NO-CORE

The Mugu Guymen are a noise-rock duo who may or may not actually be from Nigeria. (If you’re curious about the origin of the band name, see this Wikipedia article.) Here are the facts I can give you though: They use contact miked drums and drum-triggered sounds run through effects, as well as some mangled guitar and hollered vocals to create some high-energy, chaotic noise-rock.

The drums are usually either pounding out rock beats or building up to that point, and the noises are largely harsh, swirling analog sounds with laser sounds well-represented. As you might guess because of the similar methods used, this probably comes closest in sound to Mindflayer, although the Mugu Guymen sound is much more varied. You might call this psychedelic, although definitely not “nice psychedelic.” The fact that it’s improvised and the techniques in use are quite literally experimental means you get moments that were probably just as much a surprise to the band as to the listener. During one song there is a sudden surge in guitar volume and a totally evil crashing sound washes over everything. I’m guessing it was a fluke but it sounds perfect at the same time.

This tape is full of those kinds of moments. It must be some combination of genius, dumb luck, and smart track editing. There are 4 tracks on side 1, which are all pretty hard-hitting, then one long track on side 2 which gives you some slightly more low-key moments in between the cacophonous moments and also provides more evidence for the “genius” assessment since it’s consistently awesome. Some really funny stereo things happen on side 2 also which might make you wonder if your tape deck is chewing up your tape. If you hear something like that, don’t take a chance, make sure your tape is okay! You’ll want to give this one some repeat listens.

http://myspace.com/muguguymen
http://www.soundsfromthepocket.com/catalog.htm

Here’s the set-up. Craig Comstock is the one-man-band This Is My Condition. He plays guitar and drums and sings, all at once. I’m not talking about playing a bass drum strapped on his back, I mean he plays a full drum kit and plays a guitar, balanced across the snare and floor tom, with his drum sticks, as he plays. And honestly, if you just listened, you would never believe what was happening, which I suppose is why this is a DVD and not a CD.

So that sounds like an interesting gimmick, right? But how does it sound? This will rock your face off. Serious. At the risk of going on and on about all the bands I saw play at the INC in Miami, This Is My Condition stirred up the fiercest mosh action there, complete with dudes stage-diving off his kick drum! (because he was playing on the floor, see?) Unfortunately, this DVD documents some shows with more sedate audiences, but This Is My Condition still gets them moving.

Because the guitar is being played with drum sticks, it mostly sounds like noisy finger-tapping (again, a bit like Lightning Bolt) or noisy slide guitar, rather bluesy even at times. At times the guitar is sampled and looped, but usually this is just so that a second guitar part can be played over the top. And in between all the high-energy stuff, there are just enough quieter tension-building songs (that really work!) to make the rock really hit you. The footage is clear and steady, with some relatively non-distracting effects here and there, and the sound is good. At times the camera microphone is overblown, but it still sounds great. It’s pretty captivating to watch this music being made, but the music is also good enough on its own that I wish it came with a CD of just the audio.

Comes in a nice recycled-LP sleeve, on Sounds From The Pocket.

http://www.thisismycondition.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thisismycondition
http://soundsfromthepocket.com/catalog.htm

I love this record! Alright, I don’t love it yet, and in fact find it a bit of an exhausting listen and don’t always finish it. But then I keep finding myself wanting to listen again and enjoying it more each time. An addictive acquired taste! I had the same kind of experience way back when with Big Black’s “Songs About Fucking” which seemed pretty sonically extreme to me at the time.

Cousins of Reggae is a duo from Montreal, one of whom is Blake Hargreaves, a guy who keeps busy in the underground noise scene and is also half of the excellent noise duo Dreamcatcher. This is basically a guitar and drums thing, but a seriously dense and blown out cacophony of drums and guitar, and a whole bunch of sounds that come from sources unknown. There are even unintelligible vocals in the mix. I’d say this falls somewhere between Royal Trux’s “Twin Infinitives” and the noisiest Harry Pussy stuff.

I think what keeps me coming back to this is that there seems to be some deep logic underlying all the squall, but it’s hard to decipher. Now and then you get a definite guitar riff of the caveman/early Royal Trux type or an almost math-rocky rhythm, but any coherent music usually disappears into the sonic blizzard. I feel like if I keep staring, a master plan is going to pop out at me like those 3-D fractal posters. How much of this is really planned and practiced, how much is just free improv, and how much is a figment of my imagination? Cousins of Reggae definitely blur those lines, but that’s what makes this album so much fun. And it’s one hellacious racket.

CDR on “Our Mouth” Records

http://ourmouthrecords.com/catalogue.html

http://www.myspace.com/cousinsofreggae