!FUCKED BY NOISE'S BEST OF 2014! - Brayden's Picks (Part 2: LPs)

This is part two of my 2K14 round up and it's all about the LPs. Again I've just been flooded with awesome music, and I guarantee there's stuff I've missed. Otherwise the rest is here -with youtube/bandcamp links to help you catch up on what you've missed. Before I start though I'd like to mention a few albums that might've been on here:

Swans - To Be Kind: Yeah it was good. Yeah it was kinda AOTY. But everyone else has it on their list so shhhh
Endon - Mama: I'm absolutely sure this would've made top 10 - had I been able to find a copy and listen to it
Trap Them - Blissfucker: A very good chance this would've been on the list too - had it not been a huge fucking let down and arguably the most disappointing album of the year
Triac - Full Length: This would've had a guaranteed spot on the list - but it hasn't been released, and doesn't look like it will be for some time. Alas

All that out of the way, here's the stuff that did make the cut:

LPs:

'Prayer For Terrene'
Idylls

Idylls had been one of my favourite Australian bands ever since I first saw them live opening for Punch on their Australian tour. Their debut album, Farewell All Joy was math-y hardcore done right but FUCK after listening to this it can't even hold a candle to this. Prayers For Terrene saw Idylls pushing every element of their sound to the breaking point. The grindcore influence is much more prominent, but so is the noise rock elements. There's more nods to classic Australian punk (see the Venom P. Stinger cover), there's a saxophone and there's just layers upon layers of sound to wade through. Idylls were pretty hard to classify before, but now they've reached dizzying new heights of ambiguity and dissonance. All I can say is that Australia hasn't had a band this intense, loud or crazy before - and I doubt it ever will again. Actual AOTY for sure. Hands down. No competition. Nup. None whatsoever.

'Primitive And Deadly'
Earth

Considering it was an album I wasn't excited about at all, Earth's Primitive And Deadly was probably the most pleasant surprise of 2014. Having barely listened to their previous releases, I was still surprised by the inclusion of vocals and a much more psychedelic rock driven sound. That's not to say that Earth aren't as bone shatteringly loud or heavy as the days of yore - because there's plenty of that too.  Each of the five tracks on this are repetitive, trance inducing journeys into luscious guitar tones and spaced out riffs. In fact I can safely say that 'From The Zodiacal Light' was my favourite track of 2K14, and Rabia Shaheen Qazi's hazy, chilled out vocal delivery has been stuck in my head for a fair portion of this year. They've been around for years, but Primitive And Deadly proves that Earth are still one of stoner/drone metal's biggest players.

'Estuary English'
Consumer Electronics

Estuary English has the distinction of being the most venomous, vile collection of recordings I heard all year. Consumer Electronicss (Phillip Best especially) have only gotten angrier and more focused as they've aged, both musically (term used VERY loosely here) and lyrically. Phillip Best's vocals drip with malice, sarcasm and wit as he forces every last syllable out his foam covered mouth. He spits, sputters and screams every known expletive in the English language over broken synth pulses, drum machine beats and shrill blasts of feedback. All this ferocity is channeled into vulgar attacks at modern culture and politics. It's spoken word meets Throbbing Gristle on amphetamine - and it's super good.

'Celestite'
Wolves In The Throne Room

Go figure, it takes Wolves In The Throne Room to stop playing black metal for me too reeeeeally enjoy them. Like, don't get me wrong - their black metal stuff is great - but Celestite just takes their, uh, celestial soundscapes to brand new highs. How? Well by ditching the metal, the instruments (for the most part) and milking the nicest, spaciest sounds out of synths as possible. Celestite sits somewhere between Sunn's more quiet output and Tangerine Dream - transcendental ambient music that's as lush as it is melodramatic. If you ever wanted to hear a black metal band scoring a sci-fi film without any blast beats, screaming or tremolo riffs this would be your best bet.



'Privacy'
Raspberry Bulbs

 I slept on Raspberry Bulbs previous LP, Deformed Worship in 2013. It promptly became one of my most played albums in 2014.
Then this album was announced.
Unsurprisingly, RB have continued to flesh out their unique combination of post-punk, noise rock and blackened punk - with longer more complex songs and many more ideas present within this album. Privacy has the band moving further away from their 'blackened' influences, and instead sees a much more refined, thought out direction. The inclusion of eerie, weird industrial tracks between every other track on the album is a pleasant surprise too - showing that the band can not only write brilliant punk songs but showcase a diversity of musical styles and their influences.

'Bestial Burden'
Pharmakon

Abandon featured in last year's top 10 list, and unsurprisingly Pharmakons' 2014 LP, Bestial Burden, is in this one.
New York death industrial musician, Margaret Chardiet, used a near death experience and operation as the inspiration to create the six tracks on this album. Utilizing stark synthesizer textures, samples and apocalyptic percussion, Chardiet's lyrics tackle the fragility of the human body and her health issues - in the noisiest way possible. The meticulous structure and presentation of Pharmakon's previous work remains - more so than before - and incorporates a wider range of vocal styles, samples and sounds. Bestial Burden is a much more diverse collection of tracks than Abandon, but still retains the harsh, uncompromising ethos of the project.



'Full Of Hell And Merzbow'
Full Of Hell/Merzbow

Full Of Hell have come along way since the breakdowns and hardcore riffs on Roots Of Earth..., veering almost directly into grindcore territory. From the very start of their collaboration, the potent combination of Masami Akita's volatile harsh noise and Full Of Hell's salvo of blast beats, riffs and savage vocals grip you by the throat and do not let go. The second disc features Merzbow's contributions in much more detail, with Full Of Hell providing wonderfully unhinged instrumental support - akin to one of their live performances - making for one hell of an uncomfortable, yet hypnotising experience.  This is a band who've gone from wearing their influences very heavily on their sleaves to craving their own niche into the genre AND collaborating with arguably the most important contemporary harsh noise artist in the process.

'Mental Hygiene'
Internal Rot

Internal Rot are a three piece grindcore band from Melbourne Australia, consisting of members from Roskopp, Agents Of Abhorrence and Super Fun Happy Slide. Now if that pedigree hasn't got you salivating all over your keyboard, the music will. Imagine shameless Excruciating Terror worship, but played with the speed and intensity of Insect Warfare - but with more groove. It's primitive grind cobbled together with an unhealthy amount of catchy thrashy riffs, more mosh parts than you can shake a fist too and absolutely filthy, raw vocals. Mental Hygiene is the best grind release to come from Australia since Earth.Water.Sun by AoA. Easily.

'Negative Ecstasy'
The Lowest Form

I've sung praises for this band on two occasions on this blog, and I'll be damned if I don't make it three. Negative Ecstasy is rabid, aggressive hardcore taken to its most illogical extreme. This album's a deadly duel between guitar feedback and buzzsaw riffs, with a madman barking over the top and the drums demolishing anything that happens to be in the path. No did it well last year, but the award for UKHC's craziest, gnarliest release definitely goes to The Lowest Form this year.



'Totem'
White Suns

Since 2008, New York band White Suns have been one of the most obtuse hardcore bands - splitting their time between freeform noise rock, sludgy dirges and experimental, avant-garde tracks. On Totem, they seem to be channeling the frantic, desperate energy of Drive Like Jehu coupled with the intensity of Drunkdriver. Wailing guitars are broken up by crackling oscillators and droning feedback, with sporadic drumming and unpredictable twists and turns. It's the most straightforward and accomplished album the band has released thus far,  but it retains the same impact and brunt of previous releases.



Honorable Mentions:
Fejhed - Self Titled
Vomir​/​Poète Maudit - Split
Ben Frost - A U R O R A
Gridlink - Longhena
Six Brew Bantha - Intravenously Commodified 
Rort - Warpath
Perspex Flesh - Self Titled
Mob Rules - Nothing Left
Thou - Heathen
Indian - From All Purity
The Body - I Shall Die Here
Scott Walker + Sunn O))) - Soused
Conan - Blood Eagle
Sesso Violento - Molestador
Arizmenda - Stillborn In The Temple Of Venus
Shellac - Dude Incredible
Ted Danson With Wolves - WWTDWWD

Dishonorable Mentions
Code Orange - I Am Kids King
Code Orange - I Am Kids King

Code Orange - I Am Kids King

Code Orange - I Am Kids King

Code Orange - I Am Kids King

FUCKED BY NEWCASTLE: Crab Smasher - Discography

'Discography'
Crab Smasher

2002-ongoing

Genre/s: Psychedelic, Experimental, Noise Rock, Noise Pop

For fans of: Boredoms, Violent Onsen Geisha, Mogwai, Pharaoh Sanders, Oval

Review by Jerry Kahale

Continuing with my series on our Novocastrian artists in "Fucked By Newcastle," when it comes to home brewed noise, Crab Smasher are perhaps one of the most fascinating acts to ever come out of the Steel City. I only have a small grasp of their history but I'll try to explain it as best I can. Crab Smasher started as a duo in 2002, with Grant Hunter (Polyfox And The Union Of Most Ghosts, Anal Discharge) and Nicholas French (Polyfox…, Obat Batuk, The Farting Arses).

Although guest artists would frequently appear on their releases, it was the album Serie Un Di Collaborazione that would cement Crab Smasher as the musical collective of Nicholas and Grant, with a revolving door of many different artists joining – including Nick Senger (Castings), Sarah Humphreys, Chris Hearn (Alps), Mike Foxall (Nancy Vandal), James Kritzler (Slug Guts, White Hex), Nathan N. Martin (Anal Discharge, Sweet Teeth, HANNAHBAND, Burlap) and a lot more. In around 2008, Marnie Vaughan (Sweet Teeth, HANNAHBAND), who had already appeared on a few Crab Smasher recordings – was starting to appear on all their subsequent recordings, thus making Crab Smasher a trio. Twelve years on, they are still making music to this day, with their most recent piece, Scum Puzzle, released this year in May.

So, what kind of music do they make? Well, anything and everything, really. Their musical journeys know no boundaries; almost every single release is completely different from the last and are usually always improvised. Take Scum Puzzle for example – an electronic and mostly instrumental album completely driven by coarse and abstract bit-crushed synths gone mad and erratic drumming, with a relatable pop rhythm that falls in tandem of a listenable and uncomfortable experience – but go back one album, to Earth Buddies, and we have a live radio session of the first ever "carbon neutral noise band" which has all the members switch out their synths and drums to get their crazy hands on thumb keyboards, glockenspiels, recorders, percussion, acoustic guitars, zither, battery powered toys and just about anything that isn't connected to a power outlet, creating an aurally destructive but environmentally friendly symphony.

They go from the avant-garde noise pop of the Blue Album to dreamy ambient post rock on The Doctor Is In…Over His Head. Most of their earlier releases are more focused on noise soundscapes like Todd McFarlane Crushes The Tyranny Of Corporate America. Sometimes a single release can have styles and genres all over the shop like Thick Mosquito Sky and Bones Are Stronger Than Concrete.

If I had to choose a favourite release however, it would easily be Impossible Monsters, which is probably because it was my first foray into discovering Crab Smasher (I forgot how), and at a time when I was forsaking a lot of mainstream music and was hungry for something different, this release came along and really left a big impression on me. I haven't heard many albums that can transcend from rumbling drones and short bursts of static attacks crashing in through some extremely harsh noise, before doing a reverse on the mood and presenting the listener with a manic, thick layered and melodically adventurous theme song for some non-existent cartoon. Impossible Monsters continues to flip moods again, to dark and eerie lounge music, and eventually ambient noise flowing from the melancholic to the euphoric. The last song is what makes the entire album for me, as it serves to be a final, cathartic point of how far they can strip down the layers, until we have a minute long song of lone keyboards and bit-crushed drums with the only vocals on the entire release. It makes for an oddly emotional experience as the band bends the rules of consistency to make their own. Some other notable releases for me include DOOM+DOOM=OMG, Serie Un Collaborazione and Forever!.

You can get their entire discography from their bandcamp, with everything free to download. I won't provide a track listing because there are too many releases to put up. As for where to start, well I reckon you should explore for yourself, but otherwise you can go back over the review and try out the albums I mentioned.

Bandcamp

Editing by Simon Dawes
dawes1986@gmail.com

Fushitsusha - Allegorical Misunderstanding

'Allegorical Misunderstanding'
Fushitsusha
1993

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Noise Rock, Free Impov, Noise, Psychadelic, Avant Garde
For Fans Of: Keiji Haino, Hijokaidan, Glen Branca, Suishou No Fune

One of Japan's most prolific exports is Keiji Haino - a man who's work spans almost four decades and multiple genres (noise, rock and roll, ambient, drone). Apart from his solo work, Haino's main musical mouthpiece is Fushitsusha, a free imrov group that leans to the noisy, psychadelic branch of things (fun fact, their current drummer, Ryosuke Kiyasu, is also the drummer in noise grinders Sete Star Sept). Despite Fushitsusha existing since 1978, this album, recorded in 1992 by John Zorn is the band's first studio album. At times unsettling, relaxing and ambient at others, Allegorical Misunderstanding is built off Haino's jarring, discordant guitar lines which is answered in turn by the drums and bass. It's easy listening gone awry (very awry), with seemingly serene moments interrupted by Haino's yelps and screams, and sudden bursts of guitar abuse and drum misuse. Allegorical Misunderstanding is probably the loudest quiet album you'll ever hear, and hence it works as both a ambient album or a confronting avant garde experience. Enjoy at your own risk.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Magic I
2. Magic II
3. Magic III
4. Magic IV
5. Magic V
6. Magic VI
7. Magic VII
8. Magic VIII
9. Magic IX
10. Magic X

Download

Gay Witch Abortion - Maverick

'Maverick'
Gay Witch Abortion
2009

Genre/s: Stoner Rock, Psychadelic, Noise Rock, Garage Rock
For Fans Of: Hex Machine, Blue Cheer, Boris, Black Sabbath

Aside from having one of the best names in modern music, Gay Witch Abortion churn out some dangerously fuzzed out, rhythmic, pulsating noise. For a two man group (guitar and drums) the band's output is massive - writhing textures that pound your skull with repetition, psychedelic textures and moments of surprising aggression. 'Maverick' is primarily instrumental - with more structured, riff oriented songs and some full-blown, noise freak-outs.  Bolstered by Jesse Bottemly's weird, floating and powerful vocals and Shawn Walker's tribal drumming, this album comes together superbly. Plug this in, listen to it loudly and zone out.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Down with Giants
2. Stain on the Floor
3. Action Cop
4. Unblinking Sun
5. Third World Limo
6. Your Own Militia
7. Church Buffet
8. Group Think
9. Girl Pop Soda
10. Wavey Graves
11. Curses
12. Scythian Sculls
13. Asleep In The Dirt

Download