Tam Quam Tabula Rasa ‎– Noxia Blandimenta

Summer has come, soon the air will be filled with mucus filing pollen, and I’m cooked up in an office with lots of free time. What better way to pass the time than to do some delightful Discogs archaeology!

I started off with looking at the discography of some good old fashioned industrial tape labels, since it’s been a while I enjoyed some harsh rhythmic melodies. I got caught up with the Insane Music label and their myriad of compilation tapes. Some really fantastic stuff there, and I noticed Kopfschmerztablette, a classic and favorite industrial bands of mine. But hey, what is this release, Objekt Zwei Oder Einfahrt Freihalten? Haven’t seen that one before, and the label, ZNS Tapes? A short-lived, German, tape label from the late 80’s – early 90’s, with a focus on abstract, experimental, industrial, music. And their entire back catalog is available online? Now were talking!

ყორღანი – კავკასიონი (Kurgan – Caucasian)

ბედნიერი დღე! I’ve finally found a really good traditional black metal band from Georgia! Heavy on synth and mood, and inaudible growls(in what I hope is Georgian). This is what I’ve been searching for the last 3-4 years! გამომყევი ქვესკნელში სამოგზაუროთ!

Secret Stairways – Enchantment of the Ring

‘Around Knock Greine and Knock-na-Rae,
Ben Bulbin and Keis-Corainn,
To Ben Echlann and Loch Da ean,
From thence north-east to Slieve Guilin,
They travelled the lofty hills of Mourne,
Round high Slieve Donard and Ballachanery,
Down to Dundrim, Dundrum and Dunardalay,
Right forward to Knock-na-Feadala’

La Sonorité Jaune – Soundtrack For Breathing Structures / Parallel Soundtracks

Dark and dreary atmosphere, slow menacing drones, inhuman and industrial sounds, and an ending of madness and depravity… This is my sonic safe space!

Krypta – Cavities

A couple of months ago I went on a trip down to Malmö, and took some time to check out the local record stores as I always do when I visit another town. For this trip I ended up in the very great and eminent store, Rundgång! A small and quaint store with an awesome collection of old vintage records and new exciting stuff from the vibrant local music scene! As I made my way through their collections of electronica vinyls, exploitation DVDs, and art fanzines, I found a plastic bag with a cassette and a dark looking fanzine, with the very ominous name Krypta, Swedish for crypt. Needless to say, I had to have it! However, there was still a pressing thought in the back of my mind; the fact that the bag was stapled shut would mean I could not ever open it and listen to the cassette, without potentially damaging the package and ruining its worth as a collectible.

I guess this is one of the downsides of being a music collector, or collector of any kind. Do you dare to open the cover/package to enjoy the work, or do you keep in intact and let it collect dust on the shelf but preserving it in its whole? I would say that the most important is to take part of the work, rather than let it sit in its packaging and not enjoying the work as it should be, collectors value be damned. But it still feels bad to tear through the staples, or wax stamp, but it is all worth it to hear the music! And this is true for Krypta – Cavities!

Law of the Rope / Crown of Bone – Split CS

Noise and black metal, a combination that is almost guarantied to be successful. Both genres are centered around the same or similar themes; death, evil, discord, chaos, and general unpleasantness. Even the music sounds somewhat the same, at least to some people. Even though the genres share the same philosophies and sound, there haven’t been THAT many splits from noise/BM-bands. Mostly from the fringe edges of both genres, and the bands that try to make a fusion with the genres often end up with a bland mess, than with something stunning. Maybe its because the inherent chaos and discord in both the styles means that neither of them can get along, or that both of them are too dominant so just one becomes audible; which is what has happened to this cassette, sadly.

Jurko Haltuu / Miljoner Döda – Split

Wow, Funeral Fog has some great stuff in their line-up, ey. Anatomiteatern, Nils Dacke, Jurko Haltuu, Miljoner Döda. It’s really shaping up to be one of the richest veins in Swedish noise/experimental music! So, for the third time a release from Funeral Fog, this time a split between the operator of the label and a lot of dead people!

Mazakon Tactics – The Entrancing Cage

Here we go! Starting of the new year with some nice, cultured, poetry. Oh, but this is not your ordinary run of the mill poetry-slam, this is straight from the Lithuanian purveyors of the finest harshest noise, TERROR.lt.

Jormungand ‎– Fragments Of A Hologram Rose

 “The rule of fear becomes concrete in the moment you accept it and you are aware that what cares[sic] you more is what seems to you more common, more normal. The fear of the unknown is an irrational answer to the excess of imagination; but the daily fear, the fear of the stranger lying in wait, of the noise of steps on the stairs, the fear of a violent death is more disquieting, and real as the consciousness that it could also happen to you. There is nothing more real than reality.

WE PERFORM REALITY”

–Jormungand, Fragments of a Hologram Rose, inlay

Everyday Loneliness – An Error in Judgement

You know what, to be a bit frank and perhaps a bit too personal with you, I’ve been in a pretty terrible mood this past week. Perhaps it was a smaller anxiety attack from the realization that I still don’t know where I’m going in life, and that I have a pretty big problem with dealing with stuff and getting shit done. And because of this, I end up alone in my small apartement, procrastinating everything to the last second and feeling like crap the whole time; just sitting and clicking from page to page on Reddit, and escaping my thoughts by leaving Spotify running endlessly. Maybe I have some real issues I need to deal with or maybe I’ve just been listening to too much introspective, downer, sad drones, like the latest cassette I’ve bought, Everyday Loneliness – An Error in Judgement…