"The New Blockaders" - Noise War 1 (bootleg, 1988)

[DIODE SNORTER]

Originally published on the NoiseWiki forum, Mar 26, 2022:

"The New Blockaders" - Noise War 1 (Kas - 17/18, 1988)

thumb_tnbnoisewar.jpg (32.48 KiB) Viewed 2167 times

Kind of a long story with this one, but in short, it wasn’t actually made by TNB.
Not to be confused with the essential 1993 v/a compilation Noise War (which does not feature TNB), Noise War 1 was recorded by some Japanese dude in the 90’s and passed off as legitimate to make a quick buck on ebay.
This same guy made other counterfeit releases of ‘famous’ noise acts from the 80’s, including names like Nurse With Wound, Kleistwahr, Consumer Electronics, etc. but the TNB counterfeits are arguably the most well-known, as it was none other than TNB themselves who first exposed them as illegitimate in 2008.

I’ve never been particularly fond of TNB: the real TNB, that is.
Their approach to noise is incredibly repetitive, performing the same sound ad nauseam over a typically 10-30+ minute long piece.
The ‘point’ of a typical TNB release, then, is less about the noise itself and more about how that same noise subtly changes/degrades over time: sort of like a prototypical The Disintegration Loops.

That’s the theory, at any rate: in practice, I haven’t been able to sit through any TNB release (or for that matter, any release by The Haters) because they’re inherently pointless.
Why would I intentionally waste my time listening to what is essentially a loop on repeat?
Some prominent noise artists still praise boring junk like Changez Les Blockeurs for its obsessive focus, but I’m clearly not one of them.
I just don’t see why they'd even bother.

This is why I find the humor in Noise War I: here you have an overhyped band known for putting out rudimentary garbage, garbage that nevertheless commands ridiculous aftermarket prices, then this Japanese guy swoops in and steals a piece of the pie by doing the exact same thing they were doing.
He’s still a jerk for conning people out of cold hard cash, but the irony here is too obvious to ignore: sadly, it also seems to be under-appreciated.

What isn't under-appreciated is the actual audio content of Noise War 1: it's just as dull and inane as any legitimate TNB release.
Similar to the conceptual focus of real TNB releases, the value in this fake release is not in the noise itself, but in the impetus for its creation.
I seriously doubt this guy made a fake TNB tape purely for satire (it's obvious what his real goal was), but even if satire wasn't his intent, I think looking at this release as satire is, if nothing else, amusing.

hear a sample on youtube

[Tribe Tapes]

The real artist behind this bootleg, Kazuo / Nick Seki, also ran the VS-International label and recorded under a few different aliases -- mainly Graveyard and Volks Front..
VS-Int, DBD Records (Bloody Cum), and K3Pulz (KOP affiliated) all were releasing a tongue-in-cheek style of hardcore punk inspired, Japanese power electronics,
KOP originally formed under the name KPS (read that backwards), and Bloody Cum "Torture Music" is just as much a parody of extreme noise as it is genuine...
Part defamation, part admiration. Make of it what you will, but nowadays Noise War might be a more intriguing tape than many of the official TNB releases.

[SS1535]

But if the music was fun, there would be a point, right?

[HELP ME TO FEEL]

I think it depends on how you're listening. Repetitive releases can be quite enjoyable for me if I'm doing something else whilst I'm listening. There's a comfort to hearing the same thing over and over again. Do some artists get a lot more praise than others just because of their legacy and influence? Absolutely, but I think that's just how humans behave socially. You see it in regular music in much the same way. I think it's a good release. Not beyond my own abilities to create such a work, but that's neither here nor there. It's interesting for me to hear a noise album that will have been heard by many other people and the tape saturation on it sounds good to me. I think it's a good example of the old adage "less is [sometimes] more".

[Joie de la Blumpy]

Why would I intentionally waste my time listening to what is essentially a loop on repeat?

If that's what you're hearing... cuz, like, I sure ain't.

(This could, though, open a possibly interestin-slash-boring discussion about music and art and repetition in general, starting with the idear of, say, rhythm. Rhythm and noise, coming to a discussion group near you.)

[HELP ME TO FEEL]

(This could, though, open a possibly interestin-slash-boring discussion about music and art and repetition in general, starting with the idear of, say, rhythm. Rhythm and noise, coming to a discussion group near you.)

I'm up for that discussion. I think there is value in repetition. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that, to a certain extent, I welcome "boring" experimental music. I think unchanging repetitions can be hypnotic. That's what drone is, right?

[Joie de la Blumpy]

(This could, though, open a possibly interestin-slash-boring discussion about music and art and repetition in general, starting with the idear of, say, rhythm. Rhythm and noise, coming to a discussion group near you.)

I'm up for that discussion. I think there is value in repetition. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that, to a certain extent, I welcome "boring" experimental music. I think unchanging repetitions can be hypnotic. That's what drone is, right?

These were some of the thoughts prevailing upon an extended dip into the recent Toanche Dwelling. For illustration will duly re-up the Zoviet France reference, where typically only upon the eightieth or ninetieth iteration will the obsessive smudged and blurred disconfiguration (the texture, call it what it is) begin to obtain—in, and it needs to be iterated, among the burgled and burnt hisses of self-splooge-consuming-subcutaneous-blurrrrrrrt—a sort of beatific eminently repeatable endgame that seems to hint at (but of course never quite to achieve) a quite, and never, end. Because it ends. But maybe, like, it shouldn't (end). Question mark.

[Insert punctuation of choice here]

[HELP ME TO FEEL]

I've had a bit of a listen to both the projects you mentioned on YouTube. I'd already heard Zoviet France before but not in a long while so it's been a good refresh for me. I also forgot that they're in the North of England like me, which I think is inspiring because it's not the most cosmopolitan place. Very well put. I very much enjoyed your description of the album experience. I love a good ambient album. I recommend Nääksää nää mun kyyneleet by Tuusanuuskat. I have it on vinyl.