Noise Not Music #6: Russell Haswell & Pain Jerk, Martyrdöd, Liturgy And More
Tuesday, 05 August 2014
Written by Ben Bland
It’s been a busy month for your resident noise correspondent. Listening to the Russell Haswell & Pain Jerk album nearly sent me insane, then seeing Haswell bend time and space in Dalston with Kevin Drumm actually did send me insane for a bit if I’m not mistaken. Thankfully, the recovery is well underway and your latest update on all things ear-bleedingly unpleasant is here…
New Releases
Corrupt Moral Altar - ‘Mechanical Tides’ (Season of Mist)
Liverpool’s Corrupt Moral Altar are well on their way to establishing themselves as one of the leading lights of the UK’s heavy music scene. Combining neck-breaking grind with impenetrable sludge, this quartet certainly don’t take any prisoners and Season of Mist have done well to add them to their roster.
Although there are some pacing issues here (that the two longest tracks, Blood Harmony and Wire Mother, are only two apart is noticeable), ‘Mechanical Tides’ is a more than solid effort. The final run of songs is particularly strong, with the mid-paced Admit Defeat being surrounded by ferocity incarnate in the shape of Garland Greene and Insect Politicians. If you’re looking for a record to wake you up on your morning commute, then you’ve found it. Don’t expect to be in a good mood with the world when you arrive for work though.
Russell Haswell & Pain Jerk - ‘Electroacoustic Sludge Dither Transformation Smear Grind Decomposition nO!se File Exchange Mega Edit’ (Editions Mego)
It’s easy to assume, in 2014, that noise has reached a point where it no longer bothers anyone. We are surrounded by sonic disturbances almost everywhere we go, no matter what we are doing. The constant bustle of the 21st century has rendered much in the way of “noise music” less impactful than its disdain for conventional musical operation should do.
Thankfully, however, there are still noise artists out there who can do things that hit home through the intelligence of their compositions as much as the sheer savagery of the noise on offer. Both Pain Jerk (KoheiGomi) and Russell Haswell fit into this category, as they have each demonstrated consistently over the years.
This unique collaboration, which sees each artist manipulate the other’s material in the most intrusive of fashions, isn’t for the faint hearted. Haswell’s track alone is 73 minutes long. The fact that the words ‘Mega Edit’ crop up in both the album and song titles feels like a practical joke, but this is such a committed attempt at disturbing the noisy peace of everyday life that to not to stick it down your ears for a couple of hours would be your loss.
Martyrdöd - ‘Elddop’ (Southern Lord)
These are good times for crust punks everywhere. With Trap Them’s awesome ‘Blissfucker’ having already caused me to savage the living room, though, times are tough for anyone who wants to put a stop to that “godawful racket”. Matrydöd’s new effort isn’t quite as brilliant as ‘Blissfucker’, although Synd’s intro riff might be catchier than anything on that record.
The Swedish quartet’s black metal influences aren’t as prevalent as they used to be, but ‘Elddop’ is a more dextrous beast than anything they’ve released before. The title track and Martyren even qualify as being epic, demonstrating that there’s more to Martyrdöd than the bleeding obvious (although, frankly, that would do perfectly nicely on its own).
Thaw / Echoes of Yul - ‘Split’ (Instant Classic)
Kraków independent label Instant Classic is home to a vast array of artists from the Polish underground, stretching from the psychedelic enchantments of Alameda 3 to the garage rock of the Stubs via the experimental drones of Innercity Ensemble and shifting stoner grooves of Belzebong. In essence, then, there’s a lot going on in the Polish scene at the moment and I owe The Quietus a debt of gratitude for making me aware of it. This split between experimental black metallers Thaw and ritual drone group Echoes of Yul is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Thaw strike first with the 15 minute Earthed Ground, which never quite submits to the colossal levels of aural battery it threatens to embark upon. The malevolent atmosphere is perfectly galling, though, with dense layers of unsettling noise coming out somewhere between Mayhem and Swans. Echoes of Yul’sAsemic is dutifully indebted to the influence of Earth and Sunn O))), but there’s always room for drone metal bands whose music is closer to spiritual incantation than riff worship.
Death industrial is a tricky genre to get right, but if it’s any good then the odds are that Cold Spring will put it out for the scene’s small, but dedicated, followers to lap up. Following just a couple of months on from the release of Shift’s ‘Altamont Rising’, which was also excellent, Trepaneringsritualen’s second album relies less on the harshness of texture than on atmosphere. Listen to this one loud, and preferably in complete darkness, for the full effect. You’ll feel each track crawl menacingly around the inside of your head before being poleaxed by the triumphant closing necro-chant of He Who is My Mirror. Superb stuff.
Compilations
Electric Funeral - ‘Total Funeral’ (Southern Lord)
Obscure Swedish d-beat is something the world is always in need of. Whether you can last 53 tracks of it in one sitting is something you need to decide upon for yourself. Compiling everything Joakim Staaf-Sylsjö (who has also played with Human Waste, Warvictims and numerous others) has recorded as part of this solo project to date, ‘Total Funeral’ is pure aggression from start to finish. With only one track, Queen (Among Angels) taking a pause for melodic breath, this is an exhausting collection but one that’s absolutely essential for fans of the genre. Massive credit is due to Southern Lord for putting this out, because this is a discography you’ll be happy to blast through on rainy days in your dirty bedsit for years to come.
Reissues
Liturgy - ‘Renihilation’ (Thrill Jockey)
Although Liturgy mainman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix is probably now as well known for his (at times rather ham-fisted) attempts to transpose black metal into academic philosophy, his band Liturgy remain an enthralling listen. It’s three years since their last release and five since this debut, now being given a much-needed vinyl reissue by Thrill Jockey.
Hunt-Hendrix’s “transcendental black metal” talk may raise eyebrows but most of Liturgy’s material is of the genuinely hard-hitting variety, with tremolo post-rock guitars and atmospheric interludes used to enhance the bestial darkness at the heart of ‘Renihilation’, rather than to suffocate it. The likes of Mysterium and Beyond the Magic Forest are powerful slices of 21st century black metal that subtly move the genre forward without sacrificing its harshness or destructive potency. If this is still considered untrue hipster black metal then I’ll happily have more of it, thanks.
Live
Kevin Drumm & Russell Haswell / John Butcher & Seymour Wright - Cafe OTO, London (July 23 2014)
Having been warmed up by some fantastically demented saxophone playing from the duo of John Butcher and Seymour Wright, the audience at London’s premier experimental venue waited expectantly for a first ever live collaboration between noise masters Kevin Drumm and Russell Haswell. A thoroughly disorienting performance - it could have been anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes in length, I’m genuinely a little unsure - that saw Drumm and Haswell unearth deep, penetrative sounds from the ether as if pulling them out of a newly arrived east London wormhole.
Wolf Eyes / Annihilating Light / Mark Dicker - Cafe OTO, London (August 2 2014)
Some people aren’t keen on Wolf Eyes circa 2014 but, while Nate Young’s noiseniks have certainly altered their style since the days in which they made their name (with tracks such as the one this column is named after), I’m happy to be one of those who is still greatly enamoured with them both live and on record.
Each track here followed a similar formula: backing beat, noise box savagery from John Olson and feral guitar from Jim Baljo. Oh, and there were Young’s deranged vocals and all. Following the distorted techno disembowelments of Palehorse’s Mark Dicker and the string scything of Annihilating Light, Wolf Eyes were in an entirely different league, sending the standing section at Cafe OTO’s centre into wild abandon by the second track. It was a wonderfully violent set by a band whose middle fingers are raised obtusely in the direction of all their petty detractors.
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