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Unrest Productions

Am Not – Cold + Disloyal (2022)

  • noise

It has been five years since the last cd of Am Not. The meantime has seen some tapes and vinyl. Now suddenly there is a double cd. It is not entirely clear to me what the history of this release is. The album can be listened to on the Bandcamp of a label called “Kampf Unrest” which has the logo of the (defunct?) Unrest Productions label that also released “Unpunished : Appendix” (2018). Bandcamp does not offer buying a physical copy. These physical copies appear to have to come from Tesco, but are not yet available.

Bandcamp says that there are: “10 new songs about dispossession”. According to the Tesco website, there are: “11 new songs about dispossession”. Perhaps the Bandcamp release is one of the cds and there is one long track on the other?

For now, based on the Bandcamp release, I can say that “Cold + Disloyal” has the ‘harsh noise’ style of Am Not. Walls of noise, industrial blasts, metal clanging, extreme vocals. There are not the more dark and structured tracks of the brilliant “Unpunished” (2015). Towards the end there is an ambient track and the Bandcamp album closes with an ‘organ track’.

Update 16/12. The digipack is a nice threefold double cd. The extra cd has an alright 23 minute noisy soundscape.

Am Not remains one of the more interesting ‘new’ noise acts. I am curious what the 11th track will bring.

Links: Am Not, Tesco

Am Not – Extraterritoriality (mc 2020)

Thanks to Noise Receptor I heard about this release before the 102 copies were gone.

“Extraterritoriality” is a six track tape. It opens with the brutal “Cleansing Violence”, a great track. Then follow two more tranquil tracks with lyrics or lengthy samples. Recognisable lyrics and samples? The recognisability is certain with “Homecoming” which seems to be an alternative version to “Come Home”.

The latter mentioned title is the first on side B called “Entry” and is a not too extreme, but a somewhat industrial track. Next up the aggression rises again. Distorted sounds, a pounding rhythm, shouting samples and after a while aggressive vocals. “Red Emperor, White Forces” is a magnificent Am Not track. The closing track is again more ‘noisescapes’ with a lengthy sample.

It looks like it that Noise Receptor has a better eye and ear to find the thematics of Am Not’s music, so I suggest reading that review too.

Links: Am Not, Unrest Productions

High Stress Reaction ‎– Cumulative Hurt (mc 2020)

  • noise

Apparently a debut. I cannot find anything about this project.

In the cover there is a quote in Polish meaning ‘dictatorship is not a bad word’. The quote leads me to a Polish Wikipedia article about Chaim Rumkowski, a Jew who thought that working for the Nazis would save him and his people.

That said, HSR offers muffled noise with an industrial angle and sometimes very distorted vocals. The sound is a bit like hearing industrial while the speaker is below a pillow. There are not the high frequencies of many noise releases in most tracks, but neither is this the ‘wall of noise’ kind of music.

I prefer the more death industrial type tracks, especially when there are vocals, over the more minimalist ones and over the more chaotic (typical) ones.

Overall “Cumulative Hurt” sounds alright. It has a few descent tracks (especially the opening and closing tracks) and the rest is not bad either.

Link: Unrest Productions

Am Not – Unpunished: Appendix (10″ 2018)

Discogs.com

The appendix to the excellent “Unpunished” album comes as a beautiful 10″. It has cards with the lyrics and an A5 booklet with an interview between the label and the project.

The appendix contains four tracks. They are more of the wall-of-sound type than some of the tracks on the cd, but excellently moody and layered like we are used to from this great project. 

The 10″ opens with a monologue from “The Singing Detective” slowly going over in a death industrial type of low frequency noise blasts. The vocals are screamed and hardly understandable. 
The vocals are even more muffled on “Dark Star Kinshasa” which is really a wall of noise. 
Over on side B follows the only obvious link to the “Unpunished” album (track-wise) with “Extremophilia II”. Where this is a short track on the cd, we now get a longer, pounding track with screamed vocals.
Closing with the instrumental “State Funeral”, which is relatively tranquil and a not too interesting track, we close this way too short album. But not to worry, by the time this piece of vinyl arrived, I had heard of a cassette released by Zaetraom, so I guess I better be quick. There was a tape version of “Appendix” limited to 24 copies, so how many copies will there be of “Incursions”? 

Three magnificent tracks. Am Not remains perhaps the best new noise project of late.

Links: Am Not, Tesco

Am Not – First Morbid Vibrations (2012/2017)

  • noise

I got to know Am Not when he released the great second album “Unpunished” (2015). A while ago another good album was released (“The Developing World” 2017). Then I learn that Am Not’s debut tape from 2012 has been rereleased on cd.

I had already heard this 34 minute debut, so I knew it is not as good as the later albums. An artist can develop, right? “First Morbid Vibrations” opens with a great, dark, noise track. Then follows a more ambient track and the third tracks starts off quite quietly too, but we soon go over in complete noise mayhem, a pretty damn dark piece of wall-of-sound style noise. Track 4 is again more ambient and the fifth a somewhat strange kind of fairly extreme noise, but not very chaotic of sound. The closing track is one of these extreme, high-pitched, unstructured noise, the not-my-kind type of noise, tracks, that is to say, I have heard much worse noise. Perhaps I will get used to this track.

It is safe to say that the album starts well, but develops in a negative way, but certainly without getting bad. The larger part is still pretty good. Not as good as the meticulously created later albums and I miss the vocals, but this is a descent document of a time past,
People who are curious about the debut of Am Not can now get a copy on cd.

Links: Am Not, Unrest Productions

Abscheu – Pretense (mc 2017)

Unrest may not be a guarantee for a good release, but of the labels that I (relatively) recently discovered, Unrest has a descent success rate.

Here we have the second release of Abscheu, both tapes on Unrest Productions. I do not know the debut, but judging the new tape, it may be a good idea to get a copy. “Pretense” is limited to 141 copies though, so perhaps “Breviary Of Chaos” might well be sold out.

Similar to other Unrest releases, Abscheu presents great tracks and not-my-kind-of-noise tracks (chaotic, high frequencies, etc.). The thing is, there are some great death industrial things here, perhaps even reminding of Ex.Order. Other tracks have a bit of that structured noise sound of Am Not, the project that acquainted me with Unrest Productions.

Perhaps I should make some sort of Unrest playlist with the good tracks and leave out the ones that I do not like, because the good tracks can be great and this can be said for “Pretense” too.

Links: Abscheu, Unrest Productions

Uncodified * Maybe All Is Not Completed (cd 2016)

I ran into Uncodified because I checked to see what Unrest Productions were available from the Tesco mailorder. Uncodified proves to be a productive producer. There is even a more recent album on the same label.

“Maybe All Is Not Completed” starts with a tranquil beat, but soon adds some noisy samples. Even though the opening track gets harscher towards the end, it can best be described as “ambient noise”. Nice, moody, dark and a bit ‘filmographic’.
The second track is more of a typical noise track. It is not too chaotic though and an alright track.
More of a “death industrial” sound comes at the third track, a great wall of noise.

This variety of ‘styles’ describes the entire album. It never gets really extreme, there are no “power electronics” here, but you still have to be able to stand some noise to be able to enjoy this album. I especially like the somewhat industrial tracks with low frequency rhythms over a wall of noise.

A pretty descent album. I will try to find some more releases of this very active individual who is also involved in varies other musical outlets.

Links: Uncodified, Unrest

Iron Fist Of The Sun ‎* Family Survival Strategy (mc 2016)

If ever there was an album for which the term “ambient noise” was fitting, it would be this one. (Probably) too noisy for people who like ‘dark ambient’, but not as extreme as (some) noise releases.

IFOTS apparently likes to play with styles. As my opening of this review suggests “Family Survival Strategy” is relatively tranquil. There are still nauseous frequencies and unpleasant sounds, but this tape certainly is not as extreme as this project can be.

I do not entirely like the ‘soundscapish’ approach of IFOTS, but the odd closing track is very amusing.

Links: IFOTS, Unrest Productions

Iron Fist Of The Sun ‎* Blush (cd 2016)

Like the other IFOTS album that I reviewed, “Blush” contains older material. “Blush” was previously released in 2010 as a cassette on the same label.

The other album that I reviewed was released on Cold Spring, just like Unrest Productions from the UK, but broader and bigger a label. Again like the other album, “Blush” has a mixed, musical approach. It opens very noisy, but the second track is more an ‘ambient noise’ kind of track (with one clear sound). The rest of the album mostly has fairly simple and repetative tracks, sometimes very noisy, sometimes less so. The vocals are almost absent and there are not really tracks that I like a lot. The best track is probably the closing one. The album is alright, but not really my thing.

Links: IFOTS, Unrest Production

S.T.A.B. Electronics ‎* Day Of The Male (cd 2015)

A while ago I was playing the great album “Unpunished” by Am Not and I wondered what other releases Unrest Productions would have. I listened to the tracks on their Soundcloud account and liked the track of S.T.A.B. Electronics, like Am Not (and like the label) from the UK.

Nowadays when I want to ‘try out’ a band, I just see if they are featured on Deezer or if they have a Bandcamp or Soundcloud page. Not everything is available online (which is perfectly fine with me) and I did not find much of S.T.A.B. Electronics. So, just as in the old days, I just bought a cd of a project I was curious about.

“Day Of The Male” opens with a descent ‘death industrial’ track with rumbling and noisy rhythms and screamed vocals. Perhaps ‘power electronics’ is a better description. However I do not entirely like the vocals, this track is a nice one.
Then follows a screeching noise track that I do not like at all.
Things get better with the title track which is again more ‘death industrial’. What follows hereafter is brutal power electronics, in one case pretty extreme: the great track “Marquis Complex”. The other tracks are nice to good, so overall I may conclude that “Day Of The Male” is a good power electronics album.

Links: S.T.A.B. Electronics, Unrest Productions