DRUMM, KEVIN — imperial distortion — 2xCD
What does a person do when faced with a work like Imperial Distortion? There are rare moments in an artist’s work where they reveal a greater truth. Kevin Drumm has already made such a statement with his last major solo work 2002’s Sheer Hellish Miasma. Where that record took noise music to a new level of near-impenetrable exactitude, Imperial Distortion is an altogether different beast. Beauty as an aesthetic can be as terrifying as horror, desire unfulfilled, romance that lingers and never goes away no matter how disappointing. A preoccupation with death can be the only result. On this extended long form release Kevin Drumm comes face to face with minimal drone music and confronts the genre by providing one of its absolute pinnacles at the forefront; movement. Drone music at its most concentrated and ably performed has build and depth in its tones. Although there might be the illusion of stasis the opposite is true. From the opening twenty minute track “Guillain-Barre” the mood of the album is laid clear. The arrangements are shadowy layers of soundtrack like tones not entirely unlike the work that Popul Vuh provided for Herzog’s films. By track two “more Blood and Guts” with its ominous bell tones its apparent that there is a true nothing that’s associated with these sounds other than the mood inducing hypnosis and the feeling of drowning yet having no ability to fight the slow pull. The middle portion of the record is “Snow” which was released as a limited cassette last year on Hospital Productions. This material was a teaser for the full album Imperial Distortion. The Tracks have an almost ballad-esque sense of elegance using tone and frequency as melodic portals to nowhere. The sustain in the piece suggests a weight while remaining alarmingly pleasant to the ears. The tension suggests an anxiety that never truly dies. The alarm comes from the juxtaposition of tones and mood. While the tones may sound gorgeous in their purity the mood implies a profound sense of unease and perhaps an acceptance of the inevitability of existential dilemma. This point is most thoroughly evidenced by the albums closer “We All Get It In the End”. While the piece starts out with lullaby ease, a few minutes in an equally severe dark drone eclipses the light and the night takes over. Here in the enveloped sounds the clouds pass over the moonlight creating a spectral dark that is unforgettable in its intensity. To answer the initial question of Imperial Distortion, this is a work that commands intellectual and emotional commitment on the levels of the greatest works to come from this genre. When faced with an abstract work as complete as Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 or Eliane Radigue’s Trilogy of Death, a listener is transported not only to another place but also the deepest layers of themselves. Kevin Drumm has with this release accomplished that rare balance to create a masterwork that no one has yet to come close to in this era. Your best bet is to surrender.
SHALLOW WATERS — equal eyes — LP
the first full length of this heavily active live unit from providence, ri. there is no solid footing in shallow waters. only a suffocating hail of falling rock, strangling vines, and sinkholes. it is with rare exception that voice spits the last of breaths, the dying breaths, with such spite. like a rabbit trapped in the hole of the snakes throat, this duo comprised of members of immaculate:grotesque and em dath rir batter and tear there way through 6 tracks of power electronics eco-fallout and revolutionary anger. although there is not one moment of relief in this litany of rage shallow waters separates themselves from the pack by creating what an album and not just a collection of tracks with the focus of a sniper and the fury of napalm. get into the fight.
HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS DEATHNURSE TSHIRT SIZE L — death nurse — tshirt
the classic hospital shirt with the the death nurse standing above the manhattan skyline about to administer the lethal shot. red and white print on black shirt. this is for size L only!
HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS DEATHNURSE TSHIRT SIZE XL — death nurse — tshirt
the classic hospital shirt with the the death nurse standing above the manhattan skyline about to administer the lethal shot. red and white print on black shirt. this is for size XL only!
HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS DEATHNURSE TSHIRT SIZE M — death nurse — tshirt
the classic hospital shirt with the the death nurse standing above the manhattan skyline about to administer the lethal shot. red and white print on black shirt. this is for size M only!
HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS DEATHNURSE TSHIRT SIZE S — death nurse — tshirt
the classic hospital shirt with the the death nurse standing above the manhattan skyline about to administer the lethal shot. red and white print on black shirt. this is for size S only!
BURNING STAR CORE — challenger — CD
Challenger is a composed work rather than his more improvised work, each piece revolving around a central melodic theme with field recordings, an audio diary bridging the gaps. It’s emotions of a period of time set to tape. The sounds range from pure tonal mood to huge electronic crescendos. But what’s most remarkable is the use of space, where parts come in and drop to build or recede .When the piano crashes in “Mysteries of the Organ” its almost a frustration of paradise, a rejection of perfection or maybe a jolt of inexplicable life, unable to be translated into proper ‘communication. Juxtaposed with the quiet haunting of “Hopelessly Devoted” which sounds like a love letter written to outer space, it makes for an album that is both dynamic yet consistent as a full statement. liscened from plastic records.
CRUMER, JASON — ottoman black — CD
Fresh off his solo breakthrough LP on the legendary RRR label, Future With No Chance, Jason Crumer returns with Ottoman Black, an album of midnight drones and true noise. Using powerfully clear electronics as a base for declarative noise bursts, Crumer manipulates the sounds with a resounding animosity. In the vein of past Hospital releases from Pedestrian Deposit and Air Conditioning, Crumer yields his mean streak to an array of silences over the course of the album. The theme here is personal relations; tracks like "Betrayal After Betrayal" have a conversational quality, both the screams and the muffles, the physicality. "Where Were You" is an actionist-influenced piece of torture. There's nothing not painful here, especially the quiet; the peaks are almost a relief. Ottoman Black is a stern and unforgiving universe.
SUTCLIFFE JUGEND — the fall of nature — CD
the fall of nature is a epic, grandiose drone piece almost one hour of pure electronics that echoes the masters of the form. the album grows in intensity throughout the recording making for an unexpected release. there are many sides of darkness and many ways to express it. the fall of nature is the balance of sound, in a listenable format. the initial feeling is that of an almost holy, heavenly sound, the skies opening in tribute to the nature which is falling. yet fans of classic sj will be plenty pleased at the psychotically manic conclusion that will not disappoint any fans of pe terror. this music takes aim at several nerve centers at once. this is not just noise, drone or pe but something new that mixes various elements of each together for the first time. co release with groundfault recordings.
MAGIK MARKERS — inverted belgium — one sided lp
long out of print. the most vile and noisy of the markers batch from the infmamous face slashing show in belgium. harsh and mud ridden guitar noise.
PRURIENT / KEVIN DRUMM — all are guests in the house of the lord — CD
digital version of the cassette collaboration. statues crumble, bronze corrodes, columns topple as the roman youth carry on towards death. new artwork.
AKITSA — sang nordique — CD
reissue of the second akitsa full length. very low end punkish primitivist chunky underwater black metal with hard youth spirit and epic minimalism. essential for fans of bone awl, ildjarn, early absurd etc.
MB — symphony for a genocide — CD
reissue. zero explanation needed. master work. true industrial. co-release with w.m.o/r
ZAIMPH — sexual infinity — CD
marcia bassett of double leopards, hototogisu, ghq, fame on her first proper solo full length has given us one of our favorites in the history of hospital productions. sexual infinty stands refreshingly organized into six escalating pieces of her signature guitar, voice, and electronic moodscapes entrancing the listener with sinister seduction. comparisons to early 80's power electronics and industrial acts as uncommunity, mauthausen orchestra and ramleh reside in the underbelly of zaďmph's ability to generate ominous, gritty, and doom laden atmosphere cloaked in a thick lush drone. what begins with raw ethereal guitar shadows of longing delight closes with vital gripping electronic tension.
HOTOTOGISU/PRURIENT — snail on a razor — CD
live in person collaboration of mid ranged feedback hell laden with raw human drones of cosmic existential turbulence from from matthew bower (legend of total, skullflower, ramleh etc) marcia bassett (double leopards, zaimph, ghq etc.) and dominick fernow (vegas martyrs, nihilist assault group, ash pool, etc).
NEW BLOCKADERS, THE/THURSTON MOORE/JIM O'ROURKE — the voloptulist — CD
high tension collaboration of long drawn drone with english clutter dissovling into tape hiss ambient with booming free barbaric yawps from these legendary characters. chris corsano guests on the o'rourke piece.
CONTROLLED BLEEDING — shanked and slithering — CD
cd of old school american animal noise. totally violent eletronics/vocals/junk metal assulat from early 80's and unreleased tracks of same style. pure!
HAIR POLICE — s/t — CD
cd collects early hospital cassette, mortuary servants 7" and unreleased material from drawn dead era. total basement dirge hell.