Count Milwaukee's Peter J. Woods among the uncompromising innovators who keep modern noise music thrilling. Initially as Raperies (Not Draperies) -- and later, solo -- and in collaboration with outfits Phoned Nil Trio, the Peter J. Woods Free Jazz Ensemble, and xALLxFORxTHISx, Woods' recordings have incorporated an increasing degree of theatricality that has the effect of heightening the impact of every sound he makes, and even sounds he doesn't make: the silences dotting 2011's Songs For Nothing LP (After Music Recordings) and the new 3xCS release Fear (FTAM) are breathtakingly stark.
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​Noise music needs a Pause & Play: some means by which fans and critics and other noise musicians can train spot and anticipate whatever's coming down the pike. Given the uncompromising nature of the music and its underground, we're-cool-with-basement-shows-where-only-three-people-attend ethos, the likelihood that a site where one can check for, say, the forthcoming Aaron Dilloway reissue or Realicide live recording is pretty much nil. Part of being a noise addict is accepting the face that you're gonna have to do a lot of the legwork yourself; it's not like Skaters or Leslie Keffer cassette runs of 20 copies are gonna show up on the Insound "Upcoming Release" page or even necessarily in Fusetron's monthly email update dispatches.

This mindset is a big part of why I didn't know Axolotl had a new album out until maybe two months ago: an album that came out last April. No clue.
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Not that Marty McFly or Doc Brown would ever willingly rock Back to the Future the Ride in the DeLorean or anything, but this one-man Foot Village side project is definitely onto something almost Tibetan-monkish. In just shy of twenty minutes, this debut -- titled, hilariously, Back to the Future The Ride The Ride (grab it free and legal here) -- opens up a portal into a living, breathing netherworld of enveloping mouth-breathe drone. More »

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Burning Star Core, an out-noise concern centered around Cinncinati-based violinist/electronics guy C. Spencer Yeh, is a welcome rarity in terms of its rewarding artistic progression; with every passing year and each successive release, the band becomes slightly more interesting, more sonically seltzer. This is significant, because BXC boasts a huge catalogue and because its metier is mannered, drone-y noise -- there's always a concerted, OCD feel to their recordings, which generally zero in on a handful of fuzzy sounds and handily exploit their inherent possibilities.

The crew's new album, Inside the Shadow (Hospital Productions), is shaping up to be one of 2010's first notable noise releases, a worthy heir apparent to BXC's killer run over the past couple years: shredded-tone masterpiece Blood Lightning 2007 (No Fun), crispy-cruel Challenger (Hospital), and drone-tastic Operator Dead... Post Abandoned (No Quarter).

(This is to say nothing, of course, of the onslaught of collabos and side projects and Yeh solo outings.) More »