Form and Void: The Bear God Edition
If you love someone, let them go. No, that’s not it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. That’s a bingo. It’s been too long, friends. You might be sitting at your desk dumbfounded as to why this edition of Form and Void is “the Bear God edition.” I was recently chatting with our favorite Finnish writer and Ursidae deity when he proclaimed to me “write another Form and Void. I need new noise”. I’m not the kind of person to refuse a friend – or a proclamation from a god. If this is the sort of thing you’re into, you have the Bear God to thank. If you’ve always hated this feature, you have him to blame. I’m only the vessel.
We just have a couple of quick things to cover in today’s post.
First up is an album from Cleveland, Ohio noise artist Nyodene D. Really Aaron Vilk, Nyodene D has been building a name for himself and steadily releasing material since 2009. He has released material on Fusty Cunt (also responsible for Koufar, among others), The Vomit Arsonist’s Danvers State Recordings, and Malignant Records, who have been covered on this site on more than one occasion. I recently got into Nyodene D myself, and have been playing his 2012 record Edenfall a lot since I first heard it.
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Edenfall’s sound, overall, can best be described as a mixture of methodical industrial noise and (somewhat) subdued power electronics. It has less in common with much of the depraved impenetrable noise I’ve written about here in the past and more in common with something like The Vomit Arsonist’s Only Red (favorably reviewed on our site here and ranked amongst my favorites of 2015). It’s heavy throughout, and discomforting when it needs to be, but Edenfall represents the growth of its creator from albums past. Thematically the central message is “humanity falling from innocence and grace through dehumanization, exploitation and self-destruction” [source below], which is a far cry from much of the serial killer, sexual perversion, and racist tropes found in power electronics. Aaron described the progression of his sound as a reaction to the low quality yet high praise consistent in his genre (from a 2013 interview with Heathen Harvest):
Heathen Harvest: So how did your style of industrial / power electronics evolve from your earlier days into what it is today? What propelled you towards making more structurally conscious music?
Aaron Vilk: My own development in sound is derived from both reaction to and emulation of things I observed in extreme music. My conscious decision to incorporate a greater degree of composition and structure to Nyodene D was in many ways reactionary; it was born out of frustration with the acclaim that so much experimental and even harsh noise / industrial music can garner despite a lack of song-craft, conceptual planning, and quality control. I was tired of seeing noise artists being lauded for their latest c-10 of crummy, whispery harsh noise packaged in poorly xeroxed art. I was equally disenchanted with how artistically unexplored and fertile subject matter was merely being wrapped around abstract harsh noise without any deeper significance or meaning.
Harsh static and distorted screams are present on Edenfall – there are also unusual melodies and tribal chants, if you pay close attention. If you aren’t a fan of this sort of thing, it won’t likely convert you. If you are, this album should make your regular rotation. Also of note, Nyodene D recently released Witness To The Flood on Chondritic Sound in April of this year. Half the tracks are streaming on Bandcamp.
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Lastly, I have been waiting for news about a new power electronics project called Ten Thousand Miles of Arteries since my early summer trip to New York for APEX VI. While attending the fest, Chicago noise musician Auditor informed me of this project, and mentioned how promising it seemed. The same three unfinished and unmastered tracks have been on Bandcamp for months, but apparently a deal is in the works to release the finished material on Theologian’s Annihilvs Power Electronix. These tracks sound remarkable given their unfinished status. “White Robe” is especially creepy. Keep on the lookout for this one.
Cover image via
