Necrocannibalistic Vomitorium - Motiva Pervertiva

(I implore you to forgive me the ridiculously low quality of today's upload. This is literally impossible to track down online, and I unfortunately do not own a copy of the super-limited lathe cut 7". That being said, if anyone has any hi-res scans of the cover art that would do this post more justice, then please, by all means, feel free to get in contact with me, and of course upload the pictures to Discogs too).

Almost matching the lo fi sleeve is the nasty lo fi goodness from everyone's favourite obscure gore/porngrind couple. The bass tone on this thing is unreal; it's like, I can't decide if it is fucking abysmal or absolutely amazing - it is hovering in between in an endless duality. I'd be lying if I said there was anything new here for Necrocannibalistic Vomitorium fans, but if you are into this shit then you are gonna love this EP (or just this YouTube link, because finding one is probably gonna be a fuckin' task). There is just a certain charm to this band; it almost sounds like everything is recorded using analogue equipment. It sounds old, and nasty as fuck, and that's absolutely fine by me.

Portishead - Portishead

I would probably have never listened to Portishead if it wasn't for the fact that their first two albums were already on my old computer when I bought it, back in 2009. They always seemed like something my mother would listen to, what with their shit band name and music video circulations on the Sky ClassicFM music channel. It wasn't until my appreciation for electronic music developed to such a degree that I could hear Portishead in a different way, and then, one day, with the iPod on random, I fell in love.

This is so laid back and chilled, yet so epic at the same time it really is a bit of an enigma. How is that even possible? Well, Portishead managed it. Ticking, soft trip-hop beats and sparse instrumentation is pretty much all that's going on here, complimented by one of the best female voices I've heard a long time. As a blue print for an entire record, this approach is extremely basic, but this self-titled record fails to bore me at any given moment. It is simply a magical record. The final track includes some fleeting male vocal contributions, but that's about as far as breaking the template goes!

I got this on vinyl for £12, from the Head chain in Bristol. Turn ting up!

Mortiis - The Grudge

Whilst this is entirely on the other end of the industrial metal spectrum that I prefer not to get too close to, The Grudge was one of favourite records as a teenager. Over the last few years I have learned that there is a lot more to industrial than crappy guitars layered with crappy dance music and ripping off old Nine Inch Nails tracks, but that's another story. Mortiis' first Era 3 release was a puzzling mix of awkward techno and fuzzy metal, not a hundred million miles away from The Smell Of Rain, but so far removed from any of his Era 1 music you'd swear it was a totally different musical genius at the helm. Nope. Mortiis is one of those artists that has evolved in sheer leaps over the last 20 years.

I like The Grudge, don't get me wrong, but compared to The Smell Of Rain before it, it pales in comparison. The Smell Of Rain had such a distinct and wonderful sound, but The Grudge, whilst it has it's moments of sheer brilliance, is for the most part clumsy, badly mixed and lacking direction. It is equal parts amazing and awful. The over-all vibe is much more angsty and rougher around the edges (it's almost like this album should have been made first, and The Smell Of Rain should be it's more focused and chilled-out follow up) but some of my favourite Mortiis songs are on here. Opener "Broken Skin" sounds like it's been mixed by a 4 year old, but that doesn't stop it being one of the greatest Mortiis songs, writing wise. "The Grudge" is the song that got me hooked into this album with it's constant rotation on Scuzz TV; a clanking dancey nightmare that unfolds into some serious industrial metal heaviness.

 

The longest track here, "The Worst In Me" is a brooding nightmare of riffs and synths, and the first few minutes of "The Loneliest Thing" is by far the best shit on this record; it starts with a cool, semi-acoustic opening with resonant chords fighting over fluttering hi-hats, leading into some heavy drumming and haunting vocal performances. Sheer, sheer brilliance. Closing track "Asthma", is a quick nod back to the days of old, fading the record out with a couple of minutes of nothing more than meandering, hollow ambience. Bliss.

I originally bought this on CD with my first ever paycheck back in 2005 (who can forget what they bought with their first paycheck?). I got the "Mortiis pack" off Earache Records, which was the entire Mortiis-on-Earache discography and a crappy Earache t-shirt, but they made a mistake and sent me two copies of The Grudge (one being the special edition) instead of a copy of The Stargate, and I had to send it back for a swap. In hindsight, I probably should have said it was missing, flogged it, and got a free copy of The Stargate. Oh well. Recently the label have been selling these old vinyl copies of The Grudge off for £7 including postage, so I couldn't resist picking one up. I was hoping for the bright purple but I got the clear.

Check out "The Loneliest Thing" below; the first few minutes are just beautiful.

The Misfits - Earth A.D. / Wolfs Blood

This is one of the more 'brutal' Misfits releases. If anything, it is the fastest, grimiest (studio) recording the band have done. Even the cover art alone is something more crust/grind-looking, although it was released a while before those genres really came into their own. This spins at 33rpm, which is surprising considering how short it is, I was expecting it to be a 45. Still though, Earth A.D. / Wolfs Blood is a short and sweet rampage through some fast-paced, horror-themed hardcore punk.

The speed of this record doesn't stop the few (obligatory) massive Misfits-patent choruses sneaking into a couple of tracks ("Death Comes Ripping", or "Queen Wasp"), with plenty of "whoaaaaaa"s for good measure, but tracks like "Wolfs Blood", "Devilock" and the massively grind-before-grind-existed "Demonomania" (at an impressive 45 seconds in length) are in territory that The Misfits would never stray into again.

 

I have this, and a couple of other Misfits things, on CD already, but I had to get it again, cuz y'know, old punk belongs on vinyl. The CD version however, combines this LP with the Die, Die My Darling 12" single (which I also have separately), and also adds the bonus track "Mommy Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?", which is recorded live. The CD sounds a bit flat though, as with a lot of old shit turned into a digital format, so I (perhaps predictably) recommend purchasing the vinyl version. 

Death Grips - NØ LØV∑ D∑∑P W∏B

I already did a review of this record over on Gonzo Karaoke (something I need to do again, that shit is awesome), a wicked website 'portal' to a world full of freely downloadable audible awesomeness, but seeing as I also now have the physical edition here in my hands, I guess I have to do another, proper review. It would be a bit cheapskate to just copy the review over, so I'm gonna do a second one, albiet it'll be a bit brief because I've already written about it once before.

Such phallus.

The first thing you'll notice about the vinyl version of Death Grips' rather cocky 3rd full length* (2nd if you count Exmilitary as a mixtape and not an LP), is that the enormously phallic cover art is nicely censored in an almost PVC-feel sleeve. I'm not particularly offended by the cover art, but I don't make it my business to be staring at enormously blown up images of cocks either. 

*see what I did there?

 

As is probably expected of me in this post, I will confirm that the sound quality on this pressing is lightyears ahead of the downloadable version, even at 320kbps. I'm not sure if it's available in .FLAC or something, but it might be worth a look if your more of an audiophile. The depth that the bass hits sounds so much better coming from the vinyl than it does running at 320kbps through my iMac and the same speakers / hi-fi system as my deck plays through. I also notice a lot more going on; little subtle differences are easier on the ear due to the warmer all-over sound. I also have a feeling that if I took this over to my mate's house and played it on his professionally amped system it'd blow a fucking hole in the wall.

This LP, along with the album before it - The Money Store, are both available at fairly reasonable prices still, which is something of a miracle, as silly hipsters seem to fucking adore this band with their unique and 'alternative' approach to hip hop. I know most Death Grips stuff is free, and I'm sure that has contributed somewhat largely to their current popularity, but if you actually enjoy listening to their stuff on a regular basis, I emplore you to buy up some physical records. You won't regret it.

The Angels of Light - Angels of Light Sing 'Other People'

This is the closest that Angels of Light ever came to Gira's bare bones solo work; ...Other People is a stripped down acoustic, folky romp that sees Gira and co. writing homages in song form to people that...well, deserve songs written about them, I guess. It's all very artsy-fartsy, and whilst I don't feel it's the best Angels of Light album in any universe, there is still a fair dollop of good tunes here.

The first notable difference here is that drums (or percussion generally) are absent for the entire album, rendering the whole thing with more of a Gira 'n' Pals kinda vibe than a full-blown Angels of Light record. For the most part, the songs are driven by Michael Gira's voice and a simple acoustic guitar, decorated now and then with some other sparse instrumentation and gang-style backing vocals on the choruses. 

My favourite song by a country mile is "Destroyer", although there is a whole bunch of decent tunes here, such as "On The Mountain", "Michael's White Hands" and "Purple Creek". For me, this is a funny one in the Angels of Light discography; in no way would I consider it vital, like How I Loved You, or We Are Him, but it is also by far the easiest Angels record to get a hold of on wax. I got this for a tenner, which was an absolute bargain considering how much original presses of earlier records of theirs cost.

In a short conclusion then; worth a listen if you enjoy the softer side of Swans or Michael Gira's solo work (the acoustic stuff, rather than the abstract stuff), but for beginners I'd say definitely start with one of the above-mentioned records rather than this one.

Jesu - Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came

Oh, how I have longed for a new Jesu release! I snoozed on the previous new material (the Duchess 7") and it sold out before I had even the slightest chance of even considering buying it, and now it is added to my neverending list of expensive shit to buy off Discogs. Trouble is, it's hard to find the money to keep up with all the new releases in the first place, doubly hard when there's a growing backlog of rare shit forever tempting you online! The woes of the record collector on a budget! Ha!

Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came is a fantastic and rather "in the feels" type of record title. That, along with the abstract cover art, which to me conjures feelings of times past, brings on the realisation that our time on this planet is a very short one indeed...only getting shorter and shorter with every passing second. Fuck this! When the first track, "Homesick", kicks in with the usual Jesu-brand laid back electronica meets heavy riffage and melancholic atmosphere, the feeling only gets heavier. I heard that Justin wrote a song about missing his kid whilst on tour, and whilst I'm not entirely sure that's true, the title "Homesick" could well reveal that this is that track. Maybe.

I don't really see Everyday... as an EP, even though it is only 5 tracks in length, "The Great Leveller" - which starts with a nice piano and builds and builds - is over 17 minutes long, bringing the total run time up to something like 45 minutes. Which is good value for money, seeing as we are on the subject! Well impressed with this new Jesu stuff...it ranks a lot higher than the recent Ascension album which I think a lot of people didn't really like and I never bought since I want all the Jesu stuff on vinyl and the vinyl version doesn't seem to be materializing anytime soon. It's no Silver, but I can see Everyday... becoming a Jesu must-hear with time. Justin Broadrick, you're a genius! My fandom knows no bounds (although I'm not that familiar with Techno Animal haha!).

As far as I can tell this was self-released by Justin and his Avalanche Recordings label. It's pretty limited, and the grey copies are all sold out, so I got the black. I'd get this before it's gone!

Agoraphobic Nosebleed / Apartment 213 - Split 12"

Apartment 213 are fantastic, muddy as hell powerviolence-fused grindcore. This is all well and good, but they are annihilated here by the material on the ANb side. We all know splits aren't competitions, but sometimes one band will just totally outweigh the other. Sorry guys! It is with a small irony then that Apartment 213's vocalist guests on all the songs on the ANb side.

 

The Agoraphobic stuff here is unlike anything else in their catalogue. From what I can tell, the sound seems to be stripped down to just bass and drum machines? I'm not entirely sure if Hull's guitars are tuned excessively low or it is just basses in use here, but shit, it sounds amazing! Enough fuzz and groove to give Om a wake up call, and enough heaviness to compare with Filth-era Swans; this is bass music at it's finest! The only ANb long-timer to appear here is Randall, performing (as usual) with an enormous amount of venom. Coupled with Steve 213's powerviolence grunts, the songs on offer here really are as angry as you can get.

 

I love all the songs, but "Unwelcome Remarks" is probably my favourite out of the three, containing some of the greatest ANb lyrics ever; "I've never known a cokehead to forget a line", "I'd rather piss on my own hand than shake yours" and "Simon says 'watch your fucking mouth around the other fucking adults'" all of which sound a bit unusual when isolated but make up one of the angriest songs ever made. Holy shit! Out on Relapse Records

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GUT / Rompeprop - Split 7"

GUT sounds absolutely huge on vinyl, I just wish they'd stop fucking around and play some more grind! I love the fun element of modern GUT whereas a lot of goregrinders shun them now, but on this record for the most part it's a template of "typical porn sample followed by uninspired five-to-ten second song with silly vocals". I am glad that I didn't shell out the earth for the original CD version of this, and I even commend Everydayhate for putting this on wax. Not to mention, "Nympho is a Gee" is my all time favourite GUT song (either that or "The Taboo Room"). But, unfortunately, the rest of the GUT side is massively disappointing, and often boring.

 

Rompeprop on the other hand simply cannot be faulted. Open up the sleeve and see written "If you think harmonizer / pitchshifter-vocals are fake, so is your distortion on your guitar!". That couldn't be more right! Big up the pitchshifted vokills! After the hilarious opener "Hallo!", Rompeprop gurgle'n'slam through some excellent polka-dance inducing goregrind for us all. 'Nuff said. Spin this, get up, wiggle back and forth and point those fingers.

 

Out on 500 copies, all of which may be white, I am not sure. I have number 234 / 500.

Jesu - Lifeline

This is the first Jesu record I heard and it is still probably one of my favourite releases by him. It also introduced me to Jarboe, which opened up a whole can of worms in my life in the form of Swans (another very long story for another day), who appears here as a special guest, not to mention as a precursor to the pair's collaboration album that would follow. Lifeline was released on the now sadly dying Hydra Head Records, who handled all CD and vinyl presses. As well as the black pressing you've got a golden one the same dirty colour as the EP artwork, and a swanky dirty-gold / black splatter edition, which I've got here.

 

The song "Lifeline" introduced me to the lush beats and melancholy droning that is Jesu. Gone are the brain-battering barrages that adorned mighty Godflesh tracks; here the sample work is a laid back affair of deep basses and hissing snares, that whilst coming to and fro in the mix alongside the sparkling, hopeful synth sound almost like audible waves of the ocean lapping at stony shores. How the sound sums up the artwork (a photo taken by the man himself) so perfectly! "You Wear Their Masks" continues in the same vein before Jarboe (not to mention Ted Parsons) come along and all of a sudden it's half of 1987-Era Swans up in this bitch. Early Swans basically invented Godflesh so it is rather ironic that all these musicians should work together so many years later and make music that is actually nothing like either early Swans or Godflesh.

"End Of The Road" is one of my favourite Jesu songs ever, with Justin's distant, distorted voice simply crooning "these scars don't heal / I don't mind". Once upon a time, a friend of mine told me that Broadrick sounds like Ville Valo from HIM on this recording and I just can't shake that now, every time I listen to it I'm reminded of that hatted Finnish cocksucker. Similar things have happened in other artist's work, like Godflesh's "Predominance" becoming "Dommelsch" after the Dutch lager, or even worse Electric Wizard's "Venus In Furs" becoming "My Penis, It Burns" (don't try it, I promise you will regret it), but I digress. Lifeline is a fantastic record and a great place to start with the Jesu discography, even if it is not the most logicial.

 

Bongripper - Satan Worshipping Doom

What I've got here in today's post is Bongripper's 3rd pressing of Satan Worshipping Doom, which I wisely picked up at Roadburn in April. The band release all their records themselves, and it is now worth a small fortune on Discogs. Also, this is going to sound rather bizarre, but I see this as less of a record and more as a reminder, or a testament, to the band's fucking mindblowing set at Roadburn festival 2012. I gotta say, I was a bad place during last year's Roadburn, I almost felt detatched from the world for various different reasons, but several forms of drugs and mind / mood altering music helped me through the cold nights! Ha ha

 

Bongripper played two sets that festival, and one of them was this four track monster in it's entirety. It was a very draining experience, and I actually do not know how I managed to stand through the whole thing without collapsing and foaming at the mouth in a doom-metal induced spasm of orgasm, but that's what weed is for, right? Since that day I have never been able to listen to this album again without longing for the sheer impact that it pushed upon me live; it will forever serve as a second hand memory. It is still as awesome as several hundred shades of fuck, but it will never, ever, EVER reach the feeling that it had live.

 

You can take that in two ways. Some might say that this record is now tainted. I beg to differ. How good must Bongripper be to transcend that level of awesomeness when you play your entire record from start to finish live it actually turns out BETTER than the version you spent long days in the studio perfecting? That sirs, is art. And whilst I agree with people like M. Gira (to name a few, I just picked him because I am a gigantic fanboy) on the matter that songs should naturally take different forms in live environments, I can't help but almost shed a tear thinking about standing in the 013 main room at Roadburn every time I look at the cover art to this record. Now, if that makes it tainted, I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

 

After 2 minutes; that riff! Jesus! If that doesn't blow your head off, get off this website! ;)

Earth - Pentastar: In the Style of Demons

For me, Pentastar is the essential first listen album for Earth. It combines the dizzying drones from the first few records with the unusual penchant for traditional song structures that would pave the way for the band's later, more clean and folky shoegazer efforts. This is the last Earth record to fully embrace the wonders of the fuzz, and for this reason alone it must be worshipped!  What I have here is the excellent value 2006 repress on Sub Pop Records.

It is hard to review this album without defaulting focus on the now classic intro and outro riff ("Coda Maestoso in F (Flat) Minor" to be more specific), which in all honesty and hindsight, can pretty much sum up the sound of Pentastar. The fact that Earth still play this monolith live - a somewhat more chilled and clean version, though - at shows doesn't help my case. It can easily put you back into this era and you end up associating the whole bloody thing with those two tracks and that one poxy riff! Doh!

But, armed with the power to see passed that hypnotizing riff and one can appreciate that there are lots of excellent songs here to rival any band with a leaning towards the fuzz, from the depths of the doom genre right through to something altogether more Kyuss. Acid King in particular come to mind whilst listening to "Tallahassee", a crunching, laid back number of epic proportions. Opener (not counting the intro riff) "High Command" has all of the head-nodding goodness, whilst "Peace in Mississippi" brings the funk and "Sonar and Depth Charge" mixes everything up a bit by stripping right down for over seven minutes of haunting piano.

Check out the link below for a bit of the great "Codo Maestoso", and then buy this album!