prurient

Black Vase
$15.98
Packaged with some truly beautiful CD liner notes, this is one of the "artier" noise releases I have come across, and succeeds admirably at presenting a version of austere, Japanese-infused S/M style art as pain that seems pretty appropriate, and somewhat common to this musical niche. As someone relatively new to the genre, and certainly a novice regarding Prurient's voluminous work, I can't situate this terribly well, except to say that it's certainly more brutal and less accessible than Lightning Bolt, and rawer, sparer and perhaps even more aggressive than Wolf Eyes. This is power electronics and for those into Whitehouse or whatever, I'm sure this will be pretty enjoyable. For myself, I just found it to be totally captivating, and unrelenting in method. The first track was nearly unlistenable, but everything else was very much a "positive" experience. Like I said, I don't know how this compares to Prurient's other work, but anyone with an interest in branching out to extreme forms of noise shouldn't hesitate to pick this up. Simply amazing.

Arrowhead
$19.98
Brooklyn noise herald and Hospital Productions label-head, Dominick Fernow presents his first release for the Editions Mego label. Fernow has been an active instigator in the power electronics and noise genre for well over a decade, with 100+ releases issued so far, usually limited and covering all known formats. Known in particular for his harrowing live performances where he uses his voice, amps, microphones, coins, tools, suitcases etc., to create a brain-bashing journey through mangled, negative sound. In this spirit, Arrowhead is comprised of three ear-splitting tracks of high-end quality feedback, disturbed vocals and twisted percussion. While previewing this work for release on a flight from Milan to Vienna, it came to the attention of the listener that an irritated passenger two rows in front complained of high-pitched whistling in the air conditioning. Such is the power of Arrowhead. Recorded in the winter of 2004 in Providence, RI. Finalized in the winter of 2005 in New York City. Guest musician:

Arrowhead
$2.67

The Black Post Society
$21.98