Marax | RedSK "Draize"

"Marax / RedSK - "Draize"" 02.24.2012 - Muchausen Sound MS 39 - 3" CDr Limited 12 copies

Tracks:

Marax:

Conscience Believing Against Standard Rational

RedSK:

Harsh PV Track (Doom)

Harsh PV Track (You Do These Things)

Harsh PV Track (You Were Grinding...V2)

Harsh PV Tracks (Three)

Harsh PV Wall

Total Length: 21:13

EO / Marax

"EO / Marax" 02.03.2012 - Muchausen Sound 37 - Download

Internet Archive

Tracks:

1. EO - and glanced 13:30

2. Marax - ADJANI 29:33

Total Length: 43:02

Marax | Elle 3"

"Marax / Elle" 01.20.2012 - Muchausen Sound 34 - 3" CDr - Limited to 12

Tracks:

1. Marax - Ad Nauseam Of Rage 10:00

2. Elle - Lr1 10:10

Total Length: 20:10

I Have No Vision Of The Future For Myself, If Indeed I Survive To See It

"I Have No Vision Of The Future For Myself, If Indeed I Survive To See It" - 11.14.2011

Muchausen Sound 28 - 1x File download:

http://www.archive.org/details/IHaveNoVisionOfTheFutureForMyselfIfIndeedISurviveToSeeIt

Track:

1. I Have No Vision Of The Future For Myself, If Indeed I Survive To See It 59:54

The Weight of Insignificance

"The Weight of Insignificance" - 11.11.11 - Muchausen Sound 24 - 2xFile

http://www.archive.org/details/Marax-TheWeightOfInsignificance

Tracks:

1. Bleeding The Color Of Nothingness 49:08

2. The Nothingness Continuum 49:08

Total Length: 1:38:15

The Weight of Insignificance is a 2 disc release based upon 2 different styles perspective on 1 sound source. The original sound source is the hiss and light static from a Wah pedal. The first disc is a slightly treated minimalist style. The second disc is a more densely layered Death Industrial approach, still incorporating the original sound source.




Review:
Sunday, November 13, 2011
C. Reider
http://www.vuzhmusic.com/blog/2011/12/03/now-playing-netlabels-ii/

The normally screamin’ noise monster Marax takes an ultra minimal approach with this release, exploring the self-noise of a wah pedal. A droning, low-frequency oscillation with a mild static wash.

This reminds me, of course, of Nurse With Wound’s “Soliloquy for Lilith”, in which Steven Stapleton found that waving his hands around a certain effects set-up caused a seemingly magic sound response, creating an accidental, playable instrument.

The second track is the same source material as the first, taken in a more post-production / effected direction.

Both tracks are fascinating and yet extremely minimal.

Marax | Coma Centauri split

"Marax | Coma Centauri" - 10.20.2011 - Muchausen Sound 09 - 3" CDr - 54 Copies

Tracks:

Coma Centauri

1. When Pushing Daises Becomes An Art Form 2:36

2. Right To Die 3:21

3. Memory Eraser (In The Form Of A Bullet) 4:02

Marax

4. Addiction & Grace 5:00

5. Living For Others; Losing Self 3:54

Total Length: 18:54

Death Rattles Housewife: Rare & Unreleased Vol. 1

"Death Rattles Housewife: Rare & Unreleased Vol. 1"

10.15.2011 - Muchausen Sound 22 - CDr

Tracks:

1. Self Extinction

2. Bloated Hands & Telephone Wire

3. Forgotten Trophy

4. Goodbye Christine

5. Trichotillomania

6. Merrick (live)

Total length: 29:24

1, 4. Originally recorded in 1999

2, 3. Originally recorded early 2000

5. Originally recorded in 1999 for the "Blueprints For The Disestablishment" compilation that never came out.

6. Recording taken from a live set in Birmingham, AL @ The Boiler Room early 2000's opening for Mastodon.

Vereinfachen

"Vereinfachen" 06.26.11 - Muchausen Sound 27 - Limited 25 copies CDr

Download: Bandcamp

Track:

1. Vereinfachen - 21:40

Total Length: 21:40

Ever Changing White Canvas (For Bernhard Günter)

Ever Changing White Canvas (For Bernhard Günter) – 06.19.2011 – Muchausen Sound 26 – CDr – Limited to 25 hand-numbered copies & 1x File WAV

Free Download: http://www.archive.org/details/EverChangingWhiteCanvasforBernhardGnter

Track:

1. Ever Changing White Canvas (For Bernhard Günter) - 33:15

Total Length: 33:15

This album was recorded April 19, 2011 and released June 19,2011 as a way to honor one of my favorite Minimalist / Improv composers, Bernhard Günter. It was released as a CDr of 25 hand-numbered copies.

This also happens to be one of my personal favorite recordings.

Felo De Se

Felo De Se – 04.15.2011 – Muchausen Sound 20 – CDr – Limited to 100

Tracks:

1. Felo De Se

2. Anxiety-Guilt Cycle

3. Hidden Need

4. Soul Murder

5. Tension Breaking

Total Length: 33:11


June 14, 2011
Vital Weekly

Originally to be released as some kind of split with Never Presence Forever. Although noise based, it has a suppressed form of feedback, and an overload of sound effects on a minimum of sound sources. These being radio waves, it seems, and god knows what else. The title piece is too long, but the other
four pieces are much shorter and done in a great way: an excellent dynamic sound, which lacks the usual noise release, with a speaker crushing bass sound, and occasional high end outbursts.




TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011
The Formless Kingdom
http://theformlesskingdom.blogspot.com/2011/06/marax-felo-de-se.html
Rex The Ninth
I am very excited to bring word of this new work by the great young man who goes by Eric Crowe, AKA, Marax. Mr. Crowe had been responsible for giving us one of the most compelling Noise releases of the past couple of years to hit the PostIndustrial underground, a little EP called "Black Veil of the Sanguinarian", which I had the privilege of reviewing for Heathen Harvest back in o8. I had felt a significant admiration for the work upon first listen, as it showed a sort of darkness that ran into some varied, yet also inspiring depths of expression. I had tried to make Eric a regular contact because of the effect "Black Veil" had on yours truly, but almost two years or so before myspace got all desperate and transformed into a highly unwelcome, very stifling jock/mix of facebook/last.fm formats, Eric was unfortunately NOT a regular. But with this release, which I can attest to have anticipated HIGHLY, we now see the young Crowe as a regular presence on facebook, and while facebook isn’t yet really set up to be the haven conducive to creativity and communication for musicians the way the fallen and corrupted myspace once was, I am happy that he's there.

"Felo De Se" is only in a couple of ways similar to "Black Veil of The Sanguinarian", Eric's style withstanding, but what sets this one aside is that this was originally intended to be a split/collaboration with Never Presence Forever. While his previous work showed desperation, tension, eeriness, and yes, even a sort of cynical sense of wonder [the beautiful and passionate epic "Nod"], this new tape brings only a seething, borderline maddening set of some of the dirtiest noise-drones I've heard to date. This is a different noise palette than before, and while I cannot say for sure just who threw in what into the fray, the best way I can describe this Felo is an extension of the track "Inside the Inner Voice" off of "Black Veil". Only this time, that scary ass voice has PLENTY more to say...

The frequencies on the work are decidedly deep, and while the noise element is not as pervasive or intense as was on tracks from "... the Sanguinarian", what will get under your skin here is the almost unbearable tension and atonal void this piece has to offer. The title track is the longest in question, and this one will make you want to pull your hair out because it’s seemingly a perpetual and disturbing presence inside your head. There is a good amount of vocal dirt in this track, nothing I can make out, but like "Inside the Inner Voice", this side has a down-pitched tinge, with a subtle distortion, possibly sped-up to make it sound even more uncomfortable. The whole of "Felo De Se" rumbles unceasingly, like a half-hour trembling of the Earth. "Anxiety-Guilt Cycle" only further pushes the theme of the album with its name, this one having some awesome, death-rattle-like phrases that come in and out. The same rattle is in the transitional "Hidden Need", giving ground then to the static-ridden "Soul Murder”, and finally, "Tension Breaking" by way of a slowly flanging end.

The Devil is really in the details in "Felo De Se". While not as elaborate, it has the same vibe as Tzii's "Vuole Morire", a very challenging one, comparable to some psychopath staring vacantly over a long, engulfing stretch of the American Southwest desert, so I suppose it is very appropriate that the tracks were laid down in a place called Southern Discomfort Studio. Conceptually, it has no bullshit and is flawless. Black and abysmal enough to induce anger, but also simple and ambient enough to actually channel anger.

The Crowe flies LOW for this one.

Lazy

Lazy – 03.19.2011 – Muchausen Sound 17 – 3” CDr & Download

Tracks:

1. Hands Of Murderers

2. Amputated

3. Like The Dead, Somehow Walking

4. Plan, Plot, Think and Breathe Evil

5. Leave A Trail Of Wreaked Lives Behind

6. We Long For Light

7. Into Darkness We Sink

8. Tiny Hands


Total Length: 14:59


The sound for Lazy is centered around 1 pedal, the Snarling Dog Mold Spore, it is the common thread throughout. I never owned the pedal, I borrowed it from a friend for a day and loved the raunchy grittiness and high-end decay it served up, so I recorded multiple tracks seeing what the pedal could do, in various lengths then later divided them up and added layers and textures to complete the disc.

June 14, 2011
Viral Weekly
 Maybe 'Lazy' says something about the state of noise and its production. Its very easy to make noise, it doesn't require much effort or style: maybe music by lazy people? Maybe Marax isn't himself too serious about this? I hope so, since the pieces on this release, nine in total, don't show much originality in the world of noise (if that is at all possible). Not too well spend on me.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Dead Formats

Similar to the previous Marax I reviewed but definitely has a different vibe. This one has a lot more glitchy, high pitched sounds that start it off right away. It also has more tracks that go beyond the :05 mark but they are still relatively short. The thing that really stands out to me on this one is this right near the end there is a track that sounds exactly like how my alarm clock sounds in my dreams when I am trying to wake up. It's got the constant harsh beep but it is constantly changed in a subtle way that gives it this surreal and disorienting vibe that is wonderful. The layout on this one is a little heavy on the photoshop filters but this is definitely worth checking out. 

Crawlspace Atrocities

"Crawlspace Atrocities" – 3.10. 2011 – Muchausen Sound 10 – CDr

Tracks:

1. Crawlspace Atrocities

2. Commence Now

Total Length: 33:50


WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011
Phillip B. Klingler a.k.a. PBK:
http://killingbirds.blogspot.com/


"Crawlspace Atrocities", though newly released, belongs to that first period of Marax's work as it was recorded at a live concert in 2003. Whatever was going on at The Highnote in Birmingham, Alabama on that night of June 27th, couldn't have possibly prepared the audience for this sonic manifestation of pure evil! Beginning with a low bass rumble against an echoey backdrop of media snippets, soon the bass texture becomes an angry drone with electromagnetic fields fluxing around the edges. A voice enters, whispering in an anguished tone, you find yourself in the dwelling, or mind, of a maniac. A powerful electric current builds forcefully to an abrupt end, changing the mood as if a door slammed. Now it is even darker and more forbidding. A recurring loop lurches into the frame, then the voice returns, Golem-like, admonishing you over and over.

Drawing equal inspiration from black metal, dark-ambient and noise genres, the result is a quite literal soundtrack of sinister evildoing. As a live performance this is very well-controlled, deliberate, the chaotic aspects associated with noise music are reigned in, compressed, making it feel as claustrophobic as it ought to be considering the subject matter. It takes on the feel of time passing slowly, while you are always at the edge of dread, with strong visual aspects that combine to create a stunning horror film soundscape!




Sunday, September 25, 2011
C. Reider
http://www.vuzhmusic.com/blog/2011/12/03/now-playing-netlabels-ii/

This is kind of a heavily rumbling kind of disturbing and distorted noise music that’s mixed at low levels to set an atmosphere as opposed to the aural pummelling that could occur if all level faders were pushed to the top. You could call it “dark ambient”, I suppose. To me it feels like it draws more from industrial music and somewhat from black metal… especially when the gasping, pained vocalizations come in.

I really like the constant shifting of sound, like a frantic noise performance… but the calm, subdued context is a new way to hear this kind of movement.

Well done.

Marax | Stimbox Split

Marax | Stimbox – 2004 – Muchausen Sound 7 – CDr – Limited to 100

Tracks:

1. Where Did Everyone Go? (Stimbox)

2. Slipping Fast and Silently Dies (Marax)

Total Length: 48:14

Live tracks from both projects.

Marax | Hyperdriver Split

Hyperdriver | Marax Split on Beergut Recordings 1999

Hyperdriver | Marax - 2002 - Muchausen Sound MS13 [CDr]

Tracks:
Hyperdriver:
Reap This 29:00


Marax:
Girl 5:17
Deep Within Blackened Lungs 3:23
Beautiful Scars Remind 12:24
I Don't Want To Anymore 3:55
Travesty In C# 3:46


Total Length: 57:44


$5 US / $7 World
Paypal: maraxnoise (at) gmail.com

Marax | Jason Campbell Split

Marax | Jason Campbell - Hermitic Museum [CS] 1999

"Marax | Jason Campbell" - 2003 -  Muchausen Sound - MS02 [CDr]

Tracks:

Jason Campbell:

01 It Came From Somewhere Else

02 Club Dead

Marax:

03 Realize

04 Sock Puppets [ode to ray]

05 Pill Biter

06 Post Ejaculate Urination

07 Disoriented Drug Release

08 I Can Not Pretend To Care

09 Johnny

Total Length: 59:34

$5 US / $7 World

Paypal: maraxnoise (at) gmail.com

Jason Campbell/Marax split CS
5/10 - [Hermetic Museum]
Jason Campbell begins with pretty typical harsh noise. Not bad, but not doing anything to stray from pre-existing noise acts. His second track, "Club Dead", has a lot more going on, pure chaos - still typical, though much better.
Marax begins very strong with interesting sounds that are minimal and well placed. As his side progresses, some of the tracks tend to revert to generic harsh noise styles. Some plus points are the low output levels of high gain harsh noise, which can be a nice break. Samples are used from time to time, and there is a lot more layering present in some of the stronger areas. Marax is experimenting with many approaches at once, so there is definite potential once the generic aspects are sifted through and an innovative style is born. [Aversonline]

Marax | Disposable Sound Factory | Larb | Jason Campbell - Split

Original "4-Way" Split cover

Marax | Disposable Sound Factory | Larb | Jason Campbell Split

Originally released on Hermetic Museum Recordings C60 2000

Re-released Muchausen Sound 12 [CDr]  2003

$5 US / $7 World
Paypal: maraxnoise (at) gmail.com

Tracks:
Marax - Godmachine
D.S.F. - Energy at 1,000,000 Light Years, Tracking The Sounds of Sleep, The Bubbling of Your Subconscious Mind
Larb - Come All Upside Your Head Wiffa Pipe (And I Don't Care)
Jason Campbell - Untitled #4, Untitled #5


Total Length: 59:06


Marax/Disposable Sound Factory/Larb/Jason Campbell split CS
8/10 - [Hermetic Museum]
     Marax begins with "The Godmachine", a churning, distorted journey with bass heavy crunches and swirling stereo panning. Though relatively long (ending abruptly after nearly 15 minutes), the swells in volume and gradual increase in harshness balance repetition with flow. Disposable Sound Factory is next, offering three pieces of experimental noise. The first is an ambient track with synth swells and a bass line of sorts - lots of ethereal movement. Next is a similar piece, with more space and less layering. Delayed percussion sways back and forth at times, and a techno bass line kicks in to change the pace. Finally, "The Bubbling of Your Subconscious Mind" is a very fitting composition, considering the title. Numerous layers and lush movement suggest "bubbling", and the tonal range is much more diverse. I'd be curious to know how these tracks were created. Very well done, and nice consistency. Side B begins with Larb, whose nonsense title "Come All on Upside Your Head Wiffa Pipe (And I Don't Care)" does not do justice to the stunning ambience of the song. I'm talking bleak, suffocating blackness. Low tones and additional swells with vague, indecipherable samples cutting in and out. Also near the 15 minute mark, slight transformations keep things moving along the way. Jason Campbell finishes things off. The first track is a strange introduction, sort of like an 80's breakdance beat fighting to be heard between distorted cuts and splices. Not to mention painful stereo effects! It's another mystery how this track was pulled off. The final piece, "Untitled #5", is much harsher with dynamic attacks of treble and grinding bass loops.
     This is an excellent collection, by four innovative artists. A rare find, indeed. Marax and Jason Campbell display a better coverage of output volumes and tones, where Disposable Sound Factory and Larb are a bit too quietly mixed. The tape is packaged in a black and white xerox sleeve with one panel of artwork per band. Nothing extraordinary, but it gets the job done. Being on cassette, some detail and clarity is lost, which hurts these otherwise exceptional acts, but that's not such an issue. I very much recommend this release, I'm shocked by the quality of each performance.  [Aversionline]