a r t o . a r t i a n

musika txikien katalogoa / catálogo de musicas mínimas

1. .

   S-S RECORDS by Scott Soriano

   Don’t tell the INS, but Billy Bao is here. These internationalists destroy all boarders with the grinding bludgeon of pummeling sound. Two lonnnnnnggggg songs churn relentless riffs into wretched pounding and go back. Sub-metal, dirt dirge primitivism that attacks the shit nation state. For one from Billy Bao’s last one check out “Bilbo’s Incinerator” Embrace the degeneration of rock & roll! Fans of Brainbombs, Stickmen with Rayguns, Pissed Jeans, Drunk with Guns, etc. take note. White vinyl. Screened sleeves.
2. .

   KDVS Radio, California by DJ RICK

   It’s hard to think of “Bilbo’s Incinerator” as a catchy song until you hear this 10″. This is the even more deranged and ugly side of Billy Bao. Surely this record is the most severe ass-kicking you will receive this year.
3. .

   AUDIOLAB blog

   Nuevo álbum en vinilo de 10″ (primero de los tres grabados por el combo bilbaíno durante este último verano!) de la infame banda BILLY BAO, en esta ocasión de la mano del sello norteamericano S-S records. “Fuck Separation” es probablemente el mejor trabajo hasta la fecha de la banda liderada por el nigeriano-bilbaino. Un trabajo tan conceptual como visceral que mediante un crossfade gigante llena de esputos de rock bastardo y pesado nuestros oídos.

   BILLY BAO talde zitalaren 10″-ko binilozko diska berria (pasa den udan grabatu duten hiruetatik lehena!) argitaratu du S-S records disketxe iparramerikarrak. seguruaski “Fuck Separation” da nigeriako bilbotarrak gidatzen duen taldearen gaur arteko diska hoberena. Kontzeptuala bezain bizia den lana, crossfade ikaragarri baten bidez gure belarriak rock sasikume eta pisutsuz betetzen dituena.
4. .

   GURE HITZAK por Jon Imbernon

   el ultimo ep de BILLY BAO me ha dejado muy pillado la verdad … no me esperaba algo asi, han tirado de guitarras super bestias, riffs de guitarra casi monoliticos, en 2 temas hiper machacones de noise-rock super bestia incluso con toque sludge… pero aki esta la gracia (y la parte experimental tambien) ambas canciones se cruzan en la mitad de cada una. me explico, cada cancion empieza en una cara y acaba en la otra, en la mitad de cada una hay un cross fade que pasa a la cancion que empieza en la otra cara, aparte decir que durante el trance se crea aun mas sensacion de caos y ruidera aun si cabe..
   me ha parecido la puta polla vamos…

   ESTO NO ES SIMPLEMENTE NOISE-ROCK O SLUDGE, ES MUSICA VERDAREMENTE ARRIESGADA QUE VA VARIOS PASOS MAS ALLA DENTRO DE SU ESTILO, COMO DEBE SER, LA OXTIA!
5. .

   ROCK IN NICE: NICE ROCK AND UNDERGROUND MUSIC pour Razz

   Mais non, c’est pas un carré blanc ! C’est le nouveau 25 cm de BILLY BAO chez S-S Records. D’ailleurs super packaging. Ca se voit pas là, mais le blanc est incrusté d’une carte du monde et du nom “Billy Bao” en énorme à l’arrière, classe au touché. Faut pencher le disque pour le voir.
   Sinon, autant prévenir tout de suite, ce machin c’est deux titres, enfin non… juste un seul coupé en deux à la barbare au milieu. 10 minutes pile poil sur chaque face (je sais pas si c’est de l’intox ou pas, y a marqué 10:00, ça sent la frime).
   Donc, évidemment c’est un peu un ovni. On dirait NIRVANA qui joue du FAUST à fond les manettes. Durant 20 minutes y a un seul riff avec deux moments de flottement qui change le ryhtme d’une manière un peu zarb’. A la fin j’avais l’impression qu’il avait mis deux fois le titre en décalé l’un sur l’autre!
   Le mec gueule comme un taré, mais c’est mixé dans le bordel ambiant. Vraiment pas évident d’avoir un avis correct sur ce genre de musique. C’est bien mais c’est chiant. C’est chiant mais c’est quand même bien. Dommage que ce soit bien parceque c’est chiant. Jamais vu un truc aussi chiant, mais qu’est-ce que c’est bien, etc, etc, etc…

   Et je dis : on dirait VENOM qui joue du NEU ?? Ca passe mieux ?
6. .

   WFMU best 10 records of the year por Acapulco Rodriguez

   Consumer Electronics: Nobody’s Ugly, No Fun LP
   Broom Dusters: Sound From The Bottom Of The Tokyo Underground, Siwa LP
   M.B.: Symphony For A Genocide, Hospital / w.m.o CD
   Mattress: In the Pocket, Malt Duck 7″
   Peter Brotzmann & Sonny Sharrock: Fragments, Okka Disk LP
   Angelblood: Mambo Mange, Locust LP
   Billy Bao: Fuck Separation, S-S 10″
   Blank Dogs: The First Four Weeks, Freedom School 12″
   Eat Skull: Eat Skull, Meds 7″
   So Cow: Moon Geun Young, Myoclonic / Almost Ready 7″
7. .

   ART FOR SPASTICS by Dj Rick
   20 BEST EPs of the year 2007

   Billy Bao “Fuck Separation” 10″ (S-S)
   Blank Dogs “Yellow Mice Sleep” 7″ (HoZac)
   Blank Dogs “The Doorbell Fire” 7″ (Sweet Rot)
   Daily Void “Mass Communication Culture” 7″ (Boom Chick)
   Eat Skull “Seeing Things” 7″ (Meds)
   Electric Bunnies “Eskimo” 7″ (Florida’s Dying)
   El Jesus de Magico “Funeral Home Sessions” 7″ (Columbus Discount)
   Factums “See Inside” 7″ (Polly Maggoo)
   Hank IV “Dirty Poncho” 7″ (Plastic Idol)
   Human Eye “Spiders & Their Kin” 7″ (Cass)
   ICK “La Parade des Sans Illusions” 7″ (Enfant Terrible)
   Dan Melchior und das Menace “The Pink Scream” 12″ (Shake Appeal)
   Mutators “Paper Words” 7″ (The Broadway to Boundary)
   Nothing People “In the City” 7″ (S-S)
   QEK Junior “Wohnanhängar” 7″ (Kernkrach)
   Slicing Grandpa “Chaos Midnight” 10″ (Strain Theory/Scatalogical Liberation Front)
   So Cow “Moon Geun Young” 7″ (Almost Ready)
   Talbot Tagora “Cat Face” 7″ (self-released)
   Thomas Function “Relentless Machines” 7″ (Tic Tac Totally)
   Tyvek “Summer Burns” 2×7″ (What’s Your Rupture?)
8. .

   APPLES AND HEROIN by s.kobak

   Rotten attitudes birth a primal, infectious hardcore sludge document on Billy Bao’s new 10”. While not necessarily groundbreaking in light of the dearth of fantastic Drunks with Guns-inspired newcomers, Billy Bao perform with such conviction and intensity it affects the listener’s attitude. Unlike those bands, Billy Bao aligns itself more with anarcho punk than noise or black metal. Then again, pinpointing the band in a genre seems counterproductive. Named after their lead singer, they exemplify the current hardcore atmosphere with primal rage, slow riffs and wild feedback solos. Their songs linger naturally and resolve themselves appropriately, encompassing various styles into their structures. Comprised of two side-long tracks, the album pummels listeners with monolithic riffs and smart, angry verse. Both songs melt down fantastically, as their violent riffs burst at the fringes into feedback and drones while free jazz drums Lyrics separate the band from their peers. Billy Bao seems more concerned with the current political climate but they’re smart enough not to directly address it like dime-a-dozen Profane Existence wannabes. Instead, they describe the strife birthed from political oppression, both in the punk scene and the world at large. On “Borders of Mass Deception,” Bao describes the racist upheaval over secure borders with Mexico, shouting, “Bodies floating in the sea/Holidays in the beach/Work in your dreams/From A to B.” His pained vocals sound like a cross between Jake Sayles from Filth and Mike D. Williams from Eyehategod. “Jail Logic” presents a similar Sabbath-infested hardcore riff and a virtual call to arms for the band. Bao yells, “Punk has its rules, its reliable methods for producing satisfactory products/But the reality that must be taken as a point of departure is the one of dissatisfaction/It’s necessary to destroy the conventions of punk.” The band sounds like its playing two songs as percussion double tracks and cacophony underlines the main riff. If one chooses to focus on the extraneous elements of the song and ignore the familiar riff, it may sound like a trainwreck. When taken as a whole, the song sounds like the birth of a new, exciting turn for hardcore.
9. .

   DUSTED MAGAZINE (New York) by Doug Mosurock

   Third-world punk discoveries never cease, it seems – Billy Bao was grafted from the oppressive climate of Lagos to the streets of Spain, and aided in being given a wider voice by blacktop noise guitarist Mattin. Wildfire ensued, and yet it’s been years since the debut single (reviewed in the very first edition of this column, no less), and the subsequent minimal CD EP had scratched a militant crease into the minds of a newly enlightened punk rock audience. There’s an LP looming on Parts Unknown, but first up comes this two-song 10”, and it’s thicker and meatier and a whole lot less esoteric than previous offerings, two cross-faded 10 minute barrages of dirt-track muddin’, a wall of force. That one song ends where the other starts, and vice versa, is handled as hamfistedly as the chords slammed out to infinity, but somehow it stays in the groove, even as the rhythms drift off into another; it works as a compositional conceit, almost despite itself. Brutal, bludgeoning blows to the head and chest from the heart of the underserved. Essential listening from and for an angry, fed-up world. Edition of 600, white vinyl, white-on-white silkscreened sleeve.
10. .

    WHITE DENIM Top Singles of 2007

    1. Navid Tahernia ‘Speicher 56′ 12″
    2. Brainbombs ‘Stinking Memory’ 7″
    3. Mr. Oizo ‘Transexual’ 12″
    * 4. Billy Bao ‘Fuck Separation’ 10″
    5. Uffie ‘First Love’ 12″
    6. Vampire Weekend ‘A-Punk’ 7″
    7. Pink Reason ‘By a Thread’ 7″
    8. Tyvek ‘Still Sleep’ 7″
    9. Los Llamarada ‘The Very Next Moment’ 7″
    10. The Rebel ‘Tarscoffsky’s the Snackrifice EP’ 12″
    11. Waste Management ‘Get Your Mind Right’ 7″
    12. Second Sex ’s/t’ 7″
    13. Vicious ‘Igen’ 7″
    14. Farah ‘Law of Life’ 12″
    15. The Secret Society of the Sonic Six ‘Isolated Incidents’ 12″
    16. Blank Dogs ‘Yellow Mice Sleep’ 7″
    17. Birth Refusal ‘Cove Core’ 7″ & CD
    18. Tyvek ‘Summer Burns’ 2×7″
    19. Danava ‘Where Beauty and Terror Dance’ 7″
    20. Sex Vid ‘Tania’ 7″
11. .

    Foxy Digitalis (USA) by Magnus Schaefer

    8/10

    From the stark design (white-on-white silkscreened cover, white vinyl, minimal text sheet) to the bold title and the music itself, this release signifies heaviness and radicality; no superfluous ornaments here. The music starts all of sudden, it’s there, without an introduction or a fade-in: voice (Billy Bao), two guitars (Xabier Erkizia and Mattin) and drums (Alberto Lopez), in a bare, full-force rock mode, simple, repetitive, the screamed vocals barely discernible. Two or three chords are enough, and rather than changes there are accentuations, controlled burst of feedback or slight rhythmic variations, which further adds to the monolithic quality of the music. The flipside continues in this vein, yet even more intense, as it introduces a notion of latent chaos, never breaking loose, but always present in the wall of grinding guitar cum percussion noise that towers behind Bao’s vocal frenzy.

    At closer inspection there is, however, more to this 10” than raw vitalism. Indeed, there is an elaborate formal and conceptual base underpinning these two tracks. As the text sheet reveals, both are exactly 10 minutes long. This correspondence is matched by the lyrics: they not only intermingle visually, as the text sheet’s layout arranges them in the form of a ‘X’, but they also refer to the two sides of the record and while “Borders of Mass Deception” (A-side) ends with the lines “From A to B, to be their shit”, “Jail Logic” (B-side) ends with “From B to A, I will split your brain” – reflexive strategies that are derived from modernist and conceptual art and add an unexpected complementary ‘layer’ to the force of the music.

    ‘Radicality’ and ‘pure’ heaviness might seem to have worn out as musical concepts but this work – as in fact quite a few others with Mattin’s involvement – suggest that this assumption has yet to be fully verified. Nevertheless these two times ten minutes of conceptualist noise rock ultimately leave me with ambivalent thoughts. Apparently, Billy Bao aim at a re-actualization of punk as a platform for radical music and thought. “Jail Logic” is explicit about that:

    “Punk has its rules, it’s reliable methods for producing satisfactory products. But the reality that must be taken as a point of departure is the one of dissatisfaction. It’s necessary to destroy conventions in punk.”

    Viewed in this light, “Fuck Separation” as a whole may be read as both a formulation of this claim and a way to realize it. After all, Billy Bao leave no doubt about both sides, of the record as well as of their statement, being interrelated.

    Yet, as much as I’m impressed by the music’s power, as much as I value the conceptual base and as much as I respect this release as a political statement, I remain skeptic if – today – radicality can be expressed and attained through direct appellation or would rather demand more ambivalent strategies to allow a flexible position and circumvent getting lost in the void of agitation or entertainment.

    8/10 — Magnus Schaefer (5 February, 2008)
12. .

    Afterburn records (Australia) by Scotti

    TOP 12 Dec2007/jan2008

    1. Billy Bao - Fuck Separation 10″ (s-s records)
    2. Death - Keep on Knockin’ 7″ track (Detroit ‘76)
    3. John Michael Green - Still The Innocent LP (Canada 70’s)
    4. XTC -Respectable Street track (from ‘Black Sea’)
    5. Claw Hammer - Ramwhale LP
    (so good to be knocked out by it again after all these years)
    6. Steel Pulse - Sound System track (1979)
    7. The Boys -’Kamikaze’ track (from the 1979 alb ‘To Hell with…’)
    8. Jethro Tull - Storm Watch LP (i swear i don’t have a thing for 1979 !)
    9. Joanna Newsom - Y’s CD (still not done with it yet)
    10. Peter Searcy - Couch Songs CD
    (ex: Squirrel Bait frontman from a few years back)
    11. The Iceman -Book (oh boy, what a read that is !)
    12. C.A. Quintet -Trip Thru Hell CD (every home needs one)
13. .

    ROCKDELUX por Esteve Farrés

    Un 10¨ blanco de los bilbaínos Billy Bao en el sello S-S de Sacramento, California. El rock mutante y ruidoso de su debut, donde todos los extremos se tocan, del noise al thrash metal, atraviesa el charco a la conquista de América con ¨Borders Of Mass Deception¨ y ¨Jail Logic¨,
    cuyas letras se cruzan en la X de Malcolm.
14. .

    Missing Link records by Leon

    1. Billy Bao - Fuck Separation 10″
    Christ this is HEAVY. It just grows and grows with each listen into one huge malignant throb of frustration and spite: a bludgeoning flood of anxiety that is damn near exhausting. Fucken A+

    2. Dead Raven Choir - Selenoclast Wolves CD
    Had this since it came out but it’s brilliance only hit me recently. Another fine, odd + eerie DRC release.

    3. Asmus Tietchens -4K7 Box
    Great to finally have this…OFF LAYBY! Hands down the best reissue of 2007. Simply AWESOME compositions originally found on small-run cassettes. This is GODHEAD!

    4. Chris Smith - Altitude/Cold Ears 7″
    This version of “Altitude” is heaps wikid.

    5. Drunks With Guns - s/t LP
    The feel-good album of 1987. I was into Hot Wheels “crack-ups” + Dynamite Crossing that year. I also started primary school.

    6. Don “Sugarcane” Harris - “Sugarcane’s Got the Blues” LP
    Opening track rips!

    7. Deaf Wish - s/t 7″
    Great new record on the local Idget Child label. Scowling, dynamic charge. Mum gets punched.

    8. Gordons - 1st Album + Future Shock EP
    All on one handy CD.

    9. Plastic Cloud - s/t CD
    Excellent 60’s fuzz

    10. Iron Curtain - Desertion 1982-1988 CD
    Superb and now widely available. Cold, eerie stories w/ icy synth and chilly, droning hypnotism. For fans of great songs, Twin Peaks and low temperatures.
15. .

    TERMINAL BOREDOM: Best of 2007 by Larry Hardy (In the Red Records)

    - Black Lips - ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ LP (Vice)
    - Tyvek - ‘Summer Burns’ 2X7″ (What’s Your Rupture?)
    - The Scientists - ‘Sedition’ CD (ATP)
    - TV Ghost - ‘Atomic Rain’ 7″ (Die Stasi)
    - The Horrors - ‘Strange House’ CD (Loog) + live show at El Rey
    - Haunted George - ‘Pile O’ Meat’ LP(Hook Or Crook)
    - Final Solutions - ‘Songs By Solutions’ LP (Goner)
    - Billy Bao - ‘Fuck Separation’ 10″ (SS)
    - Liars - s/t CD (Mute)
    - Goodnight Loving - ‘Crooked Lake’ LP (Dusty Medical)
    - Blank Dogs - 7″s (Hozac/Sweet Rot/Florida’s Dying) and 12″s (Freedom School/Sacred Bones)
    - Nothing People - 7″s (Hozac/SS)
    - Grinderman - s/t CD (Mute)
16. .

    TERMINAL BOREDOM: Best of 2007 by Erin aka Emphysema (The A-Frames)

    Factums: Great releases and some of my favorite shows of ‘07. I’m sad that Dan their amazing guitar player and primary documentarian has moved to Chicago, but between the back catalog of existing material and some long-distance collaborating I’m hopeful there will be lots more to hear still. Siltbreeze LP - I just wanna hold it and look at it as well as listen - total tactile experience.

    Los Llamarada: Jesus that SS 7 kicked my ass! I was already hooked from the LP so it wasn’t totally unexpected - but that thing sat on our turntable for quite a while. Hope I get a chance to see these guys live sometime soon.

    Pink Reason: Everyone here knows this story of course, and a pretty fucking good story it is… I can’t wait to hear the new LP and whatever Kevin has in store for us next.

    Climax Golden Twins: Another fave show of the year for me was these guys - Amy Denio showed up unexpectedly to play sax and sing. I stood next to Min the whole set not believing our ears - we were convinced this was the result of planning and practice but of course were totally wrong & the entire set had been improvised. Their new LP 5 Cents a Piece is also great. Min describes them pretty well in his list - this is the record you put on, go about your business, and at some point say to yourself “what the fuck is this again??” - an unending variety of sounds come from these talented folks.

    Group Inerane: Well covered on TB - totally amazing.

    Billy Bao: 2 perfect extended pieces of total destruction rock + beautiful presentation = something you gotta own! this is what makes me want to buy records. I can’t explain it, but downloading Billy Bao seems somehow ridiculous?

    Blank Dogs: I want my Blank Box!!!

    Siltbreeze: Been a fan of Dead C and Harry Pussy for a long time - I love this guy’s aesthetic and what I’ve heard of the new releases have been true to the vision here. xNoBBQx, TPK, Factums, Pink Reason, Psych HS, you all know the list better than me probably.

    Le Sang Song: Our friend Craig from the Lights and Pyramids doing bedroom recordings - great range of mellow grooves that makes you feel like you’re sitting there right next to him getting your own performance - from Can to Cohen and more. I really hope this gets released in ‘08…

    Pyramids/Hexentanz: This band is so good! Just saw them again a few nights ago and they sounded better than ever. 2 piece guitar and drums with both singing - they both know how to lead a song so together they create an almost relentless kind of pop/art/noise/weird/punk that has something for everyone, but it all gels together with it’s own primitive punch. I’ve always had a soft spot for 2 pieces - I love how punked out and direct it usually sounds - but these guys are able to pull off more variety than most in this format.

    TV Ghost: Read about these guys in a post by Kevin on TB early on - one visit to their myspace site and I was hooked. How could these kids make such haunting, timeless apocalypse punk? Youth as the future past. Anxious for the LP and a chance to see em live.
17. .

    Missing Link Australia

    On the fantastical S-s Records from Sacramento CA comes this killer thundering 10″ vinyl ep from the mighty Billy Bao,entitled ‘Fuck Separation’.This 4 piece blast out a relentless stew of sonic nasty with bite,a down tuned buzz thud and a deep punk spirit over these two ten minute cuts. White Vinyl, white screen on white stock, with an lyric insert..this is one record that has pricked up our ears down here in the basement and comes super highly recommended. LP to follow in the next week or so, so get down on this and be stoked that you own it. Lots of other 7″/10″/LP vinyl going out over the weekend and early next week, along with a couple of limited Aussie Hardcore releases so watch this space and dig in.
18. .

    NEXT CLUES (USA)

    J’en suis même pas à une écoute mais Billy Bao m’a déjà enfoncé la tête dans le cul jusqu’à l’oignon et il n’est pas dit que l’enthousiasme fiévreux d’une première écoute soit moins efficace pour l’écriture qu’une critique posée et bien digérée.

    Le petit Billy serait un nigérien totalement dégoûté de son pays et qui serait alors parti se perdre en pays basque. La misère, la lose et la rage comme seules compagnes, il va débaucher assez rapidement un batteur primaire et deux guitaristes qui n’ont retenu du rock’n’roll que le plus substantifique malaise. 3 heures lui suffiront pour pondre un 7“ en 2005 qui a pas mal chamboulé les geeks états-uniens, Soriano, boss de S-S Records, faisant certainement partie des premiers. Pas une ni deux, un 10“ plus blanc que blanc sortira quelques mois plus tard sur le label de Sacramento, le présent objet qui met mes neurones à feu et à sang en tournant sur ma platine.

    Savoir ce qui relève du mythe ou de la plus pure vérité dans les lignes précédentes, franchement, je m’en fous complètement quand les riffs monolithiques et dévastateurs de ces deux chansons carbonisent mes oreilles (chacune émergeant lointainement à la fin de leur face opposée, manière vicieuse de rajouter encore une dose de confusion). On est dans la plus pure école haineuse, attardée et obstinée de la noise à la Flipper, Brainbombs, Church Police ou Drunks With Guns (un riff qui se délite dans des orgies de fuzz dévastatrice = une chanson) avec un je ne sais quoi dans la voix de ce cher Billy qui me rappelle le brailleur de chez Café Flesh. Autant de vocabulaire que chez le psychotique des Brainbombs et le tour est joué pour un disque qui me chauffe aussi blanc qu’il n’est.

    Et quant à savoir si ce Fuck Separation parle du pays basque et de l’Espagne ou de l’indissociabilité entre les deux chansons, je m’en carre tout autant l’oignon en remettant une nouvelle fois ce disque fabuleux sur la platine.

    Dernière chose: BILLY BAO DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT COPYRIGHT SO YOU CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT WITH HIS STUFF

    Trivia : Je vous ai parlé du pays basque et de noise furieuse. Le guitariste d’un obscur groupe reconnaissable à ces deux caractéristiques joue sur cette galette. Quel est le nom de son ancien groupe ?
    (11/10)

    {Bohumil S. Thompson}
19. .

    BLOGSTITUDE (USA)

    I ordered some records from S-S that I’m pretty excited about, and the Billy Bao 10″ sounds about exactly how I was hoping it would, pure slow-driving dirge-pummel, two ten-minute tracks, Brainbombs-worthy repetition and the singer has an excellent tone. I like heavy music. Will probably get the LP that just came out. Larry Dolman
20. .

    ROUGH TRADE

    a few years ago, basque country’s billy bao excited music freaks with the jaw dropping ‘bilbo’s incinerator’. billy and the boys are back grinding, bludgeoning, and pummeling sound. here we have two lonnnnnnggggg songs churn relentless riffs into wretched pounding and go back. sub-metal, dirt dirge primitivism that attacks the shit nation state. and being that billy bao contains experimental sound artists mattin and xabier erkizia, this ain’t without a twist. this pup wound up on plenty a 2007 top ten list, including those of the pissed jeans and the a frames. embrace the degeneration of rock and roll! fans of brainbombs, stickmen with rayguns, pissed jeans, drunk with guns, etc. take note.
21. .

    ZGUN by Ryan Wells

    Billy Bao Dialectics of Shit LP (Parts Unknown)
    Billy Bao Fuck Separation 10” (S-S)
    Billy Bao Accumulation EP (Xerox Musik)

    Billy Bao shot to micro-stardom wit’ a bullet last year on the strength of a stunningly powerful guitar-freakout 7” whose enormous sound was only slightly mitigated by the virtual impossibility of tracking a copy down. Well, here comes an appropriately apologetic deluge of what we used to call in The Industry “sonic fuckery.” The mysterious conglomerate that revolves around Mr. Mattin (no first names please) has managed to hit all the marks, and not just on the level of mere vinyl format (well, no 6” flexi releases … yet), while simultaneously functioning on three almost totally distinct stylistic planes. In order, from small to big: The 7” sounds like the EP that Harry Pussy never released on the Bad Vugum label. It’s 10 short bursts of squall and screaming that functions as the true successor to all those early 80s hardcore EPs that packed a similar number of songs onto a single platter; and it plays at 45 rpm! Apparently the theme of the record is reflected in the title, in that the songs are supposed to pile up the phlegm and sturm as the thing plays through but I have to say that until I was told this it didn’t really register. Anyhow, it’s really fresh and doesn’t get old fast, unlike “real” hardcore, soooo, next we have the 10” and here is something else entirely. Honestly. BB sits down in a candle-lined, eggcrate-shrouded studio cave and just jams out two sidelong modern stoner-metal-jamz that echo no band that I am currently familiar with. I find myself glancing back over to my older Earth titles, hell, their first couple of obscuro EPs, to find a similar touchstone. I admit, I’m not up on indie metal moderne, but this No Wave metal of Billy Bao’s is enough to make me think twice about my reflexive boycott of Boris and Sun 0)))– maybe I am missing something. If Greg Ginn had heard this in 1984, we’d have yet another o/p SST product to vainly scour the understock for, but this is available in the actual here and now. And, upon closer listen, the title of the damn thing starts to resonate, I think they are slowly combining and re-forming two songs at the same time on this. Clever apes. Now I feel like I failed a math quiz the first time a round, and now I’m going back over my scribblings and spotting my errors in the polynomials. What-ev-er, the concept is not as fascinating as the stuttering sonics anyhow, gimmie another beer and fuck Mr. Whitaker-Connolly and his fucking geometry proofs. Finally, their LP, of which the only truly negative thing I can weakly conjure is that the title is kinda dum.
    On this record, Billy Bao takes the No Wave that dominates the 7” and infects the 10”, along with the metallic churn and the dead-lunged vocals, and adds another dimension: They’re actually a noise band. A couple of tracks on this have “imperfections” built into them, “skips” and harsh static and wot not, that had me out of my stuporous languor and over to the rec player in no time … fuckers. That’s way more upsetting than Whitehouse instructing me to rape the next door neighbor’s 10-year old daughter (purely conceptual critical trick there, since no actual children seem to live in my neighborhood). But when Billy Bao isn’t making me blow nonexistent fluff off my needle, they’re swamping my stereo with a sickly twenty-generations-removed blues vomit that recalls nothing so much as a Civil War-era hospital orderly absently humming to himself as he gathers up hundreds of severed limbs for disposal. It’s violently dissociative in the most life-affirming way, and the only rough comparisons I can honestly make to are the much-missed Scando gorillas, Brainbombs. All in all, these three releases are the early contenders to make 2008 the Year of Billy Bao.
22. .

    SILTBLOG
    (June 2008, by Tom Lax, USA)

    And while’s I’m on the subject of myths, the ellusive Billy Bao has hit for the vinyl cycle recently w/a lp, 10″ & 7″ all in the space of 6 months. I’ll be goddamned if he ain’t somethin of a modern day Matty Bower w/all that hoopla. But it ain’t just the line formin to release work what’s similar, to my ears Billy Bao’s soundin somethin like a latter day Skullflower. There’s also a bilge like fodderstomp that bring to mind Flipper or someone of that ilk too, ’cause on the ‘Fuck Separation’ 10″ it feels like they meatballed Ted Falconi’s guitar into a jackhammer & pulverized the Xaman lp into smithereens while the ‘Accumulation’ 7″ hoists ‘Brainwash’ onto a petard, detonating it into a billion sub atomic particles that seem so toxic, you’d swear the air was filled w/a sinister amphetamine powder. Guess what? It isn’t. Both of these most likely available from; http://www.s-srecords.com/ or if your just lookin for the ‘Accumulation’ 7″ try; xeroxmusik@gmail.com
23. .

    TERMINAL BOREDOM (USA, Spring 2008)

    Ah, the wisdom of Billy Bao! Buried in the mess of noise that is “Jail Logic,” Billy Bao yells, “Punk has its rules, its reliable methods for producing satisfactory products. But the reality that must be taken as a point of departure is the one of dissatisfaction. It’s necessary to destroy conventions in punk. To undermine its foundations as a genre. To demoralize its fans. What a task!” And in that line is, perhaps, the philosophy of the band. “Fuck Separation” is harsh and challenging; each side of the record contains a single ten minute song that starts with one riff played repeatedly before crossing over into the other side’s riff, making both songs essentially a part of the same whole. The songs are much heavier than on his previous single, “Incinerator,” the vocals sung more desperately. This one’s not suitable for background music.(DH)
24. .

    STREET SPIRIT JR. (Finland)

    No joo siis kai tää nyt oli pakko uploadailla, parasta kamaa. Baskimaan jäbien vittumaista noiseilua punkkitatsilla. Kusisten farkkujen ja aivopommien diggailijoille…Fuck Separation on ihan asiallinen kannanotto euroopan jynjönin tulevaisuudelle, kenties. Borders Of Mass Deception olikin yx viimevuoden taageimmista skibaleista beibet. Näiltä olikin tullu alpuumi Dialectics Of Shit, pitäs varmaa kuunnellla koska varmast heruu pillua kun sen tuntee skenessä. Mut tässä kaks kymmenminuuttista piisii pelkkää hulinaa stuugesien hengessä
25. .

    lydfrabaksiden

    Billy Bao bråker så du slipper

    Billy Bao - Dialects Of Shit (Parts Unknown LP 2008)
    Billy Bao - Fuck Seperation (S-S Records 10″ 2007)
    Billy Bao - Accumulation (Xerox Musik 7″ep 2008)

    Det er nesten ikke grenser; det formelig flasser på med ny, god rockmusikk! Rockmusikk fjernt fra indiesuttering, klisjebading og latterlige posørtakter. Det er som om postpunk/DIY-kulturen fra tidlig åttitall har blitt parret med SST og Guided By Voices ca 1995. Ut av dette kommer det en bråte band og artister som gjør gitarbasert musikk mer interessant enn på mange år. Jeg nevner i fleng The Hospitals, Eat Skull, Little Claw, Blank Dogs, La Otracina, Nice Face, Tit Machine, US Girls, Nothing People, Factums, Wild Gunmen, Pink Reason, Psychedelic Horseshit, Sic Alps, Times New Viking, A.H. Kraken, The Bad Trips - lista er vanvittig lang. I tillegg har vi stabler av band som dyrker en oppdatering av minimal synth/Suicide gruff som Bad Party, Fabulous Diamonds, Pink Noise og alle artistene på den glimrende samle lp’en Festival Der Genialen Dissidenten på Enfant Terrible labelen.

    Hva har skjedd spør du ? Ikke om jeg vet, men deilig er det.

    Og ikke nok med de ovennevnte; Billy Bao er nok et storveis orkester som har rammet hardt den siste tiden, snakk om balltre midt i planeten. Billy Bao spiller blytung, punkete rifforamma ala SST/Big Black parret med tunge noisedykk og skurrete, elektronisk mishandling med glitch og cut-ups. Bandet består av Billy Bao på vokal, Mattin på gitar, Xabier Erkizia på gitar og Alberto Lopez på trommer. Billy Bao har blitt beskrevet som den mest perfekte kombinasjonen av “art and threat” siden tidlig Pere Ubu. Et til tider svært originalt lydbilde gjør at du tenker; hmm, må lytte en gang til!

    Det synes å være avantmystikeren og noiseduden Mattin som er lillehjernen i Billy Bao. Hans skjeve smil og “prankster”-ånd hviler over prosjektet. Ikke minst er den grunn til å ta røverhistoriene om vokalist Billy Baos bakgrunn med en klype salt.

    All de tre utgivelsene som nå er tilgjengelige er mer enn nødvendige;

    Fullengderen Dialectics Of Shit er en ramm reise i ti tre minutters (på sekundet!) låter, brygget på knirk, noise og punktrøkk med hysterisk vokal på syke tekster. Dialectics Of Shit fenger, fengsler og brenner lenge. Åpningssporet I am Billy Bao, Right Here Right Now! setter tonen med fullt øs før en tykk noisetåke stiger frem i lydbildet og voldtar hele sullamitten. Deilig. Første spor på andre siden You Get Me, You Get The Kicks! fikk meg til å sjekke om det bokstavelig talt var hakk i plata. Det var det selvsagt ikke, bare en endeløs repetisjon inn mot slutten av sporet.

    Titommeren Fuck Seperation er enda bedre. To ti minutters spor som banker på det samme to akkorders riffet gjennom tyve samfulle minutter. Som om Spacemen 3 egentlig spilte punkrock og ønsket å drite seg ut så godt som overhodet mulig. Tung, insisterende, mantrarock som pirrer den ene hjernecellen du fortsatt har i behold.

    Vi avslutter med syvtommeren Accumulation. Ti spor à ett minutts varighet. Totalcrash mellom punk og noise, full vernesko størrelse 46 rett opp i baken. Accumulation tar oss tilbake til virkeligheten etter Fuck Seperations audiofile mishandling.

    Billy Bao er nødvendige.
26. .

    PLAN OBSOLETE by Mark E. Rich

    Billy Bao fled from Nigeria, landed in Bilbao (Basque Spain) and employed thnastiest punk rock drummer and guitarists he could get his hands on. Since then Billy Bao has released a few 7″s, a full length on Parts Unknown (came out earlier this year) and this 10″ of 2 punishing tracks. Actually, this pretty much acts as one long track that features that exact same riff pummeled over the listener’s head for almost 20 minutes. This is very reminiscent of the endurance test that was the Cadaver In Drag full length, which I enjoyed immensely last year.
    White silk screened cover on a thick, white card stock all on white vinyl. Perfectly captures the white-hot rage of the music within. A man on a serious mission. You better pay attention.
27. .

    NO NOT FUN NOT NO by sm88

    This is the big one. (…) Billy Bao is fucking amazing. (..) If you were into Bobby Soxx and shit like that especially but if you weren’t you still have to.
28. .

    HIGH NOBIETY by Jeff Carvalho

    
    Billy Bao and noise records

    When I tell people that I became addicted to noise records this winter, I get the strangest of looks. My friends who tend to listen to a wide array of sounds and music cannot grasp my love of records that bounce - at times - non rhythmic sounds across long long compositions, which can be described as nothing more than fucking noise.

    I won’t try to describe noise records, because I simply just got into the genre. But I will point you towards some of my favorite artists working in this field today - Thuja, Eleh, Hototogisu who tend to drone out their sounds and compositions into what I almost label as ambient. On the extreme side, I tend to turn to Karlheinz, Japan’s Government Alpha, and John Wiese.

    If I take anything away from noise records, its a certain renewed focus on all other music I listen to. Noise may not be the most pleasant of genres to listen to but maybe I am looking for music/sounds that make me actually listen a little harder to get to the core.

    Most noise is only available physically as vinyl releases, so I have been stocking up on the shit I love. You would be surprised how low some of these press runs are (or maybe you are not surprised).

    Billy Bao’s “Fuck Separation” 10″ is not a true noise record but more of a layered non-stop guitar and percussion driven sound fuck. It’s rhythmic as hell and a brutal non-stop 20 minute assault. It’s easily the best rock record I have discovered this winter and it only took me a week to track down a hard copy via this small mail order joint in Berlin.

    Billy Bao makes all their music available for free download. You will not find a harder piece of sound.

    I happen to love the tonal white silkscreen on white cover of the 10″.

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