Shuffle Shuffle Vol.2

Yes mon petit frilous, I am back with another Shuffle Shuffle. Please forgive my lack of updates, I'm tremendously flaky. But I'll have some big treats for y'all in the new year in an attempt to give back to the blogging community.

Today we have a special treat in a guest edition of shuffle shuffle compiled by Mr. Final Church whose earsplitting noise bubbles can be heard at
http://www.myspace.com/thefinalchurch

Final Church also runs the Fragment label who I just discovered recently. It turns out they put out nice lookin' noisey CDRs and are gearing up for a pretty fucking sweet load of new releases next year. Brit noise is being repped up in that batch so get there and check it out for yourself.
http://fragmentfactory.blogspot.com/

And now to the Shuffle. I haven't heard it myself yet so lord only knows what this is gonna be like! Hope everyone gets down to it's secretive contents.

Shuffle Shuffle Vol.2 Compiled by Final Church // Fragment.

Eight 4xCS box set

This wonderful box set here came out in summer 07 as part of a split project by Carnifex Recordings and Harbinger Sound. With Harbinger being one if not THE best UK noise labels, I was instantly interested, so imagine the glee when I learned that this box set was in fact a series of 4 cassettes, one side each taken up by the likes of Nackt Insecten, Usurper, Romance, Dieter Muh, Cheapmachines, Jazzfinger, Astral Social Club and Britannia Anonymous Society. Though, of course, I had only gotten to know the work of a few of these artists at the time, I jumped all over buying this now deleted item (which also came with a Harbinger Sound pin, excellent!)
And as for the sounds? fughettabaughtit....this right here is a cracking mix of superb UK noise playas. I guess it's just the very slight part of me that cares about being an English cat, but I'm always interested in noise and weirdness from this part of the world. I always find a slightly more excentric and odd edge to it which I love. Anyway, as you might assume from the range for artists, there is a vast mixture of styles going on, from noisy, colourful drones, acoustic scraping and minimal buzzing, all the way over to true harsh noise dynamism (Romance, I'm looking at you).

A thorough recommendation for anyone who wants to hear a lovely bit of recent UK noise history. Obligatory preferential shouts go out to the Romance, Usurper, Cheapmachines and Nackt Insecten offerings, though of course all the stuff here is top notch.

I've learned how to do RARs now so here it is in two parts for yo' listening pleasures.

Part 1

Part 2

Shuffle Shuffle Vol.1

Welcome to the beginning of a new and hopefully very regular feature to the blog. Welcome to SHUFFLE SHUFFLE

This series will consist of compilation albums made as a result of listening to about 1 hr of music with my iTunes set on shuffle. The uploads will be untouched and played in the exact order as they randomly appeared with no songs omitted*, hopefully making for a fun and bizarre range of tracks. Also, the track list will be included only as a text file within the uploaded zip, leaving the listener with no idea as to what delights they may be downloading until they have it. Will it be a mind melting eclectobomb set to water the mouths of even the broadest pallets? or will be be a total shitpile of embarrassing and uncohesive crap best consigned to the trash can? You're a few clicks away from finding out.

I encourage all those who download to act similarly and set up their own shuffle shuffles (post the upload link in the comments) and share in this potentially dangerous musical exploration. Just be sure to STICK TO THE DAMN RULES cos you wouldn't want to carry the burden of white hot guilt at having cheated around for the rest of your life would you?

I'll be asking special guests to contribute to this series too, so stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for more, SHUFFLE SHUFFLE.

Download Shuffle Shuffle Vol.1


* The idea for this series is to reveal an unaltered glimpse into the depths of your randomised mp3 collection, so please stick to this plan and don't remove the embarrassing Linkin Park track you downloaded back when you first got a computer. The only instance in which tracks can be removed is in the event that you make music and one of your shitty, unfinished demos or 40 second drum loops you were experimenting with gets included. No one wants to hear that shit, especially not from my collection...so if you don't want these in, feel free to remove them. Anything else = FAIR GAME PUNK

Diagnosing and Managing Heart Failure

Taking a break from the noise and drone posts, I'll try to upload strange things I find on my purchasing travels, often care of charity shops around this great land. First up is "Diagnosing and Managing Heart Failure" with Dr Graham Jackson of Guys Hospital, a lucky find at a charity shop in Southsea. Throughout this short cassette, Dr. G tells us all about how to recognise and treat signs of heart failure through a series of staged dialogues with "Mrs Taylor", an elderly woman with complaints of breathlessness. Obviously, these exchanges are pretty funny, you really have to hear it to believe it. Some of the comments Dr. G makes in the diagnostic spaces between the dialogues are pretty funny too, with his stern, nasal delivery absolutely shattering his attempts at jokes and light heartedness (accidental pun, HO!) into a billion shards. Also, at one stage, he reprimands Mrs Taylor about her use of salt in food and launches into a brief, yet vitriolic tirade which I'm sure hints at a personal dislike of salt extending far beyond his professional obligation to advise against it's heavy use. There are also some heart pattern sounds made by a Cardionics Heart Sound Simulator which might be of some use to sampling cats.

Worth noting also is that this tape was made to plug the heart medicines of Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited. Check them out at http://www.b-ms.co.uk/ and tell me that the image you see on the left is not, at first glance, quite disturbing.

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MEDIAFIRE

NONE SHADOW x6 C30 WALL NOISE COMP

Oh yes, mon petit frilous, there is a reason why I don't do updates for 2 months and the reason is that I am lazy and therefore come back every now and then with spunkers like this in grovelling apology.
Hate State is the label that put this beauty out and also a label that I don't know much about. Discogs show me some very worthy artists on their "roster" so give it up for Hate State. ALRIGHJT!
None Shadow is a 6 cassette C30 collection that celebrates WALL NOISE. Now maybe it's just me, but it seems that during the time that this came out only a couple of years ago and now, that wall noise has become something of a thing unto itself, and you see a lot of artists giving it large about militant HNW (harsh noise walls) and all sorts of other things in which multiple or few concepts are represented through long, unmoving walls of sound. I like a bit of that for sure, but mostly I think the idea can run away with itself a bit an ultimately leaves me a tad cold. So to my ears there is a difference between the sounds of this WALL NOISE celebration and what you might expect to hear from a HNW celebration. That is to say that the great stuff on this collection is not about unmoving and minimal washes of sound, but of giant cacophonies of grim, sludgy rackets that make you feel like shit when you listen, half cut, falling asleep, clutching a tin of warm stella on a hot day.
It's a pretty varied collection when you consider these terms, featuring The Cherry Point, Filthy Turd, Taskmaster, Kakerlak, The Rita and Privvy Seals, each getting a cassette to themselves which came housed in an awesome woolen patch thing with a pocket sewn in for each tape. NICE.
It could just be my rips, but the quality is pretty lofi here which makes for a more pleasent experience for my ears, however you might need to crank this one up a bit for maximum harsh intake. A good all round comp but shouts go to the Kakerlak, Cherry Point and P.Seals stuff for personal enjoyment.
What I've done is load every offering separately cos I don't know how to make RARs and it would be too big as a while rip. Also I don't think there is REALLY meant to be any sort of running order to this, despite what the discogs page says.
Enjoy! KKRRRRRRCCCCCHHHHHH

The Cherry Point
Filthy Turd
Kakerlak
Privvy Seals
Taskmaster
The Rita

Shift/Romance - Gateshead Sessions Split c25

Here is a great and sadly quite low run tape. Came out in 2007, only about 60 copies on the always cracking Unrest Productions label, run by Shift.
Now, as much as a fan of Shift as I am (Unable to Abide a World of Silence is SERIOUS fucking BUSINESS, get it) I definitely got this tape mainly because of Romance, who doesn't release a lot but always serves up great slabs of harsh cut up greatness and is a serious treasure of UK noise. Predictably, his side is amazing, beginning with an epic string loop sample and building into his trademark stop and start harsh as heck cacophony. One thing that I've always liked about Romance is that his sounds seem to have a kind of recognisable production value (stupid term for noise but maybe you know what I mean?) as though each sound is really meticulously put together and processed and then layered perfectly. Real mad scientist stuff and thoroughly pleasing.
Shift's side is an interesting one. By his own admission when it came out, this is a far more harsh noise approach than his usual dark power electronic stuff. Two tracks here and this was made using a radio and a string of pedals and as a result is a lot more simple and even humourous that you'd expect. I always come to this tape thinking the next time I'll hear the Shift side I'll hate it, expecting the sort of boring, predictable bullshit you'd imagine someone might come up with by distorting a radio, but I'm always blown away by how well it comes off. For such obviously improvised pieces, this sounds really composed with disgusting and decaying speech just BUBBLING away under the horrid wash of white, crunchy noise in a way that reminds me of many early industrial experiments and is still very in touch with what Shift usually does. There is still time for some radio funnies though as we get to hear that cunt Robbie Williams have his voice ruined for the sake of a small run cassette release. In short, the Shift tracks are just as good in it's own way as the Romance stuff and the two sides work very well together.

If you download this, it might say it's a c20 in the title. MY BAD.

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Josh Lay - Abandoned By Christ

This came out in 2006 on Italian label, Long Long Chaney. I'm not entirely sure when I got my hands on it, but it came about as a result of some sort of mistake between myself and the label regarding another purchase. Easily one of the best mistakes ever, cos this is a personal favourite of my tape collection and had quite an influence on some of my sounds too.
The tape comes with a track per side. Side A contains "Abandoned By Christ", my favourite track. It's a really, REALLY fucking dark work based around a very lofi and revolving tonal loop which could be some sort of organ or synth before giving way completely to a mental break down of screams and sheets of foggy psych noise. A damn near perfect marriage of lofi industrial tape noise and black metal, drawing from both influences in a very tasteful and uncliched way. Side B and "Throne of Dead Moths" is a fairly logical continuation of the end of side A, though in a much more subdued manor. You might need to crank the volume up for this one as it's quite quiet and I'm not sure I ripped it as well as I could have. I might have another go when I'm around this tape again and see if I can get it better.

I've not had much more exposure to Josh Lay's work, but everything I have heard has shown a great progression on this sound while always remaining challenging and dark. Check him out on www.myspace.com/joshlaynoise

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M.S.B.R. & Kengo Iuchi - One

Rather than just upload tape rips and less recognised artist, I want to use this blog to share some of the albums which have been important to me, musically or otherwise. The first such upload is in the form of this bad boy...

M.S.B.R. & Kengo Iuchi - One (Alien8 Recordings. 1998)

Like a lot of people, Merzbow had a lot to do with my getting into noise. Once I caught that bug, I went on looking for more info on him and to check out similar stuff. Searching lead me to his work for Alien8 Recordings and consequently this total gem. The album consists of an individual track from each artist as well as some live collaborations. The way that the tracks have been put together is nothing short of masterful. M.S.B.R. was a true master of dynamic and creative noise, while Kengo Iuchi seems to have found a way to transfer his every instinctive thought and feeling directly onto a recording. Crushing and nihilistic noise segues flawlessly into completely gut wrenching and heart breaking moments of pure, honest performance and it still surprises me how the record manages to cover such a broad spectrum of emotion while never once comprimising it's approach. Perhaps the highlights of the record lie in the live collaborations, haunting and ritualistic vocal/guitar from Kengo Iuchi which M.S.B.R pins down with very tasteful and minimal electronics.
Totally essential and a constant influence for me. A joy to recommend!

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Greenmist - Killed By Waste

With a good selection of CDR and tape releases on some pretty damn good labels, many of you may already know of Greenmist, otherwise known as the traveling Canadian, Dallas K. Right here is some gritty harsh noise, nasty and progressive but always cloaked in a pleasing lofi recording quality. You (I) can feel comfortable screaming at the moon and producing grim claw shapes with your hands while listening to this tape, but also perfectly happy just laying back and taking it in, getting passively stoned from the weed smoke which no doubt vastly aided it's creation. Equal parts tone and groan, and a massively absorbing listen. Oh yeah and this noise was made in CHINA, playa.

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www.myspace.com/greenmist

Tuluum Shimmering

Tuluum Shimmering is a great thing. Massive and out of body psych drone magic, straight outta FLINTSHIRE, UK. This is the sound of one guy who I imagine spends many an evening in front of an amp and some rune stones, getting just as zoned out making the sounds as you and I do listening back to them. Check this guy out and buy his new tape out on Cloud Valley. (http://www.myspace.com/cloudvalleyrecordings)

Right here I've got two of his tapes for you to grab ahold of and get your numb on.

Swamp Delta Gas Flares

This one is the first tape I got off Jake when we did a trade. I was massively blown out of my socks by this and listened to it a lot, even at work. Enormous drone based musical works do NOT help you get your mopping done quickly, but fuck floors. 5 tracks on this which, in typical Tuluum Shimmering style, are free of ends and beginnings, just moments suspended in time. I've cut these into the 5 tracks however for YOUR convenience and they should be played as one continuous piece on each side, so don't let me, yourself or your country down by having "gaps" in there.

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Ascent to the Spirit House

Maybe the only one of these in existence found it's way into my grubby paws? I'm not sure. I think this was just a jam caught on tape which Jake kindly decided to shoot my way. Kicks off with this sort of plucky, scrapey violin type thing and builds into a nice ambient set of movements before dropping off the face of the earth with no warning. Luckily side B is a continuation of where it left off and things start to get INTENSE. I think this is what living in a nomadic dessert community would sound like if it wasn't, in reality, a tough and thoroughly un western existence.

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www.myspace.com/tuluumshimmering

Kanin Krusete - Rebut de l'humanité

I got this gnarly little thing in a trade with Shea, the fellow behind Kanin Krusete. I had heard some stuff on his myspace page which I liked a lot, so when this tape arrived unceremoniously wrapped in tin foil with a photocopied cover wrapped round it's blank tape with "KK" scrawled on in pink paint, I thought "awesome". The sounds within were just as good, total disregard for all kinds of silly noise conventions. You'll hear sounds from synths, guitars and fuck knows what else all smashed together in the most uncomprimising of ways and the result is a fantastic (un)joy for the ears. Some of the best noise I'd heard in a long time. I don't know why but the catch word for this is UNAPOLOGETIC, a real unique project in my eyes, check it out.

www.myspace.com/kaninkrusete
krusete @ gmail.com

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