Ausländer

The "Window Hammer" 7" was one of the first grindcore-style Sissy Spacek records I really got into, even before "Contretemps". It was released last year by super-noise label Chondritic Sound, but avoided being in my possession until a few weeks ago when I spent way to much money at the SS merch table. Limited to 313 copies, all on black vinyl, 45 RPM. My copy came with the bonus DVD-r which I'll get to later.

The A-side consists of all nine tracks of "Window Hammer" that I was familiar with until getting this record. Yet another very focused and visceral take on stripped down noisecore/grindcore. This session featuring the trio line-up of Corydon, Mumma and Wiese. Loosing the guitar noise and going for more stand-alone bass riffage. Brief stick clicks are the only break between songs before all three members immediately snap into attack mode. Everything on here is tight, do not be lead to believe otherwise from the lo-fi recording and lack of song writing variation. What this group does with only blast beats and bass is very impressive. You can tell a lot of attention was put on the different variations of blasts and cymbal hits to make these songs still flow as, well, songs. Instead of just taking the easy microsong/noise burst approach. Fun fact, Joe Preston of Thrones/Melvins fame supplies some back up vocals on a couple tracks.


The B-side was a new listening experience to me, consisting of a single track entitled "Seven Dwarfs". As you could probably guess, this is another collage/cut up piece, created by the Mumma/Wiese duo line-up. If you've heard any of this line-ups work, like the "Brath" full length, you'll feel immediately familiar with the mayhem on here. Consistently harsh and blurred throughout it's whole run-time, leaning towards more of a raw noisecore style. Buried drum hits and vocals fight against blaring junk distortion and bass fuzz. It's a chaotic mess, I dug it a lot. Very similar to something that would be on their first "S/T" full length, or Charlie Mumma's other noisecore band Surplus Killing.

"Window Hammer" comes packaged in a standard fold-over, double sided sleeve. Again, no lyrics or insert of any kind. I do really wish I could read some of the lyrics. I've always been curious what Corydon is yelling about.

My copy also came with this bonus DVD-r, which contains a couple live concerts from the band during the "Contretemps" era. Most of the footage is very intimate, claustrophobic. Lots of close-ups of the band and crowd, with some extra spliced in footage of the band shooting guns, and recording a concreté piece with Smegma (I believe). The sound quality is tastefully overblown, it definitely fits the footage. I'd say it's worth trying to find a copy with the DVD, though I'm not sure how many of these were made.

Definitely another essential piece of the Sissy Spacek catalog, and thankfully this is still pretty easy to find. Don't sleep.

~VII

Gloves

"Contretemps" fucking rules. I was overjoyed when I saw that Sissy Spacek somehow still had copies for sale at their merch table. I've been after this one for a long time. This is what I like to call some perfect noisegrind. Released on Post Present Medium, 500 copies pressed on black vinyl, 45 RPM.

Out of all of Sissy Spacek's newer EP's, "Contretemps" still leads the pack as my favorite of their grindcore records. This EP managed to get a sound that none of the other records really managed to nail. John's bass tone is so rounded, crunchy, bassy and overblown here. It fills up the whole spectrum of sound. They've also just never sounded so pissed before, not like this. Corydon's voice rides a constant plateaued level of intensity. Shouting rapid fire vocals to match Charlie Mumma's stripped down, pure blast beat drumming. Listening to this on vinyl was like hearing it for the first time. The master is devastatingly loud and bass heavy, it sounds like mountains crumbling. But still under all the noise, Sissy Spacek have written some of their finest songs. Every track can stand on it's own thanks to the excellent riffs that Mr. Wiese can write. Tracks like "Gloves", "End Mill", and "On On On On" all have parts that I remember easily and fondly. Great songs, perfect sound, and incredibly tight performances.


The record comes packaged in a very flimsy glued sleeve. Seriously, I'm so scared of ripping this thing. As usual, no insert or lyrics included.

Not sure if the band still has copies or not, but you can still find this on Discogs pretty easily. Buy or forever cry.

~VII

Roulette

I was recently privileged with the opportunity to ride with a wonderful companion up to Buffalo. To catch Sissy Spacek and Wolf Eyes on a very rare jaunt through the East Coast. Pure Disgust also played, but I only caught the very last two songs of their set. Seemed like it would have been pretty fun to be there for them too. Regardless, the band I was most excited to was Sissy, who slammed through nine minutes worth of tracks that had me smiling the who time. Incredibly tight, and drenched in chaotic, shrapnel-toned bass noise. It was well worth the trip up. I also managed to scrounge up enough coin to get a few new, and not so new SS records. This one here being brand-spanking, and carried on a very interesting idea. "Roulette" is a new 7"  EP/vinyl experiment brought to us by Claimed Responsibility Records. Black vinyl copies are limited to 100 (as are the white vinyl copies).

I had a keen eye on this EP in particular when I learned about the details of the A-side. Four new tracks, each one contained on a separately cut groove from the other three. That means that each track also gets it's own starting point at the beginning of the record. So it's literally a roulette to which track you're going to get. I've heard of this idea being done in the past, but I can't for the life of me remember what record it was. Sounds like an incredible process to make, and I imagine it could be infuriating for some of you to try and hear all the tracks and keep landing the same ones. Amazingly, I somehow managed to hear each different track within the first 5-6 drops of the needle. It's a cool idea, and definitely fun, but each track is only a spare few seconds long. Riding the same noisecore influenced, blasting bass wall noise they've been doing as a duo. Hopefully some MP3's of this pop up sometime soon.

The B-side track, "Flayed", is a cut-up collage piece recorded sometime in 2011. I've honestly only scratched the surface of Sissy's collage years, but I definitely am a fan of that side of them as well. This track is filled with reverse noise loops, bits of drum tampers, industrial steam sounds, what I think is human moaning. And that's just scratching the surface of the huge amount of dense layering and manipulation that's going on here. It all morphs organically through each sample and field recording, sometimes landing into brief parts of more continues loops and gradual builds. Probably the side I'll be going back to more often honestly.

We got a nice, sturdy, glued matte sleeve to hold the record. There's no real insert included, though mine did some with a little show flier from somewhere they played.

I tried to get a good picture to show what the grooves are doing.

All around I thought this EP was a success. It had a clever concept, a solid, however brief delivery, and showed the dynamics this band can work with. Good stuff. You can pick the record up HERE.

   ~VII

Hot Poison

One of my biggest, mushiest, lovey-dovey music crushes is John Wiese's prolific, monumental noisegrind/harsh music concrete band Sissy Spacek. A swirling, ever evolving and experimenting unit which has been on a roll of consistently putting out grindcore rooted 7"s over the past couple of years. Due to my deeply saddening lack of online purchases, I'm still missing quite a chunk of SS records. However, the fantastic "Lead Their Exit" EP has managed to find it's way into my loving hands. Black vinyl, 45 RPM, limited to 300.

Sissy Spacek is one of my true loves because in addition to their constant experimentation, I think they are one of the purest examples of what quality noisegrind should be. Mr. Wiese's mastery of sound manipulation instantly lends itself to inventive ways of actually incorporating noise into the grind, and drummer Charlie Mumma's brilliantly stripped down style or 100% pure blasting and nothing else. He will play literally just blasts. it's a recipe for perfect noisegrind. At least when Sissy Spacek does it.

This is a notable release for Sissy Spacek for a couple of reasons. Most notably is the entry of new vocalist Sara Taylor, screaming her throat out as the replacement for the usually present Corydon Ronnau. Sara's vocals are equally raw and monotone, sounds a lot like Madison from Cloud Rat actually. She is also partnered with the brutal metal screams of Charlie, which is pretty different for the band. Sissy Spacek really have becoming a devastatingly tight band, under all the noise and lo-fi production. Slowly creeping closer and closer and toying more and more with the more straight forward grindcore style of writing.

I'd say that "Lead Their Exit" is one of the more focused and well executed of the recent batch of 7" EPs. For the short time length, they add a lot of variety and a good amount of individuality to these tracks. Side B opens up with the less then a minute power electronics track "Oils Of Your Eyes", before going into two BRUTAL Arsedestroyer covers. It's a pulverizing display of Sissy Spacek at their most straight forward and aggressive, ending with the most structurally complicated track "Decrypt". These last few tracks are the best examples of Charlie and Sara dueting with each other, and it's an incredible assault. 

Very good packaging in a sturdy glued sleeve. My favorite!! No insert, and all the infor given is printed on the back.

~VII