Ba Da Bing! US レコード& CD

Review: The Dead C formed in New Zealand in the mid-80s and they remain one of the boldest bands to have emerged from the island's underground scene. Taking a supremely lo-fi, scuzzy approach to improvised rock, they've remained an enduring force with an international fan base as evidenced by their presence on Brooklyn label Ba Da Bing! Now that label are reissuing some of their earlier, hard to find work including this monolithic three-track entity, The Operation of the Sonne. It's a tangled, disorienting affair in which the guitar barely squawks through the thick layer of noise, but it's present enough to wrap around your skull and hold on tight. Not for the feint hearted by any means, but if you appreciate unbound free improvisation and noise rock, you'll definitely want to check this.

Review: New Zealand's foremost, fearless noise rock outfit The Dead C transmitted their dirt-caked sound to the world through a trio of albums in the 90s. Nowadays they're aligned with NYC label Ba Da Bing!, who deemed it high time these seminal slabs got a bigger audience. Originally recorded in the winter of 1994, The White House is a shade more direct than its gnarly predecessor The Operation of the Sonne, but only by a fraction. The trio's sound is pointedly inward looking and actively pursuing a fidelity which renders voice, guitar and drums as one coagulated beast. The fact it still kicks on the likes of 'Pitcher' despite this rejection of clarity is testament to the formidable playing and intent of the band, and perhaps the benefit of a fresh but considered remaster.

Review: After the squalling attack of The Operation of the Sonne and The White House, New Zealand noise rock provocateurs The Dead C had someone garnered attention and praise in 90s underground circles. In appropriately discordant fashion, they responded to their status of sorts by barrelling even further into obtuse noise and creating a double album's worth of sprawling, degraded epics. Despite their clear desire to not capitalise on recognition, there are some sharp hooks which would help the wider alternative rock landscape latch on, whether it's the tense, teasing drumming of 'Half' or the dissolving anti-anthem buried in the grimy folds of the title track. Ba Da Bing! take pride in delivering just the right kind of remaster and reissue for this and the other seminal Dead C records - a document of true originality and the gnarliest of noise bands.

Review: Leeds-based duo Hawthonn express their inspiration from Coil in their artist name (a tribute to the late Jhonn Balance) and it doesn't take long listening to their music to hear that indelible mark on their sound. Earth Mirror marks Layla and Phil Legard's second album for the Ba Da Bing! label out of NYC after 2018's Red Goddess (Of This Men Shall Know Nothing). Weaving a compelling mixture of low, murmuring industrial tones and pastoral folk with an occult twist, the duo move through enveloping, atmospheric spaces. At times Layla Legard's voice cuts through the mist, and elsewhere we reside in instrumental pastures, but the mood remains haunting and evocative from start to finish, not to mention masterfully rendered.

Review: In Peter Strickland's Flux Gourmet, a dysfunctional group of performance artists undertake a month-long residency at an institute devoted to culinary disciplines. Food is interrogated for its sonic potential as the group mic-up, amplify, distort and transform what they cook in front of an audience. The noise produced by the characters in the film is driven by food blenders, overflowing cauldrons of gurgling soup and sizzling frying pans (courtesy of The Sonic Catering Band), yet the music that soundtracks the culinary capers is engorged with aching melodies and wordless, airy vocals. Contributors include Cavern of Anti-Matter, Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost of A Hawk and a Hacksaw and Trost's band, Roj (formerly of Broadcast), and Nurse With Wound. Flux Gourmet is presented in a lush 2xLP package with an ornate, colorful design and Strickland's detailed liner notes.