastrel
2. Painted Womb
3. Haunted To Distraction
4. A Body Against Itself
5. Thought Hostage

Bandcamp

Wreak Wrists - Demo

'Demo'
Wreak Wrists
2014

(Band Submission)

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Screamo, Emoviolence
For Fans Of: In/Humanity, Guyana Punch Line, Loma Prieta, Young And In The Way

Wreak Wrists are a sceamo band from Asheville, North Carolina - whose sound encapsulates the unbridled ferocity of 90s 'emoviolence', adds a smidgeon of 'balckened' into the mix and sends it off to school with a kiss and a packed lunch.
While Wreak Wrists do flirt with melody, their primary means of conveying their raw, emotional music is through blast beats, pummeling tremolo riffs and throaty screams.
For a demo, this is an absolutely massive sounding release, and with the blistering instrumentation and vocals it's pretty fucking formidable. Epic, aggressive screamo at it's most fierce, chaotic best.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Inescapable
2. Trail Stained
3. Cavalcade
4. Spreading
5. Nausea
6. Quiet Entombed

Bandcamp
Download

Bichkraft - маскот

'маскот'

Bichkraft

2014

(Band Submission)

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Noise Rock, Industrial Rock, Post Punk

For Fans Of: Big Black, A Place To Bury Strangers, Pink City, Dreamdecay

Whether you're an analogue purist or digital fiend - we all know that drum machines have a place in heavy music. Big Black demonstrated this waaaay back in the 80s, and bands like Agoraphobic Nosebleed have opened up a multitude of possibilities for up and coming grinders (for better, and for much, much worse). Bichkraft, much like AnB have seen the potential for crafting unique and exciting music via the drum machine, but instead of dialing in blast beats at 10bazillion bpm, they've opted for breakbeat/techno inspired drums. 

Thankfully you're not dealing with Venetian Snares-esque beats (though that would be interesting), rather they're more subdued, sophisticated patterns that weave in and out of the hazy guitar lines and droning passages of feedback. The vocals are hidden behind a layer of delay and buried into the mix, lending a pleasant, vaguely dystopian slant to the overall sound.

маскот is a seamless blend of organic and inorganic compounds, a combination that is both robotic and full of life. Cold and distant when it needs to be, energetic and groove-ridden when it's not. 

TRACKLISTING:

1. не знал 

2. кроссовки 

3. свитер

4. а4 

5. тебе 12 

6. кусты 

7. майти найт дикс 

8. форд скорпио 

9. жорж 

10. widlce 

Bandcamp

Interview with Limbs Bin

Interview by Brayden Bagnall

Josh Landes is the man behind Limbs Bin - a project that fuses the extremes of power electronics and noisecore into extremely potent, violent art form. I spoke to Josh about his project, his numerous influences and confusing hardcore kids.

FBN: Hi there! What's your name and what's the name of your project?

Josh: Hello Brayden! I’m Josh Landes, and my project is called Limbs Bin. The name comes from an actual box of severed arms and legs I encountered in a Tel Aviv University anatomy lab as a teenager.

FBN:  Aside from Limbs Bin, are there any other projects or bands you are involved with?

Josh: I am half of the reclusive Crashing Bores duo with Erik Brown as well as being half of Two Jacks with Dan Cashman, and I’m a founding member of Science Camp, Reaver Space, and Spiner Femmes.

FBN: I saw that top 10 list of bands on your blog that influenced Limbs Bin and it included punk, hardcore and even poetry - as well as noise oriented material. How did you decide to incorporate all these elements into your music - was it an immediate decision or did you ease into it gradually? 

Josh: The beauty and peril of flying solo is that there’s very little filter on what influences the noise. With no one to negotiate with, anything from a science fiction novel to a particularly good sandwich can enter the Limbs Bin lexicon. I grew up in the moldy basements, blown out amps, and violent physicality of hardcore punk, and latched on to the extremes of the music that was mostly treated as a byproduct or a device- mic feedback, the crunching distortion, the wall of sound from a battered crash cymbal. When I discovered a world where those elements were embraced and heightened, it was very exciting, though at first I was seeing a lot of knob twisting that didn’t produce the same thrill as the sweat and bruises of hardcore. Seeing Dan Deacon in his early days was also exciting, blown out electronic music with a fiercely positive physicality had a big impact on me. I was exposed to power electronics on an early tour while still in college- particularly a set by Peter J Woods in 2009- and that blend of human voice and electronic barrage delighted me. It’s hard to not influence me. I saw the poet Hiromi Ito just tear through her work almost foaming at the mouth at a pretty staid academic event, and it made me want to focus even more on writing words that I wanted to rip into like that. Intelligible or not, making sure the text comes from a place of passion is still very important to me. The most recent turn in my interests has been to noisecore and grindcore, and while several of my releases have entirely improvised vocal parts (certainly inspired by one of my favorite bands from Western Mass, where Limbs Bin started and was nurtured by an explosively creative scene, Grey Skull) I think lyrics are important to the band even if the music is even faster and more fucked. Living in Western Massachusetts influenced me, and now living in New York City is driving the music in a totally different direction as I incorporate a drummer and increased improvisation into the set. For every super harsh evil album that drives me, so does the pop I hear on the radio or the Steely Dan records my dad played in our car when I was a kid. Entire tapes have emerged from one bad argument, one walk in the woods, one moment in a book. I’ve even written a love song at this point. So to pirouette back to your question, I am constantly influenced by more than I know, more often than I’d care to admit.

FBN: What does your live setup usually entail?

Josh: The core elements of Limbs Bin are my voice through a distorted mic- a development I learned only after playing live shows and taking the project out of my dorm room- and the drum machine. For a long time, my accompaniment was a backing track from an ipod that I screamed over. On my last tour, I played the drum machine live, and over the last two years I’ve added a noise generator built by Dan Greenwood. I’ve also played the songs as a hardcore band or a sort of improvisatory orchestra of different players, both as Limbs Band. One memorable show captured on the first collection tape features a second vocalist and a saxophone. Some sets have been straight up harsh noise or drum machine explorations. Any set up that lets me feel lost in something and ecstatic I will try.

FBN:  Do you play many non-noise oriented shows? How does your stuff go down with the typical metal/punk/hardcore crowd?

Josh: I used to almost exclusively play hardcore shows given my longer relationship with that world. The wonderful thing about my set is that it’s usually too short and loud to heckle. I’ve definitely played to a lot of blank faces and snickers and accusations of irony or over-artiness. It’s fine. No one has to like it, and I realize that even if I see Limbs Bin as a punk band, I can’t insist anyone else does. I think the ironic thing is that as someone who spent many years voraciously consuming hardcore, I was trying to take everything I loved about the music and condense it into one performance. So it came from a place of trying to take two of my favorite bands who already essentialized and exaggerated hardcore, Napalm Death and Infest, and push it into an even stranger extreme. When I discovered Masonna and the rich world of noisecore, I realized I was hardly the first person to do this, and as a result I continued pushing into different directions.

FBN: You've toured pretty extensively, mostly in the US - but you've also toured Israel. How did your noise go down over there? And what's your best tour experience?

Josh: I travelled to Israel in 2012 ostensibly to see my brother for Passover with my family, and under that guise planned three dates with the help of Tom Sveta, who I had met through his grind band D9. I wanted to take the opportunity to reverse some of the Zionist propaganda I had been raised in by seeing the parts of Israel most concealed by that unapologetically racist, militaristic ideology. I attended a demonstration in the West Bank and met Palestinians on their own soil for the first time in my life. I saw the plight of African refugees left to voicelessly fend for themselves in Southern Tel Aviv, a true urban dystopia. I did this all with the impunity of a white American man who could travel unimpeded and unquestioned through one of the most policed areas in the world. It was an intense ten days, and the shows reflected that. From the Rogatka in Tel Aviv- an anarchist bar/vegan restaurant where I played D9’s last show with the brilliant Frequently Humiliated- to the bagel shop basement space called the Thrash Hole in Jerusalem, I met some amazingly passionate people playing music from grim political crust/grind like D9 to bands that sounded like the Minutemen, to a polished metal band on Relapse and a pornogrind band called Dirk Diggler. The third and final show was at a noise compound in Tel Aviv called the Zimmer Improv Center, where I smoked joints continuously rolled and passed to me by a stoic older man who assured me it was organic while we watched a free improve ensemble play harp, violin, reel to reel, and electric bass for forty-five minutes before Tom and I collaborated on a harsh noise/power electronics set. The activists I met there- mostly from the group Anarchists Against The Wall- were clearly traumatized by their experiences facing down the military state and watching their friends across the wall languish in prison and suffer endlessly. I wish I’d had more time in Palestine, but hopefully I can return someday. I have a long unpublished, amazing interview with Ben Ronen, an eloquent and constantly active voice for justice in a cruel world who I spent time with. It all certainly put my armchair activism to shame. From motorcycle rides around Tel Aviv to long talks about animal rights and Red Dwarf marathons, the experience was something else.

As far as best tour experiences go, playing with Globsters well after midnight in a tiny bar next to an international 8-bit music convention in Kentucky was amazing, as was a recent moment on tour where Sangre Y Tierra and I found ourselves hiking through the gorges of Ithaca in between wonderfully warm, friendly shows in Syracuse, NY and Lancaster, PA.

FBN: Noisecore is notorious for joke-songs and generally not taking itself seriously - but on the other hand it's just as brutal and unforgiving as any other form of noise music. Does Limbs Bin have an elements of humour or self parody, or is it straight-up, sonic assault? 

Josh: I would hate to be involved in anything that doesn’t have a sense of humor about itself. There’s plenty of references, in jokes, winks, and nods in the music that reflect that, and I’m completely aware that it’s impossible to look super cool and be taken seriously all the time when you’re onstage alone losing your mind and sweating violently. I don’t like the idea that artists are sacred beings sharing a gift with the world. I like the idea of artists as public amateurs learning in front of people. Something about the pompousness of people thinking that being in a band or having been published means anything special makes me want to embarrass myself and be defiantly vulnerable on stage. I also can’t stand bands that thrive on straight frivolity. Acts like Crank Sturgeon are my favorite live acts; you’re lead through an improvisation that is as hilarious as it is a revelation. All that being said, this is my chief means of being creative and expressive, so I perform it with the intensity and earnestly Limbs Bin deserves and can be very defensive about it if pushed.

FBN: If you could collaborate with any three noise artists, living or dead, who would they be?  

Josh: Eric Wood, Masonna, and Brian Eno.

FBN: What have you got planned for Limbs Bin for the rest of the year? Shows, splits, other releases? 

Josh: Limbs Bin is playing with Sete Star Sept on August 14th in NYC, and working on a fall tour with Sunken Cheek. I just got my side of a 7” with Shitnoise Bastards mastered, so expect that before the year is out. The “Live In Israel” tape is coming out on Bonescraper Recordings at some point. I’ve got a long list of splits to record for, among them a tape with Gutterpriest and a collaboration 7” with Kusari Gama Kill.

FBN: Finally, and words of encouragement, shout outs or thank yous you wish for the internet to look upon?

Josh: As far as encouragement goes, remember that you always have choices no matter what the situation, and that the longer you do something the more rewarding it gets.

Gowl’s new 7” is fantastic. Gay Kiss, my favorite contemporary hardcore band, has a devastating new LP coming out this year. I salute my fellow members of the Titans Of Noise Trio, Wish For Skin and Permanent Waves. The aforementioned Ben Ronen is in a band called Marmar Streisand. Check out Tom Sveta’s noise project Sinister Sveta. I’m excited for Limbs Bin with Marc Grillo on the drums this year. Hail to Sangre Y Tierra, Pyka, Hunted Down, In Her Rotten Cheek, Japanese Furnace, Building 7, Ya Te Veo, Crazed, Noise Nomads, Demonbrother, Tacomaniacx, Subsist, Violent Gorge, and Generic Death. I have a show on WFMU called Infinite Distortion that you can hear at wfmu.org on Wednesday nights at 8pm Eastern or stream from the archives. You can reach me at followmeintothelasereye@gmail.com - I love trading stuff and meeting other weirdos. Thanks so much for the interview!

Thanks to Josh for that interview! 

Head on over to the Limbs Bin bandcamp HERE to check out the multitude of releases there. Highly recommended.