LOTUS FUCKER

You mutants know the drill here, right? Through countless membership changes and mutations, Baltimore's LOTUS FUCKER have been sporadically serving up ferocious noise punk for the better part of a decade...and it still cuts straight through the shit and draws blood. The shit is pure, the shit is weird, and the shit is not for the timid. Maximum volume, please.

THE PLANTED SEED: THIS TIME I WILL SHOW YOU HAPPINESS

CARRIE FUCILE

Vocal manipulations and adaptation presented as art. CARRIE FUCILE can describe her methods and intent far better than I can, so I will let her do so:

My interest lies in exploring what the hidden sounds of vocal recording can possibly tell us about unexpressed desires that constitute part of our attraction to popular music.

SUBTEXT

CARRIE FUCILE can be found here, and here body of aural and conceptual art is nothing if not interesting. I came about this cassette accidentally, but I am very very glad that I did.

STEPHEN BOOTH

A near hour of accordion drone, hesitant vocal trembles and tape hiss has never sounded so good. I got lost in this artist for a few hours upon accidental discovery, feel free to follow my lead. You don't listen to this tape as much as you sink into it, but I suggest you do both. Preferably alone.

ANCIENT BASEMENT

TERRENCE HANNUM

Weird dark drones set to the monotonous rhythm of a distorted hi hat make up the entirety of the first track. But instead of building up to a chaotic crescendo, TERENCE HANNUM spends the remaining three tracks on a tripped out cool down, blending subtle space age keyboards with a background of white distortion and, for one piece, piercing spastic digital frustration. "Final Salt" does its job as the closer, a dozen minutes of trying bliss that will put an end to your day before it gets off the ground.

FINAL SALT

KID KRUSHER

Spastic and challenging heavy synths are treated with heaps of analog disruption and schizophrenic arrangements on this 2009 cassette. Throw some hesitant rhythms that come across more like frantic pulsations than beats (that's when they aren't buried by the weird shit on top of them) and a booklet filled with photographs of aesthetic and/or societal carnage, and you have the soundtrack to a very stressful and challenging listen. KID KRUSHER did a good job, but all I can find from them (her? him?) is a myspace page that has a few songs from this tape. So yeah...get down.

GRINDER

FOUL CRUX

Frenetic hardcore with absolute purpose. Everything goes red (that's an emotional response and a physical description of the input signal) when the mid tempo fierce mosh in the third track is interrupted by a shriek of "PITRIARCH - PITRIARCHY!!" and that unwavering but still tongue in cheek determination personifies all five of these songs. I gather that FOUL CRUX is a side project of sorts, but I hope I'm wrong in this assumption...

FOUL CRUX

STEAMY WOLVES

Electronic percussion and tortured vocals combine to create a total mindfuck reminiscent of late '80s industrial/dance artists like REV CO, NITZER EBB and the like. But Baltimore's STEAMY WOLVES are more sinister sounding, more drenched in noise, and undeniably dark...and I can't shake the comparison to David Yow in the vocals. The music surges with violent intensity, while the vocals provide a tortured low end screech knocking the whole vibe even further off its axis. Fortunately Moist Lord is over in less than ten minutes, because as much as I fukkn love this, I am not sure how much more I could take.

MOIST LORD

SHITDOGS OF WAR

Noise punk shitkrieg, motherfuckers. Baltimore's SHITDOGS OF WAR go more than a few steps beyond pushing the boundaries of what we call music, and enter a realm that borders on pure nonsense. The closest musical comparison I can make is the SECOND AUSCHWITZ tape I shared last year, but more powerviolence and less politics. Most listeners will find the constant battle to find these tunes underneath the wall of hiss perhaps a little frustrating, but for those of you looking for a legitimately inept noise attack...I present to you: Songs Of Shit And Hate.

SONGS OF SHIT AND HATE

DECEIVER

A complete grinding noise assault.  Just guitar and drums, and it honestly doesn't sound like they have known each other all that long, but for some reason I am drawn to demo....it's like noise and powerviolence and grind and hardcore all deconstructed until there is nothing but the most raw energy and frustration left, and that power is being channelled by monkeys; perhaps primal is the word I'm looking for.  There are 11 "songs" here, in a total of just over 6 minutes...mind you, I am not claiming that this is good, in any traditional sense of the word, but Baltimore's DECEIVER are pushing the boundaries of music, and I fully endorse their efforts.

IWASLIED2

LOTUS FUCKER

Maryland noise punk, circa 2008. The demo rules, and word on the street is that they are a total assault live. Ahhhh, the east coast.

LOTUS FUCKER