Wednesday 28 February 2018

C.C.C.C. - "Reflexive Universe" (Vanilla Records ) 1991



The core line up of this Japnoise duo/band consisted of Hiroshi Hasegawa(late of the bands Astro & Mortal Vision) and former porn actress Mayuko Hino.
Naughty nymphet Hino would occasionally reprise this saucy element of her past into her performances by engaging in such acts as onstage striptease(Oooooh I say!?). Another less engaging feature of their live shows was the plastic bags of freshly excreted Piss that were thrown into the audience.Wish I was there....Not!
Aesthetically, Mayuko Hino advocated a very emotive and cathartic approach to the noise as opposed to the conceptual and intellectual approaches advocated by many other (predominantly 'Male')acts in the Power Electronics sub-genre. Typically a female approach,Mayuko Hino believes that an emotional, rather than an intellectual, approach to noise not only creates more interesting sounds, but reveals much more about the artist......an approach I rather agree with,although the intellectual approach I also find rather cathartic, personally. The human element is essential if this noise onslaught is not to become distant and and inhuman....and, I reiterate, Boring!

Well, now you can listen to the live improvised noise experience of C.C.C.C. without the prospect of being hit in the kisser with a bag of warm piss by downloading this single sided C-45 of the 4 C's in aktion.......but by the end of 24 minutes of constant electronic fuzz you'll be begging to be drenched in any former porn actresses piss, as long as most of it goes in your ears to dampen (see what I did?) this,as far as i can hear, un-emotional barrage of white noise,and/or Japnoise.

Tracklist:

Side A - Untitled (24:04)

Monday 26 February 2018

Masonna ‎– "Masonna Vs. Bananamara" - (Vanilla Records ‎– VANILLA-3) 1989



No series of posts on Japanese music would be complete without the poster boy, and wild man of Japnoise, Masonna.
Once a close associate of the often mentioned Merzbow, Maso Yamazaki has a fine line in extreme screaming and shouting, which adds that much needed performance aspect to power electronics.Without that human factor the constant distorted tornado can get incredibly tiresome.
This mono outing in (Ironic)tribute to those ear and brain damaging pop superstars ,Bananarama, is fittingly extreme,and ear protection is recommended.
The fact that all tracks were recorded in glorious Mono, live, at home,with no mixing,and no overdubs,seem to suggest this is the perfect DIY record. Well done my son!

Saturday 24 February 2018

S-Core ‎– "Undersong" (Underground Productions ‎– SUB 10) 1987


I think this is my favourite S-Core tape from his massive back catalogue.
Plenty of fuzzy repetitive rhythm loops descending into the muddy waters of a flooding motorway tunnel.If you listen closely the sound of a dying world can be heard.No prizes for guessing the name of the world in question.
Enjoy the doom.

Tracklist:

A1 Blasphemer 5:12
A2 Crevice 7:11
A3 Muse 3:48
A4 Blast Furnace 3:19
A5 She Said She Would Die First 4:26
B1 A Dense Forest 4:31
B2 Chronic Disease 4:17
B3 Heresiarch 14:46


S-Core ‎– "Infant" (Corrosive Tapes ‎– C012) 1988


Dark Ambient Smoggy post industrial drones from that prolific S-Core bloke. An Industrial Infant child fathered by  Lustmord but has the eyes of Zoviet France.

Tracklist:

A1 Crimson
A2 Symptom
A3 The Open Air
A4 Bereaved Family
B1 Blind Passion
B2 Coal Tar
B3 The Goddess Of Mercy


Friday 23 February 2018

Merzbow + S-Core ‎– "A Collaboration Tape" ( Afflict Records ‎– Aff 011) 1987



No, i'm not slagging Merzbow by the way! Just some slight criticism that he's painted himself into a corner  Noise-wise, and probably would benefit from a collaboration with the more understated S-Core......wait-a-minute!.....he did just this in 1987,and the result is a slightly harsher S-Core album.
If you like the sound of failing machinery in an abandoned factory then this is the Japnoise collaboration for you.

DOWNLOAD these collaborators HERE!

Thursday 22 February 2018

S-Core ‎– "Dumb Chamber" (Broken Flag ‎– BF 62) 1987


S-Core had a cassette on Broken Flag too!
Old school industrial in the Zoviet (France)stylee,made all the more special due to the foggy nature of the media, and far more interesting to listen to than yer average Power Electronics copyist.

Tracklist:

A1 Oracular Pagoda
A2 Lust For Power
B1 A Slow Mire
B2 Implict Faith
B3 Fug
B4 Unslighty Disorder


Wednesday 21 February 2018

S·Core ‎– "Dross" (Afflict Records ‎– Aff 003) 1985

This 'Dross' is probably S-Core's debut release is it not?
No reliance on the tactics as used by most of the Japnoise fraternity here.Instead of sandblasting the listener into submission, Yutaka Tanaka produced a gloomscape of 1950's electronica via The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, stuffed into a bag full of roof insulation. There are even some plaintiff melodies floating around to further distance himself from the Merzbow crowd.
Most 'Noise' albums are full of several versions of what is essentially the same track.This cannot be said about S-Core.There are Dark Ambient tunes,minimal synth non-hits,even some synth pop,the odd Dronescape,and some old school percussive Industrial numbers.Therefore this cassette is not as boring as yer normal Noise-fest.The other end of the scale from "Merzbox" and its fifty-plus hours of the same dynamic-less relentless racket.

DOWNLOAD this dross HERE!

Tuesday 20 February 2018

S·Core ‎– "A Great Lump" (Technological Feeling ‎– TF 11) 1987


Old Skool(UK) post industrial dark ambient,in the style of  Nocturnal Emissions or Zoviet France, from Japan. Some parts of this could even be danced to by some Neo-Goths in a random urban nite-klub in former Yugoslavia.
There are two kinds of music that are perfect background music to a laid-back party, probably involving smoking class-B herbal products;and they are,obviously, Dub Reggae and,less obviously, Post-Industrial Dark Ambient.
If there's a white Rasta hippy present who's stoned enough, they'll probably attempt to do some skanking dance to most of this record.....don't let that put you off.....as sickening a thought as it may be!!! 

Tracklist:

A1 Insanity Of Grandeur 7:42
A2 Dog Whip 4:30
A3 For The Coming Day 2:50
A4 Relapse 3:42
A5 No's Music 0:30
A6 Waifs And Strays 3:25
B1 R.I.P. 3:32
B2 I Was Punished By Heaven 4:40
B3 Magnetic Force 3:06
B4 A Sacred Light 2:55
B5 Augur 3:22
B6 Baptism Of Fire 3:22
B7 Ritualism 2:42


Monday 19 February 2018

S·Core ‎– "Morbid Moppets" ( Afflict Records ‎– Aff 005) 1986


Most Industrial Noise fans could safely be referred to as 'Morbid Muppets',but I have no idea what a 'Moppet' could be......should I google it?.......Nah!
Yutaka Kanaka is the brains behind S-Core,and he's been going for over thirty years at this lark.
The noise on this cassette is yer usual subway train braking in a tunnel, crashing,probably causing immense loss of life and horrific life changing injuries,but with a hint of a Zoviet France influence with some overloaded drum loops to alleviate the monotony.

Tracklist:
A The Afterimage 22:57
B1 Criticism 2:40
B2 Reddish-Black 6:34
B3 Sutra 12:12
B4 The Far East 2:53


Sunday 18 February 2018

Toukaseibunshi ‎– "Meta-Inorganicmatter Meta-Newlon" (Angakok ‎– AKT005) 1986


Hironari Iwata, was Toukaseibunshi, or Transparent Molecules in English.
He made this album, and ran his own label, 'Angakok' for a couple of years in the mid-eighties, then disappeared for twenty years, only to return in 2009!?.....if only a lot of other artists would do that,and I can think of a lot that would benefit from disappearing permanently.
Hironari thankfully steers clear of the 'Power Electronics' tag, and concentrates on minimal glitchy circuit bending drones.
The 'Drone' is really only something an artist should do Once, and as Iwata did just this, he must be lauded as a visionary......well done young man!

Tracklist:
A1 Glace
B1 Enthsiate
B2 Cryptogramm
B3 Luverd


Friday 16 February 2018

Incapacitants ‎– "Stupid Is Stupid" (Sounds For Consciousness Rape ‎– S.F.C.R. 027) 1993



Stupid is stupid is stupid is stupid as stupid does, would be a catchphrase for the Trump and NRA stance on Gun Laws.
Yesterday there was the 18th school shooting this year in the USA, and its only half way through February. That's exactly 18 more school shootings than in the whole of the rest of the planet!?....probably more than in every country combined for all time!
The argument this time is that if the innocent Assault Rifle hadn't had a mentalist attached to it, it wouldn't have killed anybody!???....like no other country has mental cases who want to kill people?...the difference is...and its a simple but big difference, is that the mental cases in every other country except the USA can't get hold of Automatic weaponry!
Its also far easier to remove a gun from a situation rather than a human being......even though their dumb-ass answer to that is to just shoot the Human leaving the gun inoperable.
This double cassette has nothing to do with the NRA or those stupid is stupid U.S. gun laws, but the sound recorded on them could easily be a soundtrack to a mass shooting by an angry young outcast with a K-Mart shopping bag full of ammo.
This only happens in the USA, and noise of this quality only happens in Japan....well at least for the past thirty years anyway.

Tracklist:

Studio Materials

A1 Stupid Is Stupid
A2 Don't Sleep While We Explain
B Even Stupid Can Be Director

Live Materials

C Live At 20000V, Koenji - Tokyo, Nov. 3rd 1991
D Live At 20000V, Koenji - Tokyo, Feb. 27th 1992

Thursday 15 February 2018

Incapacitants ‎– "Project Pallo" - (Pariah Tapes ‎– PT-3, PT-4, & PT-5) 1985


Yes, its a wall of electronic circuit damaged noise spread over three cassettes.....but the most interesting discussion point is why have they used 1970's cheesy wrestling maestro Jackie "Mr TV " Pallo as the focal theme for this synapse welding noise holocaust?
Mr Pallo, was just one of a galaxy of incredibly unfit,and stagy cartoon characters, that made up the year round pantomime that was ITV Wrestling.Which was a scene of laughably fake wrestling,attended by hundreds of aggressive grannies looking for blood.
The biggest (as in 'Fat') stars were Shirley 'Big Daddy' Crabtree,and the 6 foot 11 inches tall 'Giant Haystacks',who managed to fill Wembley Arena with Gobby Grannies in 1976 for the big showdown....which Big Daddy won....somehow?....Watch this bizzare spectacle HERE!.....they were both out of breath before they reached the ring!
Why Incapacitants chose Jackie Pallo over 'Kendo Nagasaki' I'm struggling to understand.
Kendo, as he was known to his friends, and manager (the hilarious Gorgeous George), never spoke or gave interviews, and wore a mask 24/7.....he was also obviously NOT Japanese.This could be the reason, along with the tasteless sense to name himself after a nuclear atrocity and a martial art...which I reckon is to be applauded.
Pallo himself had a head of flowing golden locks, frequently tied in a pony tail,stripy pants and golden boots.Often he exchanged banter with the grannies in the front row, like some character in a Carry-on movie.
Check out his fight with Johnny Kwango, the king of the Head Butt. Kwango was billed as being from Lagos, Nigeria, rather than from Peckham, where he was born.
As a tribute to 'Mr TV',i'm sure the man himself would have been horrified, and would probably challenged Incapacitants to a bout of Tag-wrestling, doubtlessly partnered by Kendo Nagasaki for disrespecting Kendo's home nation.....yeah, thats right,England.

Tracklist:

Pallo 1 "Receita"

A Jaapsoc 24:04
B1 Leprosy 9:33
B2 Manic-Depressive 14:28


Pallo 2 "Quiet Sound"
C Peony Crackers 2 24:06
D Irrevocable Letter Of Credit 24:06

Pallo 3 "To Die Key"
E Living Zombie Is About To Die 24:05
F Long Awaited 24:05

Tuesday 13 February 2018

Incapacitants ‎– "Eternal Paralysis" (Pariah Tapes ‎– PT-1) 1981


Toshiji Mikawa and Fumio Kosakai were there at the year zero of Japnoise, with their onslaughts of heavily processed fried circuitry.
This is an early example of their craft.A single sided c-90 of non-stop ear damage.And they are still damaging innocent peoples hearing facilities to this day.

Tracklist:

A - Eternal Paralysis (45:00)


Monday 12 February 2018

Taku Sugimoto ‎– "Opposite" (hatNOIR ‎– hatNOIR 802) 1998


This is a request, but also a timely tranquil respite from all the soul-crushing noise that I've been posting of late.The title is very appropriate,as the improvised guitar minimalism is the absolute 'opposite' to the racket put forward by 'Flying Testicle' previously.The Japanese aren't all VU meters in the red zone types after-all.This one barely registers at all!
It sounds like a guitar being hit by some unknown objects flailing in the wind and striking the strings randomly,but with the wind noise edited out.
Its one of those 'it's not what you put in its what you leave out' kind of moments.99% silence...... Very calming. 

Tracklist:
1 Mirrors 1:08
2 Bells Of ... 4:05
3 Flagments Of Happiness 1:35
4 Spoon River I 3:57
5 Spring 3:22
6 Midnoon 1:44
7 Opposite 0:46
8 Subtle 1:37
9 Birds Of Afternoon 1:32
10 Stained Glass Windows 1:21
11 A Narrow Path 1:32
12 Transylvania 2:34
13 Paris 1:31
14 Spoon River II 3:17
15 Monad 8:49
16 Treading 2:22
17 Pale Light 1:33
18 A Day Book 2:04
19 At The Corner 2:01
20 To Ward 1:11


Sunday 11 February 2018

Flying Testicle ‎– "Space Desia" (Charnel Music ‎– CHCD-8) 1993



A Japnoise 'Super Groop' called 'Flying Testicle'?????....it don't get much better than this!
That bloke from 'Merzbow', and that screamy bloke from 'Masonna', get down and make some sublimely, or subliminally fucked up Noise Rock that could clear a room of music fans in 60 seconds or less.
That's always a recommendation.
Underneath the mind destroying wreckage this is as close to actual song based music these reprobates have ever sailed close to, without hitting the 'Rock' and sinking in that abysmally redundant category. This is what 'Rock' music should sound like.A decontructed power trio from an anti-universe,devastatingly LOUD and obnoxious, a sonically offensive musical bad trip. It preserves the processed noise onslaught that its individual members are famed for,but adds conventional instruments to the morass to reel in the casual metalhead before they burst into tears.
All topped off by that ridiculous band name.....nearly perfect.

Tracklist:

1 Johnny Guitar 10:50
2 Arturos Island 4:00
3 Romance 8:07
4 The Red Lanterns 2:31
5 Dark Eyes 7:45
6 Hit Kit Party 2:53
7 Night Falls 10:15
8 Open Squeeze/Horizontal Bop 19:17
9 Beautiful Dreamer 7:45


Saturday 10 February 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Ne Shi" (Banned Production ‎– BP- 55) 1994



Now we are on the Japanoise end of the former Axis powers; it seems natural to start with a compilation does it not?
This double cassette box set is the best place to collect the main perps of the japanese primal scream.
Its rather like listening to a platoon of Guiger-Muller tubes focusing in on ground zero at Hiroshima and Nagasaki immediately after the American Atrocities had fucked everything up forever. Accompanied by the screams of burning children as they are x-rayed onto the rubble.
If you want reminding what a Nuclear strike could feel like, listen to some of this stuff,by some ofthe most repressed people on the planet.Which is even more relevant today as we have an intellectual amoeba in the Whitehouse capable of giving as much thought to initiating a Nuclear war as he does to the economy he is just about to over-heat and send into recession.

Tracklist:

A1 –Incapacitants - Whisper In The Night
A2 –Agencement - Homeo Box & A.T.G.C.
A3 –C.C.C.C. - Space Temple
B1 –Solmania - Astral Montage
B2 –K2 Zombie - Anatomy
B3 –Contagious Orgasm - Dr. Plum Pig
C1 –Yuzuru Syogase - Kundalini
C2 –MSBR - Crack.
C3 –Yximalloo - A Grass
D1 –Ryuzi Ryuzi - Meddw Brwysg
D2 –Vasilisk - The Blood
D3 –S·Core - Doldrums
D4 –Merzbow - Ram Me, Ream Me, You Lusty Cunts


Friday 9 February 2018

Merzbow ‎– "Collection 001" (Lowest Music & Arts) 1981




Don't worry, this isn't the first of a hundred Merzbow tapes.I wouldn't do that to you!
But it does complete the Axis of Noise, after having done the Italian connection,with a smattering of Germans here and there;so logically,some Japanese noise is required.....also it allows a smooth segue into some other stuff from the sons of Nippon to follow like a Kamikaze attack on the senses; a divine wind of abstract noise if you will? 
This is very early Merzbow, so its more experimental sounding,and less reliant on brain searing Noise.

Tracklist:

Side A
Side B

DOWNLOAD from somewhere over the merzbow HERE!

Monday 5 February 2018

Lyoto Music ‎– "Lyoto Music" (Aquilifer Sodality ‎– 1AE 10011) 1984


Now we present the 'Blind Faith'* of Italian Industrial, 'Lyoto Music' and their eponymously titled cassette called.....er......"Lyoto Music".
At least, unlike the aforementioned 'Blind Faith'they at least had a naked consenting adult on their cover ,rather than a nude pubescent schoolgirl(who looked disturbingly like Robert plant?!) holding a model aircraft. We,civilised humanity, definitely needs an operation yew tree* investigation on sixities rock monsters....they'd ALL be banged up I can guarantee it.Unless they use the infamous Pete Townsend defense plea,and call Under-age sex.... "Research"!?
This Italian Post-Industrial Super-Group, featuring the bloke from Mauthausen Orchestra and the bloke from Swastika Kommando, present two sides of yer standard Italian Power Electronics, resplendent with lo-spec artwork of an un-named female being,for want of a better word....'Fisted'.
When this came out I was naive/young enough to have dismissed the act of 'Fisting' as an urban myth.I now know better...NOT...I may add, to having experienced this dubious pleasure myself,giving or receiving ;but I MAY have seen video evidence from an un-named web based emporium that offers such specialized entertainment for the discerning self-whittler*,free of charge.
So, what i'm saying is,Industrial music is ,by far, morally superior to all Classic Rock.......BANG 'EM UP! 

*Hideously sexist sixties rock supergroup featuring Clapton,Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Rick Grech (Who lived round the corner from me in my childhood council estate in Leicester,wheelchair bound, when his star had fallen with a massive crash!).

*UK Police investigation into sex abuse in British TV triggered by the Jimmy Savile scandal.

*a slang word for a 'masturbator', which one gleaned from "Beavis and Buttheads Ensucklopaedia"....a classic tome that should be on the required reading list of every school.

Tracklist:

Side A - Untitled
Side B - Untitled

DOWNLOAD in blind faith HERE!

Friday 2 February 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Axis Sally" (Broken Flag ‎– BF8) 1983


Axis Sally, for those who didn't know (Or care?),which is most everybody; was the female version of Lord Haw Haw on the Nazi English language propaganda service during world war two.......and you thought this might be a Broken Flag release without any reference to right wing politics in Germany.......well, you were wrong.
Then we look at the track list and see that every track has some reference at least to Nazi's or right wing twits like Senator Joe McCarthy.
Axis Sally, like Lord Haw Haw ,was American......ahh the 'special relationship' between Britain and the USA  rears its non-existent head once more. But at least we (the Brits) got to hang Lord Haw Haw, whereas Axis Sally escaped the Gallows, as many other 'top' Nazis did thanks to a concept of American Justice that has now disappeared.
All this Nazi, Murderer, Sadism stuff ,is designed to confront ourselves with the part of ourselves we would rather not admit to;and to a certain extent it works.Sadly Like when Donald Trump said "You won't find anyone less Racist than me",few people are comfortable at being confronted by this side to their character.
However, these tapes are preaching to the converted, and I doubt Trump and his dim-witted followers would be interested in listening to banks of squealing synths and barked distorted couplets about Nazis....Trump supporters think they aren't Nazis,so this would put them off immediately. Put all this stuff over a country and Western track instead of skin blistering noise, then they may pay attention.....as long as its in short bursts like TV ads,as they have the attention spans of goldfish with Alzheimers. 

DOWNLOAD excess sally HERE!

Thursday 1 February 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Slaughter Of The Innocent" (New Blockaders Org) 1983



This compilation, compiled by Richard Rupenus of New Blockaders fame, tries nobly to dispel much of the criticism leveled against the industrial/power electronics genre as an all sound-alike group of TG/Whitehouse imitators(Which it largely IS). The great variety of styles, techniques and sounds displayed on this 20 track tape suggest that perhaps this genre is more of a philosophical collective rather than a purely aesthetic one.The truth being more like a mixture of both leaning strongly towards the Aesthetic shoebox that all these acts find themselves cornered in. All the performers included here are extreme and intense chaps, yet the gamut of sounds runs from new musique concrete via 23 Skidoo Funk (Bourbonese Qualk, Mixed Band Philanthropist) to dark ritualistic collages (Metgumnerbone), to skin peeling power electronics (New Sadism, Vortex Campaign). Then we have Observation Clinique, Konstruktivits,and David Jackman to provide the dark understated, avant garde end of the genre to make us all feel thick.And finally always the very odd one out, Paul Kelday is here to provide some Kosmishe inspired spacey electronics.