Scream & Writhe Forum

I've been lurking on this forum ever since this came up and I thought I'd submit my first thread dedicated to Prurient and other Fernow projects, since I really haven't seen anyone talking about his work (other than being included in a couple lists) I've been listening to noise and related for many years and I've yet to find an artist whose work resonates with me as much as Prurient. Albums like The Golden Chamber, his self titled 2007 LP, Troubled Sleep and Annihilationist are (in my humble opinion) some of the most compelling and emotionally loaded noise albums I've ever heard. Maybe I'm just gushing and a fan boy but I'm genuinely interested in knowing why his work doesn't seem to get much recognition here, is his golden time over and people have simply moved on to newer things?

Nice to see Golden Chamber mentioned, I agree it's one of his best!

W.K. wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:40 am Nice to see Golden Chamber mentioned, I agree it's one of his best!

It's a shame that he only made 44 copies of the tape, especially when the album feels as grand as a full blown statement album. I'd love to own that tape but I'm 100% sure it's gonna cost an ungodly amount the next time it pops up for sale hahah

I don't know many of his releases, however I enjoyed the recent album on Tesco 'Casablanca Flamethrower' a lot. Very mixed industrial sounds and a strong narrative focus. I should probably dig deeper into his discography, the aesthetics are impressive.
Have been trying to get into Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement and Vatican Shadow, but it just doesn't do it for me. I prefer techno music derived of context.

Anyone who says that the "golden time" of Prurient is over needs only to listen to recent works like Casablanca Flamethrower and the Annhilationist follow up Creationist. My opinions are biased for quite a few reasons, but I'm a big fan, and I personally think that he's among the most important figures in noise of all time, especially in the last two decades. Black Vase and Church Of Ammunition were among the first proper noise releases I bought as a teenager, and a lot of his material has aged really well. Spent some time in the last year listening to Bermuda Drain. Utterly divisive when it came out- 10 years later listening again and reflecting back on what happened since, it's a great and solid record that has had a lot of influence on music since. Same with Vatican Shadow- a lot of harsh heads were completely losing their minds when those first tapes came out, but as they've aged they are just really good rhythmic industrial \ techno tapes that went against the grain of what was popular at the time. Regular visits to the Hospital Productions store in my youth were absolutely seminal to my development, and eventual present running a noise\extreme sound record shop. I also tend to enjoy all of the various side-projects and collaborations.

Personal favourites are History Of Aids, Fossil, Black Vase, Despiritualized, Annihilationist, Casablanca Flamethrower and Black Post Society.

The mid 2000's period of Prurient was unstoppable.. Fossil, Black Vase, Pleasure Ground, the Self Titled LP, And Still, Wanting, Black Post Society... not to mention Church of Ammunition, Worm in the Apple, Victorian Photography and Whip Enthusiasts. All extremely formative stuff for me. I need to do myself a favor and dive deep into the post-Bermuda Drain material. I really didn't like it when it came out, but my tastes have shifted over time, and I know for a fact there's really great material after that.

I liked what he wrote before joining Cold Cave. Met the dude in 2007 when he did a live collab with FFH and Air Conditioning and he was cool as hell. Then I went to a Cold Cave show years later (it was free and packed-out) and his ego had exploded. Was really disappointing to see him change so much as a person. His material that I've listened to since then hasn't really done anything for me, either. Just one or two of the countless releases he's churned out since left any impression on me. A lot of the themes come across as gimmicky, too. Hopefully that changes.

sarinDK wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:05 am Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement

There's absolutely no reason to listen to this project since Muslimgauze has like 100 albums.

Residual / RT wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 10:29 am

sarinDK wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:05 am Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement

There's absolutely no reason to listen to this project since Muslimgauze has like 100 albums.

AND COUNTING!!!!

Prurient is amazing. Troubled Sleep is definitely one of my favorites too, those classical source sounds on Bolt and the title track are incredible.

Not only has Prurient been one of my entry points into noise, some of his other projects had a huge influence on my musical taste as well.

Speaking of Prurient, my favorites are Pleasure Ground and The Black Post Society. But i'm far from knowing all releases; which is great actually, that way i always get to discover new stuff every time someone mentions their personal favorites...

Vatican Shadow, especially the mid-to-early releases and the amazing live rehearsals, had a huge impact on my musical taste as well, and i still love do dive through the whole VS catalogue every now and then.

Exploring Jezebel was probably the first HNW-ish stuff i've ever heard, and i was blown away.

I dig most RSE up to and including Green Graves, but need to be in the right mood.

Looking back it's funny how i first came across Ash Pool and loved that raw energy instantly, years before i became aware of Prurient, VS, Alberich etc...

NihilBaxter wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:01 pm Exploring Jezebel was probably the first HNW-ish stuff i've ever heard, and i was blown away.

Same, I’m not too fond of the wall noise genre, but ’penis torture chamber’ is one that I enjoy very much

I'm actually enjoying his new one that was published a couple of days ago: https://prurient.bandcamp.com/album/creationist

Residual / RT wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 10:29 am

sarinDK wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:05 am Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement

There's absolutely no reason to listen to this project since Muslimgauze has like 100 albums.

ha ha

Definitely stopped caring about Prurient around the time of Bermuda Drain. Then and now I didn't/don't buy that it was somehow a brave album that reached beyond the noisesphere and challenged all these generic norms. I just thought it was really badly executed and still do whenever I try to dig it again.

With all of this said I have always felt that Fernow is clearly following his own nose and sincerely creating things according to some very specific visions which are inarguably his and his alone. There's not a lot of it that I am interested in and I find much of it very silly but I'd never dispute that he's completely doing his own thing which is always worthy of respect. One of those 'it's not for me but I'm glad it exists' things.

I will definitely check out some of the newer releases that have been recommended here, though even if I don't end up liking them there is more than enough older stuff I think is great.

Big fan of his stuff and can honestly say I enjoy quite a few releases from every era of the project.

Some personal favorites would be Arbitrary Witness, Troubled Sleep, Fossil, Colonialist Nature And Misanthropy, Palm Tree Corpse, Ghosts Of Niagara w/ Burning Star Core, Mermaid Skeleton, and Tiger Smells A Corpse.

totalblack wrote: ↑Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:49 am Anyone who says that the "golden time" of Prurient is over needs only to listen to recent works like Casablanca Flamethrower and the Annhilationist follow up Creationist. My opinions are biased for quite a few reasons, but I'm a big fan, and I personally think that he's among the most important figures in noise of all time, especially in the last two decades.

Problem I have with his later albums is that they are just way too long.

Seems to have been a bit of an uproar re: the rarities sale on Hospital's Site...

get that paper dom

Ineffable Slime wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:40 pm get that paper dom

😂😂😂😂

Perhaps there is a bit of a ceiling on shifting Thirdorgan lps to Berghain hopefuls. Might be time to hit up Justin again for the next batch.

to be fair, his "from the archive" prices are quite reasonable in comparison to discogs averages. see no reason he should't get that money instead of a 3rd party. wouldn't be able to put a date on it(maybe around the time rose pillar came out?) but there was a point when the man realized scalpers were buying his tapes to flip for immediate profit. stands to reason that he should just ask for more. feel around that time the packaging became much more grandiose & the looong box sets started to appear more.

XXX wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 2:20 pm to be fair, his "from the archive" prices are quite reasonable in comparison to discogs averages. see no reason he should't get that money instead of a 3rd party. wouldn't be able to put a date on it(maybe around the time rose pillar came out?) but there was a point when the man realized scalpers were buying his tapes to flip for immediate profit. stands to reason that he should just ask for more. feel around that time the packaging became much more grandiose & the looong box sets started to appear more.

Rose Pillar was the first time I noticed talk around kind of thing, yeah. Must feel weird to be in that situation. Jokes aside he’s welcome to sell whatever he wants to whomever is stupid enough to pay for it. Anything that undermines the discogs market is fine by me.

33033 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:20 pm Seems to have been a bit of an uproar re: the rarities sale on Hospital's Site...

A friend sent me a screenshot of something (I can't even remember what) Hospital was selling for $999.97 and I thought it was hilarious. If there are people willing to pay it (and I'd be real interested in learning more about the people who do), more power to him.

pisspup wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:24 pm

33033 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:20 pm Seems to have been a bit of an uproar re: the rarities sale on Hospital's Site...

A friend sent me a screenshot of something (I can't even remember what) Hospital was selling for $999.97 and I thought it was hilarious. If there are people willing to pay it (and I'd be real interested in learning more about the people who do), more power to him.

I mean I can't imagine having $1k to just spend on one release, so whoever does is probably set for life or just willing to bear an insane credit card bill...

Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD.
Price-gouging your own releases for literal hundreds is a sleazy move 10/10.