Great concert and video effects. Would of been nice to have a professional recording of 'Simply Beautiful' without the fart noises but we can't have everything i suppose. The packaging and dvd menus were a let down compared to the usual nice packaging of Ipecac releases. I can't help but think my mate a graphic designer could of knocked up this in half an hour with images found on the web.

I liked this album a lot and havent listened to it for quite a while. While i now listen after a few years on the shelf i recall that it was probably my second Merzbow purchase, and probably the most listened to one.

There are rare moments when i can listen to Merzbow alone these days. I do like his collaborations mostly like with Smegma and Jazzkammer.

i have only ever listened to this album with the balance in the middle, each side loses something if i try to listen to either alone.

The following quote appears inside the booklet for this album and is good to think about whilst listening:

"Within the next 5 to 10 years, it would probably be possible to make a new infective micro-organism which could differ in certain important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms. Most important of these is that it might be refractory to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease.

A research program to explore the feasability of this could be completed in approximately five years at a total cost of ten million dollars.

It is a highly controversial issue, and there are many who believe such research should not be undertaken least it lead to yet another method of mass killing of large populations. On the other hand, without the sure scientific knowledge that such a weapon is possible, and an understanding of the ways it could be done, there is little that can be done to devise defensive measures.

Should an enemy develop it there is little doubt that this is an important area of potential military technological inferiority in which there is no adequate research program."

Dr. Donald M. MacArthur
Deputy Director, Department Of Defence; Research and Technology Division.
9/6/1969.

Dual Plover proudly claim to be the only record label in the world to ever spell Masami Akita's name wrong in the credits (Thats not bad considering well over 200 releases on as many labels).

i am still trying to get past how good the first four tracks are.... DJ Spooky is brilliant with his fucked up piece of tunage, Dj Rupture is good to but then Plug just blows me away with his Dnb bass mix, the best DnB track and the best Plug track i have heard in a long long time... then Alec Empire blasts some very nice noisy hardcore, much noisier then anything else i have heard from him of late... great album...

Some very nicely constructed hardcore, using an eclectic mix of pop tunes and some great voice samples Maladroit has created an album that is very easy to listen to, dance to and do all sorts of things to. My favoirite track on the album is number 8 DMT, i think its probably because of its dance-ability i seem to be jumping around everytime i hear it. I showed the track to a friend and they told me they couldnt listen to it because it used a B52s track that brought back bad memories for them, i love it. Track number 4 places some breakbeats over a really popular rock track that has been used in war movies and ads for various products, i am pretty sure that it is a Rolling Stones track but don't quote me on that one. Track 5 takes parts of 'we didnt start the fire' by Billy Joel and distorts them until they are barely recognisable and creates a track that you can definately tell is Billy Joel if you know the song, however its very hardcore, breaky and as catchy as the original (or more catchy perhaps as the original didnt catch me). Track 6 comes in rather dark sounding then leads into a vocal sample about meeting an angel which sets the mood for the rest of the track which becomes quite intense with beats and breaks and erratic sounds all over. Track 9 cleverly uses some hip hop vocal samples, particularly one of what sounds like a guy saying 'we got deathstar', and the star wars 'imperial march' to make a fairly easy listening hardcore track. While i have talked mainly of samples and distorting pop tracks there is much originality in the construction which is what makes it an outstanding album. Definately my favorite of the first 3 Power Violence releases.

The Rebirth Of Fool Volume 2 has been compiled by DJ Smallcock of Sydney experimental label Dual Plover. It was released in 2001 and contains 25 tracks of mostly Australian experimental music artists. As with the current Dual Plover project, the Chad Morgan tribute album, submissions were asked for on the Dual Plover website and on various mailing lists etc. I have never heard of most of the artists on the album however I do recognise two overseas artists known in avant garde circles Melt Banana and Sweden who also have an album out on the label. Some of the interesting tracks are 04 which is a computer voice putting somebody down to some noise in the background 05 a country and western tune, 08 a very strange radio conversation on 2GB Sydney 12 a cut up mix of a John Farnham track 16 a groovy electro pop track 20 is a slow beaty electronic track and 26 which is uncredited sounds like an 80s horror movie synth soundtrack singing about 'nudist colonies of the dead'. Parodies of country & western, ballads and pop music is popular, something I have been noticing in many releases of late. The album is a good introduction to the different techniques local people are using to create different kinds of experimental music now days.

The album opens with a Bill Hicks sample so you know its going to be a journey but definately not going to be too serious. The first track a nice ragga jungle hardcore track is by Al Corrupt who I have not heard before, this first track I like a lot. Most of the artists on this compilation are Australian as far as I know except for Core-Tex Labs from France and Anti Kati from NZ, most of the artists I have heard before and a lot have albums out that I have also. Fraughman has been around for some time releasing on Bloody Fist and his own Extreme Electronics label, his music is very very noisy and his new project along slightly different lines called Diablo Negro sounds fantastic also. Track 3 is a lot of screaming with fast hardcore beats and if this is something that turns you on then this track will please, it is by Passenger Of Shit who has a couple of CDR albums available for purchase. Track 6 is a slow beaty hardcore electro song that I find hard to explain besides what I have written now, found myself drawn into listening to the whole track very intently. Track 8 is by 7? who until this CD I only knew as a visual artist making zines, videos and designing the cd layouts for various local musicians, this is a short song with some Hawaiian music in the background (can't recall the name of the instrument but there is a smiling old black guy with dreads that gets about Sydney playing one, I have seen him in the pitt street mall and at circular key) with droning noises and screaming/growling over the top. The Pilfernators have a CD on Elefant Traks, one on Powerviolence, a few 12"s and I think they have also released some of there own CDRs, Null Object is about to release an EP on Clan Analogue, Maladroit has an album on Powerviolence and Mainstream is about to release a 12". Number 14 is an interesting story of a guy that was beaten up in high school, he also describes various other things throughout the song until the end when he sparks up a conversation with some friends about how he cannot get an erection anymore. As the Rebirth Of Fool Volume 2 was to experimental music, this album is a good introduction to the extreme hardcore music coming out of Sydney at this point in time.

The track titles are extreme, the music is extreme and the feelings are extreme. If you are pissed at someone just play this to get over it, afterwards you get the feeling of actually committing some crazy acts of violence to someone. I tried to write a review of these albums talking about how they sound and are constructed etc. however i couldnt do it, i can simply say i love it. Theres heaps of screaming, and i mean lots and lots of screaming. Plenty of extreme beats and breaks and on POS3 starts to use some recognisable samples. For a taste of what it actually is a fave track is off of POS1, of course the beats are extreme while a gentleman in the background gives step by step instructions on performing a sex change operation. You can purchase these CDs straight from Mr Passenger Of Shit himself through mailorder (website below) or i grabbed one at a System Corrupt gig he was performing at. Great to dance to.