This continues our round-up of many of the vinyl seven-inches to have reached us in 2011. A pleasure to hear from the Spleen Coffin label in Baltimore, and I say that on the strength of one 12-inch release from Decapitated Hed, whose evil approach to experimental Techno music won me over in a matter of seconds. Here they are again sharing a split seven-incher (SPLEEN COFFIN SP-25-EP) with Opéra Mort, on a record we received 12 September 2011. On ‘Minuit Cerceuil’, Opéra Mort bark out incomprehensible messages in an array of crazy voices – distorted, sampled, mutated heaven knows how. These voices have a demented urgency which spills out every which way across a fabric of damaged electronic noises, and the overall effect is brilliantly alarming; a strong reversal of normality. No relief from the tension on ‘Zereo Zone’, where Decapitated Hed are joined by Swede Anders Peterson, and the team conspire to produce their trademark form of mutant disco mayhem, pasting together tiny buzzes and burrs of distorted electronic noise and static to form exciting rhythmic patterns. The notion that dance music might be a wholesome and sociable fun activity is completely inverted and negated by their morbid, diabolical tones.
Now for some more noisy items. Rip Off (HELICOPTER H60) is a three-way collaboration originally recorded in October 2010 between John Wiese, GX Jupitter-Larsen (both American) and The New Blockaders, the notorious English gang of masked noise thugs. A simple sonic experiment made simply from the recorded sounds of tearing paper, processed and reprocessed until the sounds become very loud, unpleasant, and abstracted beyond the point of no return. Less than four minutes a side, yet this unlistenable monstrosity seems to last for half a day. The profound and depressing effect is that we seem to hear music itself being destroyed right in front of us, like the careless slaughter of an animal, which (given the general nihilistic tendencies of the careers of these gentlemen) is probably the whole idea. No coincidence then that the A side could be read as R.I.P., a message for the headstone of music being put in its final resting place. Only 150 copies of this exist, although insane noise collectors will want to snag the even more limited edition which comes with a cassette tape of ‘Bonus Rips’.
The New Blockaders are also here with Antinomia Part II (DOTDOTDOT 014V), likewise in a small edition of 300 copies of which 100 copies have a hand-made art cover. ‘Machine and object stretch beyond tolerance’ is one of the slogans that have informed the creation of these two pieces, and Richard Rupenus intends to convey notions of struggle, destruction, and dismantling the whole world. Brother Rupenus helps on the A side, Philip Julian of Cheapmachines on the B side. Whereas on Rip Off we hear the very fabric of the world being torn to shreds, here it is being fed through an exceptionally powerful grinding machine, one lump at a time. In the subsequent churning and boiling process, certain fragments (like small chunks of feedback) surface with a random regularity. As ever, what’s audibly notable is the utter finality and resignedness with which Rupenus and his crew go about their dreary and painful task. Pressed in splatted vinyl, an aesthetic which label owner Paul Hegarty has made an integrated part of his label’s visual identity. Arrived 10 October 2011.
MoHa! and Horacio Pollard teamed up in 2011 to play some live gigs together, and this split single (GAFFER RECORDS GR30) was one result of their activities. The Norwegian duo MoHa! occupy the ‘skier’ side with their familiar intense synth and drum racket, with frantic thrashy noise which reaches levels of intensity that ensure that both players will be burned out before they even reach their 12th birthdays. English noise-eccentric Horacio Pollard creates a thick and chaotic collage of sound on his side, which is completely disjointed and unhinged, the work of a true madman. These crazed juxtapositions of odd field recordings with excessive electronic noise will induce instant blood clots in the brains of many through their total lack of logic and restraint. Nifty package for this release, using inserted printed transparencies and coloured card, and a clear vinyl pressing.