Ghoatefische - Room For One More

(Photo by Ackronomicon)

Some quick shameless self-promotion.

In 2003, I resumed my noise project Goatfish, only I added a few letters to the name and, taking some guidance from Ron K of Eckankore, I focused my soundscapes rather than letting chaos rule. The result was a darker, more nightmarish noise than my Merzbow-inspired experiments of old.

Initially released as a made-to-order CDR, the web-based Eleventh Key Records has reissued Room For One More, my first album as the mutated Ghoatefische, in their "Distributed Titles" section with new album art designed by Brian Magar. It's only $2 but over an hour of eardrum-piercing intensity, so it's quite a bargain, if I do say so myself.

Also, watch for news of the Necroparthenophacy/Layr split 3"CD, coming soon on Eleventh Key!

Ghoatefische
Room For One More CDR/MP3
(MPAE)
2003

Download Room For One More from Eleventh Key!

Stream the album on Bandcamp!

deng - Live at The Raven Playhouse 10/97

deng didn't last long, but we were around long enough to put out one tape (that got good reviews in Flipside) and we played one noise show at The Raven Playhouse with Eckankore, Musicide and possibly Flammable Child(?).

This is that show, as recorded on my 4-track as we performed. It's pretty chaotic, but it's a lot of fun and it's only nine and a half minutes.

deng
Live at The Raven Playhouse 10/97 CS
(n/a)
1997

01. Live at Ravens

Download the deng tape, Spasmodic Goat!

Goatfish - Noise for Films

(Mr Phreek circa 1998 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

I haven't had much time to post lately, so here's a quick noise "single" to get me back into the groove.

Both these tracks were used for student films.
About the songs:
01. Me & You - I met Stephen Franklin at John's house (where The Gardeners started). He showed us his latest film project, Me & You, where somebody eats a Madagascar cockroach. I was particularly interested because he used Throbbing Gristle as the sound track. At that time, I was looking to expand MPAE, so I approached him about releasing it on video through MPAE. The only thing was, he needed to change the soundtrack because I didn't want to bother getting performance rights for TG. One night he came over to my house, and we recorded this soundtrack on my four-track. Stephen did an excellent job of directing the audio to fit the visuals. The video never happened, of course. This was burned directly from my VHS copy, one of maybe three in existance.

02. Credit Sounds - Ack needed some sound for the credits to one of his student film projects, so he asked me to do some noise. New Room was kind of a music video with a plot. From what I remember, a girl arrives at a house full of dead bodies and the killer (played by me) is running rampant through the house. All this was set to a song by Chavez (I think). That's me in the picture above, covered in blood at the end of the film.

Goatfish
Noise For Films CS
(n/a)
1999

Download Noise For Films free!

Goatfish - The Goatfish Oratorio

(Mr Phreek circa 1998 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

Okay, so maybe I was a little too harsh on my first Goatfish release. I've listened to it a few times and I've realized that it's a lot better than I thought it was when I wrote that post, so if you like what you hear here, download the first release here.

This is the unfinished, unreleased, unheard second Goatfish album, which would have been the fourth release on MPAE, the cassette-only noise label. I hadn't heard this stuff for over ten years until I finally burned it to CD.

At this point, I was using my 4-track as an instrument. I'd record a core sound onto all four tracks, and then overdub various sounds through various effects, while twiddling knobs, onto three of the four tracks. All the tracks with German language titles (possibly taken from Rainer Maria Rilke? - I can't remember now) were recorded this way. I really like these.

The tracks labeled "Billy," on the other hand, were recorded in 1996 for my weird homemade short film, When Billy Said, "Maaaaaaah!" It was shot on a Hi8 camera and I recorded the guitar noise live while I shot portions of the film. For some reason, I wanted them on this album, so here they are.

About the songs:

01. Billy 1 - The first bit of delayed guitar noise that I did for the short film. I like how the first few seconds are static-y noise. It's a good opening.

02. Untergehen - I began with the sound of a train moving on railroad tracks and went from there. One of my favorite noise tracks ever.

03. Billy 2 - Lots of playing with the knobs on my delay pedal while I made noise on the guitar.

04. Ubergang und Untergang - The rare "rhythmic" noise track. I forgot what the core sound was (something from a white noise sleep aid machine), but I basically overmodulated it and twiddled knobs. It came out really well. Sounds a little like Non.

05. Billy 3 - Probably the most controlled of all my Billy tracks. This actually sounds like a creepy B-movie horror soundtrack, like from a Roger Corman Poe movie or something. The wind-down at the end is perfect.

06. Rede Vorrede - Another excellent use of the 4-track as instrument. Damn, I wish I had released this tape.

07. Billy 4 - More creepy horror movie music.

08. Brecher Vorbrecher - I either never recorded this track, or never mixed it down, so while I was burning the tape to CD, I boosted the levels at the end of When Billy Said, "Maaaaaaah!" and made it the final track. I think it works as an end to the album.

Goatfish
The Goatfish Oratorio CS
(n/a)
1998

Buy The Goatfish Oratorio on Bandcamp!

Goatfish - The End of a Fortnight

After the deng tape, I decided to launch my solo noise project, Goatfish, with this tape. This was actually the third release on MPAE - Squeakquencer's Aerobics for Dead People was second.

Unfortunately, The End of a Fortnight doesn't hold up as well as Spasmodic Goat. Most of the tracks lack focus and end up as chaotic free-for-alls.

All 50 tapes came in the above purple sack, which was hand-sewn by Hellicine, the artist who drew the cover.

I've since continued Goatfish as Ghoatefische, with a much more focused, controlled approach.

About the songs:

01. Gone - Probably the first solo noise track I ever recorded. Too bad I can't remember anything about it.

02. Longing - Four tracks of a power drill through various effects. I think the idea was better than the result.

03. Missed - Lots of chaos that doesn't really go anywhere.

04. Frustration - A "serious" attempt at mimicking Masonna.

05. The Wait - A quieter track that didn't turn out so badly.

06. Distance - A little like Aube maybe?

07. Alone - Definitely one of my favorites. This is much more the direction I've headed with Ghoatefische.

08. Lament - My favorite track on the tape. I found samples of goats bleating online, mic-ed my computer's speakers into my four-track and added effects. The result is quite unnerving.

09. Remembering - Way too long track of my guitar feeding back over rumbles from my newly bought bass. I really should have watched the time here.

10. Silence - Another favorite track that shows the more controlled, focused direction I would go.

Goatfish
The End of a Fortnight CS
(MPAE)
1997

Buy The End of a Fortnight on Bandcamp!

deng - Spasmodic Goat

My first attempt at noise.

When I was a young teenager, my dad would bring me into Aron's Records in Hollywood and I'd be free to wander around the store while he spent hours (literally) flipping through the used vinyl. I always found myself returning to the Noise/Experimental section and its mysterious releases. I'd wonder about Merzbow, who had a ridiculous amount of CDs in the bin, and The Haters, who not only had lots of CDs, but also novelty items, like Wind Licked Dirt, a blank CD that was played by rubbing dirt on it, and The Haters Coloring Book, black construction paper with a black crayon. Finally, I broke down and got a Merbow CD, the three-inch disc Artificial Invagination, which, sadly, I don't have anymore. I listened to it and, lo and behold, it was noise. I filed the CD away, slightly confused, and continued my fascination with punk and indie noise rock. (I managed to find a Haters CD used, too, which furthur perplexed my teenage mind.)

It wasn't until after high school that I started hanging out in a store on Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley called Green Hell, that I finally caught the noise bug. I became friends with this guy, Mike Thrashead, who worked in the store and he was into all kinds of different stuff. His main thing was European thrashcore, but he also turned me on to stuff like Rupture and Fang. I was also a fan of his band, Bad Acid Trip. Finally, I decided to buy another Merzbow CD from the noise case. He asked which one. I asked which did he recommend. He shrugged and said any of them. I went with Electric Salad because I liked the title and the cover. That night, I understood noise and became obsessed.

Aidan, the guitarist of Twitch Party, was one of my best friends at this time and we'd constantly share music. I lent him Electric Salad and he caught the noise bug, too. This was the tail end of the noise tape era, and we decided to do our own noise tape. We got a few pointers from Thrashead on where to buy bulk tapes and how to dub them, and I transformed MPAE into a cassette-only noise label, with deng's Spasmodic Goat being the first release. In keeping with the noise tape tradition, all MPAE releases were limited to 50 copies. We actually got some good press in Flipside Magazine, too, believe it or not.

This tape holds up a lot better than I thought it would. I still thought of noise as an overkill of sound, but these tracks are a lot more controlled, surprisingly.

We played one live show, that I may post here in the future. deng ended when Twitch Party ended. Another chapter closed.


About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Anhydrosis - A surprisingly controlled opening track. Probably the best track on the tape.

02. Dried Good Hydration - More chaotic, but we still managed to hold it together. Earl LeMay, who wrote the lyrics to "Let's Get Optimistic" on Anokist Antiquity, appears here.

03. Operative Technique - A total free-for-all that comes across a lot more focused than we were when we recorded it. Earl LeMay is also on this track.

04. Fung-Fung - We beat on stuff around my dining room and kitchen for this track. Another one with Earl LeMay.

05. Ouch - A tongue-in-cheek attempt at doing Masonna-style noise. The idea was that it was the sounds of somebody getting their tooth drilled. We thought it was funny.

deng
Spasmodic Goat CS
(MPAE)
1997

Download Spasmodic Goat as a .zip file!