Smell & Quim - The Jissom Killers LP



Other than the cover art and track titles, this is a "serious" release from Smell and Quim. If you don't know S&Q, they were basically jokesters of the noise scene, frequently using a lot of offensive, lowbrow gross-out humor.

On this release we get four long tracks of superb industrial noise. No all out blasting, but plenty of scrapes, clangs, grinding, and even some short bits of percussion, all with a very ominous atmosphere. Nothing else I've heard from this project is quite the same style, so keep that in mind if you end up exploring their catalog.

My copy is the LP on Tesco, but this has recently been reissued on CD and digital by Old Captain Records. Hopefully that exposes this album to a wider audience and people who originally wrote off this project.

Discogs Page

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Gnawed/Ligature Impression - Split Tape



The first side of the tape is by Gnawed, a death industrial act from Minnesota that's been around for awhile now and continues to improve. If you liked any of Richardson's recent releases you'll like this one too. If you've not heard Gnawed, the sound is based on very heavy low-end pulsating loops, metallic noise, and guttural vocals that are usually processed and/or distorted. This side of the tape is very powerful and well done, doesn't stick around too long, and leaves me wanting more.

The second side features Ligature Impression, a noise/power electronics act, also from Minnesota. I'd never heard of this project before, and from what I gather this is their fourth official release. If you've heard a handful of PE albums from the last couple of decades, you know what to expect. Feedback, grinding noises, screamed incomprehensible vocals with effects (and the occasional "creepy" spoken section), and various "controversial" themes.

The theme here appears to be S&M, which is really nothing new for PE at this point. Admittedly I am not the biggest PE fan and it takes a lot to impress me when an act is mining this territory. LI aren't bad but aren't particularly great either. I'd call these tracks average for the style. At certain points during this side, LI drops the PE trappings and goes for a harsh noise style, which has some field recordings and other elements to spice things up a little. Unfortunately these sections, while a better listen than a lot of generic noise I've heard, aren't anything mindblowing either. Still, there is some potential here. I'd be interested to see where LI takes this project going forward.

Bandcamp Page - Stream/Purchase

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Nun - Riv Skf / Margine
If Product, 1984



A 7" of electro-industrial noise I picked up back in the mid 80s. Nun is the one man project of the Italian philosopher of religion Ezio Albrile. By today's standards of harsh noise, this actually has some structure and a slight sense of melody. I initially thought this was the only release by Nun, but have found that there are also two CDs and a cassette release.





Discogs - Nun

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Gordon Rekcikssa
Nun - Riv Skf / Margine
If Product, 1984

Never heard of this, but the clip sounded pretty good. That remind me a bit of some of the early 80s drum machine + synth noise stuff from Severed Heads or Nocturnal Emissions.

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Borbetomagus - Live In Allentown
Agaric Records, 1996



This CD documents a stellar show recorded on Halloween night, 1986. During this period of their career, Adam Nodelman played bass, and Scott Legath, who engineered the sound for the show, is also credited with electronics on this album.

There is a very limited cassette version of this album that was released shortly after the performance. This CD, which Borbetomagus put out on Agaric ten years later, is expanded to include the second set of the evening. All told, this is almost a full hour of this incredible outfit's harsh assault on jazz.

Discogs - Live In Allentown

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