FFI Digital is one of the many monikers of label head Dan Fox, the hardest working man in noise. What sets FFI Digital apart from his other projects, mainly Loss and Fail, is that the albums from this project are “created entirely on a PC using various paid and free plugins, and lots and lots of automation.” Well, let’s dive in and see what the noise factory has on the assembly line.

We open up the disc with “180119G,” and Fox comes out swinging. This is digital noise that blasts out your speakers and manages to do so on all frequencies possible. There is heavy undercurrent of static while high pitches screeches blast through the upper register. This throws everything at you all at once, and it is wonderful. “180119H” takes a different approach, with a stripped down beat and sparse, crackling noise. Think a more minimalist Ant-Zen kind of track. A bit too minimalist for my taste, but pleasant.
Now on to the second disc. “180119ACEGRMXB” closes out the album with a 20 minute tour-de-force that brings back the harsh noise but keeps everything interesting. You can think of this track as a journey, with Fox as the demented tour guide driving you around, not quite making all of the turns, and I’m pretty sure he ran over a fire hydrant back there. But you will see things far off the beaten path. If you make it there. Either way, it is a memorable ride. Very well done.

If this is what PC plugins and automation sounds like, I suppose we will have to worry about AI taking away jobs from hard working noise musicians in the not so distant future. This is solid noise and Fox throws everything he has at the listener. Well worth checking out if you like it noisy. This album weighs in at 40 minutes and is limited to 42 copies.

Fail is one of the many monikers of Dan Fox, labelhead of Inner Demons Records, and is his harsh noise project. He describes it thus in the bio: “Fail is the longest running (20 years +) noise project of Dan Fox, the guy who runs IDR. He has a bunch of other projects too and spends most of his free time with pedals and cats. He struggles with mental health problems, and he can't wrap his head around how we got here and how the fuck we're supposed to fix it.” I think many can sympathize. So let’s see what the pedals and cats have in store for us today.

“080919” opens up with pulsing noise that sounds like a heartbeat. This then gives way to droning noise and short blasts of static and other noise. This evolves over almost 13 minutes, cascading live waves of static against a craggly shore. An ever-present hum provide a base for bits of static and analog noise. This is not in your face noise, but rather a well-crafted composition with some subtlety. Really nicely done.
“080830” picks up where the previous track left off and is almost peaceful. There is some sweeping phaser effect that gives the undercurrent an oceanlike feel. This is delicate noise, with a mournful feel, like being on a train platform at 3am. Alone. With nothing but the hum of the ventilation system and your thoughts. Occasionally, a train comes to the platform, but it isn’t going anywhere you want to be. It leaves the platform and you remain alone, wondering what train, if any, you want to board. And it’s getting colder….

I expected something a lot more harsh from Fail, but sometimes what you get greatly exceeds your expectations. This is lovely noise (yeah, how often do you get that combination) that is just on the edge of becoming noisy dark ambient. Beautifully done and highly recommended. This album weighs in at around 19 minutes and is limited to 42 copies.

I have listened to Dan Fox for many years now, and Fail is one of his many projects. He is also the driving force behind Inner Demons records. The liner notes state that this is Practice #1 for the May 2024 tour with Vasectomy Party. Based on this, if you are in the Florida area, make sure to catch Fail's next show because this is a great musical journey.

This is one track at almost 20 minutes titled "First Failure," with tons of digital noise and a lot of variety in it. Fox's judicial use of dynamics and changes in pace keep everything interesting. This is not chaotic and has the feel of a carefully composed piece of noise. If you are looking for harsh noise wall that remains generally static, this is not going to work for you, but if you like a lot of variety in your sound palette, then this will be exactly what you are looking for. This is another excellent work by Fail, and thus, as the title suggests, he has once again failed to fail to fail, and we are all the better for it. Well done.

Dan Fox is a man with many hats. In addition to running Inner Demons Records, he records under the names Fail, Loss, This Is What I Hear When You Talk, and several others. This is a record of a short tour that he did in 2024 with Vasectomy Party under the name Fail. Let’s dive in and get a sense of how this plays out live.

We kick it off with Fail’s performance in Jacksonville, Florida. This is, without a doubt, the best piece I have ever heard from Fail. If you buy any disc from Fail, this should be the one you get on the strength of this performance alone. The composition is complex, well crafted, and beautiful. Frankly, I'm impressed that he could pull this off live because there's so much going on here. Fox draws on a wide range of sounds and dynamics to take the listener on an auditory ride. This is noise in the way that the ocean or a thunderstorm is noise; awesome and glorious. Well done.

I wish we had the first 3 minutes of Chattanooga, because it was fantastic also. It's similar in style to the Jacksonville performance, but this one seems a bit more digital, for lack of a better term, and has a kind of intensity and tension that wasn't as prominent in the other track. Fox makes great use of crescendo and building of tension throughout by repeatedly arpeggiating up the scale. This repetition serves to build intensity and works well.

Finally, we have the performance in Panama City, which like Florida itself, is much more chaotic than the previous two. Like the other two performances, this is well put together and uses dynamics to his advantage, lulling you in with a drone only to hit you with a lot of analog noise squiggles.

All three of them are excellent but my money's on the first two. It's nice to hear a master of his craft at work and if you ever find yourself stuck in Florida for some reason and you happen to see Fail on the bill of a show, this disc shows that it's definitely worth getting up and going to check it out. Well worth picking up. This album weighs in at around 47 minutes.

The liner notes state, “Dedo no cu e gritaria é uma dupla sertaneja que acabou de chegar," which translates out to "finger in the ass and screaming is a country duo that just arrived" in Portuguese, if Google Translate is to be believed. I can't really attest to whether or not there is a finger in the ass, but there is certainly a lot of screaming in this. According to the notes, this is the work of EQQVPSVCETV and Thendonna, with Thendonna on Drums and Screaming and EQQVPSVCETV on Sax and Effects. I was unfamiliar with this duo, so let’s see what the screaming is all about.

I know what you're thinking. What is saxophone doing on an Inner Demons release? This album consists of one track, “Kurt,” which is some pretty noisy free jazz style saxophone that at some points sounds almost like a kazoo. The drumming is not so much drumming as pounding on the side of the drums for a clacking sound, and there is certainly a lot of screaming. I don't know the language that they are yelling in, but I presume it is Portuguese based on the band name.

I don't know who Kurt is, and I'm still not really sure if this track being about him would be a compliment or an insult, but it is certainly lively. This reminds me of some of the work that I've heard come out on the Public Eyesore label so if that would be up by your alley this would certainly be one worth checking out.