Saturday, May 30, 2009

KOMMPOUND LIVE ANNOUNCED!

NOISE/AMBIENT SPECIAL FORCES LIVE
sabbath20jun200999 @ KINKY KONG/Athens:

KOMMPOUND

NAΦΘALYN

(feat. Mantas: Voidhead, Dephosphorus)

LUNAR MIASMA

(ex-Red Needled Sea)

More details soon.

Friday, May 1, 2009

PLAYLIST, COD4:MW (Xbox 360) anti-cheater patch, “Noise vs. Subversive Computing”

  • PLAYLIST

SUFFOCATION "Blood Oath"

SLAYER "Seasons In The Abyss"

AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED "Agorapocalypse" (they should be paying me royalties for stealing my last name!)

ROYKSOPP "Junior"

GUNS N'ROSES "Use Your Illusion I&II"

O.S.T. "Wipeout Pure"

  • As per KOMMPOUND, latest outing is going to be the track "Softmod Exploit" plus the "Black Box Secrets" text about Xbox hacking, part of the “Noise vs. Subversive Computing” USB stick compilation, an international premiere by my komrade Pascal Cretain. Here goes the press release.

COMPUTATIONALLY INFEASIBLE RECORDS 001

“Noise vs. Subversive Computing”


This is the “Noise vs. Subversive Computing” Project: A Collaborative release split between Noise/Experimental Artists and Subversive Technologists/Computer Hackers. Ten representatives from each camp were asked to contribute a piece of work which could be anything at all: an audio track, a drawing, a written passage, software, video, combination of all that, or anything else that can be converted to binary. The Noisicians had “Subversive Computing” as their central theme, and the Technologists worked with “Noise”.

This is the outcome:

NOISE:

0. BBBlood (UK) - Bicep Venoms Gut Virus [AUDIO]
1. Config.sys (DE) - Bit Bucket [AUDIO]
2. Family Battle Snake (DE) – Black Hat [AUDIO]
3. Francisco Lopez (ES) – Untitled 223 [AUDIO]
4. GEN 26 (SI) - Untitled [AUDIO]
5. Hellboy106 (GR) - stgzknmhtrka [IMAGE+AUDIO]
6. ILIOS (GR) - 4000 ĉevaloj kriegas Mi ami Vi [AUDIO]
7. KOMMPOUND (GR) - Softmod Exploit [AUDIO+WORDS]
8. La Jacquerie (IT) – Re: If you're angry don’t [AUDIO]
9. Sarah's Charity (DK) - Colour of Clarity [AUDIO]

SUBVERSIVE COMPUTING:

0. Ach3n0r (GR) - Noise Steganography [SOFTWARE]
1. Ashrae tosh & KaOS (BE/DK) - Netglitch [AUDIO+WORDS]
2. E (US) - Sifting through the Noise [WORDS]
3. EK (UK) - Rainbow [AUDIO]
4. G0rg0g0l (GR) - Gorgogoogle: Web, Search, Noise [SOFTWARE]
5. Gorrrrgar (RO) - My kind of Shithole [PHOTOGRAPHY MATRIX+WORDS]
6. Jazra Khaleed (GR) - Noise [POEM]
7. Pascal Cretain (DK) - Information Pollution [VIDEO]
8. Rodrigo Marcos (UK) - MySQL Sounds [VIDEO+SOFTWARE]
9. Stelios Douskos (US) - LawyerFish [SOFTWARE]

The merger is truly fascinating; explosive to say the least. The radical thinkers at work in here have the momentum, the mindset and the technical skills to crash Adaptive Firewalls, defy traditional definitions of music, “hack” live performance semantics and bypass Intrusion Detection Systems.

Only this is not Cyberspace. We are subtly injecting polymorphic shellcode into your reality, brainwashing you with white noise and reverse engineering your obsolete modus operandi.

Alas; you can’t pull the plug.


“Noise vs. Subversive Computing” out 01.06.2009
Limited release of 256 Numbered Copies in 1GB USB Stick format
Contact Pascal Cretain (pascal.cretain [at] gmail.com) for Ordering Information

Sunday, February 22, 2009

TIGER TELEVISION!

Hey check my latest project, the TIGER TELEVISION bogzine! If you like it please spread the word, and leave feedback!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

THE TIGER TV SESSIONS#2: THE END (interview 2004)


THE TIGER TV SESSIONS#2: 2004 interview with...

THE END

The End Complete

Heavy musical aggression.Discordant rhythms and riffs.Emotions and passion from within.Unique technique and fast forward thinking.How can a band draw all these elements to the canvas of the heavy music?Andrew Hercules (Guitar) explains us the way...


The new album is brilliant.How did it come so aggressive?
I think that’s just our style,in reference to our first album i think the arrangement style was harder hitting and you can feel it.We wanted a more together feel for this album and part of that was coming together with all instruments to really drive some of the finer intricacies in the music home.I think that focus directly translates into ‘in your face’ rock ‘n’ roll.

Your previous effort was shocking.Although its little duration as an album one could see that this band had a lot to give.Your comments.
Excuse the cliche but it’s quality versus quantity ,a lot of bands put music on the album just for the sake of having another song or more playing time for the industry,we never think like that,we want everything on our albums to be well thought out and quality.If you want filler there’s a million other bands for music fans to listen to.

How much did shows help The End from their start?Is The End a live band?
Shows are everything.The album is really just a 2-dimensional snapshot of what our band really is.I think you learn the most from bands when watching them live.That is our strongest element as a band,i believe that to be true for any really good band.

How can you remember all these riffs and moderation changes?
A song is a song and either you know the way it goes or you don’t.It’s not hard to remember.For instance if your name was 30 letters long instead of 6 would you have any problem remembering it?I doubt it.Our songs are the same way.We’de be complete idiots if they weren’t.As for the writing process ,i’ll just say that it takes time and high standards and expectations.

• How difficult is for The End to record material?
Not any more difficult than any other band.There our songs and we know how to play’em so it’s not that difficult for us,but we work with talented producers as well and making sure the tones are captured as we want is the challenge.Playing the songs is the easy part of us,knowing the studio and being able to use it to its fullest in a very finite amount of time is quite difficult.

Do you really write so distinct music or it’s just the fact that you are Canadians so it’s justified?(Just joking!)
Canada is certainly unique,just look at the map!!!We also have some of the finest acts in the brutal music business.We love being Canadian and we are products of enviroment like everyone else.It feels amazing to add to the reputation of the Canadian extreme.

What happened to Tyler the previous singer?He was more close to the Minakakis school of voice but Aaron is also brilliant.
Tyler was one of those people that needs to do his own thing.The End is five people coming together to make a new whole.Tyler didn’t exactly fit in to that,so although we got along great and he was a talented singer it couldn’t last.He has a different musical project now.Aaron on the other hand completes the unit and the balance which is really important in a creative work enviroment:Balance.Figure it out. 

How much do you get ratty when the others compare you to the Dillinger Escape Plan?
When someone makes that comparison we think one of two things:Either Dillinger is either the only newer style heavy music band they have ever heard.Or that they haven’t really listened to us at all.Put the albums side by side and show me the similarities ,yes we both have guitar and drums and distortion,but the rhuthms and the riffs are totally different ,but to the untrained ear who knows what we sound like.

Your inspirations start from King Crimson and end with Atheist and more progressive stuff.Do you agree with that version?
Definitely we have an infinite amount of respect for those bands that pushed themselves playing and writing and ultimately created something different and new something unique.It is that kind of passion that we definitely draw form in our band and in our lives.

What happened to all these groups that play this schizophrenic jazzy hardcore?Is there a competition for who is playing faster and better or is it something that comes from within?
I think a lot of musicians are bored with the standard song.The verse chorus verse.The typical solo.For aspiring players there is a lot that can be done within that style.I don’t think most of the bands are trying to fit to the mould necessarily ,but they are discovering different aspects of their instruments and abilities call it jazzy hardcore.I call it aggressive musical passion.

The packaging for ‘Within Dividia’ is superb.Which idea was all of this?
The Dividia lived and died,we only tried to recreate as much of their world as possible.All creative edit goes to the Dividia who perished in flames and relative obscurity for being misunderstood.

Do lyrics mean a lot for you although more of thesemusic fans take notice to music first?Is there a pity for the band or do you care more for the music?
The music and lyrics are one in the same to us.And so we have the same standards for both good music good ideas.

Do groups such as Deadguy,Kiss It Goodbye and Cynic reflect you as a group?
A ll the bands you have mentioned have left huge impressions on the heavy music underground and looking at the bands they have influenced it’s almost impossible to say that we don’t have elements of those bands encoded within our music ,but i think people look so often at the ‘obvious’ influences that they fail to see where bands like Nirvana,Godspeed You!Black Emperor,Shotmaker and whole lot of other bands need to be added to our personal list.  

Describe us the greatest The End incident so far.
Last night we were driving 16 hours home from Thunder Boy Ontario and we got pulled over for having almost no working lights and for speeding somehow we didn’t get a ticket for either.Then the cop told us to watch out for ‘moose and shit’ and to ‘crank the tunes’.That’s pretty great as far as i am concerned.

Would you come to Greece for a show?
We are planning too in November so check the Relapse records site for tour updates and start training physically and mentally.


Interrogation by Thanos Mantas

Photo Credit: W.Gosselin

2004

THE TIGER TV SESSIONS#1:INSISION INTERVIEW 2004 (unreleased in English)


Back in 2004, we started working with some friends (including Tolis Yovanitis & Mantas) on a ecclectic & diverse music/art webzine which would be called TIGER TV.  It never came to fruition though, and since I recently came across the stuff we had rounded up at the time, I will put it online for the sake of documentation. For starters here you go buddy, an old INSISION interview from 2004, unreleased in english

INSISION – Odor Of Sanctity

By Panos Agoros

I love 10”EP’s. The one between INSISION & INVERACITY on almighty Nuclear Winter Rek is one of my faves. The swedes hooked me up immediately (and you can read in the review sektion what I think about INVE). As a matter of fact I believe they’re one of the best things the modern brutal deathmetal scene has to offer. After the chaotik debut “Beneath The Folds Of Flesh”, “Revealed And Worshipped” hammers the nail even further and oh boy does this feel good. This interrogation with vokiller & satanik wordmaster Carl Birath has been initially conducted in Sept.’04 for a Metal Hammer GR feature. This is the uncut/untranslated version.

your new album is more technical than “beneath”. What motivated you to go to that direction?

Carl: first up the songs on R&W are made all together and are all songs made within the same time-span. BTFOF was partly older material mixed with new but main reason for getting more technical is the obvious fact of progression in a band. We found new ways of dealing with the music and this was the outcome. 

in what other terms would you say that you have evolved since “Beneath”? 


Carl: Well as ‘beneath…’ was mainly old material put together I can say that lyric-wise I have been able to work more with a red line running through the lyrics. We have also grown as persons all of us, been through some tough times but always seemed to walk through it flawless but with some scars to strengthen you.

Is there any lyrical concept for the new album? What is “Ideas Of Revolution” talking about?

Carl:
It’s from a vision I had.
It inspired me to write the pretexts and the lyrics.
Its mainly in the eye of the beholder man…
what do you think its about?

how come that track#4 has only spoken word & some ambient soundscapes? Don’t you think it breaks a little bit the pace of the record?


Carl:
It’s a breather…to catch your breath also it works as a ‘breaker’ and brakes of the album for a few minutes.
It was mainly an idea that came into my mind when recording the album; still I have had these kinds of ideas before. The Words in that track are a compilation of all the pree- texts on the album…. So its in symbioses with the whole feel of the album I guess.
When you read the lyrics of the whole album you will find out.
 
why has thomas daun left the band? is Marcus Jonsson your new permanent drummer? Who replaced Toob Brynedal on tour & is he doing better?

Carl: Thomas left the band because he lack of dedication to the band. Ha has been playing in some other band that plays some ‘pop-rock-glam’ music and decided to do that instead. For us it was more of a relief really as he had been holding us back for the last year making it hard to rehearse & create new songs etc. so his decision for leaving was very much a mutual decision indeed. I’m not back stabbing him in anyway, he was a good drummer and a cool friend and still is and we are not in any way enemies but insision did not fall just because of him leaving. He has been on his way from the band for a long time now and didn’t contribute much in the end. If your not part of the plan your just luggage so to speak.
Marcus is our new drummer for the moment, but as it looks right now he works very well in the band not only music wise but also on a personal level. Easy to work with, laidback and into this kind of music. Generally he is much Faster and more technical then Thomas, so in fact he is better, which is just splendid and he is also a fast learner. The first thing we are going to do when back home is to start rehearsing new songs that fits his kind of drumming. At this point we have to hold him back from getting all ‘speed-crazy’ on us. None replaced Toob, we just went with Roger instead and it worked out Ok I think, of course you are missing one guitar but its still insision allright.
toob is doing Allright but will not be coming back with us.
… after his drop out of the tour and his interest in the the other band that Thomas is in he had to go as well… We are at this very moment looking for a replacement. Had some hooks out and are at this point going trough which ones to take for a test round. We are in no worries at all…

how was the tour with suffocation? I saw them in the furyfest, they were incredible I guess they were as good in the rest of the shows? In which order did you play with the other support bands & did you like them?

Carl: We did it by Schedule , changing every night. I know from start Insision was supposed to be main Support I don’t know why it fell through but it worked out good anyway I mean everyone got a fair chance to play main support and we had a blast.
The other bands where Disgorge (usa) and Dementor (slovakia) And they where all great guys and we had no problem whatsoever We where riding the same bus as Disgorge and Dementor where having there own Van to travel in so of course we got closer To Disgorge but in the end all was good and we all enjoyed hanging out together.
Suffocation was awesome every night I promise you, bringing their own sound engineer they kicked ass every show on the whole tour. They are also very pleasant and cool to hang out with, all different characters for sure.
If we get a chance we’d be more then glad doing some more shows with them…

Why did you chose to produce the album w/ Mieszko Talarczyk @ Soundlab? What kind of experience was recording with him?


Carl: We decided to Do sound Lab because we head so much good about it and also that Mr Mieszko was a good producer, but also we where willing to try something new. The experience was awesome. Me , Roger and Toob where there all the time and ever worked the nightshift with parts of the solos and vocals Thomas only joined for the drums and Daniel stepped in to do the bass.
It worked very smoothly Mieszko is easy to work with and have lots of good ideas on how to put stuff down to make it good. All in all we had a very good experience and we are actually thinking of returning to Sound lab if possible in the future.

I saw in the studios session gallery a photo in front of an analogue mastering device. Was the mastering done analogically?

Carl: We had an idea of using the Analogue mastering device just to make it sound a bit thicker and less digital and I guess it worked. We transferred the digital down on the Analogue tape recorder and then turned everything around and did it the other way back from analogue to Digital. It compressed the sound a bit and cut of some of the higher peaks and flattened the sound. It was all Mieszkos idea and we liked the outcome of it. The Mastering was made all digital this Analogue thing was just a small part of the process.

how are you doing with wicked world/earache?

carl: We are doing Good. At this time we got full Promotion from them, which is great. I mean if you wanna make some thing out of a record you’d better let ppl know about it, right… !? And w/ this suffocation tour, new record, new Video and new T-shirts coming up we are a 100% promoted which is good. Lots of ppl get to get the insision-experience!


any other swedish deathmetal you’d recommend our readers to check out?

carl : well except for the regular ass kicking bunch, VISCERAL BLEEDING, GOD HATE, SPAWN OF POSSESSION, KAAMOS and IMMERSED IN BLOOD among others we got IMPERIOUS and also you got SEPTIC BREED as newcomers, well worth checking out! (youll find a bunch of cool links at www.insision.com)
Shit man I mean there are a hell of a lot of good brutal stuff coming out of brewing here in Sweden at this point I cant mention all…

did you had the chance to listen to Inveracity’s debut fulllength album & how did you like it?

Carl: Ahhh What the fuck?! I haven’t heard about this? I wanna get my self a copy… No I haven’t heard it so I can’t comment on it… is it any good?

what are your projects for the near future? Any US touring plans?

carl: At this point, now when back home in Sweden after the European tour with the mighty Suffocation we are about to do some smaller gigs and in between we are about to start work on new material… 2 years are a long time to not release something and we are sure not gonna waste any time this time around.
With Marcus behind the drums we can work with some more viscous and more brutal stuff and that is what we are planning at this point… To keep the train rolling. Death metal in absurdum.

words of the end?


Carl: Well, To all you crazy death heads out there and fans of this music and scene remember without you there is no fucking scene at all..
Keep the bloody flag of Death metal high.
Be sure to check out our latest album revealed and worshipped. Feel free to visit the web page http://www.insision.com for more stuff on insision.
Keep it brutal and twisted
Rex Mundi regare
Over and out
/Carl Birath / INSISION 2004