Likes and Turn-ons

[Buried_slag_debris]

Just reading through this now … regarding screen printed covers and different examples of inspiration - wanted to call out any of the releases on Three Songs Of Lenin. They are beautiful J-cards - some are 3 colour screen printed - giving it a thicker texture from the ink layers. Feel it should be mentioned in the screen printed release titans.

[CMSFoundation]

- Labels where each release feels like a curveball compared with everything that came before but all works as a whole
- Anything where soundwork is overlaid with the sounds of some sort of domestic activity -- Andrew Chalk's albums with Daisuke Suzuki, for instance
- Work with strong text/story/self-mythology component to it
- Stuff that's so minimal and unprocessed, you can literally tell they're clicking a hand-counter or spinning a coin on the table
- Compilations with meticulous, perfect sequencing
- When you see someone change up their style because they've found a sound they like even more, even when the new style is going to alienate 4/5ths of the people who listen to them
- Any recording where you literally can't understand how it was made or what equipment was used
- Recordings where the room tone and room size/reverberation is a huge part of the music

[Remi]

As I get 90% of my releases pro-dubbed, I do a pre-order when I get the UPS tracking confirmed, and have a specific date that the tapes are arriving. I didn't realize people did pre-orders before they paid for anything. That is really weird.

I think that's the main point of pre-orders now, and even more because of the increase in prices of the pressing plants. Having customers pay for the release you want to put out but can't afford to or save money for is such a irresponsible and poor move in my humble opinion.
When WCN did it for the Altar Of Flies 3LP, it made sense, and it's such a rare occurrence for an otherwise super serious label that I think it is OK. But that's super rare.

I tend to write off any label that does pre-orders, even more when they just want to put out 30 tapes, or they're taking pre-orders because they want to put out a 6-release batch. Don't mess with the customers' trust, and don't mess with anyone's money (especially in this day and age.) If you can't put it out, don't put it out. Stay humble. If you can't save the funds to get involved, don't get involved, you're doing everyone (customers, artists, yourself) a huge disservice. Don't ask for anyone's money until the releases sit in your room and are checkproofed. Shit happens in transport from plants to your house, plants mess up orders or pressings and you don't realise it until you're checking that 4th tape of the batch's B side, etc. Just don't.

When I get a personal note a write-up with my order in stead of it being just another order.

Of course for distro's this is undo-able but still nice gesture if artists does it.

It takes literally 5 seconds to write "thank you for your support" on the back of one of those countless flyers you receive and don't know what to do with. I remember big diy distros that carried thousands of references sending thank you notes with my orders back then. But maybe that's because I also ordered over the phone and sent cash or a check, etc. I think the Bigcartelisation of everything DIY and need for everything to go fast fast fast kind of ruined that.

[holy ghost]

When WCN did it for the Altar Of Flies 3LP, it made sense, and it's such a rare occurrence for an otherwise super serious label that I think it is OK. But that's super rare.

WCN has earned my trust and I think for that release (which I did pre-order and it just arrived last week) hyping up a very important 3 LP release was necessary- I mean when people use it as crowdfunding - I’m not here to name names but I can think of one label that took my money and when I asked months later about it “I haven’t sent it to press yet”. Then continued taking pre-orders!

Sorry this is supposed to be positive. I really like pad printing on a tape. Or a well made paper label.

I also think clear shell, clear liner and coloured leader is supper classy.

[Remi]

When WCN did it for the Altar Of Flies 3LP, it made sense, and it's such a rare occurrence for an otherwise super serious label that I think it is OK. But that's super rare.

WCN has earned my trust and I think for that release (which I did pre-order and it just arrived last week) hyping up a very important 3 LP release was necessary- I mean when people use it as crowdfunding - I’m not here to name names but I can think of one label that took my money and when I asked months later about it “I haven’t sent it to press yet”. Then continued taking pre-orders!

Sorry this is supposed to be positive. I really like pad printing on a tape. Or a well made paper label.

I also think clear shell, clear liner and coloured leader is supper classy.

Yes yes, you're right. I should keep the negativity for the other thread.

You know what I love, j-cards with plenty of panels, like full A4 sheet printed on both sides.

[Joie de la Blumpy]

I was going to just quote

Stuff that sounds like it is broken

and leave it at that.

But then I thought, with respect to the supposed concurrent other thread, uh, wait a sec...broken, damaged, warped, smudged, diddled, ill-functioning, malfunctioning, dysfunctional. Fubar'd. Bad robots and incels. At some point you kinda feel like there is no like and dislike just different ways of situating the same shit on a continuum, which could probably be traced back to a point in time before there was, literally, neither chicken nor egg.

So, like, who's truly living the dream? Those psychologically fubar'd beyond all recognition or those who might place that fubar-edness at a certain aesthetic remove? This is a retarded way of phrasing a serious question because the duality of the two running threads here makes me...laugh.

I joke. Or do I?

[chryptusrecords]

So, like, who's truly living the dream? Those psychologically fubar'd beyond all recognition or those who might place that fubar-edness at a certain aesthetic remove?

is it about their living though, or our listening? i don't care what artists do in their personal lives unless it's commendable or interesting, and most noise people seem afraid to talk about their personal lives for whatever reason. if people who are completely "fubar'd" are having a good time in their lives, more power to em. the only difference between "mental illness" and normal emotions is your level of functioning. good art can come from 100% delusional conviction just as much as it can come from calculated distance.

[Joie de la Blumpy]

dysfunctional [...] incels.

don't see why this follows necessarily. you can be dysfunctional without being on the shit side of the political spectrum.

Okay, I think I get where you're coming from and if so I'd agree. I do tend to over-generalize (ie de-politicize) for the sake a broader argument...or am I in oxymoron territory again?

good art can come from 100% delusional conviction just as much as it can come from calculated distance.

Well, exactly. I suppose it depends how far, as a listener slash absorber, one is willing to separate the art from the artist. My vantage has always pretty much been "who fucking knows?" I will acknowledge that there are quite possibly several persons who know very well. Unfortunately, I never get invited to their parties.

[chryptusrecords]

I deleted that section coz seems irrelevant to the actual point, which i think is interesting. one of my 'turn-ons' as it were is when a record seems to invite you into the strange and foreign world of its creator, a window into a mind full of other references, a new and different system. examples... drexciya? test dept. even incapacitants in a way, with their lack of obvious reference points, manages this. the record makes you think, what the fuck are these people thinking of? when you learn a bit of context, like mikawa's job, the title "no risk no return" takes on extra significance and humor.

edit: not noise but a good example is rudimentary peni, the recursive and re-occurring obsessions create a little self-contained universe, very compelling

[theworldisawarfilm]

"[...] good love vibes. You know, when you're with your chick and you get all happy."

[Residual / RT]

- Windows start up sound in the beginning of the tape

[D345]

Great idea for a thread.

- Stuff that sounds like it is broken

- Boring, domestic or totally pleasant, normal things being used as the artwork to harsh noise CDs (see especially Hijokaidan)

- Stuff that doesn't try too much to sound entertaining. Noise as something genuinely non-musical and irritating/incorrect.

- Heavy use of text/voice

- Imagery that alludes to some kind of totally confusing and shrouded theme behind the music (see especially someone like Star doing this today)

- The Gerogerigegege

these points felt like home

[Joie de la Blumpy]

"[...] good love vibes. You know, when you're with your chick and you get all happy."

"Know what I'm into, man? Scooby-Doo shit. I love that guy. Except Scrappy. He's a dick. I hate that shit."

[Joie de la Blumpy]

the recursive and re-occurring obsessions create a little self-contained universe, very compelling

Totally. But don't forget to destroy devastating and disgusting derivatives.

[Joie de la Blumpy]

dysfunctional [...] incels.

don't see why this follows necessarily. you can be dysfunctional without being on the shit side of the political spectrum.

Okay, I think I get where you're coming from and if so I'd agree. I do tend to over-generalize (ie de-politicize) for the sake a broader argument...or am I in oxymoron territory again?

Okay, clearly I can't leave well enough alone so apologies in advance. But just re-reading the above and thinking there's a pretty compelling argument in there on the dangers of celebrating vagueness. (But hey, put shit on a public forum, whether a discussion board or a noise tape, and you get what's coming to ya!)

So uh. Just to clarify. In referring to "different shit on a continuum" (or whatever I said), I wasn't thinking in political terms per se. More the oft-cited celebrations of, I suppose, one or another form of negativism. "Broken" is undeniably on that level, and imo a very short jump to less savory expressions of broken-ness.

If even anti-art is art, and that is why we reject it, then I think by releasing a tape with whatever associations you may be inclined to explore, you've already got yourself coming and going. Sucks to be anti-artiste.

[chryptusrecords]

the recursive and re-occurring obsessions create a little self-contained universe, very compelling

Totally. But don't forget to destroy devastating and disgusting derivatives.

ah, i dont know banking terms, i prefer hanging out in the cosmic coincidence control center

edit:

More the oft-cited celebrations of, I suppose, one or another form of negativism. "Broken" is undeniably on that level, and imo a very short jump to less savory expressions of broken-ness.

yes, i'm not sure what the solution to this problem is. my political angle gives me an easy out ;) but in art terms it is more complicated. but maybe this is a bias? maybe broken-ness can be seen as the preferred form, rather than a derivation or devolution from "the original"

[Joie de la Blumpy]

Here's one that's always been fun:

Recycling. Whether the sort practiced by RRRon and Remi or the conceptual takes a la Frans de Waard. There's a humor there and a good message for the kids, but I also like the idea of infinite ideations and what that might say about creativity.

[Joie de la Blumpy]

the recursive and re-occurring obsessions create a little self-contained universe, very compelling

Totally. But don't forget to destroy devastating and disgusting derivatives.

ah, i dont know banking terms, i prefer hanging out in the cosmic coincidence control center

73 is the magic number.

[pumpensumpf]

• liner notes
• combinations of sounds of very different fidelity
• play loud sounds soft and soft sounds loud

[Joie de la Blumpy]

What I like and am most turned on by are those which on some level should have repped the biggest dislikes and turnoffs, but somehow do not. AKA, pretty much all of noise.

[SS1535]

I don’t even know how to describe “the perfect aesthetic” - Fleshlicker’s MONDO FLESH 2xCS (with gore drenched poster) is like the perfect aesthetic for me. I’m not even like “a cannibal guy” (I mean of course I’m not a cannibal!), you know what I mean….

It’s hard to describe it “I know what I like when I see it”

I think I feel exactly what you mean by this. While I might find different aesthetic appealing, an artist that gets that combination just right always grabs my attention.

[SS1535]

Another significant one for me is minimalism - trying and succeeding to push a few elements to their limit almost always sounds better to me than piling element upon element.

[Touch Starved]

- HNW that evolves slightly over the course of the track

- Orchestral music used as a source or element in the noise

- Big, unconventional ”fuck you”-packaging with more inserts than tracks on the album

- Animal rights & anti-speciesist noise

- Active stereo field

- Gloomy and melancholic drones

[SS1535]

- Animal rights & anti-speciesist noise

Aside from Merzbow, who would you suggest for this? (I like this theme too!)

[Bubble-Congeries]

Bad/dated late-90's photoshop salad with catastrophically disjointed typography is definitely comforting/nostalgic.

Smell & Quim's Fanny Batter album art looks like it was designed with MSPaint or through some cut-and-paste graphic design 101 course and I absolutely love it. Old school, cheap, DIY and accessible. I love the green color too.