HNW

[FrenziedDestruction]

i like the totally unmoving static style of HNW from time to time but does anyone have some recommendations
that are similar to night of the bloody tapes by cherry point? something much more dynamic? i do wonder if it came out today if people would recognize it as HNW at all, it does seem that the totally unchanging "what you hear in the first 3 seconds is what the rest of this album sounds like" type is much more popular now.

[Capers]

Well, there's Taskmaster (Kreimhild Anal Saxon, Swamp Lurker), Treriksröset + Sewer Election's Killing Sessions series, Wall Riders, LHD - Opaque, plenty of Kakerlak, Dog Holocaust, Privy Seals... So much great stuff from that era which I'd say is wall:ISH, yet endlessly dynamic, moving. Dig in!

[shrouded.in.antiquity]

Well, there's Taskmaster (Kreimhild Anal Saxon, Swamp Lurker), Treriksröset + Sewer Election's Killing Sessions series, Wall Riders, LHD - Opaque, plenty of Kakerlak, Dog Holocaust, Privy Seals... So much great stuff from that era which I'd say is wall:ISH, yet endlessly dynamic, moving. Dig in!

Thankfully many of these artists are either still active or have had their material reissued within the last few years. Ominous Recordings just re-released documents 1 & 2 from Wall Riders, and I'm hoping that the rest of their catalog will get the same treatment. Not surprising that there are many who don't identify with the HNW tag, as it has become a parody of itself at this point. It irks me that the language surrounding it became so literal. So many releases based on 'wall' puns, every new project is nothing more than theme+'wall' there is so little depth and seemingly so little effort. Is disposability really something so desired? One of the things that excited me so much upon discovering this extremely minimal harsh noise wall scene was that participating artists were talking to each other about their ideas and how their approaches were informing their projects and ideas. The disposability has obviously always been present, but there was a time when it didn't feel like it was the norm.

It seems that what was meant to be about distillation and purification of harsh noise elements has now just become a formula people use when they need some new content to splash around their newsfeeds. Noise as "content" and nothing more. Hopefully more newer artists will eventually see beyond this way of thinking.

[December Man]

Well, there's Taskmaster (Kreimhild Anal Saxon, Swamp Lurker), Treriksröset + Sewer Election's Killing Sessions series, Wall Riders, LHD - Opaque, plenty of Kakerlak, Dog Holocaust, Privy Seals... So much great stuff from that era which I'd say is wall:ISH, yet endlessly dynamic, moving. Dig in!

Thankfully many of these artists are either still active or have had their material reissued within the last few years. Ominous Recordings just re-released documents 1 & 2 from Wall Riders, and I'm hoping that the rest of their catalog will get the same treatment. Not surprising that there are many who don't identify with the HNW tag, as it has become a parody of itself at this point. It irks me that the language surrounding it became so literal. So many releases based on 'wall' puns, every new project is nothing more than theme+'wall' there is so little depth and seemingly so little effort. Is disposability really something so desired? One of the things that excited me so much upon discovering this extremely minimal harsh noise wall scene was that participating artists were talking to each other about their ideas and how their approaches were informing their projects and ideas. The disposability has obviously always been present, but there was a time when it didn't feel like it was the norm.

It seems that what was meant to be about distillation and purification of harsh noise elements has now just become a formula people use when they need some new content to splash around their newsfeeds. Noise as "content" and nothing more. Hopefully more newer artists will eventually see beyond this way of thinking.

I think this is part of a larger issue where subcultures and artistic communities congregate in virtual spaces like Instagram and Bandcamp (sorry), spaces based around pushing out content and are designed to make users feel pressured to generate content or be forgotten. Pressure to make content that is amplified by the echo chamber of selective audience and a lack of critical interaction.

I don't mean this as a, "the fucking kids these days" kind of rant by any means, nor to say good things haven't come from subcultures operating via those platforms. Just that I think this kind of approach to noise is amplified or encouraged by them.

[shrouded.in.antiquity]

spaces based around pushing out content and are designed to make users feel pressured to generate content or be forgotten. Pressure to make content that is amplified by the echo chamber of selective audience and a lack of critical interaction.

This is of course exactly the point and it is not limited to any one genre. When I was starting out I definitely felt some pressure to "keep up" with the pace of other artists. Took awhile to realize that becoming a content generator was never something I was interested in. I guess it's just disappointing to see so many people take this path and to only see that number increase in this incredibly niche "sub-genre." One of my favorite aspects of the miniscule circles of HNW artists was that there was always discussion about what people were doing and how they were doing it. I participated in a HNW tape swap for a few years where it was clear that we all knew that the other people were trading with were genuinely interested and invested in hearing what the other artists were working on. I had hoped that mindset would continue, I still hope a real community will eventually re-materialize.

[Touch Starved]

I really enjoy listening to HNW but over the years I’ve noticed that a majority of the stuff I come across is blown out, red-lined, low-end rumblewalls with little to no dynamic range. I’ve found that I personally prefer the more quiet side of HNW, or at least walls that aren’t purely *that* distinct low end rumble-texture. Good examples of this are Exploring Jezebels track ”Colomge Decadence” (Especially the shift that happens around 10 minutes into the track) and Rita’s crackle studies. I’d love suggestions on albums / projects that fit into this category, also feel free to send me your own projects!

[murmur]

https://tsodnismplobelebi.bandcamp.com/album/--9

This one comes to mind, plus is from Georgia (the country) which is super cool

[PetiteSoles]

I know Peter Keller of Bacillus fame does some stuff like this.

https://perpetualabjection.bandcamp.com ... -infinity

The first project to really blow my mind was Sean E. Matzus’ theNIGHTproduct. Very minimal wall.

https://thewhitevisitation.bandcamp.com/album/thinny

I’ll try to think of some more.

[shrouded.in.antiquity]

I know Peter Keller of Bacillus fame does some stuff like this.

https://perpetualabjection.bandcamp.com ... -infinity

Nice to see you on here Scott, I've been meaning to say hello.
Also highly recommend Peter Keller's work, his more crackling HNW works are some of the ones I return to the most.

This split between Rien and Train Cemetery came to mind, another favorite I still jam often.
https://rienhnw.bandcamp.com/album/untitled-2
Rien has always done an excellent job plumbing the depths for finding different and sparser textures than that classic low-end rumble. There are some Rien tapes that get to the point where the audio is so quiet you can barely hear it. I personally don't get a whole lot out of those ULTRA-minimal crackle studies but I can imagine the process of making them is super interesting. I still think that low-end has its place, but it seems that a lot of those artists are re-treading the same ground. I've been really interested lately in combining different patterns and seeing how they play together rather than ONE singular blown-out texture.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

Last night, a friend told me about a couple wallers who have a "dark" sound going on underneath the static. I checked them out and now I can't get enough. They're the Ebony Tower and Black Matter Phantasm, which are both from France. Both were ridiculously prolific (now RIP). Here are a couple examples:

Black Matter Phantasm - Rose Napalm
https://blackmatterphantasm.bandcamp.co ... ose-napalm

Black Matter Phantasm - Untitled 1083
https://blackmatterphantasm.bandcamp.co ... itled-1083


The Ebony Tower & Fowl - Split
https://foulnoise.bandcamp.com/album/fo ... ower-split

The Ebony Tower - The Beggar
https://lostlightnoise.bandcamp.com/album/the-beggar

[shrouded.in.antiquity]

The Ebony Tower was from Texas and was still living there when last I heard. Unless maybe he moved to France?
He also put together this absolutely massive HNW release which he released physically on data DVDrs: https://harshnoisewall.bandcamp.com/alb ... n-macquart

Another titan of the dark sound/low end is GRIZ+ZLOR:
https://caveofthegrizzlor.bandcamp.com/album/ruins

[Scream & Writhe]

Ryan Bloomer's track on the Brick By Brick 7x 3" CDr box set released by Small Doses in 2009 is pretty interesting. Sounds like coarse bricks grinding against each other dangerously close to one's face.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/597c31ix ... w.mp3/file

Of note: Griz+zlor is also on the the comp.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

Smrznik (Neven Misaljević from Bosnia) was glitchy hnw that stopped in 2014. Put out 18 releases. I've heard The Static Astronaut, Throatblain, and something else by him. Strongly recommended, but you're gonna hafta dig to find his stuff...

https://soundcloud.com/smrznik

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

The Ebony Tower was from Texas and was still living there when last I heard. Unless maybe he moved to France?
He also put together this absolutely massive HNW release which he released physically on data DVDrs: https://harshnoisewall.bandcamp.com/alb ... n-macquart

Another titan of the dark sound/low end is GRIZ+ZLOR:
https://caveofthegrizzlor.bandcamp.com/album/ruins

Yeah, you're right. I don't know why I thought that.

Ryan Bloomer's track on the Brick By Brick 7x 3" CDr box set released by Small Doses in 2009 is pretty interesting. Sounds like coarse bricks grinding against each other dangerously close to one's face.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/597c31ix ... w.mp3/file

Of note: Griz+zlor is also on the the comp.

Merci beaucoup!!

[Happiness, forever]

For awhile there in the late 00’s early 10’s was an active French fellar name of Julian Skrobeck, ran a great label called Slow Death Records, all HNW and some real great stuff. Mostly all French iirc. It was in the earlyish daze when HNW was still uhm defining itself, pushing against some of the ahem walls - ANW (ambient noise wall) came our around this time. Anywho:
https://www.discogs.com/label/231725-Sl ... -Records-4

Faves for me were:

The Sandman Wears A Mask : https://www.discogs.com/artist/2129065- ... ars-A-Mask

Å :
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1853214-Å-2

Ghost :
https://www.discogs.com/artist/2147233-Ghost-34

Rééducation :
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1936284-Rééducation

Some of these releases are available for to dig up and download in the Harsh Noise Wall Graveyard :
http://harshnoisewall.blogspot.com/?m=1

[Happiness, forever]

Also Griz+zlor is rad!!

And another that just pooped in my head: VARGRWULF - Black Supremacy is badass. Very dark dark vibe.
https://www.discogs.com/release/2385723 ... -Supremacy

[PetiteSoles]

I love Julien Skrobek’s work. I’ve released and split with him a couple times. I like the abstract paper collage kinda covers he was doing for a while there too like I don’t know, almost ten years ago.

Truthfully I think Sean Ramirez deserves credit for making very interesting. Sometimes unusual and consistently amazing walls.

[Haare]

Sven Kay's A wall of text zine was great, I'm still hoping there'll be a 2nd issue.

I only heard about this zine after the fact, where was it made available? Any lingering copies of it somewhere? I'm still really disappointed to have missed out on it.

I think I got it through his website, svenkay.com

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

For awhile there in the late 00’s early 10’s was an active French fellar name of Julian Skrobeck, ran a great label called Slow Death Records, all HNW and some real great stuff. Mostly all French iirc. It was in the earlyish daze when HNW was still uhm defining itself, pushing against some of the ahem walls - ANW (ambient noise wall) came our around this time. Anywho:

<snip snip>

Some of these releases are available for to dig up and download in the Harsh Noise Wall Graveyard :
http://harshnoisewall.blogspot.com/?m=1

Thank you!!!

Btw this is ridiculously long (all but two tracks are 45-60 mins long), but I got five hours into and enjoyed it. It's on a Russian label, so so much for buying it currently, but I guess you can stream it three times? Anyhow, I should prolly post it in the religious noise thread...

https://reasonartrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hesychasm

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

The Harsh Noise Wall blogspot is down. :(

[Happiness, forever]

The Harsh Noise Wall blogspot is down. :(

??? I just went there right now, seems fine. Tho i ain’t trying to download onto me phone either.
Idk.
HNWblogspot is run by Andrew McQuaid of A View From Nihil :
http://aviewfromnihil.blogspot.com/?m=1
Still active somewhat. Idk if he is on this forum. Seems like he shld be.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

The Harsh Noise Wall blogspot is down. :(

??? I just went there right now, seems fine. Tho i ain’t trying to download onto me phone either.
Idk.
HNWblogspot is run by Andrew McQuaid of A View From Nihil :
http://aviewfromnihil.blogspot.com/?m=1
Still active somewhat. Idk if he is on this forum. Seems like he shld be.

I'm on my laptop. Keep getting an error message. Have cleared my cache and cookies related to the site. Refreshed before and after that. This is very frustrating.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

Rééducation :

Found a free digital release on the Hum and Hiss label page, called "Il Ya Longtemps", which is REALLY good...

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

This has A LOT of Slow Death Record's stuff on it, but I'm gonna hafta wait until next month to be able to buy it, as opposed to getting individual albums from the HNW Graveyard (as of now).

https://nahshatrymproductions.bandcamp. ... th-records

[Namahs]

I dont usually listen that much HNW but I really enjoy "hitting" that wall sometimes when exploring sounds at the practice room. "Huh...lets check this out for a while" and then just let it rumble on.