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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