AYATOLLAH “Monoambiente Insalubre” C32 (Nailbat Tapes)

Perhaps I’m a product of a certain time, but whenever I hear the word “Ayatollah,” I immediately think to the secretly mohawked caricature at the beginning of the first Naked Gun movie, an utterly classic film (casual Zucker brother political incorrectness aside) – don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. There are very few gags, sight or otherwise, to be found with this Ayatollah, however, the Colombian noise artist Luis Felipe Henao Bustamante, aka Filipo Laresca. This Ayatollah is as humorless as a heavy black turban resting appropriately in place. This Ayatollah is ready to grate the scalp from your head, not adorn the hair thereupon with spiking wax or Manic Panic.

On Monoambiente Insalubre, the sense of dis-ease begins quickly and sustains itself throughout. Ayatollah warps frequencies and piles them on in unsustainable quantities and at unreasonable volumes, intent to crush your head with the power of sound alone. It nearly succeeds – my only escape was to reach for the volume knob to turn it down, but that seems like an easy out for anyone; for me, I happened to be testing Monoambiente Insalubre inside a sonic chamber within a secret lab beneath a disused nuclear silo at an undisclosed location. Turning down the volume literally did save my life. It may also save yours, but if you’re not, like me, a scientist working on clandestine projects, you’re probably already in a lot less danger. 

So, maybe, turn it up?

https://nailbattapes.bandcamp.com/

https://hauntedexplabsrecords.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

SUFFERING PROFUSION “Obsiliatary” (Nailbat Tapes)

While I’m tempted to start this off with a bit of snark, as in, “Oh, Suffering Profusion, probably gonna be a breezy afternoon with this one,” I won’t (though I sort of did), because of the d(r)ead seriousness of the material and its affiliation with Nailbat Tapes, whom we like quite a bit. Also, Suffering Profusion isn’t your run-of-the-mill noise artist with an impenetrable wall of static and feedback. No, Suffering Profusion is all over the map, a maestro of dynamics within the genre. A little blistering feedback here, a little rumble of low-EQ’d tectonics there, a few healthy doses of glitch and faltering connections, some heavily processed tortured vocals, a bit of proto-industrial clang and thrash (as in, “thrashing about in a seizurely way”), and voila! You have Obsiliatary. I don’t know what Obsiliatary means either, but it can’t be good.

This is serious stuff, a heaving beast of transgressive activity, a deeply disturbed chronicle of anguish, a blood-soaked missive to the world. It’s also sonically rich and refuses to be pinned to one genre or another. But it’s extreme – don’t get me wrong, this thing’s extreme. And the more you listen to it, the more you’ll be able to decode the throes of misery Suffering Profusion is wallowing in. It’s remarkably cathartic, and wildly listenable too – so much to dig through!

https://sufferingprofusion.bandcamp.com/

https://nailbattapes.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

RED BOILING SPRINGS “Paternal II” C20 (Nailbat Tapes)

We’ve been here before. Matthew Sullivan’s Red Boiling Springs project tackled the difficulties of parenthood on the first “Paternal,” but he certainly wasn’t done, and who can blame him? The first “Paternal” focused on the events surrounding the birth of his daughter, and contained samples of in utero sounds. “Paternal II” follows the events of the birth of his son two years later, which also included a medical emergency. The Sullivans were clearly unlucky.

But it’s so great to hear these sounds, these heartbeats, the field recordings of a living child. Of course, this being a Red Boiling Springs tape and all, those sounds get processed until they’re heaving fog banks of intense noise and static, mirroring the angst of the whole process. And honestly, why would you do anything differently? It worked the first time, let’s try it again. The Sullivan kids will each have an incredible keepsake documenting their life before birth.

Red Boiling Springs

Nailbat Tapes

--Ryan

FECAL VOMIT "Rectal Invaders" C29 (Nailbat Tapes)

May I humbly suggest you not google the words “fecal vomit” without ALWAYS including “rectal invaders” alongside it. I like talking shit with the best of ‘em, but my trivial lexicon expanded in ways I really wasn’t (and am still not) too jazzed about. Yes, “fecal vomit” isn’t just a Harsh Noise act from Serbia, but an actual, often fatal, medical condition. This tape, while not life threatening, is certainly unpleasant, but confidently and concertedly so, as the genre’s name implies, “harsh” implying “too”, right?

On “Rectal Invaders” (behold the brilliant J-Card art!), Fecal Vomit (the band) maintains a subtly muted digital-malaise, pairing dial-up-modem bit-crusher destruction with dime-store quality practice amps acting chiefly as vessels for any number of passing AM/FM ghosts/cell phone calls/passing Run DMC revelers & sub-woofer-death-rattle. The half-hour trip runs through a good number of human-vs-machine-output motifs before settling on the dignified exhaustion of achieving planned obsolescence.

Nailbat Tapes (PDX) promotes a fairly diverse cast of abrasive music and sound artists, so check out their Bandcamp via the link below!

https://nailbattapes.bandcamp.com/album/rectal-invaders
http://www.nailbattapes.com/
and/or
https://fecalvomit.bandcamp.com/

--Jacob An Kittenplan

HADALS “The Dog” C15 (Nailbat Tapes)

This is not a rescue; this is a stray, a mutt, a mongrel, a cur. The Nashville duo Hadals channel their inner Wolf Eyes/Hair Police, and the result is astonishingly ravaged death noise. Strip Gaza of the technical prowess and dump a truckload of corrosive sludge on top of the entire process and you’ve nailed the Hadals aesthetic. It’s terrifying and exhilarating at once, as wonderful as getting flayed alive could ever feel, but through the magic of musical instruments. The slow grind of torture penetrates every pore; every second is an ear-shattering disaster. This is EXACTLY what you want and what you need right now – destruction never felt so invigorating!

Hadals

Nailbat Tapes


--Ryan

RAVEN “Downfall of a Modern Man” C38 (Nailbat Tapes)

Not even remotely a surprise coming from Raven or Nailbat Tapes, “Downfall of a Modern Man” “is the soundtrack for oblivion, an unflinching assault that offers no breathing room, no compromise.” I mean, that’s so Raven, right? So Raven! So… unbelievably… Raven…

The Serbian noise machine stares into the abyss, and the abyss stares back. “Downfall of a Modern Man” and “Pathetic Example of Earth’s Organic Heritage” are two sides of the same coin, or more accurately two sides of the same tape, each a 19-minute barrage of gutted static periodically shredded with shrapnel. It’s precisely the psychological warfare Raven’s waging in the face of the status quo. The status quo won’t know what hit it! The… status… quo…

Nailbat Tapes


--Ryan

RED BOILING SPRINGS “Paternal” C20 (Nailbat Tapes)

OK.

The dad in me relates to this big time. What parent hasn’t encountered some terrifying event where their child is in danger, at risk in some way, the results of some medical emergency a distant unknown in the face of the unknowable? I’m lucky. I haven’t experienced anything TOO bad. Now let me find some real hard wood to bang on for as long as my knuckles retain their skin.

Matthew Sullivan’s been there. Gone deeper than me, I’m sure. So it should be no surprise then that his daughter, who is now just over two years old, and who experienced “a medical emergency that put her life at risk” the night she was born, is the source material for “Paternal.” Her pulsing in utero heartbeat forms the basis of side A, which is manipulated and imposed upon a tense backdrop (as is the Red Boiling Springs way) that harnesses the emotions of a strained and frazzled extended stay in the hospital. In fact, most of the sounds we’re getting throughout both sides of the tape originated from Matthew’s daughter within the body of her mother, and it must have been an unbelievable task to return to these recordings and work through the events. That he’s able to fashion something like “Paternal” for his daughter is remarkable, and hopefully he can tell her the story in the future while presenting her with the tape he made to honor her.

“Paternal” is joyous, harrowing, bracing, and ultimately tranquil as the danger passes. It’s a fascinating study of a father’s love for his daughter and the unusual expression that it takes. Highly recommended.

Red Boiling Springs

Nailbat Tapes


--Ryan

RED BOILING SPRINGS “Adrift” C33 (Nailbat Tapes)

I used to live in a town called Boiling Springs, in Pennsylvania, and there was actually a literal boiling spring that fed the lake in town. It was not red (although the water contained a great deal of sulfur, although I don’t think sulfur reddens anything). If you unmoored yourself from any side of the lake, you would find yourself on the other side of it within thirty seconds if you paddled. It was very small. Red Boiling Springs is from Portland, Oregon, but hey, who’s counting? The sounds of ADRIFT, once they’re in your head, bring it all back, all the precious seconds where time and meaning were important. The field recordings and ambient drones cast you into the water and leave you there to contemplate their origin and their purpose, like I once did, many years ago. I was there, adrift, and then I allowed the moments to overcome me. Red Boiling Springs takes me back to those moments and allows me to relive them. Are the questions any closer to being answered? Nah – and that’s the beauty of it, I’ve come to understand.

Red Boiling Springs
Nailbat Tapes

--Ryan Masteller

RED BOILING SPRINGS “Environments” (Nailbat Tapes)

Red Boiling Springs are from Portland. This tape is 6 tracks long and those tracks are titled 1-6. Each was composed using guitar, synth, and audio samples. They all have a different environment. You’re either into it or you’re not. After listening, I have decided I’m not. I found the compositions to be either sparce or monotonously loud in the dullest way. Maybe, just maybe, I’m just not cool enough to be stimulated by what Red Boiling Springs was offering. Maybe I failed to get “it”. Do you get “it”? Check the link below and decide for yourself.

Stream + Buy: https://redboilingsprings.bandcamp.com/album/environments

-- Roy Blumenfeld