HR039 - Cancerous Growth — Ritual Of Preparation — C46 — 1986
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Side A:
Dying Alone Of Blood Suicide Pact Side B: Don't Care Brain Highway Penis Of Evil All Instruments C. Phinney & M. Jackson |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
The next Cancerous Growth album in the HR catalog is killer set of high intensity rocking, noisy, free-wheeling jams and experimental fun.
‘Dying Alone’ opens the set with a swarm of guitar and electronics whipping up a firestorm of tornadic activity, anchored by a sludgy, marching doom bass. The tension level is through the roof on this cross between horror film soundtrack and army of Orcs marching into battle. The storm continues on ‘Of Blood’. There’s a lot happening as the tempest rushes and whirls in a noisily atmospheric frenzy. What makes the piece so interesting is the parallel fluttering screech textures that hit disturbingly piercing registers, low moaning melody, and other sonically harsh bits and pieces. ‘Suicide Pact’ is different, being a fun rocker that blends industrial elements with space-ambience and Residents styled zaniness. Voices are the stars of the show, creatively morphing and mixing multiple voices, both tape manipulated and rant-sung. I like the hyper-kinetic percussion that scampers along with the crazed voice ensemble, and it’s all tempered by a peacefully melancholy synth melody.
‘Don’t Care’ opens Side B, being a cool blend of experimental industrial and New Wave electronica, with frenzied, noisy oscillations and other sonic madness. But as the song progresses it gets increasingly pastoral and melodic, with the lighter elements edging out the maelstrom and finishing on a relatively peaceful note. ‘Brain Highway’ is a freeform industrial and noise jam, surrounded by tsunami level atmospherics and a toy instrumental sounding melody.’ Mike Jackson says the song “interpolates and elaborates on an early Cephalic Index (his solo project) piece of the same name with the wonderful Realistic reverb unit at its core.” ‘Penis Of Evil’ continues the free-wheeling jamming, like a cross between experimental noise jam and punked out blazing rock ‘n’ roll slammed through a mélange of tape effects. These guys do a great job diving deep into the noise vortex, but there are always multiple discernible components that contrast in weird ways to keep things always fascinating and fun. You have to listen close to catch it all.
INTERVIEW with Chris Phinney and Mike Jackson by Kranitz
Jerry Kranitz (JK): The cover images are different from what I’ve got accustomed to on Harsh Reality tapes. You’ve got all these bikini model and leg sexy leg shots, but then the nasty looking teeth. What’s up with the cover?
Chris Phinney (CP): (Laughs) It’s just a goofy ass cover. The Ritual of Preparation title means that we were getting ready to do a gig. We were supposed to do the gig with Rhythm & Noise and Trial. But they cancelled out so it was just Cancerous Growth live at the Antenna. And there was nobody there (laughs).
Mike Jackson (MJ): It was Naut Humon's project RHYTHM AND NOISE and the band TRIAL, also from San Francisco.
JK: If I remember correctly this was the live Cancerous Growth performance you guys did?
CP: That’s the only gig we ever did as Cancerous Growth.
JK: Did you record it?
CP: No. Didn’t even think about it.
MJ: I've seen photographs, presumably taken by Tawnya, who usually videotaped the VIKTIMIZED KARCASS shows so there's at least some documentation.
JK: Despite nobody being there, how did it go?
CP: It was good! It was a lot of fun. Jackbo got down on the floor screamin’ and hollerin’ and raisin’ hell. It was fun. It was extreme Power Electronics based shit. There were some people there because they were there to drink. And the soundman had to be paid $75. At least we made enough money to pay the soundman.
MJ: I recall getting physical with a mannequin.
JK: Did you play something prepared or did you improvise?
CP: We just improvised. We were thinking about doing these tunes but there was no way we would be able to get them to sound the same. Because these tunes were improvised as well.
JK: I love the opening track, ‘Dying Alone’. I couldn’t tell if what I described in the review as ‘doom bass’ was bass or percussion. Is Mike playing bass?
CP: Mike is playing bass. And we got the bongos going, with a slit in one of them. I like fucked up shit like that. I had an acoustic guitar with the whole body broken in half but it was still intact.
JK: It was still strung?
CP: Yeah, it made some weird ass noise.
JK: On the track ‘Blood’, I described “parallel fluttering screech textures that hit disturbingly piercing registers”. What’s making those piercing sounds?
CP: Probably Jackbo with a tape player. Tape effects. He always had a tape player.
MJ: It is indeed tape manipulation. I'm hearing also some backward Casio drum program, so I likely used my 4-track as an instrument on this session.
JK: And on ‘Suicide Pact’… I like what sounds like a voice ensemble with all these multiple voices. Did you just layer voices when you were mixing the tape?
CP: We layered them on the 4-track and ran them against each other and put the effects on. They don’t make sense really.
MJ: That my friends is the Casio SK-1, which you either loved or hated. I used to tote that thing around to parties and drive people nuts. As for the spoken vocal part I have no idea what I'm saying. I was by no means a lyricist, so it was probably just some 'slice of life' rambling.
JK: But the effect is great. There’s more crazy voices on ‘Don’t Care’.
MJ: Pretty sure the lead vocal is Tawnya going on about a friend's betrayal. That bit ended up in a much better form on a MENTAL ANGUISH release I believe.
CP: It was a tape of Jackson’s little sister. He used to piss his littler sister off and record her all the time. He used that on the Alien Planetscapes tape when they were recording here. That’s what got the cops over. Then they realized it was just a tape and nobody was getting hurt and they left.
JK: Sounds like Mike got a lot of mileage out the tapes of his sister screaming.
CP: Oh hell yeah! That’s his sister you hear screaming on the Counter Fest tape. While he was behind the amplifiers. I don’t think anybody even knew he was there.
MJ: She ended up on a collaboration with Zan Hoffman as well. She's famous and has no idea.
JK: One of my favorite tracks on the tape is ‘Penis Of Evil’. It’s a great jamming tune with experimental noise and rock ‘n’ roll.
MJ: Another great thing about the SK-1 was that you could achieve Reich-ian phase effects with what essentially was marketed as a toy. There's some of that and then using it to be something akin to a poor man's FOETUS.
CP: Yeah, there were tones of effects. There were tons of effects on that whole damn tape.
MJ: Chris' analog delay pedal was my favorite. Man, that thing took some serious abuse over the years.
The next Cancerous Growth album in the HR catalog is killer set of high intensity rocking, noisy, free-wheeling jams and experimental fun.
‘Dying Alone’ opens the set with a swarm of guitar and electronics whipping up a firestorm of tornadic activity, anchored by a sludgy, marching doom bass. The tension level is through the roof on this cross between horror film soundtrack and army of Orcs marching into battle. The storm continues on ‘Of Blood’. There’s a lot happening as the tempest rushes and whirls in a noisily atmospheric frenzy. What makes the piece so interesting is the parallel fluttering screech textures that hit disturbingly piercing registers, low moaning melody, and other sonically harsh bits and pieces. ‘Suicide Pact’ is different, being a fun rocker that blends industrial elements with space-ambience and Residents styled zaniness. Voices are the stars of the show, creatively morphing and mixing multiple voices, both tape manipulated and rant-sung. I like the hyper-kinetic percussion that scampers along with the crazed voice ensemble, and it’s all tempered by a peacefully melancholy synth melody.
‘Don’t Care’ opens Side B, being a cool blend of experimental industrial and New Wave electronica, with frenzied, noisy oscillations and other sonic madness. But as the song progresses it gets increasingly pastoral and melodic, with the lighter elements edging out the maelstrom and finishing on a relatively peaceful note. ‘Brain Highway’ is a freeform industrial and noise jam, surrounded by tsunami level atmospherics and a toy instrumental sounding melody.’ Mike Jackson says the song “interpolates and elaborates on an early Cephalic Index (his solo project) piece of the same name with the wonderful Realistic reverb unit at its core.” ‘Penis Of Evil’ continues the free-wheeling jamming, like a cross between experimental noise jam and punked out blazing rock ‘n’ roll slammed through a mélange of tape effects. These guys do a great job diving deep into the noise vortex, but there are always multiple discernible components that contrast in weird ways to keep things always fascinating and fun. You have to listen close to catch it all.
INTERVIEW with Chris Phinney and Mike Jackson by Kranitz
Jerry Kranitz (JK): The cover images are different from what I’ve got accustomed to on Harsh Reality tapes. You’ve got all these bikini model and leg sexy leg shots, but then the nasty looking teeth. What’s up with the cover?
Chris Phinney (CP): (Laughs) It’s just a goofy ass cover. The Ritual of Preparation title means that we were getting ready to do a gig. We were supposed to do the gig with Rhythm & Noise and Trial. But they cancelled out so it was just Cancerous Growth live at the Antenna. And there was nobody there (laughs).
Mike Jackson (MJ): It was Naut Humon's project RHYTHM AND NOISE and the band TRIAL, also from San Francisco.
JK: If I remember correctly this was the live Cancerous Growth performance you guys did?
CP: That’s the only gig we ever did as Cancerous Growth.
JK: Did you record it?
CP: No. Didn’t even think about it.
MJ: I've seen photographs, presumably taken by Tawnya, who usually videotaped the VIKTIMIZED KARCASS shows so there's at least some documentation.
JK: Despite nobody being there, how did it go?
CP: It was good! It was a lot of fun. Jackbo got down on the floor screamin’ and hollerin’ and raisin’ hell. It was fun. It was extreme Power Electronics based shit. There were some people there because they were there to drink. And the soundman had to be paid $75. At least we made enough money to pay the soundman.
MJ: I recall getting physical with a mannequin.
JK: Did you play something prepared or did you improvise?
CP: We just improvised. We were thinking about doing these tunes but there was no way we would be able to get them to sound the same. Because these tunes were improvised as well.
JK: I love the opening track, ‘Dying Alone’. I couldn’t tell if what I described in the review as ‘doom bass’ was bass or percussion. Is Mike playing bass?
CP: Mike is playing bass. And we got the bongos going, with a slit in one of them. I like fucked up shit like that. I had an acoustic guitar with the whole body broken in half but it was still intact.
JK: It was still strung?
CP: Yeah, it made some weird ass noise.
JK: On the track ‘Blood’, I described “parallel fluttering screech textures that hit disturbingly piercing registers”. What’s making those piercing sounds?
CP: Probably Jackbo with a tape player. Tape effects. He always had a tape player.
MJ: It is indeed tape manipulation. I'm hearing also some backward Casio drum program, so I likely used my 4-track as an instrument on this session.
JK: And on ‘Suicide Pact’… I like what sounds like a voice ensemble with all these multiple voices. Did you just layer voices when you were mixing the tape?
CP: We layered them on the 4-track and ran them against each other and put the effects on. They don’t make sense really.
MJ: That my friends is the Casio SK-1, which you either loved or hated. I used to tote that thing around to parties and drive people nuts. As for the spoken vocal part I have no idea what I'm saying. I was by no means a lyricist, so it was probably just some 'slice of life' rambling.
JK: But the effect is great. There’s more crazy voices on ‘Don’t Care’.
MJ: Pretty sure the lead vocal is Tawnya going on about a friend's betrayal. That bit ended up in a much better form on a MENTAL ANGUISH release I believe.
CP: It was a tape of Jackson’s little sister. He used to piss his littler sister off and record her all the time. He used that on the Alien Planetscapes tape when they were recording here. That’s what got the cops over. Then they realized it was just a tape and nobody was getting hurt and they left.
JK: Sounds like Mike got a lot of mileage out the tapes of his sister screaming.
CP: Oh hell yeah! That’s his sister you hear screaming on the Counter Fest tape. While he was behind the amplifiers. I don’t think anybody even knew he was there.
MJ: She ended up on a collaboration with Zan Hoffman as well. She's famous and has no idea.
JK: One of my favorite tracks on the tape is ‘Penis Of Evil’. It’s a great jamming tune with experimental noise and rock ‘n’ roll.
MJ: Another great thing about the SK-1 was that you could achieve Reich-ian phase effects with what essentially was marketed as a toy. There's some of that and then using it to be something akin to a poor man's FOETUS.
CP: Yeah, there were tones of effects. There were tons of effects on that whole damn tape.
MJ: Chris' analog delay pedal was my favorite. Man, that thing took some serious abuse over the years.