AsleepInTheBack
Ben
Staff

Reviews 98
Soundoffs 73
News Articles 1
Band Edits + Tags 34
Album Edits 58

Album Ratings 2434
Objectivity 79%

Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70

Review Comments 10,114

 Lists
04.05.24 sleeplog24(4)03.19.24 Headphones? Headphones!!! ♦
03.03.24 sleeplog24(3)02.01.24 sleeplog24(2)
01.18.24 Rating Art Is Dumb01.14.24 Good Music Books?
01.02.24 sleeplog24(1)12.30.23 a sleepy 2023 ♦
11.26.23 rec me: YOU!!! (December 2023: Final Ch ♦10.31.23 REC ME: pOst-hardcOre (November 2023: C ♦
10.01.23 REC ME: WEED šŸ„¦ (October 2023: Chapte ♦09.09.23 CUM on REC me NOISE (September 2023: Ch ♦
07.30.23 REC ME: experiMENTAL (August 2023: Chap ♦07.02.23 FUNK ME: rec (July 2023: Chapter 7) ♦
06.01.23 REC ME: FOLK (June 2023: Chapter 6) ♦05.01.23 JohnnyoftheWell recs me (May 2023: Chap ♦
03.31.23 REC ME: BLACK METAL ā€  (April 2023: Ch ♦02.28.23 REC ME: [H I P H O P] (March 2023 -:- C ♦
More »

CUM on REC me NOISE (September 2023: Chapter 9)

YOU THOUGHT IT WAS OVER WELL ITS NOT. Ahem. Hi. My name is Ben. I know nothing about NOISE music (all of it!!!). To educate me, pls rec albums. I will listen to 1 album a day in September 2023. I will then describe the album that I have heard in this list. Kind regards, Ben /// RULES IN FIRST LIST ENTRY THANKS ///
1False Noise
Floral Strobe

RULES: Apologies, I was on holiday until TOMORROW! So we are doing this again.

Please REC noise albums. Please interpret NOISE as you will. Harsh Noise. Japanoise. Noise Rock. Particularly noisy grind. Particularly noisy drone. All are acceptable. THANK YOU!
2I Am A Lake Of Burning Orchids
Innocence

10th September 2023 [jon]

Good start holding my hand thank you Jonathan. Does the ambient thing, the bread and butter screm thing, the kinda tame electronic gonna boogie and get down thing, and then the holy shit balls noise noise NOISE thing. Well paced and listenable, and love love love when this throws hands in air and gives an honest to god climax of harmony/dissonance jeez itā€™s kinda pretty whoot! On the cusp of [4] but I have literally no frame of reference for this genre - I like more than most of the Merzbow Iā€™ve heard, but less than the joy and whimsy of Endoā€™s While You Were Out, which I [4]ā€™d and is the only album Iā€™d say I kinda love in the genre so far, so, uh, [3.7]
3Phyllomedusa
Fijian Fantasies

11th September 2023 [hyp]

The wiki reads: Phyllomedusa is a one-man, heavily frog-themed gorenoise/vomitnoise (self-classified as "frognoise") project.

In response to which I howled: FINALLY!!

Honestly expected this to be fruitless memefuel but holy heck itā€™s unironically, perplexingly, stupidly brilliant. Rattles through a bunch of grind/deathcore tropes but also works in a bunch of more restrained hardcore, death metal, sludge and (of course) NOISE elements without skipping a beat. While disgusting, the production is top notch, too. Well done big frog. [4] easy gulping short boi yes

Update (15.09.23): is this my new favourite thing? Yes, yes it is. [4.3]
4Merzbob
men's nipples

12th September 2023 [Meridiu5]

I did not care for this. [1] NEXT
5Blod
My Beloved Daughters

13th September 2023 [sniff]

This noise is RED. It is not pleased to meet you. It is disagreeable. It is my prebuilt stereotype for Harsh Noise: (a) it hurts (b) it continues to hurt, w/o tonality or variation of the nature/degree that my brain can fathom and (c) Iā€™m not sure I like it rip.

Side note: I found two mixes of this and chose the noiser one. I do not know if that was the right decision.

Aggressive printer fuzz, broken up into smol chunks, for no apparent reason, because the same AGGGHHHHHHHH continues, without variation, on the next track, and the next track, and the next track, and the next track, and the.

Iā€™m willing to place my lack of appreciation of this firmly in the camp of lack of understanding (of what this is for and the context in which I might enjoy it), and the mix (I have listened to the quieter version, which is more dynamic), but, regardless, [2.5].

Edit: got home, cosy, heard 6, play this again, lower volume, and it went better. [3.3]
6Pedestrian Deposit
Volatile

14th September 2023 [dad]

May have inadvertently revealed something about 5 that makes me want to recheck it hmm.

Love love love what this does with contrast, both within songs and between them. The first few tracks are all relatively graspable, doing one noisy thing at a time, in sequence, all varied in texture and pitch, itā€™s good and crunchy and bliss-out-able and still bleak and I like BUT THEN the shift into ā€œNaomiā€¦ā€ woah mostly minimalist quiet ambient 15 min thing that you think must surely collapse into pain and deth any second but no it doesnā€™t it doesnā€™t it stays pretty and calm and melodic a flower poking delicate head above crust of volcanic ash so quiet I thought something was wrong with my head AND THEN fuck the live closer burns it all down again, w/o the dynamics of the first tracks, the noise just decks you dunks you fucks you for 20 minutes without pause itā€™s intense oh my head oh my head UNTIL yet more contrast via cute last 3 mins.

[3.7]

30.09.23: [4]
7Swans
Filth

15th September 2023 [spicy boi]

Big contrast easy jam thank you chillimeister. Thicc, hefty, percussive, primal, filth. Fun early ref point for someone who knows jack about noise rock but loved last yearā€™s Chat Pile (this must have been terrifying in 1983 jeez). ā€œWeaklingā€ in particular has a chonk and swagger that is mouthwatering.

Disclaimer: I have heard this before, once, several years ago, and hated it as too bleak and atonal. Fares a lot better in the context of this list lol. Perhaps even lacks some of the filth, relatively, that Iā€™d want it to have, but feels dumb to compare - itā€™s not trying to be what these other LPs are, and to draw too heavy a parallel feels like trying to apprise outmoded machinery against the new stuff. [3.5] discog run when
8Cows
Effete And Impudent Snobs

16th September 2023 [foxxxy]

Dirty punk. Punk that has not showered. Punk with whiff (*sniff*). Spicy feedback, vox that yelp but donā€™t screm, thicc prominent bass grooves, Jesus Lizard ish (Iā€™m told also Butthole Surfers but Iā€™ve not heard them so). I imagine this would be loads better live, as the studio recording feels relatively contained, especially by the standards of this list, which again is an unfavourable spot to be in. Nothing about it that I actively dislike tho, and plenty to enjoy, albeit Iā€™m not sure one Iā€™ll hurriedly return to. Will peek some of their broader discog. [3.5]
9The Gerogerigegege
Instruments Disorder

17th September 2023 [tiM]

Top 10 stupidest things Iā€™ve heard in my entire life? I mean, itā€™s up there with frognoise for sure.

TL:DR: Jā€™adore.

180 songs in 40 minutes. 180 songs in 40 minutes!!!!!!! What a ridiculous, dumb thing to do. The way the vox person screms out a track name every two secs, then ONETWOTHREEFOUR at the top of his lungs as the world erupts in noise grind punk stupidity had me chuckling for the entire LP jfc itā€™s so outrageously good. Fuck explosions in the sky, try explosions in my ears ouchie.

If you like distortion, atom bomb adjacent snare hits, and absurdities x180, CHECK THIS. [4.3]
10Atrofia Cerebral
Matanza Extrema

18th September 2023 [jotS]

Iā€™m so confused this is the same noisecore nonsense as 9 except in Spanish did you two collude?

100 songs in 30 minutes. 100 songs in 30 minutes?!?! RYM says this came out in 1989 which, if true, is wild. Sput says 2006 so hmm. Regardless: itā€™s dirty, breakneck, silly, and brilliant. As a hardcore-head, this lane of noise is just so easy to fuck with. Mindless, uncomplicated fury.

And yet, kinda clever. Short songs that are so similar and so rapid fire give this a quality that the base genre building blocks so not possess - itā€™s so messy and ambiguous and difficult to follow and I love it. [4]
11Masonna
Inner Mind Mystique

19th September 2023 [Colin]

Back to home plate with regular old white blaring pain music woof. By one of the big bois, if Iā€™ve read my noise history correctly (or at least one of the only names Iā€™ve seen consistently pop up across various online places that Iā€™ve been using to research this list). It certainly feels STOCK, like genre 101, in a not bad way, but which feels a touch flat compared to the variety some of these recs contain. Canā€™t say I spotted the psychedelic influences on first jam, but ig I can pick out a mushroom or two amidst the shrapnel (it is dizzying af fo sho). Short, sweet, enjoyed, but not wowā€™d. [3.5]
12Xinlisupreme
I Am Not Shinzo Abe

20th September 2023 [Squiggly]

Pop-forward shoegaze with the screech. Love the textures tones colours and softness. Songwriting feels a bit blah, which is a shame - wish some of these songs had better progressions rather than just existing and being cool to look at for a while. Iā€™m being overly critical as I mostly loved this, is more you get this BIG POTENTIAL vibe on the best moments here that never quite materialises. [3.3]

Update (19.09.23): further listens have revealed how harsh I was being; this is just a whole lot of lovely. [3.7]
13Exit Electronics
EVERY SHADE OF GREY

21st September 2023 [Sharenge]

This doesnā€™t go for weird textures or unique dynamics or free associative ambient vibes so much as it goes for hitting you over the head with outrageous bass for an hour, which, initially, was very entertaining but, after 20 minutes and no much by way of switcheroo-ing, kinda got ///eh///. That literally no one is talking about this (and no one has rated it, not even the recā€™r lol) is not the best sign, and it doesnā€™t have the kinda enigmatic quality that some of the older recs here have where I feel like Iā€™m uncovering a crusty disgusting gem - this really is just the solo project of the guy from godflesh that came out like 3 months ago, which is far less tantalising. [2.7]
14Yellow Swans
Going Places

22nd September 2023 [Kompys]

I listened to this. I liked it. I was also making dinner and my gf was practising the harp, so not exactly the ideal listening context for what feels like an album that rewards seclusion. I will return! [tbc]

Update (20.09.23): has given me a space to think and cosy up in, in a way very few of these recs have. Listening to it at home on bean bag in dark with glass of white port because I am a fancy man > the time I tried to cook and noise > the time I tried to jam this on the train jfc no.

Plays with mind moving from drone to post-rockian directions to ambient to blips of noise; toys with space and momentum in cool ways; emotional bittersweet farewell vibes; modern counterpart to 23, kinda. Closer is obviously huge, but I feel like all the grunt work is done by the foreshadowing of the first 34 mins of the record. GOOD. [4]
15Lightning Bolt
Wonderful Rainbow

23rd September 2023 [ars]

To the surprise of literally no one, I love this. [4] Moving on.
16Dreamcrusher
Suicide Deluxe

24th September 2023 [widow]

If instrumental hip hop was composed out of PAIN. Kinda shares a lot of the melodic structures with 15 but less energy and more insurmountable BASS. I enjoy, mildly repetitive in how loop driven it is, but all the industrial themed soundscapes bang and I am pleased. [3.5]

Update (02.10.23): Bump [3.7]
17Maria and the Mirrors
Vision Quest

25th September 2023 [sint]

Easy W; but also, wtf is this lol itā€™s so darn danceable I got caught off guard, yet also no slouch w/r/t NOISE. Post-industrial / deconstructed club boogies with an emphasis on boogie and an occasional preference for screech. Covers so much ground yet remains incredibly listenable throughout. Jam it. [3.7]
18White Suns
Sinews

26th September 2023 [brain]

I donā€™t particularly care for this and I donā€™t particularly know why. Fucking filthy, so certainly hits the NOISE bill, but itā€™s lane of noise rock is waaaay too slow for my general taste, and lacks bass in the mix or anything by way of girthy rhythmic things. Obvs not what this was going for, I just donā€™t think Iā€™m a fan of what itā€™s going for. [2.5]
19John Wiese
Soft Punk

27th September 2023 [cylinder]

Chaotic collegial ting. Whimsical but also kinda flat. [3]
20Cherubs
Heroin Man

28th September 2023 [mort]

Particularly fuck with the slow sludgy big bois near the tail end of this (The Big Groovy is, indeed, big and groovy, and the closer has immaculate, I say IMMACULATE!!!, atmosphere my god). Covers way more ground that the first spin revealed - feels like a bit of a tour de noise rock, occasionally hitting the more frantic side albeit largely playing around in the filth with a bit of post-hardcore yelp yeet. [3.7] room to grow
21Uboa
The Origin Of My Depression

29th September 2023 [Deez]

Feels more ambient with an emo temperament than it does noise, which it leans fully into on occasion only. How melodic and direct (in an emotional sense) this is was a big plus in the context of a list full of thorns and bombs. Repeated listens have, however, been less rewarding (particularly on the NOISE front, which Iā€™ve found lacking). That being said, it nails that harrowing atmos, the highs are sky high, and the themes here are as interesting as they are deeply personal and kinda terrifying for their brutal, honest presentation. [3.7] minus 0.3 for not really hitting the brief but great LP
22La Torture des Tenebres
Civilization Is the Tomb of Our Noble Gods

30th September 2023 [PORC]

Super ethereal occult vibes with also this art deco 30s thing and the symphonic black metal EPIC but the solemn, desolate noisy destruction. Would be one of the best things Iā€™ve heard all month if it had just a smidge more variety to its compositions, but really Iā€™m finding very little to complain about. Cool textural melodic hell from heaven. [4]
23Ramleh
Hole in the Heart

31st September 2023 [someone]

11.09.23: So I did a silly and listened to the 90 min version rather than the 27 min version like a numpty, BUT the longer reissue seems kinda canon anyway from what I can tell, and BOY am I glad I heard the full thing! Works wonders with is dirty, minimal toolkit. Agreed with Dadā€™s write up and the comments underneath it: uber emotive and subtlety melodic in a way Iā€™m not accustomed to from music thatā€™s still so bleak and dark. Light shining through tree canopy after rain /// the stormā€™s coming in but youā€™re not alone /// Iā€™m dying and itā€™s snowing and itā€™s beautiful. Seems way ahead of its time, and a little gem from Power Electronics heritage, which is a limb of the genre Iā€™ve typically hated. Also, smol point: I love the bit of Redcap that suddenly leaps into monochrome shoegaze carefree AF before lurching back into the filth. The opener, ā€œUntitledā€ and ā€œGrazing on Fear 2ā€ are also consistently gorgeous. Good!!! [4] tho pos [4.3+] with time
24Prurient
Frozen Niagara Falls

32nd September 2023 [dedex]

13.09.23: I donā€™t even know where to begin.

If 23 did a lot with a little, 24 does a lot with a lot. Ambient and 80s synth boogies and kinda black metal circa screamo emotive screms/keys/guitar and spoken word and dirty industrial / power electronics and harsh noise and fuck itā€™s also 90 minutes long. For all its various moving parts, though, the atmosphere is consistent and haunting.

Listened to it twice and got different things out of it, the light catching passages differently, refracting elsewhere. Neither happy nor sad.

Does it test my patience occasionally. Uh, yes. Does the same stubborn girth and commitment to vision make each of the fizzles of beauty, dissonance and serenity all the more tasty? Also yes.

Another exercise in the virtue of contrast. [4]
25Vomir
Claustration

33rd September 2023 [0xME]

23.09.23: So I listened to the first hour of this 4.5 hour chonk, and my tinnitus went into overdrive and I died. I therefore intend to listen to this over a few days, rather than the full run nonsense I had planned.

Pt1: GOOD! Zen, meditative, slipping in and out of consciousness to the tune of flight turbulence meets coffee grinder. Not as oppressive as Iā€™d envisioned - just quite pleasant white noise.

Update (01.10.23) Pt2-5: Reeaalllyyyy I ought to have listened to the remainder of this in the focused, attentive way I did Part 1. I found engaging with it in a undistracted way netted way more benefits. Super zen, very peaceful for all the LOUD NOISES, attention swinging between the outrageous bass and crunchy textures like hypnotic pendulum. However, because I am a human with things to do, finding time to dedicate to such an endeavor for the remaining 4 hours has been, erm, tricky. Instead, I used this as a soundtrack to a gaming sesh. No where near as meaningful a jam, but still (and im as shocked as you are) really fucking soothing. Idk, I have terrible anxiety (potentially autistic, idk, if not just very introverted) and sometimes wish I was dead, not because I want to die because i quite like life and love my family and would never do that, but idk sometimes i wish everything would STOP, no more things, no movement, ZIP, and this album kinda does that. Nothing else has to exist when you put it on. The void is deafening and peaceful. I like it. [4].
26Merzbow
Venereology

34th September 2023 [Colin2]

26.09.23: Reading the RYM reviews for this was entertaining - seems to be a tourist trap harsh noise LP and therefore attract a lot of ā€œgood golly this is rather loud ewā€ reactions. Glad this wasnā€™t the first LP on the list, as they arenā€™t half wrong - brutal etc etc etc start to finish, but not mindless. Great structure flow variety etc., and contains some quirky sample choices (sounds like a car shop occasionally jfc). Not convinced the mix I found is the best, but regardless I thoroughly enjoyed. [3.7]

Update (02.10.23): Bump [4]
27Werewolf Jerusalem
God Has Shot Himself

35th September 2023 [dad2]

27.09.23: Heard this once, enjoyed, noisy drones, kinda wanna spend some alone time with it tho as it was not a very good commute jam lol [tbc]

28.09.23: Yoooooo this is way more fucked that I realised. Looooaaads of dynamic funny business going on. The tone and texture of the very harsh drones doesnā€™t change hugely moment to moment, but thereā€™s a great use of volume and pitch and ebb and flow itā€™s got layers like the most fucked onion youā€™ve ever seen bro. Gets absolutely nutty around the 20 min mark. Works soooo much better at night, alone. [4]
28Fuck Buttons
Street Horrrsing

36th September 2023 [jon2]

27:09:23: Most of my reviews this year have involved me scolding novel genre mishmashes and praising restraint, but fuck me this is the exception that proves the rule. LOVE the mix of very melodic drone / ambient, neo-psych tones, African rhythmic undergirding, soft screms into the void. It all clicks and itā€™s very stirring and satisfying. Breath of air I am alive. [4]
29Wolf Eyes
Human Animal

37th September 2023 [Deez2]

28.09.23: Cool eclectic bleak boi cute! Love how this flops out of the primordial noisy swamp with the opening two tracks, far more ambient than anything to come, until the crack open with this fucking SHREEEEEEK jesus, before the hypnotic industrial deth wubbs of ā€œRationed Rotā€ that opens the floodgates to the increasingly harsh back end of this. That it gets fuckyer and fuckyer and fuckyer until the hilariously uncomplicated noise rock romp of ā€œNoise Not Musicā€ was a lovely plot twist. Masterclass on how to be clever with album structure. Sinister, yet relaxing. [3.7]
30The Rita
Lake Depths Lurker

38th September 2023 [MoM]

29.09.23: Nothing like a cheeky slice of HNW to close out the week and ruin my brain. Sans dynamics but fuck itā€™s an intense hour of avalanche/volcano crumbling. Worked surprisingly well as a commute jam to block out the sounds of life. [3.5]
31Horror Soundscapes
Evil Under Antarctica

39th September 2023 [hawks]

29.09.23: Love this on paper - icy dark ambient with cool ā€˜lovecraftian trapped under ice with dead GODā€™ narrative - yet it never quite delivers its promise. Quite tame, super subtle, you do get ebbs of darkness towards the back end but nothing like I expected (mostly presents as chilly whale noises to study and relax to). Also, itā€™s not a noise album! Drone, maybe, but with nothing noisy about it, so, eh, bit far from the mark. Fwiw, first track is gorgeous. Probs a [3], but 0.5 off for the lack of PAIN [2.5].

Side note: that the review has 80k views and no ratings is weird we have been invaded by Russian bots.
32Pedestrian Deposit
Fatale

40th September 2023 [loads of you]

30.09.23: Honestly, great album to end this list on (yes I will finish both vomirs but it may take some time lol). Pulls together so much or what this list has entailed - the flat out harsh noise PAIN, insane textures, dark ambiance, emotive shit, structural funny business, jump scares, more pain, more pain, more pain. Just really hecking good maaaan, so good that itā€™s made me remember how good 6 was, which I may actually prefer for how raw and unabashed it is. Also cool for how you have to take it on its own terms - you canā€™t get lost in it, or apply it in a functional sense; it has its narrative and it will fuck you up w/ it. [4]s all round thank you for a fucked month good night
33Vomir / Trou
Vomir / Trou

At some point [dad3]
Show/Add Comments (231)

STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS // CONTACT US

Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Site Copyright 2005-2023 Sputnikmusic.com
All Album Reviews Displayed With Permission of Authors | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy