Bastard Noise

[holy ghost]

Went on a bit of a Bastard Noise/MITB bender the last few days. Haven’t really seen much output from the skull squad over the past few years and I logged off of Facebook long before the pandemic hit so I haven’t heard much from Mr. Wood these past few years.

However I did recently pick up “The Skull Scriptures” on Deathbed Tapes that was pretty good. I didn’t love the collab with Transient, but it just wasn’t particularly memorable, but definitely had its moments.

I quite enjoyed both sides of the split LP with Government Alpha. I also thought the recent tapes from the 2015 Japan tour were excellent.

I think the best record in the last decade is the “Doomed Expedition” double LP.

Am I missing anything exemplary from the past few years? Any hot plans for some hot reissues? Any cool stories recently?

[SS1535]

I am vaguely familiar with this project thanks to their splits with Bizarre Uproar and Aunt Mary (I guess technically it was a different side project for this one, but close enough). Any recommendations on what to check out first? The split with The Gerogerigegege sounds fun.

[Scream & Writhe]

I think the best record in the last decade is the “Doomed Expedition” double LP.

I've never had much interest in more recent BN, but as Doomed Expedition is just live from the Rogue Astronaut era (which I would consider the project's peak), this is for sure the best thing in recent years for me anyway.

No doubt Wood is greatly skilled at his craft, but I find the project's sound has just been so dialed in for so long that it really does sort of all just sound the same to me. I'd be curious to hear something more recent that I may have overlooked.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

Rogue Astronaut is incredible, but I don't know anything about other releases as good as that one or even similar to it. Any suggestions?

[Scream & Writhe]

Bastard Noise Hails the Finnish Sound Masters / The Symptoms of a Failing Equilibrium is one of the best of earlier BN. Glad to see it get a reissue last year.

[housepig]

BN can be very different depending on who Wood is collaborating with at any given time; releases like "A Culture Of Monsters" or "Skulldozer" have more of a traditional musical vibe as he's playing bass as well as noise devices, and collaborating with Connell from Man Is The Bastard; on the other end of the spectrum is solo work or his collaborations with John Wiese or Anthony Saunders, more in the straight noise territory.

"Rogue Astronaut" is one of the many works with W.T. Nelson (Trogotronic, Unicorn) as his partner, and I'm biased as fuck in favor of it since I saw them play it live a dozen times.

Other personal favorites, in no particular order:
- Spastic Colon split
- Bizarre Uproar split CD
- Hospital split
- Unicorn split
- "Universe of Dishonor" (collab with Golem Gross)
- "Honesty Shop" LP
- Bizarre Uproar split 7" on Thumbprint
- "No Human Mercy" 7"

[Scream & Writhe]

releases like "A Culture Of Monsters" or "Skulldozer" have more of a traditional musical vibe as he's playing bass as well as noise devices, and collaborating with Connell from Man Is The Bastar

A Culture of Monsters is phenomenal. I always found The Red List material on the split with The Endless Blockade to be just too much, in that every single element of the band was just turned up to 11 and really taxes the senses on account of how insane(ly good) it is. But ACOM dials it back just slightly, brings back Connell, and when they tap into those old Cyclops tracks it's just perfect. Couldn't get that into Skulldozer and really didn't like A Progression of Sickness. Was there any more full-band stuff after that? I can't recall.

Perpetually bummed that the Montreal/Toronto shows of this era happened while I still lived in Vancouver. Bastard Noise, The Endless Blockade, Vile Intent, The Rita? Unreal.

[Knifedoutofexistence]

I absolutely second how good A Culture Of Monsters and The Red List is. ACOM might actually be my favourite MITB/BN record overall. I remember when a track from one of them got posted on MySpace and losing my mind over it and getting so excited to hear more MITB style BN. The fact I first heard that on MySpace has just made me realise how long ago it was those records came out now.

[totalblack]

releases like "A Culture Of Monsters" or "Skulldozer" have more of a traditional musical vibe as he's playing bass as well as noise devices, and collaborating with Connell from Man Is The Bastar

Perpetually bummed that the Montreal/Toronto shows of this era happened while I still lived in Vancouver. Bastard Noise, The Endless Blockade, Vile Intent, The Rita? Unreal.

That was a completely unreal gig, but to be honest with you- Bastard Noise was doing more of an M.I.T.B. set with drums and guitars and it was probably the worst time that I've seen them. The energy that Vile Intent & Endless Blockade + Bloomer had really set a high bar, and in my opinion they didn't really meet it. They had come through a few times in the years prior doing more B.N. sets that were excellent in contrast.

The "Bastard Noise Hails The Finnish Sound Masters / The Symptoms Of A Failing Equilibrium" CD is absolutely insane and has been getting frequent play thanks to the recent reissue

[Scream & Writhe]

releases like "A Culture Of Monsters" or "Skulldozer" have more of a traditional musical vibe as he's playing bass as well as noise devices, and collaborating with Connell from Man Is The Bastar

Perpetually bummed that the Montreal/Toronto shows of this era happened while I still lived in Vancouver. Bastard Noise, The Endless Blockade, Vile Intent, The Rita? Unreal.

That was a completely unreal gig, but to be honest with you- Bastard Noise was doing more of an M.I.T.B. set with drums and guitars and it was probably the worst time that I've seen them. The energy that Vile Intent & Endless Blockade + Bloomer had really set a high bar, and in my opinion they didn't really meet it.

Them performing as a traditional band is why I was bummed to have missed it. Especially at the time it was so relevant to the lineage of what I was interested in and had been deeply interested in up to that point (powerviolence, etc), it would have been very important to me, even if it wasn't that great. It was like finally seeing Infest: seeing the footage afterwards it was not the best show, but in the moment it was everything.

Wood and Saunders came back in 2015 as Bastard Noise, and in all honesty Wood's 30-minute soundcheck was better than the actual set (which was still perfectly fine).

[housepig]

Wood's 30-minute soundcheck

it was around an hour last time I saw him. I wonder if the shorter checks during the Rogue Astronaut tour were because they were carrying their own monitor system.

[holy ghost]

Wood and Saunders came back in 2015 as Bastard Noise, and in all honesty Wood's 30-minute soundcheck was better than the actual set (which was still perfectly fine).

I caught the Toronto date of this tour and it was great. I didn’t see the previous show with that band lineup as I wasn’t really keeping up with live music at that time but I wish I had known about it… but what can you do. I am always skeptical of catching stuff like that, I saw the Siege reunion show and I wished I hadn’t. Just totally underwhelming.

I’m 100% in the Rogue Astronaut camp as their best post MITB release. Jammed Skulldozer today at work and that was pretty good as well. I have a whole batch of stuff to go through I maybe haven’t paid attention to in a while, I did a quick count just now and I have almost ninety MITB/BN releases in my collection…. ooof!!

[housepig]

I did a quick count just now and I have almost ninety MITB/BN releases in my collection…. ooof!!

Right there with you... but my bandmate has even more than I do...

[holy ghost]

Right there with you... but my bandmate has even more than I do...

That’s nuts. There’s a bunch on my want list but I crossed the biggest ones off my list a year or two ago (Nazi Drunks Fuck Off LP and weirdly enough the MITB/Sinking Body and MITB/Pink Flamingos 7”s - the 7”S are not even hard to find but constantly eluded me locally) and kind of cooled it. I’m always on the lookout for other random finds though….

[housepig]

he's a completist, he and another friend put together the "No Skull Left Unturned" box set, and they've been much more active about tracking down every little thing, whereas I'm not quite as obsessive about stuff I missed. I still need the "Nazi Drunks" LP myself! :)

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

Okay, so W.T. Nelson stuff is more what I'm looking for, then, I guess.

I've got a lot of homework to do, hah!

[holy ghost]

he and another friend put together the "No Skull Left Unturned" box set,

I haven’t been able to grab this one but am really interested especially for the zines.

Recently I’ve been quite taken with the “Thumbprint Press” aesthetic- in particular the RRRevenge 2xCD is excellent (along with the hate note to RRRon). I’m on the lookout to the Spastic Colon and Bizarre Uproar splits. I have the MSBR and Merzbow ones on the cool cardboard.

[housepig]

he and another friend put together the "No Skull Left Unturned" box set,

I haven’t been able to grab this one but am really interested especially for the zines.

Recently I’ve been quite taken with the “Thumbprint Press” aesthetic- in particular the RRRevenge 2xCD is excellent (along with the hate note to RRRon). I’m on the lookout to the Spastic Colon and Bizarre Uproar splits. I have the MSBR and Merzbow ones on the cool cardboard.

The Thumbprint Press work that W.T. did is consistently good, and sometimes amazing - the color-shifting ink blends on some of the work is really cool. I have a few gig posters he sent me that are really nice.

The zines in NSLU are a deep dive - the whole package is nuts, the combination of obsessive fan and aesthetic "yeah, let's do this, it would be cool!" is off the charts on that one. Custom wax seals? Tranparencies? Library cards date-stamped with the date of packing? Sure, let's do it!

[Kenny]

I did a quick count just now and I have almost ninety MITB/BN releases in my collection…. ooof!!

Right there with you... but my bandmate has even more than I do...

Yep me too, into the triple figures here

Quick top 5

Rogue Astronaut
Brainstorming 1 and 2 with Christian Renou
Collaboration with Order
Throne is Melting
Metal and Bone Servitude collab with Defekro.

Of the band-era releases, no mention of the Lost MITB sessions yet, that thing is phenomenal.

Alos quick plug, Like Weeds / Bastard Noise split came out on Orb tapes a couple of months back.

[Scream & Writhe]

Nazi Drunks Fuck Off LP

Still get a kick out of the coincidence of us both scoring copies on the same day. Did they ever play a full version of Moloch live? Between this and the one live video I've seen where they play it they never make it through the entire poem.

still need the "Nazi Drunks" LP myself! :)

Black Claw (Shawn Connell) did a reissue of it this year. Seems like only the picture disc version is left available from the source, but Anthems has vinyl copies.

he and another friend put together the "No Skull Left Unturned" box set,

I haven’t been able to grab this one but am really interested especially for the zines.

Recently I’ve been quite taken with the “Thumbprint Press” aesthetic- in particular the RRRevenge 2xCD is excellent (along with the hate note to RRRon). I’m on the lookout to the Spastic Colon and Bizarre Uproar splits. I have the MSBR and Merzbow ones on the cool cardboard.

I had no idea about the full contents of No Skull Left Unturned- sounds essential just for the zines alone.

I've had the Spastic Colon CD forever but there's a defective hole in the data portion of the disc so it doesn't play all the way through. I have the BU split 7", and the MSBR and Merzbow on LPs. Need to get the Merz split on CD as I feel like CD-exclusive tracks are the best from both artists. Those Thumbprint 7"s look great though, don't see anyone making use of cardstock and colours like that very much at all. I imagine there is considerable effort that goes into that printing process.

[Kenny]

Okay, so W.T. Nelson stuff is more what I'm looking for, then, I guess.

I've got a lot of homework to do, hah!

Love so much of Nelson`s stuff too, Unicorn, Geronimo (gutted the Japan tour had to be canceled). Also his more recent Emperor of the North material.

This track on the split with En Nihil is amongst my favourite tracks of the last few years, any genre

https://thedaftalliance.bandcamp.com/tr ... e-listener

[Scream & Writhe]

Rogue Astronaut
Brainstorming 1 and 2 with Christian Renou
Collaboration with Order
Throne is Melting
Metal and Bone Servitude collab with Defekro.

Of the band-era releases, no mention of the Lost MITB sessions yet, that thing is phenomenal.

Throne is Melting is great. That early Wiese-era has a lot to offer.

I used to have the Brainstorming collabs and remember liking them. I probably still have rips on my computer I can revisit.

I remember The R.A. Sessions 7" being good as well. And the collabs with Outermost.

There's so much I need to revisit.

The Lost MITB sessions I always felt weird about because Kenyon's bass tracks were lifted off and replaced.

[Kenny]

Nazi Drunks Fuck Off LP

Still get a kick out of the coincidence of us both scoring copies on the same day. Did they ever play a full version of Moloch live? Between this and the one live video I've seen where they play it they never make it through the entire poem.

still need the "Nazi Drunks" LP myself! :)

Black Claw (Shawn Connell) did a reissue of it this year. Seems like only the picture disc version is left available from the source, but Anthems has vinyl copies.

he and another friend put together the "No Skull Left Unturned" box set,

I haven’t been able to grab this one but am really interested especially for the zines.

Recently I’ve been quite taken with the “Thumbprint Press” aesthetic- in particular the RRRevenge 2xCD is excellent (along with the hate note to RRRon). I’m on the lookout to the Spastic Colon and Bizarre Uproar splits. I have the MSBR and Merzbow ones on the cool cardboard.

I had no idea about the full contents of No Skull Left Unturned- sounds essential just for the zines alone.

I've had the Spastic Colon CD forever but there's a defective hole in the data portion of the disc so it doesn't play all the way through. I have the BU split 7", and the MSBR and Merzbow on LPs. Need to get the Merz split on CD as I feel like CD-exclusive tracks are the best from both artists. Those Thumbprint 7"s look great though, don't see anyone making use of cardstock and colours like that much anymore. I imagine there is considerable effort that goes into that printing process.

Yeah, the fanzines in the "No Skull Left Unturned" are worth the price alone, so well done. meticulous.
The sounds are pretty ace too, some great Wiese-era tracks, esp."Minotaur" which might be just Nelson and Wiese.
I reckon the stars of that set are the Hierophant tracks with Guilty C though, such a shame more wasn`t done with that project.

[Kenny]

Rogue Astronaut
Brainstorming 1 and 2 with Christian Renou
Collaboration with Order
Throne is Melting
Metal and Bone Servitude collab with Defekro.

Of the band-era releases, no mention of the Lost MITB sessions yet, that thing is phenomenal.

Throne is Melting is great. That early Wiese-era has a lot to offer.

I used to have the Brainstorming collabs and remember liking them. I probably still have rips on my computer I can revisit.

I remember The R.A. Sessions 7" being good as well. And the collabs with Outermost.

There's so much I need to revisit.

The Lost MITB sessions I always felt weird about because Kenyon's bass tracks were lifted off and replaced.

The Brainstorming collaborations are really great, wouldn`t really call them noise per se, just really well done electronic music. closer to someone like Mika Vainio, Dom Hospital is a big fan of those too, even dropping a track from them in his Berghain sets.

Strangely I never really investigated Brume too much after these, need to remedy that

[totalblack]

Some Brume stuff is excellent, funny enough last time I was at Doms place he played a series of really great Brume tapes. I have a few but there's so many releases I also don't know where to start with it. I should probably check out those Brainstorming collabs, as I haven't heard them.

Have had a copy of the "If It Be Not True" 2CD sitting in the shop for a while so playing that now, it's kind of killer