Quttinirpaaq- Let's Hang Out (2013)

From the minute I set the needle down I could tell that Let’s Hang Out was going to be sludgier, noisier, and all around better than No Visitors.  This album is more focused and takes a much better direction.  It is a great album and will be ending up in my top 10 noise rock albums for the year.

After the slow, heavy intro, “Chinese Hercules” comes in with a great opening riff.  Soon, delayed vocals and feedback fill up the sound and leave the listener with 6:00 more minutes of thick rock.  “Stork” continues with this style: throw a quick guitar loop, slam some drums, add something with delay, and top it off with feedback.  I personally think it is a great approach, and “Stork” really shows this.

If this album has one major flaw, it is that the songs never flow together.  Tracks like “Stork” stop so abruptly, only to have a completely different sound come in afterwards.  An improvement in continuity would have turned this record from a collection of songs into a more unified piece; what I always hope to hear from an album.

I may think that the transmissions between tracks may be rough at times, but that doesn’t mean the tracks are bad.  When the reviewer is picking apart the one second in-between tracks, that is when you know an album probably has some things going for it.

Let’s Hang out feels like a giant step forward for Quittinirpaaq.  The industrial aspects have been toned down, but when presented (“Man without a Body”) they are tight and well mixed with the other sounds.  Additionally, Turner’s band is more willing to explore other possible areas of music.  “A Golden Sheriff” shows us a Hecker-styled ambient (and is a great ender to Side A).

Side B follows a very similar formula to that of Side A; heavy noise rock for a few tracks and a couple nice guitar-based ambient tracks to close it all out.  Also, just look at how nice this record looks.

Listen to it Here and swoop up a copy of your own.

The Rott Childs- Alleluia: A Brit Milah In G Melodic Minor (2013)

I wrote up a nice long review of this album over on Earbuddy, but felt that I should mention this album quickly on here as well.  If you want to hear something that sounds someplace between Hella and Blood Brothers, I suggest you check this album out.

You can read my full review Here, and stream the full album off of their website, Here.

Also, be on the lookout for the vinyl release which should be out real soon

The Dead C- Armed Courage (2013)

Bands have a tendency to mellow out over time.  Usually when they don't, there is an extreme decline in the quality of their musical output; usually when they do, the music shifts from straightforward to abstract and genre pushing.  withe The Dead C's new two track album, armed courage, we see a mellowing out of the sound, and, in my opinion, the music gets its strength from this.

Let's start off with me acknowledging that I do not know much of their discography.  It is hard enough for me to keep up with a current year's music, let alone music that came before it.  That said, The Dead C provide us with a more mellow sound that I have come to expect from them.  The first track is a soft, cold instrumental piece that lasts over twenty minutes.  The other track clocks in at just over twenty-three minutes and features synths, loops, guitar, drums, piano, and the occasional wind chime, all the while presenting vocals in a very vulnerable nature.

If you are looking for a harsher ambiance within a noise rock sound, give this a go.

Listen to the second track Here, and purchase the album directly from the label Here

Sissy Spacek-Wreck (2013)

This is probably the harshest noise album I own (actually Troubled Sleep by Prurient may hold that record)
. Sissy Spacek start the album with an immediate blast of sound. If you don't care for noise, than do not bother with this album. If you are a fan of the genre, or interested in checking it out, this is a great album for you.


Like most noise albums, the quality comes from the layers and textures. Either you enjoy the end result or you don't. I found all six of the tracks to be absolutely fantastic. 'Overheat' is a perfect example that noise need not have loops and recurring patterns to still hold attention and feel carefully constructed. 'Balloon Assassination' has great vocals on it. The screams are all inaudible but match the ferocity of the sound accompanying them perfectly. This is something John Weise shows us is his expertise. The shrillest of pitches are much easier on the ear because of their careful placement after buildups of sound; the mixing of a deep static in one ear feels like the perfect accompaniment to the choppy tones played in the other. Weise is able to make a genre like harsh noise quite approachable all considered.


I find myself having the urge to put this album on at the strangest of times. I was listening to it when changing the headlights in my fiance's car. I was listening to it while applying for jobs one afternoon. If you haven't ever tried listening to harsher noise, why not put on some headphones and give this album a try. You may find yourself surprised with how relaxing auditory punishment can be.

Stream the album Here, and order it through paypal and email from Phage Tapes.

Hair Police- Mercurial Rites (2013)

My knowledge of Hair Police is extremely limited. I had a copy of Constantly Terrified back in high school, but it got borrowed and never returned. Since than I had not listened to any Hair Police until I recently heard Mercurial Rites came out.

Mercurial Rites is hard to classify. The soundscape is filled with harsh squeals and looming tones, but I wouldn't necessarily classify it as 'noise'. Rather it is as if Hair Police were trying to make ambient instrumentation but attempted this by dredging an assortment of noise releases. The sound is haunting, and not in the Halloween kind or way, but instead in the playing Silent Hill 2 in the dark kind of way.

Some of the instrumentation is quite reminiscent of older Wolf Eyes, specifically their album Slicer. If you have made your way through Wolf Eye's catalog, you may realize that this is a great point to be compared to.

The vocals on Mercurial Rites fall somewhere between the intense whispering style of older Sightings music and the overdriven effect screams of Whitehouse. While at times the vocals do hold the music back slightly ('We Prepare'), tracks like 'Scythed Wide' turn out a perfect representation of what Hair Police were trying to achieve. I found that the more minimalistic the vocals were, the more they fit the mood of the music and the better it overall sounded.

Overall, I found myself mildly enjoying the album until I got to the second half. From 'Dilate and Inhabit' on, Mercurial Rites was engrossing, and it is because of these tracks I keep going back and am taking the time to share it with you. 

Stream the album Here