According to his Discogs page, Charles Lareau hails from Green Bay, Wisconsin and is now based in Hangzhou, China. I was unfamiliar with his work, but the liner notes credits Lareau with "tapes and electronics," so I had some sense of what I was getting myself into. These tracks were recorded in 2021 & 2022 in Shanghai, China. Let's dive in and see what we have here.

We open with "aixst00," which is gritty machine noise. Imagine running a two-stroke engine though a series of effects and you get a sense of what you are in for. "Transistor" is heavily processed warbling static and analogue tones. I like the rawness of this and there is a minimalism here that is engaging. Finally, "algosphere" keeps the minimalism going with a lot of drone and ambience. If you are looking for atmosphere, this is where you will find it.

Flipping the tape over, we begin with "0II0I," which is an interesting mix of field recordings of singing and music buried under a wall of tape hiss and other noises. "Airwaves" is a short piece that brings some noise, with a repetitive static crunch and high-pitched radio noises. Finally, we close it off with "trajectory," which at 13:06 is the longest track on the release. The track kicks off with a static blast, but then quickly relaxes with some peaceful drone. This has the feel of being done in real time with one take, as there are sudden shifts at times. This settles into a heavily distorted drone piece that constantly evolves and shifts over time. Bits of static hiss come along for the ride and then vanish, tapes sounds like they are getting eaten for a brief moment, and suddenly it is over.

This is one of those nebulous releases that are a bit difficult to categorize. It is noisy, but not really noise. A bit too noisy to be ambient though. But it is very well done and a nice listen. Lareau manages to keep everything interesting by not getting too bogged down in formula. If you like tape experimentation with a lot of processing, this will be up your alley. Well worth checking out. This release weighs in at around 40 minutes.

The Discogs entry for this artist has several aliases, including: 69, Destroy Date, E.J. Vodka, Edward Giles, and Unknown Hierarchy. Edward Giles is a member of +DOG+, among many others. Now let's talk a bit about the title for a moment. "Food Desert Created By Neighborhood Gentrification" is a real thing, so although many completely disregard noise, I figure any attention we can get to such issues is worthwhile. The liner notes state that "WALLMART "Food Desert" is a new fifteen plus HNW track about an old subject. While the need for commercial property starts to diminish as retail shopping goes online. Many smaller "brick & mortar stores" have suffered the impact of the "big box" model of retail. The seemingly lower prices are never offset by the loss of local businesses that have shuttered their doors as commercial property developers continue to buy up neglected, underutilized land to create "food deserts" that lower income shoppers cannot access or afford." I have personally seen such food deserts in my work, so all I can say is "preach, brother." As for Wallmart? No bonus points for figuring out what we are in for here, so let's get past the geriatric greeter and see what the people in the blue vests have on sale today.

As you may have figured out based on the name and the fact that it's being released by Inner Demons Records, this is some heavy harsh noise wall. Over fifteen and a half minutes, the track grinds and stutters away in a cacophony of electronic noise. There is a lot going on in the track with a nice bass undercurrent to keep everything grounded. At the end, it cuts out to some hum and a brief news report about a store closure.

Overall, this is some nice wall of noise with a socially conscious point that one would be hard pressed to oppose. I am not the biggest fan of harsh noise wall (I prefer the "everything including the kitchen sink" variety of noise), but I found this to be engaging. This album weighs in at just over 15 minutes.

I previously reviewed Gensai Hasegawa’s “Life and Death in the Quarantines” and enjoyed it, so I was interested to hear how he would sound in a collaboration. Hasegawa hails from Tokyo Japan, and began producing music at the age of 50 after aa long career as a systems engineer. I could not find much about Miko because my Japanese is limited to what I have learned from manga and anime. From what I could gather, she focuses on voice and piano. So with only my knowledge of Hasegawa’s work and a host of mystery guests, let’s dive in.

We open up with “The City Wears a Folk Hat,” which has more participants than a bad rap track from the 90s. The participants include: Miko, (Sebaebi), (Ripuchuwan), (Ikemen Tomozo), (Wan), (Opu), (Kabochan), (Oshin), (Kuwati), (Shachiku Baba), (Roa), (EAPAI), (Rei), (Rikuto), (Momo) and Gensai Hasegawa. We open with a guy yelling, then other random noises added into the mix. There are people making vocalizations and other noises with their voice. Add to this some stringed instruments and flutes, and you have an odd composition. Imagine a person beatboxing and then making slurping sounds and animal noises. There is some spoken word, but I know very little Japanese, so I am no help here. This is weird and not likely to be everyone's cup of tea, but it is certainly interesting. “The City's Light” closes out the album and is a complete departure from the mellowness of the prior track. This is solely the work of Gensai Hasegawa and it lays down some harsh noise wall with plenty of static, bits of analog tones, and some line noise added in for good measure. Overall, this is a nice wall.

In short, if anyone came here to get mellow, the first track may do the trick. If you came to get some heavy noise blasts, the second track will do the trick. It's weird, but interesting. If you like some of the stranger stuff on Public Eyesore Records, this is worth checking out. This album weighs in at around 17 minutes.

I’m sure that by now you are familiar with Dan Fox, the hardest working man in noise. He records under a host of names, including This is What I Hear When You Talk, Fail, and Loss, to begin with, as well as being the driving force behind Inner Demons Records. Fail is nice, harsh noise, so let’s dive in and see what this sounds like live.

This album consists of one 16 minute track, "Live at Denver Noise Fest 2026." It kicks off a bit subdued, with some slight crackling, but then kicks into a bit noisier section. This track runs like a roller coaster, alternating with soothing noise and harshness. There are moments of high pitched squeals and analog noises and other moments of low seismic rumbles. There are quiet moments where it almost feels like it is ending, only to suddenly blast the listener with harsh noise. There is a lot going on here, so if you like your noise with a lot of variety, this is definitely one to check out. This also solidifies the fact that if you ever have a chance to see any of Fox's projects live, it will be well worth your while.

I was unfamiliar with this artist before hearing this album, but hails from Potsdam, Germany, and their Bandcamp bio describes their music as "Erotic Body Horror for the Flesh and the power it holds." Evidently, this is somewhat of a concept album about radiation. The liner notes describe it thus: "Radiation is a measured escalation that refuses drama. The first is closest to background: almost musical, almost normal, almost safe. Each subsequent track tightens the world, not by spectacle but by normalization. Like fatigue under a spiral that accelerates until speed becomes a habitat. The album doesn’t narrate collapse; it records how collapse becomes routine." Sounds like a good time, so let's raise a glass to Marie Curie, get out our Geiger counters, and give it a listen,

"Reading I 2.6 mSv [ CALIBRATION SEAL ]" kicks it off with a nice industrial beat and some noisy drone. We're off to a good start. "Reading II 9 mSv [ BASELINE DRIFT ]" is more droney without the beat, with multi-layered synth drone and grinding noises. The atmosphere is dark ambient meets arc welder, and it works really well. Next up, imagine you have been eaten by a massive creature. You can hear its heartbeat with the sounds of digestion. "Reading III 32 mSv [ LATENCY MARK ]" is what you would be hearing. "Reading IV 112 mSv [ THRESHOLD RITE ]" is pulsing synth waves along with quiet percussion and just enough distortion to make it gritty. "Reading V 390 mSv [ COMPLIANCE PHASE ]" is spacier, but still with a rhythm and a bit of noise and distortion to give it a bit of an edge. "Reading VI 1370 mSv [ MARROW EVENT ]" features scraping noises and high pitched squeaking noises, making it a bit noisier than previous tracks, although not really getting completely to noise. Rather, this feels like it is done intentionally, and the synth drone works well with the noises. "Finally, "Reading VII 4800 mSv [ HANDOVER ]" closes it all out with long, static drone with some hiss and static underneath. There are incidental sounds throughout that keep it from getting too boring.

Overall, the atmosphere is industrial dystopian. If you like your dark ambient with a healthy side of noise, this is the one to check out. It is not too harsh, but rather just a bit abrasive and bleak. Nicely done, and well worth checking out. This album weighs in at around 28 minutes.