Destruktionsanstalt: The Extremity Exhibition

“It’s the whole idea of doing some kind of soundtrack music that reflects the world we live in, a harsh reality that we in the western world choose to ignore on a daily basis.”

We head to Viborg, Denmark to meet with Per Najbjerg Odderskov, Post Industrial sound sorcerer and a fellow journalist.

Part of the old guard for nearly 20 years now, he rose to prominence as the brains behind experimental electronic / dark ambient outfit Lidane Livering, (which has been recently resurrected) and since 2015 he’s been building Destruktionsanstalt. 

A furious monster of a project described by Per as “Back to basics death-industrial with atmospheric psychedelic overlays”.

Per also keeps himself busy with other projects God Cancer and Left Hand of God, 

as well as exploring his funny side with The Gordon Ramsey Orchestra.

I had a quick chinwag with the man himself to find out his thoughts on current events, themes behind latest Destruktionsanstalt release “Ex Bello Volaptus” and how he is worming his way into the art world…

Listen below and you can read my thoughts on the album after this interview.

DMD: How did Destruktionsanstalt get started and from where does the name originate?

Per Najbjerg Odderskov: Destruktionsanstalt was an attempt to get into more extreme sounds, whereas Lidane Livering lies within the boundaries of ambiance and electronics. 

As for the name, I think I read it on the side of a truck driving by full of dead, stinky farm animals.

I remembered seeing a cow’s leg hanging over the side of it. A Destruktionsanstalt is a place where you burn dead animals which have died from a sickness. 

DMD: How is the scene in Denmark? 

PNO: Depends on where you are in Denmark, most of the stuff is happening in the capital (Copenhagen) and a few things are happening in Aarhus and Aalborg. Otherwise, it’s quite dead. 

Right now I’m living in Viborg, which was the capital in the really old days. 

I think I’m the only one here doing this kind of music. 80% of all people in Denmark doing some kind of "extreme" music make some kind of death /black metal mostly, 15% of which are doing Electronic / Industrial live in Copenhagen and the last 5% are spread across the other parts of Denmark.  

DMD: Growing up, what music did you tend to listen to?

PNO: Back in the late 80s as a kid I grew a general fondness of electronic based music, it was just way cooler than someone with a guitar. 

Why I had that view is beyond my understanding. I guess one of the reasons was growing up with a Commodore 64, and listening to the music coming from there. 

We had cracked games for it. These software pirates would leave their musical demos with the games. I fondly remember these low-bit cover versions of Kraftwerk, OMD and Depeche Mode. 

When I got older in the early 90s, early techno and house music were where my interest was. I think my first real influential idol back then was Aphex Twin, later on, I stumbled upon LFO, Orb, Biosphere, Model 500. 

There were the first artists who gave me the idea of producing my own music, so I had my first creations on my Amiga with a sampler. It was just some hardcore techno rhythms with a sample of Margaret Thatcher on top of it! 

All of a sudden I got fed up with the rave and love issues that were around techno and house music, and one day a good friend of mine got hold of this tape with a band called Skinny Puppy so that probably changed my direction at that time. 

This band blew my mind since I was already heavily into cyberpunk-based roleplaying games and of course horror based like Call of Cthulhu. 

To actually hear an act, which made this sort of in-your-face soundtrack thing just blew my mind. 

All of a sudden I was creating my own sounds on my newly bought PC. I was heavily inspired by the likes of Throbbing Gristle, Brighter Death Now and Scorn. That was in the mid 90’s when I made Fragments vol.1 (Lidane Livering).

DMD: How did you first discover the darker side of experimental with genres such as Dark Ambient / Noise /  Death Industrial etc?

PNO: When I decided that the extreme stuff was way more interesting than electronic body music and industrial rock, I was searching for whatever act that reminded me of Throbbing Gristle.

I stumbled upon this website/mail order underground thing, which sold all these weird-sounding acts which I didn’t know. 

They sounded interesting so I bought a couple of em, turned out that they were all released from Cold Meat Industry. It was Brighter Death Now, Raison D´être and In Blind Embrace (Controlled Bleeding side project). And again, it blew my mind. I was just thinking why the hell was I wasting my time on industrial-techno with guitars haha! 

Brighter Death Now was the most frightening and challenging shit I had ever heard, Raison d´être was incredible, beautiful and dark at the same time and In Blind Embrace combining powerful classical opera inspired music with harsh industrial aesthetics. 

That kind of stuff was soo fucking unique, so I kept my primary focus on this scene for many years!

DMD: What is your recording setup?

PNO: Following off whatever I learned from software on my Amiga and PC. 

Using Soundforge, Audacity, synth emulators, fields recordings and grabbing samples from movies etc.

DMD: Name 15 records you couldn’t live without

PNO: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works vol.1

Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats

SPK - Leichenshrei

Brighter Death Now - Pain In Progress

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

Autechre - Amber

Ministry - Twitch

Caberet Voltaire - Code

Earth - Hex

Klinik - Time Plaque

Front 242 - Geography

Tangerine Dream - Stratosphere

Jean M. Jarre - Equinoxe

Atrax Morque - In Search Of Death

Megaptera - Extended Chaos

DMD: Tell us about your other projects God Cancer, Lidane Living and Left Hand of God

PNO: Lidane Livering explores heavy raw ambiance and cold rhythmic brutalism. The themes are mostly dealing with human-made atrocities to real life horrors. Otherwise, it deals in various post-industrial soundscapes. It was my first project, and it kick-started all my projects more or less. 

Left Hand of God started as an occult based esoteric ritual ambient act. Drawing ideas from NON, Archon Satani, and Ain Soph. 

Today, we´re dealing with a religiously inspired act which gets its ideas from the scene of HNW.

I’m thinking, the voice of a judgemental and all knowing god would probably sound to the human ear like a wall of some kind. That’s what I’m trying to do. 

God Cancer is a free based improvisational project which explores sounds and moods without boundaries. Not focused on any sub-genre or anything. 

DMD: What can you tell us about the new Destruktionsanstalt tape Ex Bello Volaptus?

PNO: It´s a more brutal, raw and heavy then former releases. 

The themes of the album also work within shocking taboos connected with death in one way or another. 

Victims of a serial killer, biological weaponry and its experimentations on humans, necrophilia etc…

Whereas former releases worked with sickness and the loss of a close family member. 

In lots of ways, it´s the heavier brother of Vivens Monumentis (released through Craneal Fracture records), which had a slightly more psychedelic approach I think. 

DMD: What inspires you to make music? 

PNO: Whatever I read or experience in the news mostly. It’s the whole idea of doing some kind of soundtrack music that reflects the world we live in, a harsh reality that we in the western world choose to ignore on a daily basis.

DMD: Back in August 2016 you released a cassette of two Destruktionsanstalt and Lidane Livering live performances what was your experience recording these? Do you have any plans for more live releases in the future?

PNO: This was without a doubt the best experience I have ever had, it was actually a music concert in classical terms. It was part of an art venue, where it all concerned sound and installation art. I was so lucky to know some insider people, so I managed to squeeze myself into the art-world. 

The audience was satisfied and bought some releases from me, so I was satisfied too. 

As for the moment, there are no plans for live performances. But I am keeping an eye for another opportunity. 

DMD: What can you be found doing when you are not making music?

PNO: Doing family man work. Cleaning, changing diapers, cooking, shopping etc ... And when I’m not doing that, I spend most of my time being tired at night while watching a supernatural or sci-fi themed series on Netflix over a beer or two. 

Besides that, I read a lot and am trying to find the time to listen to all of my records and tapes and stuff. 

DMD: What does Ex Bello Volaptus mean and what made you choose this title?

PNO: It means the results of war, whatever happens afterward if it all chooses to end which it sadly doesn’t.

A monotonous continuation which carries on like the constant bombardment of information overload.

All about being constantly fed with news about tragic and war, almost to the point of getting numb. 

Something which has been going on in a western democracy. "If we’re comfortable, then why should we concern about others. We have soldiers to do that kind of dirty work".

To me it´s also a reaction against being in the company of people being like that, just being "normal" and being unconcerned about everything. I find it frightening!

While young moms are drinking their caffe latte in a nice and fancy cafe, someone is having their kids ripped apart by militias. I just find it sickening. 

The only tracks on the album that don’t concern this are the last 2 tracks on the album. 

They work more or less like a 2-track EP. These tracks are about the connection between love and death more or less. I also used a sample/recording of a necrophilia trial that I got approval to use. 

DMD: What music do you enjoy listening to these days?  

PNO: These days. Always depends on my mood .. Think I’m still stuck with the dungeon synth and noise wall tapes .. Re-listening to Con-Dom and Grey Wolves, some moody post-punk bands from the 80s like Magazine, Gene Loves Jezebel and Fields of the Nephilim sort of stuff.

DMD: Tell us about your blog (kalteldur.blogspot.dk)

PNO: My Blog…Well, whenever I feel like reviewing a tape release I put something together. It’s focused on obscure electronic based tapes mostly, and moody stuff with an atmosphere, kind of dungeon synth and noise wall releases.

DMD: What does the rest of 2017 hold for you? 

PNO: So far, there is work to be done with God Cancer. I have some cassette releases with this project in the near future. I’m also holding an art exhibition in July at Aarhus artspace 2017, regarding a video and sound /art piece I’ve put together called ‘10000 Fahrenheit - Traffic Collisions’. 

DMD:  How did that all come about?

PNO: Well. At one point I was living somewhere in the sticks. I lived quite close to a road which had high levels of traffic and there was a lot of noise from lorries and trucks driving by. 

I wanted to document that in one way or the other, so I just laid my mp3 player up close to the road.

Afterward, I manipulated the recording and added some extra distorted layers to it. 

I downloaded a 60-minute video about car crashes in Russia, removed the audio, made it black and white and laid my own recording into the video itself.

Then some people I know mentioned that I ought to send it in to Aarhus Artspace, which I did and to my surprise they approved it. 

I’m going to show this installation on a big screen, in a pitch black room with the volume at total maximum. So it’s pretty much bound to overload your senses!

You can watch 10000 Fahrenheit - Traffic Collisions here

Lidane Livering Facebook

Destruktionsanstalt Facebook

Destruktionsanstalt bandcamp

Soundcloud

Mixcloud

My thoughts on Ex Bello Volaptus

Moving swiftly away from the enthralling dark ambient work of previous album Swedenborg (which comes highly recommended if you haven’t already had a listen) Ex Bello Volaptus marks the combination of a slight return to the classic Destruktionsanstalt sound with rabid experimentation that looks to the future of the project. 

A difficult balancing act for sure, but can it be done? Let’s find out!

The sampling is back in a more prominent position, right there in plain sight on first track ‘Caedes' (the slaughter).

The record begins with an infamous clip taken from the 1969 movie Easy Rider, where Jack Nicholson pulls out a bottle of Jim Beam and declares “Here's the first of the day fellas, to ol' D.H. Lawrence” takes a swig, and well, you can hear what happens next…

Nicholson’s madcap reaction is quickly breached by a flood of heavily distorted synth stuck in a droning loop. The mass of gurgling sound is expanded by a handful of field recordings that have been laid about the place and some more unsettling noises also get added to the melting pot.

It sizzles loudly like a dish being prepared and at one point even replicates a computer mid dial up that someone has set on fire, when it reaches it's peak the gas is turned off and it all cuts back to the main ‘gurgle’ which suddenly whooshes off out of earshot.

Next up, Tacet Occidere (killing is silent) quickly changes the scene to a news report describing President Assad’s use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war.

Musically, the track’s base is full of low rumbles while the top layer features anxious sounding synths cut in and out and the use of delay makes them dash off into the distance which all helps to give the track a very frantic edge, matching well with the current mood of the war torn Middle East.

Cranking up the decibels, the intro for Salo (based on the film of the same title) offers a near deaf experience with a series of eerie tinnitus inducing sounds.

These are joined by an ethereal effect and a grating metallic hum, along with a children’s choir and a brass movement that all mingle within it’s patchwork, resulting in a well executed soundscape but it's one that your ear doctor would probably advise that you avoid. 

Centrepiece ‘Agony of Plasma’ is an extended reinterpretation of the same track by Australian Industrial giants SPK (which appeared on their 1982 album Leichenschrei).

Those already familiar with the track will instantly recognise the looped breaking glass and bloodcurdling screams, although in this case they haven’t been lifted from the original. There is good use of dynamics on this track and in my view does the SPK version justice, making it one of the album’s highlights.

Imperium Suffocatis (control of suffocation) kicks off with the use of pitch shifted helicopter blades manipulated into a brisk, unpredictable pulse that shape shifts rapidly while field recordings of background chatter that help to fill out the space.

Semper Amare (always love) brings back the dark ambience of Swedenborg this time with some very fine isolationist drone entombed in a glitchy static shroud. Left with it’s remnants to loiter ominously at the track’s end it’s a ghostly presence that makes for a spine tingling listen.

Final track Suggero A Mortuis (provides a dead) begins with samples a group of people discussing the actions of a necrophile before igniting a bristling wall of sound that rises and falls in tension, constantly hinting at some more ear damage that doesn’t arrive. Almost personifying that Destruktionsanstalt is a project that doesn’t thrive on predictability.

Overall it’s a punchy, diverse release with a strong creative flair running throughout it’s 37 minutes that continues Destruktionsanstalt’s ongoing evolution.

Being at an age where some critics would consider his musical contributions nothing more than desperate attempts to remain relevant, it’s excellent to see that this album proudly displays Per's never lacking enthusiasm for creating music that is all things uncompromising, unnerving and challenging.

Ex Bello Volaptus will be made available in physical form on the 6th of August.

The Second Discovery Channel...5 reviews (Goshen, Writhe and Phonophobia, Crescent Days, Traven, PTRKLLR)

Hello and welcome to another instalment of The Discovery Channel.

The part of the blog where I dish out reviews of my recent musical findings on ye olde internet and any blog submissions.

If you are a DMD regular then I can safely assume that you'll probably notice a few familiar names this time around, and if you discover something here that really grabs your attention and makes you feel alive (or dead, whatever floats your boat) then please support the artist/band/label in any way that you can.

In this second edition we have 5 inspiring releases covering such genres as:

Metallic Hardcore / Mathcore, 

Harsh Noise / HNW, 

Post Black Metal / Blackgaze, 

Experimental Ambient / Electronic,

Lowercase / Avant Garde.

The first Discovery Channel can be found here

Here we go...

Internet findings

Goshen - Demo

Introducing Goshen, a California based quartet who play a mixture of Grindcore influenced Metallic Hardcore and blazing Powerviolence tinged with Mathcore. This fearsome group released their first demo back in early February which has all the fiery unpredictable rage of a bull wounded at the hands of a matador. You can never be sure when or where the injured beast is going to lash out next.

Featuring the venomous vocals of Kyle Ferguson (also known for his noise project Misery Ritual and HNW project Statichor) a man of many voices. Whether it’s low grunts, angry barking, tortured screams or retching in absolute disgust he’s got it all down to a tee.

Beginning with a flare of feedback and drumstick count in ‘Cost of Life’ tumbles into being with wild drumming mixed with powerful riffs that accommodate a few angry bursts of noise. Ferguson can be heard belting out lyrics such as “my eyes aren’t as bright as they used to be” and “the insatiable curiosity has bled me dry” with throat scraping intensity and fist clenching conviction.

Next up, ‘Host’ drags out the inharmoniousness a little more, then restores heaviness before the band spiral into the sort of inferno Converge made their trademark. There is a brief aftershock moment, then they return to the twisted intro riff once more before ending. Crushing stuff.

Shortest song ‘Terminal’ is where the grind brownie points are won, going from an intro of sharp stabs between a Dan Lilker bassline then switching between low, brutal riffing and echoic guitar lines in under 30 seconds.

Before you know what’s happening the dissonance laden build up into closing (and my personal favourite) track ‘Cave’ has already begun, accelerating into a soft exhale of noise before the real brutality is unleashed seconds later.

Featuring lyrics that speak of permanently cutting oneself off from society it’s bound to resonate with anyone who craves their solitude. The untameable heaviness mixed with the frantic reverberating guitar is still the recipe for success at play here.

A short riff break that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Dillinger Escape Plan album explodes into pounding blast beats topped with another mega scream from Kyle. This soon brings us to a bridge section awash with tormented shrieks, and an eerie high pitched guitar played through an octave pedal that cranks up the uneasiness.

Goshen see themselves out on a devastator of a breakdown which ends with a pitch lowering effect, as if the universe simply can’t handle them and is forced to collapse in on itself.

In conclusion, Goshen have produced a demo chock full of perfected twists and turns that proudly flip the bird to anyone who would rather play it safe. With that in mind it’s difficult to digest everything on offer in one sitting, but with a length of just under 8 minutes it’s what repeat buttons were made for! 

Listen / Download here:

https://goshen.bandcamp.com/album/demo

Goshen Facebook

Writhe / Phonophobia split - Tomb

With US and Russian relations at an all time low, releases such as this are a testament to the fact that love and noise conquers all. ‘Tomb’ sees Writhe, a one man Drone / HNW project from Indiana teaming up with harsh noise / ambient music maker Phonophobia from Moscow.

Writhe kicks things off with ‘Forced Down’ a swampy marsh of slow, muddy guitar with plentiful use of whammy bar to up the disorientation that gets swallowed by the prickly static forces beneath it. Second track ‘Beaten’ treads a path to a similar fate, with a violent spasming sonic attack that gets buried in a thunderous harsh noise wall. 

‘Forgotten’ begins with the still crumbling dregs of the previous wall before topping it’s layers with a sliced distorted drone. It feels as if the wall is going to strip itself down when the top layer briefly disappears at the half way point, but it makes a comeback and remains unmoved for the rest of the track. An impactful and memorable opening trio for sure.

Phonophobia's one and only track ‘Three Pedals / Closed Doors’ starts out as a thick, mad buzz that transforms into a juddering noise elongation. It changes course to more of a scream before briefly returning to the naked buzzing once again.

Building into a vile cacophonous stream of consciousness and climbing up the loftier registers, the demented choir eventually hits the glass shattering high note, met with a short and stuttering effect that copulates into a drawn out, grinding mass of glitch while the note carries on regardless. 

The noise ensemble reaches it’s coda with one final enrapturing atonal sound that faces some digital interferences before cutting out. 

As a whole, ‘Tomb’ does a great job of ensuring all the frequencies have been covered. Writhe drills down into the most chasmic depths of earth while Phonophobia blasts off into higher altitudes of discordance, allowing both sides to compliment one another and making this pairing of artists a match made in harsh noise heaven!

Listen / Purchase CD here:

https://reasonartrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tomb

The incredible Reason Art Records sub label 'Minimalist Recs' can be found here

Also from Writhe:

Split with Harsh Noise Movement - ‘A tribute to Begotten’

Listen / Download here:

https://harshnoisemovement.bandcamp.com/album/a-tribute-to-begotten

Also from Phonophobia:

6 way split 'Post Soviet and Harsh'

Listen / Download here:

https://bigpharmarecords.bandcamp.com/album/post-soviet-and-harsh

You can read a review of Writhe's split with Macronympha here

Don't miss out on this recent static offering from RAR Label owner Sergey Pakhomov's project LEICHEN on Grey Matter Productions

Listen / Purchase cassette here:

https://greymatternoise.bandcamp.com/album/grau-leichen-2

Submissions

Crescent Days - Unbloomed

Since forming in 2013, Germany / USA duo Crescent Days have been hard at work creating a hybrid sound of atmospheric, depressive and post black metal with shoegaze and ambient music.

Latest full length 'Unbloomed' marks the second time in the band's career where founding member Abraxas has written and recorded without partner in crime Sol, who at the time was unavailable to take part in the process. Sol's first full length effort in Crescent Days was 'On This Funeral Mourning' released on Depressive Illusions Records back in 2015. All instruments are played by Abraxas and the artwork was from an outside source.

Setting the tone for much of the record, ‘.daydream’ makes itself known with a melancholy clean intro that snowballs into a set of chords marred with a slightly dirtier tone, plus a rocky beat to match. Things move into a higher gear with the raw vocals making the first of their fleeting appearances while both guitars and drum kit are beaten into submission. After a strumming section and brief return to the beat from earlier we are left with a sorrowful exit.

‘Osnabrück’ is a slow, dancing duel of guitars that ring out like church bells that offer neither hopeful or tragic news, just a stoic numbness that I find rather beautiful. There are some enhancing sounds trying to fight their way to the surface of the mix but I cannot truly decipher if they are hands running across the guitar strings, vocals filled with despair, effect laden field recordings or all three. Either way, they add to the track's aesthetic rather than taint it. For an interlude it’s extremely soulful and remains one of my personal highlights on the album. 

‘Unbloomed' starts off with droplet like chords before getting swamped by distorted guitars and a hard beating of the snare ensues. Building up to a soaring, ear catching melody sitting atop crashing drums that soon quicken up their pace while the guitar stays unmoved, which I thought was a very nice touch. The percussion drops out, leaving both the rhythm and lead guitar tracks uncovered for a short period of time but then returns with more of a slow sway to fade.

Fourth track ‘Sol’ begins with the pedigree of darkened post metal riffing employed by post metal bands such as Amenra and proudly upholds the standard of majestic leads heard throughout this release.

‘Blossom’ shows off the group’s softer side once again, daintily strumming and adding extra harmonies to make an angelic chorus of sound. A sample of a couple breaking up turns this quite delightful track into more of an emotional ordeal.

‘To Wither And Decay’ brings the metallic edge back into the equation, and on ‘Violet Miasma’ you can hear the clean pickings you’d expect to hear on Pablo Honey / The Bends era Radiohead. 

Closing track ‘P Ä L E’ marks the return of the vocals, their harsh groans pouring out over heavy blasts of distorted chords and a pop driven motif. One final clean part cues up a repeat of the motif and the exhausted sounding vocals, which after disappearing subtly change into an epic closing section. All guitars ablaze on the final push which comes to an unexpected end with a hum of sleepy chord haze extending out to the edges of earth.

Unbloomed’s strengths lie in it’s gorgeous guitar leads and the rather unorthodox drumming, which at times operates as a separate entity rather than a tool of accompaniment.

Unfortunately, for me a handful of fragments and endings begin to feel a bit too similar, and an occasionally unforgiving mix doesn’t help matters either (though black metal was never a genre built on clarity of production). The lack of vocals also mean that the record’s sole reliance is upon instrumental passages which in some cases prove effective, but at other points feel barren and weak.

Despite not being quite as multi dimensional as their past work 'Unbloomed keeps the inventive streak and undeniable musical force that is Crescent Days intact with a stripped down vision that against all the odds still prevails.

Listen / Download here:

https://crescentdays.bandcamp.com/album/unbloomed-2

I had a quick word with Sol, who as well as being half of CD playing the parts of lyricist, co-producer, visual arts director and occasional ambient effects manipulator is also the brains behind the almighty netlabel and blog Sunn Monolith who have released some truly deafening and wondrous compilations under the title of 'Sun Heard'. 

DMD: Despite unbloomed being an enjoyable listen I found it rather sad not to have you onboard, is there going to be a record with both of you appearing together coming soon?

Sol: Without giving much detail, I'm talking to Sebastian (Abraxas) about releasing another version of unbloomed (which will have have a different track listing).

DMD: And what does the rest of 2017 hold for you guys?

Sol: Perhaps the rest of 2017 will see something of a surprise.

If you are in a band / project and are in need of artwork, Sol can be contacted for rates and more information here: sunmonolith@gmail.com

A small review of the duo's debut release from side project Lord Sun - 'Suncatcher’ can be found here

Also Try: Pathway to Inexistence

Listen / Download here:

https://crescentdays.bandcamp.com/album/pathway-to-inexistence

Also try: Violetten Blüten EP

Listen / Purchase cassette here:

https://crescentdays.bandcamp.com/album/violetten-bl-ten

ЯTLLCTЯNCS - traven.

Currently residing on a section of fenced-off wasteland in the middle of a motorway intersection somewhere in Southern England is the experimental, ambient and electronic artist clad in mystery known as ‘traven.’ who has been transmitting what he describes as “strung-out pastoral execution music” since early 2016.

ЯTLLCTЯNCS (pronounced ‘ritual electronics’) is the project’s debut EP and another offering from high quality music purveyors Aetheric Records. This short but action packed effort boasts a set of 7 polished soundscapes ready to dive into and explore.

Opening track ‘t H e c A R F A x f R A G M e n T’ gets things started off heavily in dark ambient territory with ominous synths and cold piano tones striking the hour while field recordings tread lightly beneath. A wail of feedback breaks into a screech and the synths stand sharply upright in terror before dying down. It’s only the first track, but one can sense there are some sinister audio spirits at play here.

The darkness continues on ‘What is This Place We Are In’ looped arpeggios bring a further chill to the already icy air, the crack of spine shivering guitar strings helps paint a bewitching picture of a church graveyard at nightfall.

Standing in the pouring rain, (hade) restores peace with soothing synth parts and plenty of surface noise to pass around resulting in a drenched but relaxed number.

The downpour carries on into follow up and shortest track ‘#Noguchi's NUMB3Я5’ which has a strange atmosphere thanks to an ethereal looped effect and some even stranger sounding embellishments but still holds its own when compared to it’s much longer counterparts.

‘THE NEW RADIATI∞N .I’ is a bustling hive of activity featuring amplifiers buzzing, guitar chords crashing lazily like ocean waves while people and cars appear to be going about their day in the layers of field recordings.

A piano line switching between melancholy and mysterious at the drop of a hat, the surface noise going from fizzing to light crackles, a serving of uplifting synths and a short use of ricocheting sound all make ‘To Reach "The Invisible”’ an abstract but intriguing piece of sound art.

Closing track ‘3 - ЯK’ is a soft, peaceful drone with a few rattles and screeches happening on the roadside, as the drone begins to evolve into a bright and breathtaking audio cosmos it all gets quickly shut off by the sound of a single bird call. An ending very much outside the box, but traven. pulls it off with ease.

For only a debut it’s extremely progressive, palatable and promising. It’s shortness definitely makes it all the more accessible for newcomers with each track resembling a brief but enjoyable musical getaway. Evocative, sleek and highly atmospheric, ЯTLLCTЯNCS is all killer with no filler.

Listen / purchase CD here

https://aetheric-records.bandcamp.com/album/tllct-ncs

traven. twitter

traven souncloud

You can read a review of another Aetheric Records release - this time it's Clive Henry's Hymns - here

PTRKLLR - Anatoma Tobeyoides

PTRKLLR is a Seattle based lowercase wall noise project, but if you fill in the vowels then you get the name of Peter Keller, a well known and respected face on the scene. 

But for those not in the know, some of Keller’s most notable efforts include: 

• The Anti-gentrification Harsh Noise Wall colossus known as Condo Horro
• Hosting supernatural atmospheric HNW séances in Geist
• Opening up the crackling noise void with Dirac Sea
• Contemplating our imminent doom through use of drifting noise walls from Unser Verhängnis
• Spreading the hazardous harsh noise virus through a deadly organism called Bacillus

‘Anatoma Tobeyoides’ indicates the debut release of PTRKLLR. described by Peter as “an entry into a new label of minimalist sounds called ‘lowercase noise wall.’ ” The record sees Keller honouring two of his fellow countrymen, the first of which is sound artist Steve Roden and in particular his revered 2001 album ‘Forms of Paper’. 

The other is highly influential painter Mark Tobey, who rose to prominence during the Northwest School and Abstract expressionism art movements. Mark Tobey’s painting ‘Written Over the Plains’ is used as the record’s cover and the tracks have been gifted the names of some of his other famous works. 

The title of the record itself comes from a species of sea snail found off the south coast of Australia dubbed in recognition of Tobey.

I would say that while he has made it clear whom he is doffing his cap to on this release, Keller’s more organic approach as opposed to the ghostly, digitised tones heard on ‘Forms of Paper’ make for an impressive lowercase wall of sound, even if these walls are quite literally paper thin.

Opening track ‘Canticle’ starts off with a gravelly crumpling that sets the tone for much of this release before adding more layers to create a denser structure, made up of soothing scuffles and a wet rummaging that carries on uninhibited throughout it’s 25 minute duration. 

Second track ‘Bars and Flails’ has a rougher surface featuring more tears and shredding that build and drop in intensity and by the time ‘Advance of History’ rolls around the sound emissions have come to resemble light static rainfall.

Unfortunately I feel at this point I have spent my word bank on trying to describe the events heard on Anatoma Tobeyoides but I urge you to check out this recording for yourself and draw your own conclusions from it. 

But whether you’re drawn inside it’s aura of tranquility or left in a rather irritable state in dire need of harsher textures, there can be no doubt that this recording breaks new ground in the wall noise category. 

If it’s not too bold to say, I would declare ‘Anatoma Tobeyoides’ a triumph of modern minimalism and further proof that Reason Art Records is the gift that keeps on giving. 

In search of a fresh new sound? Ditch the pedals and pick up the paper!

I briefly caught up with Peter to find out more about this groundbreaking record…

DMD: What is your personal relationship with Mark Tobey and Steve Roden’s works?

Peter Keller: I heard "lowercase" music back in the early 2000s when it first coalesced. Steve Roden is the artist that coined the label "lowercase" to describe the minimal form of sound art that uses sounds normally unnoticed and amplifies them to bring them out. 

Richard Chartier, Francisco Lopez, and Bernhard Günter are some of my other favorites in this extreme form of ambient music. Their approach lead me to think that it can translate well into the realm of static minimalist sound.

Mark Tobey is a painter who lived here in Seattle that was influential in laying the foundation for abstract expressionism; his calligraphic forms that spread all the way to the edges of the canvas to me is very much the visual equivalent of static minimal walls of sound.

DMD: What was your experience of recording Anatoma Tobeyoides?

PK: Calming and meditative. The act of manipulating paper during the recording was almost a ritual, as well as a meditation on the act of labor itself. 

While lowercase as a genre focuses on bringing to the fore the unheard sounds, the act of recording these tracks brings to focus the minor acts of work itself, and of entering the moment and staying with it while having a dialogue with the physical objects.

DMD: Will there be any more PTRKLLR releases this year? 

PK: The next album will be out on Nahàsh Atrym Productions later this year as soon as I'm done recording for it, other recordings are being planned and labels approached, so we'll see what this year brings, it's been a productive one so far.

Listen / purchase CD here:

https://reasonartrecords.bandcamp.com/album/anatoma-tobeyoides

A remastered version of Steve Roden’s Forms of Paper is available to listen to here

Thanks for reading!

Dosis Letalis: Serbian Static

“Anyone can buy a few pedals and create some wall of noise, but will it be good? 

Will it have quality? Will it be possible to sink, enjoy and get lost in it? 

To make good HNW you must love it and understand it...you can't fake it, 

because it will be absolutely hearable in your work.”

Lurking amongst the new wave (or the new bricks in the wall rather) of noise wall artists, with a truly staggering amount of side projects and collaborations under his belt is Serbia's Nemanja Nikolić. Quite a well known noise wall architect on the scene, he's been dishing out plenty of crushing harsh noise walls and crackling ambient noise walls as Dosis Letalis since October last year.

I caught up with Nemanja to discuss his musical roots, the state of Serbian noise plus his HNW/noise artists and label recommendations for 2016.

Listen below to 'Crackling worship' part of his Crackling series
and don't forget to check out Crackling Curse,Madness and Terror as well!

DMD: First of all, what is the meaning behind the name Dosis Letalis?

NN: Hahahahaha, the name has no deep meaning or whatever, it came to my mind after playing my noise stuff to my friends (who don't listen to noise) and they called it lethal dose, so I just used the Latin words for that.

DMD: Growing up, what music did you listen to?

NN: I can clearly remember the day when I discovered music I like. I was in my teens and one day I got bored and turned on an old radio I had, where I just started searching for stations, I remember changing many stations (even then I despised commercial mainstream music), before bumping into the one where some metal was playing, I immediately fell in love with that louder sound.

So, as you can guess, it was the most popular metal bands at first: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pantera, Sepultura, Slayer….a little later I heard The Sisters Of Mercy, and loved their darker sound, and discovered bands like Katatonia and My Dying Bride.

DMD: Tell me about your journey from a beginner musician up to today with Dosis Letalis. 

NN: I am no musician, and don't play any instruments. My first exposure to making any kind of sounds was when I hung out with my friend who was making psy-trance for fun. We tried making tracks together, but every time I tried, I ended up messing up the track and creating something dark, twisted and noisy. 

After that I kept experimenting alone and after a while I was making some weird mixture of dubstep, industrial and noise. A couple of years before I started making HNW I was creating dark ambient and drone which I still do, but not so much. 

While we’re at it, the debut from my drone project Dosis Feralis was released not so long ago, on Zero Sum Recordings, a young ambient label run by Mr. Ben Hudgins (the mastermind behind Bonechurch, Melinoe and Abstract Audio Systems) he also runs another very good label called Endless Landscapes Of Decay, which is one of my favorites, all the releases on there are really good and definitely worth checking out!

DMD: When was your first exposure to Noise and HNW?

NN: My first exposure to noise was when I went to Belgrade to study, it was 2007/2008, and at university I met Alexandar Nenad. Back then he was just starting his harsh noise project [CTD]. 

He gave me my first power electronics and noise disks. I was really struck by the power of those sounds. I hung out a lot with him that first year, but after I left that first university, we lost touch.

Years passed and after finishing (another) university, I returned to my hometown, (this is the period when I was making dark ambient, but also when I started making noise again) and it was a similar situation like the first time I discovered music I like, only this time I had internet, I remembered Alex and I typed Creation Through Destruction into Google listened to it, and really liked it. 

But, that same day I discovered something else, his HNW project the mighty Dead Body Collection! And I was like wow! Holy shit, I didn't know that noise this loud ever existed. 

That was the first HNW project I ever heard, and I really liked the brutality and uncompromising relentlessness of it, plus I was stunned by the number of releases he had (over 200), which was an insane amount for me to understand at the time. 

After that I discovered other acts on bandcamp/youtube, explored the genre further and fell in love with it.

After some time, I started making HNW. I remember sending my first tracks to Alex, (god, they were awful!) but he was like: this is great, this is real HNW! 

Hahaha, so, many thanks to him for encouraging me to continue with it, as well as introducing me to James Killick (person behind amazing Love Katy, Small Hours,... and cult label Sweet Solitude, now Vagary Records) who released my first album ever, Cryptanalysis, on his net label, Maniacal Laugh.

After that I opened my first Facebook account (I guess I had to, even though I despised it, I still do) and started meeting some really nice and good people, noise people are (most of them) a really great and positive bunch, which kinda surprised me at the time.

The Enigma Code themed Dosis Letalis debut released back in October 2015

DMD: Apart from Noise, do you have another favourite style of music to listen to?

NN: I am quite diverse in my music taste, favorites are post rock/metal, funeral doom, dsbm, stoner, industrial, ambient, (both dark and light), hip-hop, trip-hop, jazz, reggae/dub/ska, old school drum 'n' bass, dub-step, good quality psy-trance, etno and world music and certain classical composers, I also enjoy various spiritual, ritualistic and sacred music, I specially love works of early polyphonic composers (Léonin, Pérotin), but I listen to this music strictly from a musical perspective, I am not religious in any way. 

DMD: What is the experimental/noise music scene like in Serbia and what other forms of extreme to normal music are most popular over there?

NN: There are not many people is Serbia doing noise, I know about 10, maybe a few more people doing this, my favorite projects are Dordje Miladinovic's Raven and Srdjan Eftomovski's Nundata/Fecal Vomit, but I also like Filip's Lucy Jane Garcia and WeAreAllSlaves, Nenad's Third I, Milos's Antitalent, Daniel's vernacvlaar destrvction, Antonio's Nekro Batica, I already mentioned Alex's Creation Through Destruction and (now ex) Dead Body collection, but his new project recently came out and it’s some really good space themed experimental music called Kosmodrom! 

Considering this, a Serbian Noise compilation came out not so long ago on Jes Boli Ga Kurac Records, so most of these projects are on that. Noise/experimental gigs are rare here, and with little projects like this I’m not sure you can call this a scene, but again, maybe I'm not the best person to answer this.

As for other music, well it's same as in any country I guess, we have different sub cultures, the most popular ''music'' here is total shit, it’s called turbo-folk, (yeah, the name says it all), and some commercial pop, but apart from that, there are normal people who listen to rock, metal, punk, reggae, ambient and quality electronic music…

DMD: What are your Desert Island Disks?

NN: Here is something for every mood, and these are all classics, nothing rare or unknown.

Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love and Hate

The Velvet Underground - Peel Slowly And See…

Nick Cave - Let Love In

Block Out - San Koji Srećan Sanjaš Sam

Evoken - in Solitery Ruin

Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull

Thy Light - Suici.De.pression

Amenra - Mass III

If These Trees Could Talk - If These Trees Could Talk

Miles Davis - Porgy And Bess

Augustus Pablo - King Tubby meets Rockers Uptown

Deep Forest - Comparsa

Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Kammerheit - Starwheel

Kode 9 & Spaceape - Memories Of The Future

Frozen Ghost - Out Of The Mouth

DMD: What movies have changed your life and the way you look at the world?

NN: I never watched movies strong enough to change my life or my look at the world, I wonder if that's even possible (at least for me).

DMD: What gear do you use for recording?

NN: Well, I started as digital only, my first albums were made only with PC, over time I started buying pedals, for now I have only a few but digital processing is still an important part of my wall craft, and unlike many noise artists I don't consider that unholy. I work with what I have got, and I won't let the lack of means separate me from my passion, I guess we’d better say obsession!

There are a lot of analog fascists out there, but there are also people like me, who don't care how the wall is done, as long as it's done good, and who only separate walls/noise as good or bad, of course, there is a difference in taste, which is specially subjective in noise, but I think any real wall noise-maker can recognise when HNW is done with true passion, love and soul, and when something is done just to be done, as some form of pointless expression, or as result of boredom or inability to make something else for the ‘'wrong reasons'' as my friend Joseph from the ever amazing Black Matter Phantasm  once said. 

There are ignorant people in both music and noise world, who don't appreciate HNW, and who think everyone can do it, and sure, anyone can buy a few pedals and create some wall of noise, but will it be good? Will it have quality? Will it be possible to sink, enjoy and get lost in it? To make good HNW you must love it and understand it... you can't fake it, because it will be absolutely hearable in your work.

Every one of my tracks have been made with huge passion, different emotions were, with a lot of effort, channeled into the walls, and I can guarantee this is the same for all of my favorite projects. 

Just check out Lorencoz's projects Nascitari, Mare Di Dirac, Nach (his collab with another, equally genius HNW practitioner Clive Henry), and all will be clear, you can't have that kind of sound without strong efforts. 

The amount of time these people spend experimenting and crafting those amazing, textured walls is admirable, and more then hearable, and if someone can't hear the difference between that and ''white noise through 2 pedals'' (like someone once said), they should avoid this beautiful genre, cos this isn't for everyone.

Anyways in time, I will have much more gear, but considering Serbian salaries, and my tape orders, that process is going slowly...

DMD: Please explain the difference between Dosis Letalis and Relicuum.

NN: There is a huge difference, both in themes and sound. Dosis Letalis's walls are fuelled by my anger and despair from social injustice in the world, and it's usually HNW, ANW or quiet crackling walls, but however experimental they may be, they are still within the boundaries of HNW.

With Relicuum, I wanted to explore sound outside of the usual boundaries of HNW, with additional sounds incorporated inside of walls, it's something I named Atmospheric Wall Noise, (yeah I know it's all wall noise, but I like creating my own sub-genres, I don't see why it bothers some people, it's for my soul only so haters can fuck off!).

This brings me to the subject of themes in HNW, and they are absolutely unnecessary, HNW is a contemplative meditative genre, and you can use it to delve inside and get lost in it. It can be used as background sound or you can carefully listen to it, and enjoy the textures as they fill your soul with pleasure while your ears melt.

DMD: Please talk us through your many side projects and any we are still yet to hear?

NN: Oh, I have many side projects, Dosis Feralis (drone/dark ambient), N.I.H.L. (harsh noise), Cure For Sanity (noisebient drone), Hybrida Atrox (where I work on hybridisation of Grindcore and HNW, appropriately named Grindwall), Recreational Toxicity (under this alias I experiment with combining EDM such as techno and psy-trance with HNW, these are walls you can dance to, I kid you not!)... 

Besides that, I have many collaborative projects, all of which are very dear to me, but my favorites are Naughty Angel Raptures [with Charlotte Thevenin, one of the best persons I ever met, she is the lady behind my favorite HNW project Naughty], and The Climate Refugees [a collab with 2 noise veterans and extraordinary gentlemen Peter Keller and Ben Rehling, who I have had the pleasure to call friends and their HNW projects Condo Horro and See Through Buildings are at the TOP of my favorites. 

Debut releases from both N.A.R. and T.C.R. have been released through the mighty Altar Of Waste, amazing, highly influential and without any question my favorite label run by the extraordinary Cory Strand.

I also have Debris [really powerful project with massive and loud walls, with Casper from Uitgeschakeld], Totenfeldt [creepy ambient/drone/ANW/noise project with Jott from How I Met Lauren], Red Forest Project [nuclear disaster themed ambient/noise project with John from Go As Death], Cineris [ANW project with Zachary from NO123NOISE], Castrati Lair [with Rush Falknor].

I have also collaborated with Sergey Pakhomov [from Train Cemetery, and the head of a young, but very promising new label called Reason Art] and Ivan Sandakov [the label head of the influential Wall Noise Action], and something very special to me was a split with Left Hand Of God, ANW side project of Per Najbjerg Odderskov, the man behind some great projects such as Destruktionsanstalt and Lidane Livering. 

Also I had the pleasure to work with Jason Campbell, it was a collaboration between his magnificent SSTGFLS J222557+601148 and my Relicuum [I think a few tapes are still available from Grey Matter Productions]

A collab with Alessandro from Ropes on Reason Art was released a few days ago on Reason Art, and also, very dear to me, a collaboration between Cory Strand's Eugene Critchley and mine Dosis Letalis appropriately named Critchley Letalis, was released last month on AOW (I am very proud of this, we picked a good theme and the walls came out great, taking the best from both of our projects). 

I'm also lucky to collaborate with 2 wonderful artists from the UK,  Clive Henry and James Shearman! our Architectonicum project sounds both wicked and weird at the same time,
and I've also been working with that old mush Clive Henry on our own project.

Many other collabs are planned, I'm especially looking forward to one with my dear friend Monica Sanchez [Tissa M.], and one massive collab between Big Hole, Ebony Tower, She Walks Crooked, Willowbrook and Dosis Letalis Plus Joseph Szymykowiak and me are planning something very special...

And of course, speaking of collaborations I must mention the mightiest and the wickedest collective in the whole universe, The Insect Worship Collective! This is a group of very talented people where we work together on diffferent noise and drone tracks, members of some of the best projects are here:

Phantasm Nocturnes, Curses, Black Sheet Servitude, See Through Buildings, ruiner., Contraktor, Go As Death, Separatist, Endless Chasm, Lynch Project, Von Cogwell, Bonechurch, Frodolese, Alexander Adams, Ispopod.... Being a member of this great collective really enriched my skills, and I made many good friends there. All Hail The Hive!

DMD: You have appeared on a number of labels, which would you say are your favourites? 

NN: Another hard question. Because I love all the labels I have worked with, and every single label head there is a great person. Favorites, well, Craneal Fracture Records will always have a special place in my heart, considering that the first Dosis Letalis physical release was on there, Jose Murcia is the best person ever, really positive and easy to work with, so many thanks to him, sending hugs to Spain! 

Big Pharma Records is the place where I released my Injustitae double CD, and the CD 1 was my first ANW release, but most importantly it was the time when I decided to cover social themes, and to shape all my pain and sorry from all the injustice in the world into my walls, Benjamin Joseph is a rad guy to work with, and be sure to check out his mighty project Contraktor.

Grey Matter Productions is most certainly in my favorites, this is still a young label, but it has great releases, and a good mix of various sounds. One big salute to my brother Daniel Cornejo, for being so damn cool, he is one hell of a guy, and GMP is on a good way to becoming a cult label!

There is a young label from Russia called Reason Art, run by another amazing guy, Sergey Pakhomov (I already mentioned his project Train Cemetery) and this label is also on a very good path, the releases there are excellent, and I had that honor, my very first release there was Mass Media by Dosis Letalis.  

I have spoken a little about Avocado Tapes, and this is going to be great label for sure, every single release on there is stunning! I'm so happy to be chosen for their next batch of tapes. 

Dancing Shadows is another young label run by Cameron Socha (he has an interesting wall noise project called Crypt Of The Cobra), and every release there is solid. A really prospective label. 

I must also mention two labels from France, Rapture Records and Hallucination Tapes, both with wickedly good releases, and all these young labels I named so far are on a really good way to becoming important parts of the scene, and it makes me very happy so see them grow in the most positive way!

I talked about newer labels, but what about those who have been at work a little longer? There is no doubt, my favorites are:

The almighty, and my favorite, Altar Of Waste! Releases there are beyond excellent, and really beautiful, Cory Strand puts a lot of effort into the AOW tapes and CD's, every cover of every release is well designed, usually by him, and he has a good ear for noise so only the best of the best is released on AOW.

Another beautiful label is Jan Warkne's Geraeuschmanufaktur! Alongside AOW that label is on top of my favorites, releases there are also magnificent looking but most importantly really good, this is an experimental label to be admired, and I'm honoured that Jan released the debut of my harsh noise project N.I.H.L.

Lurker Bias is a label with a very diverse catalog, and solid releases, it's in my favorites for good reason. Some of the releases from the new Neon Walls series are still available, so pick it up while you can. 

Ominous Recordings is one of the longest running underground noise labels I know, 11 fucking years, and some of my wickedest walls i've done were released there on tape (Dosis Letalis - Soulless Reign) 

Check out also The Level Of Vulnerability, label from Hungary, the latest Dosis Letalis cassette tape entitled The Distortion Of Reality was released there, and there are a lot of other tapes available from them too.

There are many other labels that totally deserve a mention (I haven't worked with them yet): Cascading Fragments, Monorail Trespassing, Palinopsia, Needle And Knife, Lost Light Records, Trashfuck Records, Required Rate Of Return, Orb Tapes, Archivio Audio Anonimo,...)

Be sure to check out the catalogs of all these wonderful labels, the people running them work hard to bring us new releases, and they need our support, so if you are in a decent financial situation please order some tapes/CDs!

DMD: Compared to Cryptanalysis and your other early work, the latest output from DL is more focused on Ambient Noise Wall, was this a conscious decision or you wanted to just experiment and move your sound forward?

NN: Both, I guess. I try to keep things diverse, and I like to experiment a lot, which can lead to many different, sometimes weird sounds/walls. While I admire the consistency of someone’s sound I always search for different noises.

DMD: Please tell us all your favorite releases from this year and why you enjoyed them?

NN: I have heard so many great releases this year, this is very good and an important year for the HNW scene, which I think is really blossoming. Many good projects have appeared, some from older noise makers, some from newcomers. I will mention my favorite projects and their exceptional albums here, which are all highly recommended.

I already mentioned Lorenzo Abattoir's Nascitari, and his albums on Process and on Lost light are masterpieces of the genre. And both Mare Di Dirach's Fumes (on Dusktone) and Nach's debut (on Reason Art Records) are excellent, true HNW experimentalism!

Naughty is my favorite project, and her album My King, released on Altar Of Waste is perfection in every sense! While everything from Naughty is really good, that one is just perfect! I'm in love with that deep bass, and since I heard it, I listen to one of those tracks every day! Most definitely in top of my favorites for this year!

Next one is Condo Horro, god I love this project! Perfect sound for my ears! I recommend this project for everyone to hear, it quickly became one of the best in the scene! 

Same as with Naughty, Nascitari, STB, everything I heard from this project is fucking amazing, but the one released on Big Pharma Records, named Wall Out Those Who Have No Walls, its fucking terrifying.

Perfect blend of HN and HNW, really loud and massive. Apart from excellent sound, this project is very dear to me because it covers social themes, so I don't feel so lonely on the road of socially charged walls.

If you prefer something quieter, check out another goody from Peter Keller, his ANW project Unser Verhängnis.

See Through Buildings - Another one of my favorite projects, Ben's noise make my brain melt! Awesome and loud and constantly good! While the tracks on his bandcamp can variate (many experiments shared on there), the albums made for labels are superb! 

My favorites are I'll Waive The Cover Charge on Lost Light Records, and Manually Enter The Codes on Subsidiary Walls, a HNW sublabel of Big Pharma Records, and I recently acquired There Used To Be Water Here from Fall Into Void Recs, and it's really solid!

Both Ben and Pete have been doing noise for years, Jenifer Wolski and Bacillus are even named as forerunners of HNW!

Sumbru - While Gesis was really good (check out Mobile on Dancing Shadows), Sumbru is beyond excellent. Julien Skrobek is on top of his game, and the walls from Afterlife Signals (on Grey Matter) are one of the best I ever heard.

Black Matter Phantasm - This project is a real HNW experience, long meditative walls, perfect for contemplating. Joseph S. is one of those persons who truly understands what HNW is, and is really passionate about it, and one of the people I admire most. 

Again, everything on his bandcamp is great, but most pleasant for my ears is definitely Marche De L'absence. You should also check out his other projects, HNW project G. J. Schaefer, harsh noise Public Morbidity and very well done ambient/drone compositions under his own name.

Shurayuki-hime - Ah, this project. Really, really good, I fucking love it! 

The person behind the wonderful (now defunct) D.S.W.A.C.V, Liam McGeorge, brought us this amazing and delightful project. From all of his opus, the most dear to me is his AOW album, Sho Ga Nai, it’s crackling experimentation similar to my own, which I didn't dare to release until I heard Sho Ga Nai, I guess I didn't think anyone would be interested in hearing this minimal crackling stuff. 

So many thanks to my him, this album encouraged me to continue with my own crackling studies, and to take it further. Definitely another worth checking out is What the Summer Rain Knows under his alias Yume Hayashi, on his new really sweet label Avocado Tapes (he also runs the great Tera Anitq), its really good stuff! Hails to Liam, the sounds of his projects are always the bringers of joy!

Uitgeschakeld - Casper van der Veen is, besides being one of the best noise people, the mind behind this mighty project. The walls he makes are long, loud, massive and unrelentless. While he isn't as productive as I would like him to be, every release is solid and of a good quality.

I have had the pleasure of listening to his Four Stages Of Enlightenment (released not long ago on AOW, and already sold out), and it’s superb! Casper is another HNW enthusiast, who really gets this genre, and deeply enjoys good HNW releases. Be sure to listen to his contribution to the new neon wall series by Lurker Bias, it's top notch!

SSTGFLS J222557+601148 - Jason Campbell is another HNW practitioner, very profilic, and while his projects Wallmaster, Ultimo Mondo Cannibale, UDFj-39546284,… are all really good and interesting, his space themed SSTGFLS J222557+601148 is superb!

One of the best walls I ever heard came from this project, I can't find the words to describe how much I love it, that's why you should visit Jason's bandcamp, there are enough walls there to keep you busy for months! 

I'm not sure I can choose which release from SSTGFLS J222557+601148 is my favorite, since all of them are so damn good, maybe Einstein Cross, but also Static Incantations from UDFj-39546284 should be checked out!

Ivan Skandakov is a crazy prolific monster, he probably put out about like 100 albums this year only hahahahaha. And from many albums I heard this year from his projects Sleep Column, Revelation Of The Dead Girl, Brain Barricade, Cathedral Of Plague, Elephant Graveyard, etc, the most pleasant for my ears was Wall Blossoming by Brain Barricade, released digitally on Nihil Worship, a sort of netlabel for all his projects. 

Volhnn - While the Chier is really good, and constantly solid, Volhnn is more then amazing! I love everything on that bandcamp, not sure which one to chose as my favorite, Extinction process IV maybe.

Big Hole - Everybody loves Big Hole because it's so fucking good! Just listen to The Recurring Dream released on the marvellous Dancing Shadows label.

Kosmodrom - This is a project born from the ashes of Dead Body Collection, and I'm really glad Alex decided to do something new and experimental. You should order Destination Moon from wonderful Geraeuschmanufaktur before it’s too late.

Eugene Critchley - This project is bleak as fuck! Pessimistic walls to cry to! Cory Strand is really talented, just check out his drone works under his own name, beautiful! While I usually prefer textured HNW/ANW, I like the bleakness of Eugene Critchley a lot! My favorite is Pessimism Totale - a double cassette recently released through AOW.

Train Cemetery - This project comes to us from the man behind the lovely Reason Art Records, Sergey Pakhomov. Really good and experimental sounding walls, check out the album Murum released on his label, it's amazing! But works under his own name are also excellent, Another Autumn Day and Coal, long walls perfect for meditation!

ruiner. - another interesting project from Cali. My little bro, Logan Threedouble (ex-Monological Terrorist) brings us an album called The Only Promise Given Is Death, released digitally on Big Pharma Records and physically on Altar Of Waste, bleak and full of sorrow, this comes highly recommended.

VVST had only 2 digital releases so far, but it's really good, and quickly became one of my favorite projects, both albums are perfect!

Rien - This is a side project from Johan Strömvall Hammarstedt (the head of tincredible Ominous Recordings) focused on minimal sound with minimal gear. Russian Tape recently released on Reason Art is just beautiful! Also worth checking out is his main HNW project Gamiani!   

I also must mention some of my noise, PE (non-HNW) favorites this year:

Misery Ritual - I Hurt Because I Must (an amazing project from my man Kyle Ferguson, I hope to see this project live one day) 

Brent Gunn - Submissive Aggressor (a really mighty harsh noise track!)

Deflowered Cunt x Contraktor collab properly named Deflowered Cuntraktor! (really wicked sound, these brothers don't joke around!), check out Deflowered Cunt's Grindwall tracks, really good!

Armor Breach - Molt of the Scolopendra (psychedelic experimentation and tape manipulation from the mind behind Curses, and Radiant Abyss Laboratories Austin Visser) this was released on Lurker Bias, I think there are still a few copies available.

Black Sheet Servitude / Phantasm Nocturnes split tape (if you know these projects, and you should, you know what to expect).

[SSN Technologist - Crackle studies. I am very glad that more people started focusing on crackling walls, and James Shearman is doing it really well! This 9 hours of crackling study is a great example of it!

Another example of crackling walls, or static minimalism as Liam McGeorge calls it, is the new batch of Avocado Tapes, primarily focused on that. I am honoured to be a part of it, my favourite there is Volume 3, by Yume Hayashi and James Shearman! Superb Cracklings!

Vomir - Transmission Pour Clarimonde is one of the best Vomir tracks I have heard in a while, it's really good work, and the tapes comes in special packaging, I am glad I snagged this one from Hallucination tapes.

DMD: Apart from Tapes and CD releases, do you have any plans to expand into vinyl down the road?

NN: Tapes are without a doubt my favorite release format! As for vinyl, well I can't say I have plans for it, considering they are more expensive than Cassettes and CD, so not many noise/HNW labels are making them, but yes of course who doesn't want to release on vinyl?! So if I ever get an opportunity to do this, I would gladly do it.


DMD: What does the rest of 2016 and next year hold for DL?

NN: Many things, aside from the collaborative projects I spoke about, there will be more from Dosis Letalis, Relicuum, N.I.H.L and Dosis Feralis albums out, and more collaborations with very special people.

Most of all, I am looking forward to Dosis Letalis release on Neurowalls, a new political HNW label run by the tireless Julien Skrobek, as well as a DL release on his Hallucination Tapes, and I am hyped about a double c40 tape coming out in early 2017 on AOW, it's an album called 'Lessons in Ruthlessness, themed around House of Cards, one of my (and Cory's) favourite TV shows.

DMD: Have you done any live noise shows?

NN: Finally, a question I can answer quickly: nope.

DMD: Anyone else you want to give a shout out to?

NN: You don't think I gave enough shout outs?! Hahahaha, only one more, to you Ed, keep up the good work you are doing with this blog, it's really great, plus your choice of artists for the interviews is very impressive, and I feel honoured that I got this chance.

Dosis Letalis bandcamp 1

N.I.H.L bandcamp

Nemanja Nikolic Soundcloud


Netlabel links:

Altar of Waste

Archivio Audio Anonimo

Avocado Tapes

Big Pharma Records

Cascading Fragments

Craneal Fracture Records

Dancing Shadows Tapes

DSWACV (RIP)

Dusktone

Fall into Void Recs

Geraeuschmanufaktur

Grey Matter Productions

Hallucination Tapes

Jes Boli Ga Kurac

The Level of Vulnerability

Lost Light Records

Lurker Bias

Machine Tribe recordings

Maniacal Laugh

Monorail Trespassing

Needle And Knife

Neurowalls

Ominous Recordings

Orb Tapes


Palinopsia

Rapture Records

Reason Art

Required Rate Of Return 

Subsidiary HNW

Sweet Solitude (RIP)

Trashfuck Records

Vagary Records


Want to read about more HNW? Check out these interviews with

VINCENT CERASO: KIRA (including a review of his album Modernism Tragedy)

BEN REHLING: SEE THROUGH BUILDINGS

JAMES SHEARMAN: A RAJA'S MESH MEN