v/a "804noise" compilation CD

Source: Absorb.org (now defunct) (author: Elizabeth Wells)
This label has the kind of history that warms the cockles of your extreme audio-jaded heart: 804noise is a collective of experimental artists, enthusiasts and political organizers mainly based or recording in richmond and the surrounding environs of virginia. fed up with the unhelpful and often arrogant posturing of the experimental scene around them, 804noise was established as a corrective and a bid to focus instead on community and mutual support. this release is a culmination of that effort, alerting a wider audience to virginia's creative output, showcasing the very different paths that some of these musicians have taken.

If you missed the recent headphones gig at state 51 off brick lane recently and are gasping for a bit of a feedback and weird signal-processing binge, then this might sate your appetite. for some of this compilation it lives up to its title in baptising the listener in noise- from the fractured gravelly turntablism of manic amyche to the low-frequency static rumbles of birds in the meadow, but although these are the more vocal features of a compilation which for once challenges the usual pejorative associations wedded to the 'experimental' moniker, they are not necessarily the best of the bunch.

More interesting are the less categorizable kinds of noise, which steal up behind you without declaring their intentions. harm stryker's red sun is a compelling hymn to post-apocalypse soundscapes: it hums in a defunct industrialised way like the broken spaceship in alien, occasionally skittering into some kind of attempt to communicate beyond its closed-down signals. spooky and evocative. vilam priest produces a kind of lo-fi hip-hop that plays with ideas about communication and expresses it in the way of a stripped-down black dog for the 21st century.

elsewhere taking the noise down a peg or two are metal, with his baroque-inspired ballad of searing metal strings, and stephen smith, a member of richmond's synth-driven electro-rock party band vcr. here 'for l' is a music-box lament with simple bell-tones recalling the childlike vision of a lullatone. it's a nice touch, adding another layer of variety to what is an already compelling and hypnotic addition to the avant-garde electronic field.

Rating: 8/10, Source: Aversionline
This compilation offers up 11 tracks from 11 different experimental artists from Richmond, VA. One might assume that such a collection would be on the weak side, and believe me when I say that I too had my doubts, but in all truth this is a very strong representation of what's going on in this particular locale. Laferrera opens with melodic synth tones using a faint, crisp distortion hovering above and a programmed beat coming in partway through - rounded out by a very nice, soft ending. Manic Amyche uses a mix of beats, noises, samples, and record scratching, which is generally not my thing at all, but this really isn't bad. It's well pieced together and has a strong flow to it. Birds in the Meadow's "Count" is the most succinct track, created by relatively harsh noise that has some moments that are a bit calmer before it really plunges forth. "Red Sun", by Harm Stryker, starts out with a thick, sparse rhythm and some subtle underlying glitches and drones. They don't use synths, but you'd really never know it as they're able to achieve a nice level of ambience and even very minor hints at melody. The untitled Monolith Zero piece is an excellent dark ambient track - incredibly quiet, using nothing but very soft low-end hums and drones. The composition is extremely minimal, but quite effective. Stephen Smith's contribution is the first truly musical song on the compilation, fairly melodic and soothing in a way, with an ethereal sort of quality to it. "Collapsing Intrinsic Pulse", from Never Presence Forever, fades in with some layered hums as a slowed down, looped beat seeps into the distance. Things are pretty repetitive up until some decaying distortion takes over in the middle. In theory Metal's "Bloc.Notes" is somewhat close to Stephen Smith's track with more movement and depth. It's not quite as overtly musical in favor of a lot more experimental textures, percussion, and layering. It's almost "progressive" in some regards. Vilam Priest's "These
Transmissions" is probably my favorite contribution to the entire CD. There's something about the mixture of sinister dark ambient textures, distortion, tactful samples, and faint musical undercurrents that really hits home for me. In my opinion it's the most powerfully atmospheric piece herein, which blows me away as I believe this is the first recording the project has ever released. To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie's piece is a bit noisier than some of their recent work, but still maintains a strong sense of both the musical and the experimental - coming off as minimal in a sense, but at the same time there are a lot of carefully placed details in the mix that don't jump right out at you, which is great. Closing out is Mi's "Made for Speakers", which is a sporadic and glitchy sort of arrangement offering up a wide range of different sounds across the board. Segments of the track are very minimal and quiet (granted there's not a wealthy of layering in its entirety), but that definitely works at creating an excellent and thought out finish for the CD as a whole - especially the quick burst of high-end tones that round things out. The layout keeps it simple with some bands of abstract blue textures/images and crisp, bold text. The tracklist is on the back, some contact information is inside, etc. Pound for pound I have to say that this is the best compilation I've heard in awhile, especially in regards to the experimental realm. I'm really surprised by the overall quality of the tracks, as there's not one weak link throughout. Each artist has a strong recording quality, their own general style with few connections to their local peers, etc. - so it's a diverse smattering of music that should definitely be looked into.

Source: FakeZine (author: toni dimitrov)
804noise is a collective of experimental artists, enthusiasts and political activists who work in richmond in order to make their experimental scene stronger and open to experimental, noise and avant-garde ideas and art. they collaborate and connect with other scenes and communities to make the event more accessible in their region, and the 804noise calendar of experimental and noise events is increasing even outside of richmond including events that promote the mutual things in the experimental community as a whole. formed in 2001, based above all on togetherness and common help instead of on a pretentious scene, in the course of years 804noise evolve in a strong community of experimental, noise and visual artists. in 2004 they decide to promote their work by establishing a label that will release the music created in this community of artists and be concentrated on virginia, richmond specifically, and the idea culminates through this compilation 804noise which starts up the work of this label. the opening track of lafererra is a short glitchy piece that comprises of all moments of classically oriented track: it starts with glitch that resembles fennesz, then a vibrafon that sounds like the post-rock moments of tortoise and then it becomes rhythmical. jason lafererra runs his own studio and plays in the post-punk bend gregor samsa. the next track is signed by the turntableist manic amyche (michael parez) who in this track presents his gramophone skills. experimental hip hop. birds in the meadow add on to the first noise track. one-minute classical experimental/noise piece. behind this name is marty mccavitt, richmond experimental and improvised music veteran that has played in many bends. harm stryker follows, politically and socially motivated project comprised of kelly nourse and kenneth yate and they present the creators and main initiators of the 804noise collective. here, they present themselves with a deep and dark, it may seem an ambient, track that has a bit of noise. monolith zero (adam h.) logically adds up to the ambient with a quiet dark ambient track that slowly meanders. he also performs in the improvised noise project the no-fi. sephan smith who also performs under his real name, and on the bass together with the elektro-rock bend vcr presents himself here with a completely melodic track that looks like electronic nursery rhymes. never presence forever goes back to the noisy moments. dark ambient background with subtle glitch moments. andrew westerhouse in his work has released numerous releases. metal (michael ryan) adds another rhythmic track in which the basis is consisted of noisy background and an electronic middle ages melody look alike. he is also doing sound installations such as “runway/study for movement”, the illustrations of which are taken as the basis of creating the remarkable design of the cover. william preist (john priestly, a jazz musician) offers a deep dark ambient track in which fading voices of a distant transmission are intermingled. the middle of the track introduces instrumental hip hop rhythm which leads the track in a completely different dimension. really dark instrumental hip hop with noisy elements. to kill a pretty bourgeoisie (jehna wilhelm and mark mcgee) explore the experimental noisy electronic and the acoustics is brought to the highest level in the noisy construction in which the melody also enters. mi is again michael ryan aka metal who with his side project goes more deeply in abstract and conceptual territory of the experimental music. to be more specific, glitchy experimental electronic music. after describing each track, there is nothing else to say about the sound of this compilation, and after describing this richmond community of artists we are sure that the intention is not to have one specific sound, but to be concentrated on the experimental sound created in this region.

Source: Grooves Magazine (author: Mark Richardson)
Years ago experimental electronic music was the province of either the very rich or those with academic connections. Synthesizers were big and expensive and generally out of reach, so if you wanted to make music you probably just bought a guitar and got on with it. Inexpensive computers and software have democratized experimental electronic music, and when you combine access with the organizing principals of punk rock, scenes start to build.

Based in Richmond, Virginia, 804noise began as a mailing list and is now a record label. This compilation introduces the artists in the 804 orbit and serves as an interesting document of what a local scene is capable of. Despite the name, nothing here comes close to a Merzbow-level assault, though the compilation as a whole is shadowy and downcast. Beats are occasionally present, but there will be no dancing. Manic Amyche builds the ironically titled "An Uplifting Thought" from dark breaks and turntable scratching, referencing the German vision of dark hip-hop as represented by Panacea & Bomb20. A bit lighter is LaFererra's "Sixteen", a chunky slab of IDM with twinkling melodies and rough percussion. More impressive are the soundscapes , such as MI's "Made for Speakers", which references classic techno in it's palette even though it's mostly just drifting wisps of noise, and Never Presence Forever's "Collapsing Intrinsic Pulse", which combines a rich drone with the suggestion of tribal percussion reminiscent of Orbus Terrarum with a thick layer of rust. Dark music for deserted urban landscapes.

Source: Heavy Music Portal (author: Michele Giorgi)
"804noise"is an interesting sampler about the industrial and noise scene in Richmond, a stage for 11 different musicians and an original landscape. It opens with Laferrera, a weird mix between noise and liquid sounds near to psychedelia, with an original backing by a drum machine. Manic Amyche plays with hip-hop, presenting us freaky, dirty noises and interferences, a cool diversion. Birds in the Meadow goes harder with dirty and distorted noise, harsh and heavily manipulated in its dynamics. More evanescent is the proposal by Harm Stryker, where distorted electric sounds play with obscure and well-built drones. On a different front, Monolith Zero shows a song built with slow and dreamy drones, a sort of minimal ambient track with a ritual taste. On the more rhythmic side, Stephen Smith mixes electro fluid sounds with rhythms, surely a sheep out of the choir on this sampler. Interesting as usual, Never Presence Forever shows his evocative side with a martial noise and heavy percussive appeal, and a final part filled with distorted noises. Electronic sounds and percussion make up the approach for Metal, the owner of a proposal on the edge, with a dirty electronic taste and a dreaming side – weird and interesting in this work on a multi-leveled landscape. Vilam Priest works with voice samples and space sounds for a journey into the void, a real walk into empty space, represented with contrasts between ambient, noise, and percussive hits. From a curious name like To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie we meet a sort of child-like song or a lullaby painted in white noise, a really good experiment. The sampler ends with Mi, a minimal and schizoid sound for a patchwork built with noises roaming free. As a whole, this is a really interesting sampler that’s able to present a dynamic and multi-faceted scene. A really good starting point to approach new entities that are often deserving of more attention.

Source: Igloo Mag (author: Mat Propek)
"...804Noise is a snapshot of the local Virginia noise scene, an introduction to the sonic mayhem makers of the (804) area code. It's a road map, a Chamber of Commerce sponsored tourist pamphlet, showing you the hot spots of the area. And, like all broadly minded compilations, it has a little something for everyone..."

There is static-inflected IDM like Lafererra's "Sixteen," a pleasant beginning which doesn't seek to scare you off with a nuclear blast of white noise ala Merzbow; Manic Amyche's "An Uplifting Thought" strangles a hip-hop beat and buries it out back with an old television which is filled with the ghosts of old Saturday morning cartoons. Birds in the Meadow contribute a single minute of noise, a rustling crackling piece which might have been micro-tonal at one time, but is now just a rising caterwaul of sonic detritus. (And a minute is about all one really needs before the white noise headache kicks in, so thank you very much for being concise.)

Harm Stryker's "Red Sun" is of the dark ambient variety, a slow crackle and hum of spooky machinery (and the scattering of metallic percussion which upsets the track about 3/4 of the way through is a very nice touch), while Monolith Zero's "Untitled" piece is so subtle as to be nearly invisible. Stephen Smith's "For I" is a bubbling fount of light particles over a slow wash of synthesizer tones, the gradually unfolding melody which paints the sky as backdrop to a localized shower of warm rain. Never Presence Forever's "Collapsing Intrinsic Pulse" does exactly that: its solemn tonal structure fading and corrupting under a skein of shivering noise (though its final coda is a resurrection of the core ambience).

"Bloc-Notes" by Metal skews a harpsichord melody with a snap-pop drum beat and a whoosh of space noise, bringing a digital giddiness into the 18th century salon. "These Transmissions" by Vilam Priest explores the busy shortwave frequencies, filling a drifting miasma of noise with the hollow voices of forgotten transmissions and the neglected echo of prog-rock beats. To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie offers unfinished track called "Zin" which drop-cuts between sinister movements of solid noise, childlike bell tree melodies, and aching sine waves pushed through an overthruster filter. One can only imagine how many more layers of sound To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie wants to add. Mi's "Made for Speakers" threatens to break them, spewing bursts of white noise and fractured sound like an abrupt edit of a M2 track from the Parsec era before dissolving into a long loop that fades into nothingness. Well, almost, there's the requisite spasm of circuit sparking at the very end just to remind you that noise is, after all, a child of chaos and uncertainty.

There is a section of Virginia which is very noise-friendly, and the collective musicians of the (804) area code demonstrate that a wide variety and a wealth of individual perspectives is a vital part of a vibrant musical community. Hopefully they are all operating as one large support network and, in a few years, we'll see an influx of their work as full-length releases. Get a head start and find your favorites now. In fact, get this as a warm up for when you visit Richmond for the second 804noise Fest on Sunday, October 3rd.

Source: Industrial.org (author: Moron)
Like-minded individuals banding together has brought us everything from trade unionism to violent teenager swarmings and this team up from the 804noise collective aims to add to that pile. Comps such as this are only as solid as the individual elements and unlike group efforts such as organizing a stable venue for live events, more bodies does not necessarily improve the chances of a "various artists" not sucking. How does this 804noise self-titled compilation fare? That's the question of the moment isn't it. . .

Here we are treated to 11 tracks, one from each participant with total run time at 48 minutes. I'm not sure what dictates the rules for membership but as reflected by the contents of this release I would gather one must simply express interest in electronic music of some sort. The exact genres range through IDM to noise with an inverse bell curve pushing the majority of the content to either extreme.

On the IDM front we have pieces like the hooray for everything mid-tempo opener from Lafererra. While the bedroom studio piece is adeptly executed, I'm far to sardonic and bitter to appreciate it for longer than it takes to realize they are (gasp) sincere with their optimism. The second track by Manic Amyche is a hip hop jump up thingy that rocks like Aqua Teen Hunger Force on turntables, cheeky and suitable for holding one's 40oz malt liquor in the air to inbetween sets at the Punish Yourself concert. Stephen Smith goes back to the bedroom studio for some upwards plink IDM that is just as saccharine as the opener but somehow a little more tolerable (despite all the Fisher Price baby toy instrumentation). Metal wastes a good name on some melancholic euro dance music which is fine and all (no technical demerits) but makes me wish there were fewer numbers and more noise in the collective's namesake. A full disc of this (on M-Tronic perhaps) would fare better than mixing the schwag with the schway.

At the other end of the spectrum we have the short crunchy outburst from Birds in the Meadow, raunchy circuit-bent sounding noise akin to the sound of the ass of your pants splitting wide open as you bend over to pick up a penny. Harm Stryker ditches all pretenses of traditional song structure instead choosing to wander out blindfolded into a mist of swirling plasma, electrified scuba flippers and the isolated plink plack of a ball bearing in Pachinko machine. So ambient warble and hum with an odd destination. The aptly titled Monolith flirts with volume levels and progression bordering on microsound, the outline as faint as one's shadow at night. Never Presence Forever roast up a a murky rhythmic loop over a gentle progression of thronging pads until they have a crispy climax of distortion and reverb that has a doomy satisfaction to it I rather like. Vilam Priest's contribution is dark hop on the edge of becoming industrial music - Haus Arafna meets Ocosi and very savoury in flavour. To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie's mom must have sat on the toilet seat after V/Vm had been up to no good as this mix of nice and neat and scummy digital quite reminds of the brown vs. blue twin release. MI gets me surprisingly wet for such a linear construction, think Chefkirk with a research grant pumping out bad ass sci-fi cutup. Yum.

Other than the Monolith snoozer (partially due to the surroundings), everything here has the sheen of slick production including the meaningless but pretty cover art. Aesthetically it will depend on your mood as to your reaction I expect. I find myself grinding my molars until I break down and fast forward past the blue sky IDM bits. To me they chafe like a too tight pastel pink unitard under black rawhide leather chaps. It's almost like a tense dinner with two different scenes just before the fiery breakup. Still, if you can handle the drama the chemisty is often quite reactive.

Source: Industrial Nation Magazine (author: Ian Hall)
804noise is a community of experimental, noise, and visual artists based in Richmond, Virginia. The group formed in December 2001 with the goal of making the local community more receptive to experimental, noise, and avant-garde art and ideas and to promote solidarity within the experimental community at large. In just over two years, the movement has grown to such a degree that it has spawned a label and released its first title. Eleven different Richmond-based-artists offer a potpurri of musical exploration on this inaugural 804noise issue, and they're all pretty stylin'. Here are the good on some of my favorites: Manic Amyche scratches like he's got head-to-toe poison ivy on "An uplifting thought". "Count" by Birds in the Meadow evolves across its 68 second span from a few sparse chirps into an insistent buzz. Harm Stryker's "Red Sun" flows like a glacial lake, interrupted only ocassionally by tinkling percussion. "Untitled" by Monolith Zero has a very isolated feel to it, like a soundtrack for a deserted, futuristic city. Stephen Smith's "For L" is a smooth, melodically buterry tune, similar to Bola. Vilam Priest's "These Transmissions" is very bleak at the beginning, but a groovy beat emerges to keep the radio-frequency whines company. To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie (great name!) waxes esoteric with "zin," a creepy noise piece that vacillates between sparse weirdness and childlike curiosity. Congrtulations to the 804noise collective on this very nice debut. Look's like I'll have to keep an eye on the events calendar and take a break from the 703!

Source: Left off the Dial (author: Justin Rude)
Two Labels, Two Virginias, Two Discs of Exciting Experimental Music: "A Magnanimous Compilation" and "804noise" Compilation
Glitch-pop indie music, spurred by successes that achieved near ubiquitous popularity with cloyingly sentimental songs of love and loss, is everywhere now. The unstoppable juggernaut of smoothly polished, ignorably pleasant production and precious, instantly accessible vocals pours in from all sides.  Neither North America nor Europe can shoulder all the blame; everyone is equally at fault, even Canada.  It is because of this then that the resilience of the Electronic underground should be celebrated now more than ever.  In the face of popular appropriation of their art form and the sudden real possibility of general acceptance, the true heart of electronic experimentation has stuck to its guns and continued to produce surprising, progressive music without any compromises. What's better still is the fact that this music has started to come from entirely unexpected places.  While large cosmopolitan cities (and all of Germany) continue to produce as much glitch and dark-noise as ever; smaller, unexpected locales are beginning to show off their own scenes, and the fresh perspectives coming out of these places are producing some great tracks.  Like defiant mission statements, the Compilation CDs offered by Shepherdstown, West Virginia's Magnanimous Records and Richmond, Virginia's 804 Noise Collective show two very different young, experimental record labels doing some really interesting things.  While the styles presented on the discs present different aspects of the progressive electronic spectrum they both show evidence of strong scenes with a strong sense of stylistic enterprise.

For the most part, the artists of the Magnanimous Records compilation stick to a palette of relatively organic sounds.  Most tracks blend thick, open background harmonies with high end tones, blips and voices dancing in and out of the track. Noise washes and organic found sounds add texture, and what rhythms occur usually plod slowly from one texture to the next. The effect of this compositional mix is a more natural sound than most experimental electronic music, and while it stays away from instrumental post-rock diddling, it still evokes the same soundtrack feel that that music creates. With the obvious exception of a later track by D-ork, which stands out as a fairly standard low-key electronica track on an otherwise largely ambient collection, it seems as if the members of the Magnanimous crew have a singular stylistic vision.  Indeed, the tracking on the disc is so smooth that if one didn't know better, the album would seem to be the work of one artist.  This ends up being a very good thing.  Rather than ending up largely forgettable but for a stand-out track our two, as most compilations turn out, the Magnanimous compilation ends up seeming like a single work; a purposeful body of music whose individual pieces are more complete as part of the whole.  While the similarity in style and composition of these tracks has been emphasized, there are still a few among them that can be identified as exceptional examples.  Ligo's track, "Prayer to Infinity," which opens the album, is an example of a simple idea that is made great by the skill of its execution.  Various voices, some artificially deep and others effected beyond recognition, play off each other over a slowly moving bass harmony and little else.  This is not a new or particularly inspired idea, but the attention paid to the crucial details of the sounds adds a level of craftsmanship to the track that puts it at a level of quality that is much greater than the sum of its concepts.  If the disc has a standout, it is the fourth track, "Unattended Analogue," by Seiss.  An oscillating low frequency backdrop leads into nervous, high-frequency motifs and space-evoking washes and bell tones. The piece packs a lot of thematic movement into an ambient track, and expertly wraps up when its ideas have reached their limit, an idea more ambient musicians should embrace.

804noise is a collective of experimental electronic artists based in Richmond, Virginia, including Harm Stryker, whose self-titled E.P. was one of my favorite experimental acquisitions last year.  While some of this disc is in that same vein of tense dark-ambient composition, the 804noise folks are not to be so easily classified.  Including tracks of pleasantly melodic IDM, harsh instrumental hip-hop and dark ambient, the 804noise compilation is an exhibition of stylistically diverse artists linked by their deft talent and a penchant for a range of digital tones that can either ease minds or peel paint. My high expectations due to the quality found on the Harm Stryker release were completely met by this collection, and I was pleased  by the knowledge that such a forward-thinking musical exploration is being conducted a mere hour and a half down I-95.  The 804noise comp starts "Sixteen" with a soothing IDMish track by Laferrerra that puts a crisp, stuttering drum beat over a walking vibraphone-tone and intricate background harmonics.  Harm Stryker contributes a track of their brand of paranoid dark ambience to the compilation, building tension with throbbing bass tones and extremely soft, minimal glitchy stabs that are briefly interrupted with popping staccato percussion, only to fade into abstractions again with broken bass sweeps.  The track is skillfully implemented, and shows a group that is coming to really refine and master its sound.  "Bloc-Notes," by Metal, is one of the most interesting tracks on the album.  Compared with the ambient pieces that precede it, "Bloc-Notes" is full of energy and relatively upbeat.  Reminiscent of early IDM styles, plucked-string and harpsichord-like sounds interact over minimal beats, clicks and laser sounds.  To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie add "Zin" to the mix, a track that is noted as being unfinished.  While indeed it never seems to quite find itself, with its general amorphous nature, lack of identity is perhaps the song's greater musical direction.  Slipping from one form and sound pallet to the next, the track is a skilled, if dizzying trip through a variety of harsh, ambient styles.  If a final version of the track is indeed intended, it would be interesting to see what the artist has in store for the piece.

While indie-pop culture appropriates the IDM underground to make frequently saccharine sing-alongs, it is good to know that young, talented musicians continue to produce intelligent, experimental electronic sounds.  While experimental electronic, dark-ambient and power electronic music enthusiasts should already know record labels like Germany's Ant-Zen and Austria's Mego, there is a rise of small scene artists that deserve attention as well. Both Magnanimous Records and 804noise present high-quality tracks by mid-Atlantic artists.  While operating at a lower profile, some of these artists already are or could easily develop into peers of those more prominent in the experimental electronic music community.  I highly recommend 804noise to anyone interested in harsh beats, dark-ambience and sketched out IDM.  Fans of a more natural ambient sound will appreciate the drifting tones and haunted quality of the Magnanimous artists.

Rating: Top Compilation! Source: StillBorn-Webzine (author: C.D.M.)
804noise it is a collective of artists who make of the continuous experimentation and the vanguard the own crews in order to carry ahead their idea of art. an always ready art to experiment and to try always new shapes of communication. 804 are also the code of Richmond, place where the base of the collective resides, than but it is not limited to promote the ideas and the jobs of single area 804, but often and gladly it is involved and it comes been involved in events to outside of area 804 like to Washington DC, Hampton, Virginia Beach, Chralottesville, etc.. so as to to create unions and collaborations between several the collectives it experiences them. Been born in 2001 like a community for artists who dedicated themselves to the experimentation, rumorismo and visual installations, in March of 2004 she decides to become a label and sforna this before compilation for giving one greater voice to the artists of Richmond.

To open the compilation Jason Lafererra thinks to us , bassista of post-punk band the Gregor Samsa. Its "Sixteen" is delicate IDM intaccata from cakies noise. Endured after we find Manic Amyche aka Michael Perez, a turn-tablist (exists one translation in Italian) that unexpected wax collage of sounds and with the plates, in "An Uplifting Thought" creates one schizzata base hip-hop with sample of voices and sounds that come assembles to you and takes apart to you to piacimento. Then we find Birds in the Meadow aka Marty McCavitt is a veteran of the scene experimental of Richmond, it made anch part of the quartet jazz Idio Savant, and currently duetta with the sasofonista Darius Jones, its "Count" is the short trace and more noise of the lottery. It touches then to the founding heads of 804noise, the Harm Stryker , that is Kelly Nourse and Kenneth Yates, with "Red Sun" a ghost and improvised piece ambient with drone tintinnii metallic shows us. Much Beautiful One. Monolith Zero is introduced with "Untitled", brano with drone minimalissimi and evanescenti.. the noise of the null one. We pass from the null one to Stephen Smith , between the other bassista of electro-rocker the VCR, "For L" is IDM, fast, ritmata but with one melodia soft and wrapping. It is returned in the dusk with Never Presence Forever , its "Collapsing Intrinsic Pulse"è contraddistinta from an only reverberated and extended sound that it covers a march noise that then takes to the windward forming an only layer of noises. Beautifulst name reaches the turn of Metal (!), aka Michael Rian, author of numerous sonorous installations, like "Runway/Study for Movement" from where the images used for the artwork are taken of this compilation. "Notebook" is a brano spaces them with a melodia of a dipped species of clavincebalo between noises, and distortions that create the rhythm alternating itself to beat and synth melancholic. "These Transmissions" of the jazzista John Priestly with its stage name Vilam Priest is a brano interesting here that it knows of cinematographic joining ambient, sample of voices filtered and drones, with one battery to the end. Then it is passed to the To Kill to Petty Bourgeoisie already seen to the work in the fantastic one split with the Harm Stryker, "Zin (Unfinished)" is an interesting collage of sounds, between noise, concrete samplings several, sounds, synth and melodie that dipanano on the solid noises created from the pair of Richmond. A brano to high tension, putroppo incompiuto. It closes the disc "Made for Speakers" of Me that it is not other that Michael Ryan ( Metal ) seen before, a brano ransom and you sew, it tears and strizza, copy and it glue, calm and it irritates. hehe, alarming noises that make space between they for little moments in order then to be suck to you in the empty one.

And therefore this beautifulst one ends compilation that us extension cracking on the scene experimantal/noise of Richmond, GOES that is of area 804, great artists, many various between they but all joining from wants to experiment and to improve.

Rating: A, Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (author: Hays Davis)
"804noise" is the first CD issued by Richmond's experimental artists' collective known as 804noise, and it may come as a surprise to musically adventurous listeners who figure that their own back door would be the last place to look for challenging, genre-blurring sounds.

Headphones are recommended, though with reservations, as here there be sinister aural modulations. The soothing, melodic textures of Lafererra and Monolithic Zero's dark, subtle drone patterns are pleasures that may draw you into a false sense of security.

Manic Amyche builds a frantic, claustrophobic atmosphere with sampled vocals and electronic percussion. Birds in the Meadow brings some real noise; imagine a vinyl album bursting into flames on its turntable. Lost signals from unidentifiable sources drift through a variety of sonic disruptions, with a beat, as presented by Vilam Priest.

Michael Ryan appears under two monikers, Metal and MI. As Metal, his "Bloc-Notes" is thick with sound; imagine keyboard notes bouncing off high church ceilings in the middle of a ray-gun shootout. Elsewhere, you may fear for the soul of your CD player with Harm Stryker's unsettling, slowly fracturing repetition.

To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie's shape-shifting sequence begins with a dense miasma of fluttering sound waves that are tempered slightly by gentle keyboard notes. A lulling, music-box melody flows over skittering percussion in Stephen Smith's "For L," and Never Presence Forever flies headlong into a storm of electrical transmissions that is at once hypnotic and disorienting.

There's a lot of space in the dense growth between Brian Eno and Squarepusher, and 804noise is in there adding new textures with a regional stamp. Here's to Volume Two.

Rating: 3/5, Source: Style Weekly (author: C.B.)
This compilation of sound manipulations by regional artists is unified by the contributors' sometimes-violent idea of what can be called music. This genre of mostly instrumental sound is known alternately as experimental noise, noise-rock and sometimes just noise. "804noise" also contains drum and bass elements, and many of the pieces have a soundtrack quality.

Whatever you call them, these machine-based compositions force listeners to divorce themselves from traditional notions of melody and harmony. Some of the tracks are deliberately designed to chafe the ear (like the calculated irritation of "Count" by Birds in the Meadow). Others offer soothing evaluations of sound (the subterranean sophistication of Stephen Smith's "For L"). But even the latter defy convention in ways that the uninitiated may find thoroughly displeasing.

If there's a theme beyond the complete disregard for conventional structure, it is a driving sense of experimentation and discovery. Obvious influences aren't readily apparent, though bits and pieces of the musical avant-garde can be found by those willing to listen. The free jazz of "Zin (Unfinished)" by the appropriately named To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, and the hip-hop of "An Uplifting Thought" by Manic Amyche are a couple of examples.

Though this forward-thinking approach to music will always be relegated to the fringe, "804noise" will find a loving home in any CD collection open to the unfamiliar.