http://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=2361

Izanami’s Labour Pains – Osorezan No Itako [Small Doses - 2009]

‘Osorezan No Itako’ is rather manic &  fucked-up ride into often rapid cut-up: harsh noise textures, bent & abused shaman music/ chants, overloaded industrial junk beats, demonic Madman vocal bays & all manner of head-screwing-up & noisy mayhem all fired at you in the two ten minute tracks that make up this 3inch cdr.

Izanami’s Labour Pains has been active since 2004 & has only released 13 release in total so far, which I guess can been seen as not much by noise standards; but there are so many ideas & textures forced in to this 3inch it’s easy to see why the projects not that prolific. It’s one of the solo projects of German born Sascha Mandler(whose also in power electronics project Mazakon Tactics & HNW project Namazu Dantai) & he’s obsessed with Japanese history & mythology. This release is based around the legend of the Itako – The blind female shamans of Mount Osorezan which is in the center of remote Shimokita Peninsula in the Aomori Prefecture region of  Japan. Each of the ten minutes here twists, cuts in & out of all manner of changers & textures from: searing, to creepy, to unhinged. You really don’t know what’s around the next seconds connor.

Truly a deranged, manic, brutal & at times atmospheric ride into the legend of the Itako- this was my first taster of any of Mandlers work & I can assure you it won’t be my last. If you want a really messed-up & brain melting ride you’ve got pick this up!.

here’s the full front/back of the cover. click to see it bigger.

it should only be a matter of days now. information is now up on the releases page.

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locrian: territories lp

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locrian: drenched lands cassette

I am super excited about this and pleased to work with Peasant Magik.

Willful
Speaking in Tongues
C20 Edition of 100
PM92
Sample

Peasant Magik has a ton of other releases just out as well. 2 LPs, 3 8″ lathes, and other tapes as well. Please support this label and this (final?) batch of releases

http://www.peasantmagik.net/

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A411256

Jenks Miller’s Zen Automata Volume One: V

17 FEB 2010 • by Grayson Currin, gcurrin (at) indyweek (dot) com

On Approaching the Invisible Mountain, Jenks Miller’s only previous album under his own name, the guitarist exploits only space and tone. The series of six spare, nebulous guitar improvisations comes full of rests and breaks—as though, in pauses for pondering, Miller considered what he’d just played and proceeded accordingly. It was a winding, easy listen, where the listener delighted as much in the possibility of what might happen next as in what had come before.

Zen Automata Volume One: V—the second solo outing from Miller, who’s been busy with the excellent metal of Horseback in the interim—couldn’t be more different. Approaching was about the very human interaction between hands and guitar strings, but Zen is a piece of inhuman systems music. Miller ran contrasting tones through sets of different computer speakers, turned up the volume and hit play as he hit record—no strings, no hands, no decisions, except the method and its duration. The resulting 39 minutes are a vortex of suffocating grays, with alien oscillations phasing in and out of each other to create the illusion that time itself is collapsing. Think a baritone saxophone battling the machines of industry. It’s a taxing listen, a psychosomatic experience as extreme and harsh as David Tudor’s Neural Synthesis or Tony Conrad’s Four Violins, as esoteric as Reynols’ Blank Tapes. The construct is so relentless, its end feels like the crescendo. And it’s just another indication that Miller’s oeuvre by any name seems absolutely boundless.

It seems that Deathsmile and Locrian are sold out of their copies. The small doses copies have not yet been made available, but will be in the not too distant future. Word will go out to the mailing list as soon as they are available. sign up in the google box on the right of this blog page.

The Locrian: Territories LPs have landed in Chicago. Terence and Andre from the band and Mark from Bloodlust are feverishly working on shipping and assembly. As soon as all of us label folk have them, we’ll set a release date. Shouldn’t be long now.

Unless I get some other things done first, the tapes might be released when the LP is. Stay tuned.

http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20100126044048989

Artist: Jason Crumer United States

Title: A Personal Hell

Label: Small Doses United States

Genre: Noise

Track Listing:

01 Exile Pursuing Abyss

02 The Old Country Buffet Incident

03 A Personal Hell

Small Doses is really proving itself to be a vital and important label in the world of noise. Jason Crumer is a much-touted solo noise artist who, although having a past as the front man for the Relapse Records recording artist Face Down In Shit, has spent the most prolific period of his musical career as a creator of highly-personal and somewhat obscure noise recordings of a distinct emotional power and impact. As well as bringing a touching-yet-chaotic element to the table, Jason brings an intense attention to sound that sets his recordings apart from many other noise artists. The sound is often minimalistic, sometimes wall-of-noise chaotic, and always from a surgical hand that is precise and deafeningly considered. “A Personal Hell,” the title track, is a seventy minute ambient journey through ghostly electronics and cicada-like high-end hums. It is a single track on a CD-r contained in this package, and is a powerful journey that is highly enjoyable by itself. The sound is of the human mind melting into the surrounding environment, an acute awareness of nature and beauty amidst a deadening atmosphere of human interaction. There is an undefinable beauty to Jason’s attention to the nether-reaches of sonics, a true feeling of grasping at the infinite and sharing a human experience that sheds unspeakable truths about nature and shared consciousness.

Crumer truly has gotten into the business of ‘creating’ sounds. Although the sound is an experience to be treasured by itself on these recordings, some enterprising young filmmaker would do themselves a great service by employing the young composer Crumer to the services of aiding the expressiveness of the visual arts. These are sounds that truly grant importance and meaning to the environment that they enter. The first track on the seven inch, “Exile Persuing Abyss,” is a heady Macronympha-style junk metallic noise exercise that flows beautifully with the “A Personal Hell” disc when played simultaneously at almost any juncture. I highly recommend playing the seven inch disc in conjunction with the compact disc, and putting the compact disc on first for some tie in order to establish the proper atmosphere with which to enjoy the seven inch disc. This is a really cool release, and I haven’t even mentioned the artwork. It is a very nice painting accompanying some photos involving Jason Crumer in some capacity or another. In one of them, he is wearing a Rudimentary Peni T-shirt, which makes me think of the title “A Personal Hell” in the light of that group, who have a song with that very phrase in it, rhyming it also with the phrase “tortured shell.” Some lines of the song preceding these lines are are “Have you ever realized you must love yourself? If you can’t, how can you love anybody else?” I think the bassist wrote that one, and the T-shirt Crumer is wearing in the above-mentioned photo is of an illustration for the song “Flesh Crucifix” (incidentally the song is about carnivorous humans being like “Flesh Tombstones, cremating animal shit coffins,” as Crumer stands before a ‘Country Buffet’) drawn by singer/guitarist Nick Blinko from the same LP as the other song that I was blathering about (”DEATH CHURCH” on Corpus Christi/Crass Recordings… if you have never heard it you must purchase immediately in order to commence your true salvation… Rudimentary Peni… you have been warned!).

This is, frankly, a brilliant release. Without gimmickry or trickery Crumer has made a masterpiece of a noise release, and when played in conjunction with each other the various parts far exceed the grasp of Crumer’s previous (and also excellent) releases. This is the one to get, if you have a record player and a CD player, and especially if you can use them simultaneously. This is much better than listening to Dark Side Of The Moon and watching Wizard Of Oz, or even those eight Flaming Lips CD’s that you all play at the same time. “The Old Country Buffet Incident” is unknown to me, incident-wise. More harsh noise that perfectly accompanies the noise on the digital deck. This is crucial, crucial listening for those who wish to understand noise music. Must be heard to be understood, truly groundbreaking and original material from an extremely important voice in noise. I had a great time listening to this thing. I don’t have the slightest clue what any of the titles are going on about, but this music is truly mad and highly worth your time. Diablo Cody said “Hell is a teenage girl,” some French guy said “Hell is other people,” and Jason Crumer says that Hell is a hair salon. Truly magnificent.

In progress. Tests presses approved. Cover sample delivered.