FREAK SCENE
Jamie Johns on the weird underground.
Freak Scene #47: Sex Church, The Mantles and Aran Ruth
- story Jamie Johns
In this week’s Freak Scene, Jamie Johns goes back to covering some new and some not new releases from the weird (pop) underground. Click below for Sex Church, The Mantles, and Aran Ruth.
Freak Scene #46: Wierd Records
- story Jamie Johns
In this week’s Freak Scene, Jamie Johns brings us into the cold world of Wierd Records and the weekly Wierd party. Read about new records from Xeno and Oaklander and Led Er Est, check out a playlist by Wierd founder Pieter Schoolwerth of new minimal synth groups and read an interview with Xeno and Oaklander member Liz Wendelbo.
Freak Scene #45: New Records, Old Memories
- story Jamie Johns
In this week’s Freak Scene, Jamie Johns takes on three new records that have captured her attention—slabs by Drunkdriver, perennial Freak Scene favorites Emeralds and Li Jianhong.
Freak Scene #44: Freak Scene Goes to Sunn O)))
- story Jamie Johns
In this week’s Freak Scene, Jamie Johns freaks (sorry) over the recent SunnO))) show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple.
Freak Scene #43: Blues Control and Stunned Records
- story Jamie Johns
This week’s Freak Scene: Back to school with Blues Control and Stunned Records.
-
posted on Sep 17, 2009 in BLOGS, FREAK SCENE tags blues control, Dead Black Arms, Stunned Records, Torture Corpse
Freak Scene #42: Less Freak, More Geek
- story Matthew Schnipper
In this week’s Freak Scene, Jamie Johns runs through her favorite releases and shows from Halflings, Pharmakon, Pens, Zola Jesus and John Wiese in the month since her last non-China post.
-
posted on Aug 31, 2009 in BLOGS, FREAK SCENE tags FREAK SCENE, Halflings, John Wiese, Pens, Pharmakon, Zola Jesus
Freak Scene #42: The Freak Scene Goes to China Edition
- story Jamie Johns
In this week’s Freak Scene—now back to mainland America—Jamie Johns recounts her experiences, noisy and otherwise, living in China, including Torturing Nurse, ritzy Haagen Daz, scant record stores, These Are Powers, white skin and big feet.
Freak Scene #41: Sacred Bones Guest Column
- story THE FADER
In this edition of Freak Scene, a still-China-living Jamie Johns presents a guest column by Caleb Braaten, owner/curator/impresario of the epic Sacred Bones Records, purveyors of music by Zola Jesus, Dead Luke, Nice Face, Timmy’s Organism and many other Freak Scene favorites. Read his thoughts on some choice releases by Dead Clodettes, Stupid Party and Animal and Men. Also, let it be known that if you have yet to pick up the new Zola Jesus LP The Spoils and the Cultural Decay and 13th Chime reissues, you should do so post haste.
-
posted on Aug 3, 2009 in BLOGS, FREAK SCENE tags Animal and Man, Dead Clodettes, FREAK SCENE, Sacred Bones, Stupid Party
Freak Scene #40
- story THE FADER
In this edition of Freak Scene, a still China-living Jamie Johns runs down what she’s missing in New York, highlights noisemaker Pharmakon and gets us an exclusive mix from Xeno and Oaklander.
Freak Scene #39
- story THE FADER
In this edition of Freak Scene, we are getting knee deep in masculinity…sort of.
In terms of “crossover” (meaning: they appeal to real hardcore fans and to, you know, “hardcore fans”) hardcore groups, every one loves Sex Vid and Total Abuse (and I do too). However, right now Cult Ritual is hitting the spot with their darker, more acerbic (and fucked up) take on hardcore. Lyrics include Here is a man who can’t sleep alone/ bites the skin right off the bone. Perhaps it sounds cheesy as you read it on your screen but when it is set to a noisy and venomous backdrop, it sounds frightening and formidable.
As with all of the acts covered in this column, I recommend that you purchase the physical release but this is even truer with Cult Ritual. The packaging and artwork on the pictured release (which is The 2nd EP) is a real treat. The pictured 7-inch is supposedly sold out but I recently procured a copy at a local record store. If you do not care to chase down this one, the group just released their first full length album on Youth Attack, which is still available but limited to 500 copies. If luck isn’t on your side, they put up all of their releases on their blog, so you can hear the tunes straight from the band.
Another great act on Youth Attack is Ancestors, the new black metal group by Mark McCoy of Charles Bronson notoriety. Cacophonous and barbarous USBM. There is a doom group from California called Ancestors too, but I don’t know much about them.
I was supposed to see Sonic Youth play Jimmy Fallon for LOLs with my bff Diana Wong but homegirl had jury duty and the legal system/civic duty stopped our attendance. Apparently Thurston Moore wore a scandalous shirt. As always, dude has his hand in some real freak scene shit and I have been greatly enjoying the new SY song, “Sacred Trickster.” I support this ode to ladies and noise (!!!) and its Noise Nomads reference, what can I say.
Servile Sect’s Stratospheric Passenger LP is a newish reissue on Ecstatic Peace. Can black metal be uplifting? I’m the first to assert that the genre goes far beyond Norway and the early ’90s but it seems that now a lot of acts are working on a more contemplative vision of the genre. Let’s be honest, hardcore (read: male) fans of the genre would probably say that the fact that some girl is writing about it on the website of a major music magazine is another sign of its infiltration into mainstream independent culture. So, who knows. I’m not sure how I feel about it either. I like this record and its sci-fi experimental vision of black metal. Definitely worth a purchase and a listen. The record starts off sweet, and then it gets riffy with black metal snarls. The record insert shows two obscured figures in a forest, kind of kvlt but also kind of cool. There’s a really nice noise/industrial crunch to some of the tracks on the second side, making the record an enjoyable listen overall.
One from the archives: Noise Nomads’ Nose Picker. Unlike other noise performers/groups which flood the market with 10 releases a month, NN’s discography is rather tame for a noise act that is, by all accounts, over six years old. I have been looking for this sucker, released on the eminent RRRecords, for a while and to my pleasant surprise I stumbled across it recently at a record store. Noise Nomads’ work spans a broad swath of the current noise landscape. The live performance can be incredibly physical and the sounds range from pedal and amp frenzy to guitar yowls. Nose Picker is comprised of live and studio tracks from 2006. Legit as all hell and totally awesome.
Send your tapes/LPs/7”s/lathes/CDs /zines etc… to:
Jamie Johns
5407 2nd Ave Apt. 3B
Brooklyn, NY 11220
Email me: faderfreakscene@gmail.com
(Please note that due to my trip to China, there will be a delay in listening to the goodies but I promise they will be treated with love and affection.)
