Remove The Consciousness For The Last Season

I mentioned a little release You Ever Think It's The End Of The World by Finnish act Consciousness Removal Project last year. It was a brutal mix of post metal ebb and flow with an industrial slant, and the guttural growls of singer Antii Loponen set all on edge. The new album The Last Season continues to mine this realm, eschewing the growls held throughout the majority of the tracks with some post-hardcore posturing on the final, title track. Yet it is the instrumental movements that hold one in thrall here, especially on 'Kyoto', which feels like it has been plucked straight out of a brooding, ultraviolent anime, especially with the sudden shifts in tone and sonic space. Its almost Mono-esque, not as well sewn together musically yet more earth-shattering. Its probably a little too close to the previous release to get too excited - but its still pretty worthy nonetheless.

Consciousness Removal Project - Kyoto

WTF Music

I have no idea what just happened.

The last 42 minutes I have stopped all I have doing - nearly stopped breathing, in fact - because all faculties were necessary to try to compute just what was going on in Ullakkopalo, the LP by Finnish uber altered chic-a-zoid Kemialliset Ystavad. That actually sounds harsh, but for well over a decade, Ystavad has done all he can to subvert everything music has to offer. And Ill tell you now - no matter what anyone (Pitchfork, Quietus, Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio, Ystavad himself, or me - which makes this post kind redundant) tells you, its not what you are about to embark upon when you slip this on and press PLAY.

This is the second artist from Tampere, Finland that Ive posted about these past few weeks (the other being sludge monsters Consciousness Removal Project, which is also so worth your time), and Im starting to think that I need to go back there - if only to freeze my brain to the extent where I can orchestrate fucked up genius like this. Finnish for 'chemical friends', Kemialliset Ystavad (AKA Jan Anderzen, a creative arts junkie whose avid works include installations, photography and film) has taken the electro-acoustic approach to the conventions of folk, then eschews those conventions to display a suite of sound that has every element - squeak, squelch, gleep, glitch, bleep, bump, wail, wheeze - out of place, yet together, like a million piece jigsaw puzzle, making sense only when everything is in its right place. And the listener feels just like the puzzler when that final piece is hammered home - the sensations of disbelief, relief, and utter satisfaction pervades throughout. Its weird, because within this miasma is a semblance of sense - but, just like a Magic Eye apparition, it takes all your focus to see the light. And yet you will see the light - the orchestration here is at times breathtaking in its scope and breath, at others grin-inducing at its innate simplicity. This is what Tunng might sound like if they were possessed by early 00s Animal Collective, or what Panda Bear might broach if Beck, Nick Drake and John McEntire were his spiritual totems.

Im about to play Ullakkopalo again, for the third time (its been playing its second route whilst I type this). It mightn't surprise you that Anderzen has worked with mum in the past. If only I had a bowl of weed and a mug of peyote... Actually, that would make my mind cave in. Just trust me when I say that this album is the wildest trip Ive experienced this year.

Ullakkopalo is out now through Fonal, which is a label well worth checking out - its the best place to get your mitts on Finnish experimental music that isnt Black metal, therefore its wonderfully weird and weirdly wonderful.

Kemialliset Ystavad - Ystavalliset Miekat
Kemialliset Ystavad - Kivikasan Rauhassa

Two bits of sludge is better than one...apologies!!!

Apologies to any Sonic Masala acolytes who long for their fix on a regular daily basis. But it had to happen - we often put up four, five, even six posts on a day, but on Monday we struck out. This may have happened before, but not when Ive been conscious of it. I even had a post to give you! But I had other things to think of, such as beautiful company, beautiful(ish) weather, a world film premiere at Frightfest, park dwelling, beer swilling - you see where Im going here?

I had better things to do.

There - Ive said it. Which isnt entirely true - but when its the last long weekend of the year, a break in the sun is surely warranted, no?

No? OK, fair dues. Note taken. Therefore today you get the post I was going to post on Monday (now two days late), plus an added extra post, all rolled into one! You lucky devils...especially if you like your rock especially opaque, murky, and goddamned sludgy...

First up is French dark princes Huata. Open The Gates Of Shambhala EP is a bludgeoning affair heralding all the trademarks of a doom/stoner/sludge band ready to march over the moors and be off with your heads. However, there is a certain texture evident throughout that is reminiscent of the likes of Harvey Milk - with song titles such as 'Ratzinger Pussycat', 'Jozef Frizl Syndrome' and 'Rotten Dick', you know that there is a rich seam of dark, almost infantile humour running underneath the dirge. But don't be fooled too much - just because there are smiles to be had, they are short-lived. This darkness is refreshing and unrelenting, with no chaser.


Now for the added bonus. Consciousness Removal Project is a Finnish experiment by Antii Loponen. Now Ive been to Finland - Ive even been to Loponen's hometown of Tampere - and its a transfixing place. And yet there is a sense of idleness amongst the youth that is desperate to be broken - and is often done so through eviscerating music. Therefore CRP proves to be an incredibly heavy endeavour, and latest LP You Ever Think Its The End Of The World is more heavy industrial post rock than sludge rock/metal per se...but CRP are not so easily definable. This album crosses more into the Pelican/Isis vein whilst mating with some of the metal rituals ever-present in Scandinavia. The vocals also swing from plaintive David Pajo-esque croonings to throat shredding roars... Therefore the resulting creation is one of pure beauty, glacial ice and the pitch black abyss. I wasn't sure whether Id like this - I certainly wasn't expecting to love the shit out of it.

Huata - Ratzinger Pussycat

Consciousness Removal Project - The Ship

And lastly, whilst on the subject of sludge rock, I have been meaning to post about a lot of things of recent times, and one of those things has been Harvey Milk. I am to rectify that later in the week - but until then, here's a clip of 'Ive Got A Love'- from '96's Special Wishes.



Consider my penance dutifully served.