Uneasiest listening? Albums that pushed your limits

[Joie de la Blumpy]

Not noise but Folkways Records' 1964 LP Speech After Removal Of The Larynx is impossible to get through for me.

For more uneasy listening, refer your sorry ears to anything involving the words "speech" and "therapy", in that order. You may thank (or more probably kill) me later.

I also remember this track literally hurting my ears at the time but it doesn't sound that bad to me now:

Didn't know this one. It is remarkably brutal, and great.

[papp diin]

TG's Hamburgy Lady

My first taste of disturbing music, alongside Coward by Swans. Some probably 40 year old guy in youtube comments referred me to it, I can't remember why. Oh if I could go back to witness that moment, I'm not sure I'd even gotten hair on my balls yet. Man was i freaked out. Had I not had that moment of realisation that music could be scary, I'd probably still listen to Dark Side of the Moon today.

[SS1535]

I'm guessing microscopic photography.

Perhaps. I would be interested to hear more specific details.

Have you ever played with the skin on a knee?

Indeed. A favorite pastime for me.

[holy ghost]

I find Himukalt’s albums to be very difficult to listen to - more for the thematic perspectives than musical but it just seems to hit in a really real way vs most PE stuff that I don’t have much interest in.

TLDR I also do street outreach for a living so it also seems to remind me of work more than anything else - I’m a fan - I think she’s the real deal - which is why I find it makes for “uneasy listening”.

[The Mysterious Creep]

Not noise but Folkways Records' 1964 LP Speech After Removal Of The Larynx is impossible to get through for me. Absolutely stomach-churning. Listen to only if you have no gag reflex:

Oh yeah, that record is really eerie - it's an interesting one in that the content is really positive when you think about it, presenting all this research in helping people who were horrifically disabled to speak again, but the sound of it is just so uncanny and fucked up. I actually sampled a bit of the artificial/electronic voicebox segment on a Chromatic Bastards track.

[snowdrops]

To this day, Charalambides' "Here, Not Here" (first track on Joy Shapes) still scares the shit out of me. It's not abrasive or extreme in any way, or even overtly gross/disturbing. I think it's that it's psychedelic in the darkest way... captures the moment that a bad trip starts to really go bad.

[Bubble-Congeries]

captures the moment that a bad trip starts to really go bad.

New to me. And if you hadn't planted the idea in my head, I might not have gotten the same thing out of it. But now that I've been made to consider it in that context, I think I can understand where you're coming from.

It does remind me a bit of Diana Rogerson and Andrew Lile's No Birds Do Sing, which I lovingly refer to as "PCP: The Musical".

[Brian O'Blivion]

I find human coughing/retching/gagging sounds to be very unpleasant, so any noise where those sounds appear instantly becomes challenging for me.

Not a noise project, but Barn Sour's Belgian Gelding has extended sections of retching underneath choral music. His more recent opus Soap & Glue recycles a lot of the retching recordings, but also includes recordings of screaming and sounds of people in distress. Very unnerving to listen to.

[garrison_keillor]

On a strictly sonic level I can't say I've ever felt something was too much, with the exception of the time I got a little too high at a Sunn O))) show and became concerned for my physical well being as a result of it being so loud that the air was being forced in and out of my lungs, overall a good experience though. That said I do have a difficult time listening to anything which incorporates samples/recordings of violence and/or abuse, especially of a sexual nature. It's not the sounds themselves I find bothersome but rather what they imply.

[Lactating Tardigrade]

I'm glad this discussion has such a wide range of responses and not just the obvious choices. I was expecting Hijokaidan's Romance or Modern to be mentioned already due to the excessive length of those albums and the blunt harshness, but they are probably too obvious of a choice. Two of my favorite records, but honestly, it becomes more and more difficult over time to listen to 70+ minute albums in a single sitting.

Another one of their albums that grew on me but challenged me is No Paris/No Harm. Junko's vocals are front and center and I struggled with this one for a while but it finally clicked a few years ago. Anything harsh with vocals in this style is particularly grating or difficult for me.

Toshimaru Nakamura has some particularly difficult material like the duo albums Keith Rowe which can be brutal. Just really punishing high-end and long-sustained piercing feedback. I love Weather Sky and the others but there are some really tough sections that are just inner ear punishment.

Same with that Sachiko M double album with Keith called Contact. Some of the sine tones are used at a level where it's extremely difficult to get through. If I recall correctly there was one track where a high-pitched sine tone continues for 20 minutes straight with no variation or break, but it's been years since I've listened to it. Left an impression, that's for sure.

[lastof]

Recently acquired a CD-R by a no-input mixer duo called Insects With Tits that was pretty excruciating. There's something about those extreme digital glitch frequencies that's just real hard on the ears, like little needles. Shrieking high feedback alone is something I quite enjoy, but there's a very specific timbre that makes even not exceptionally loud frequencies dig into me in a way I can't stand - a lot of badly-recorded digital noise I've noticed hits this particular sound, it's hard to describe.

One of the first noise shows I ever played was opening for insects with tits, I had their shirt too lol. I agree that no input mixer stuff can be extremely brutal on the high end

Junko's solo album SLEEPING BEAUTY only has about 15 minutes of content (b side is a side backwards) but is really really hard to listen to

[urall]

I got the following album when it came out and still didn't finish listening to it completely :D


I'm totally into stuff like Autechre, etc... but for some reason this is too much for me.

[Tinnitustimulus]

Sachiko M solo. Just sine tones. Find it hard to bear.

Live wise without a doubt was Alvin Lucier. Witnessing him tap a number two pencil on a bunch of objects on a table for 45 minutes not amplified in anyway in a large, full auditorium was one of the most oppressive things I experienced. I noticed the people around me more then the resonance of the objects he was tapping 25 feet away from me. The opposite was felt when I saw piece of his performed by Sarah Hennies who I think hit a marimba block closest to the resonant frequencies to the room and somehow felt like the room was going to collapse after the same block was hit for over 15 minutes. Bird and Person Dyning also insane to witness. I never been so emotionally drained so consistently by any other person by performance.


As far that track Im pretty sure Social Drift and Dave did tones, I did a granular thing of a ceramic pot dragging to make it constant. That was an interesting pairing.

[papp diin]

TG's Hamburgy Lady

My first taste of disturbing music, alongside Coward by Swans. Some probably 40 year old guy in youtube comments referred me to it, I can't remember why. Oh if I could go back to witness that moment, I'm not sure I'd even gotten hair on my balls yet. Man was i freaked out. Had I not had that moment of realisation that music could be scary, I'd probably still listen to Dark Side of the Moon today.

Rediscovered this today. This shit man, saw this the same age as I was in the quote above. No wonder I am the way I am today. This video is still freaky.

[Cruelsymphonies]

There's a lot of different ways to look at uneasy listening. Most disturbing was probably that song on bird seed with the stories from the sex workers. I'm not into edgy or transgressive art so that was a bit much for me but I get the point they are making.

Sound wise I think borbetomagus is probably the hardest listen I've experienced. The high pitched noises are pretty intense. I would also say masonna is up there. I used to really like it but I don't really relisten to him much. I mean there a noisy playlist spotify made for me and he pops up once and a while and its dope but essentially that's plenty masonna. Once in a while he definitely hits.

As far as intense sound goes I think the Tinnitustimulus album on AAD was pretty powerful https://abhorrentafterdeath.bandcamp.co ... scha-muche. Honestly one of my all time top noise albums. I'd probably put it on if I was in the car with someone and they were being annoying and saying that 100 geks is noise or something to ruin their day.

[Tribe Tapes]

Musicide. Purely shrill chirping electronics

[Cruelsymphonies]

Was thinking back to this and I wanna add that Alisa-Yhtye self titled on Phage Tapes is probably the most extreme noise I have heard. Super Underrated

[papp diin]

Remembered another one - Nurse With Wound Play 'Changes les Blockeurs'. I don't think I could even get through this one.

[SS1535]

Remembered another one - Nurse With Wound Play 'Changes les Blockeurs'. I don't think I could even get through this one.

I have been meaning to give this a listen, and you just pushed me over the edge with this post. haha

[papp diin]

Remembered another one - Nurse With Wound Play 'Changes les Blockeurs'. I don't think I could even get through this one.

I have been meaning to give this a listen, and you just pushed me over the edge with this post. haha

Something about it really pushes some button I was previously unaware of. Would have the potential to drive me mad, were I to listen to it Guantanamo-style.

[SS1535]

Remembered another one - Nurse With Wound Play 'Changes les Blockeurs'. I don't think I could even get through this one.

I have been meaning to give this a listen, and you just pushed me over the edge with this post. haha

Something about it really pushes some button I was previously unaware of. Would have the potential to drive me mad, were I to listen to it Guantanamo-style.

Your words make me think of the 16min loop track of a few seconds of an easy listening song... haha

[Teffield]

For me, it was definitely Merzbow's "Pulse Demon."

[Callys]

For me, Merzbow's "Venereology" was a wild ride. It’s intense and relentless, and the noise gets under your skin in a way that's almost physical.