NAG at The Grosvenor, London, 2009 (c) A.N. Chand
Nihilist Assault Group
NAG at The Grosvenor, London, 2009 (c) A.N. Chand
Nihilist
Assault Group began in 1984 as a TNB side-project (the name taken from the TNB
track 'X-Nihilist Assault.') They contributed to the MBP The
Impossible
Humane LP (Selektion, 1986) then nothing was heard of them until 2005 when
they appeared at the No Fun festival in New York. The line-up for that show
included members of TNB, Prurient and Emil Beaulieau. Recent releases have
included input from members of TNB, Putrefier, Cheapmachines, Snotnosed and Blue
Sabbath Black Cheer.
NB: There is currently a Russian Indie group and a US Hip-Hop group using the name
as well as a Belgian Anarchist group, none of which have anything to do with
the original NAG.
Silent Movie
What seems at first to be an anti-art prank in practice feels somewhat profound
in execution. A performance by Nihilist Assault Group was captured at 2006's No
Fun festival, but is here split into a DVD featuring the visuals but no sound.
Somehow, the fact that it's completely impossible to perfectly sync sound and
image with this setup dissociates this 'accurate recording of live performance'
from reality. Like the silent movies of yore, the accompaniment seems displaced
from the element, almost as if it was created by someone else entirely. This
slight out-of-phase effect renders the event, this second-hand account of a
moment in time as something altogether more artificial than the more
naturally-captured performance found on the Fun From None DVD,
which also documents that year's festival. GX Jupitter-Larsen's DVD commentary
(rendered as text on the screen) further reinforces this disconnect: after a
long section about the essentially democratic/gestalt aspects of bacteria and
touching an aspect of brain chemistry that seems to explain aesthetic refinement
of the long-term enjoyment of horrible noise before hitting you with the 2 x 4.
Long after the images are finished, the commentary continues, at which point we
see the following: 'I am lucky if my eyes are looking at what I am watching. I
am lucky if my ears are listening to what I am hearing. How often do you
see what you're hearing? The screen is black for a reason.'
The statement goads the listener/viewer into admitting that their eyes are not
'looking at what they're watching' and their ears are not 'listening to what
they're hearing,' not only because the sound and visuals are intrinsically out
of phase, but because we're watching the 'live' performance second hand. It also
seems to scold the modern tendency towards mindless consumption of both noise as
sound and noise as object ('How often do you see what you're hearing?') Maybe
it's not E=MC2, but it sure as shit beats, 'have a good time, all the time.' As
Loud As Possible
Planned Obsolescence
Awesome collaborative
full-length from these two projects, with Nihilist Assault Group featuring a
very important Noise outfit that has heretofore gone unmentioned in Wall
Maniacs, The New Blockaders. TNB, along with The Haters, brought complete
chaotic live wall of noise featuring abuse of metal and power tools before the
age of Youtube video. Extremely important in the genesis of the HNW genre, these
artists were focused on presenting pure sound for its own sake. Nihilist Assault
Group began as a collaboration between TNB, Prurient and Emil Beaulieau for the
incredible Aural Retribution LP. Here NAG teams up with Wm. Rage and Stan Reed's
Cascadian total Noise project Blue Sabbath Black Cheer. Rage and Reed are
credited with the 'Mixing and Massacre' title for all of this material, and
indeed both sides flow together like one giant monolithic 'whorl' of sound.
Opening with silence that gradually begins to give way to a tense minute of
sound that feels like a dam about to burst, and then finally the release of pure
unstoppable Wall of Noise. Very active and building industrial sounds share
space with overlapping and overwhelming rushing noise, and what sounds like
hundreds of different small sounds whirl past at a frenetic pace. The mix is
definitely from a Wall Noise perspective as this release simply does not let up,
but rather than a static wall of sound what you get is constant activity and
violence adding up to an impenetrable wall. Eventually by the middle and towards
the end of side one the record builds up an insane momentum as sounds akin to a
screeching and demonic freight train, riding a flaming death trip through the
black night. Interesting illustrations on the front and back cover of the two
groups, BSBC seems to be depicted as prehistoric cavemen in some sort of
cryogenic stasis or museum display presentation, while the members of NAG listen
to a flaming phonograph and make plans over fine wine while wearing masks with
large X's covering their faces. Side two cuts straight to the chase, jumping
right back into a powerful blast of harsh static wall noise with odds and ends
floating about what could be the wreckage of some other session or simply
strange frequencies manifesting themselves. Razor sharp and extremely satisfying
record that will appeal to fans of strict HNW just as much as fans of TNB style
and 90s-style harsh metallic noise. Totally incredible record and highly
recommended! Wall Maniacs
Available:
Aural Retribution (one-sided) LP (Hospital
Productions, 2005)
Anti-Record
7”/cassette (RRRecords, 2005)
Silent Movie (one-sided) LP/DVD (Hospital
Productions, 2009) NAG live at the No
Fun festival, New York, 2005
untitled cassette (Gnarled
Forest, 2009)
Planned Obsolescence (with Blue Sabbath Black Cheer) LP/7" (Gnarled
Forest, 2009)
Compulsive Vandalism anti-LP/3" CDR (Gnarled
Forest, 2011)
Fun From None 2DVD (Load, 2006) includes NAG live at the No Fun fest, New York,
2005, plus: Borbetomagus, Lee Ranaldo, Kim Gordon, Macronympha, Wolf Eyes, Hair
Police, Prurient, 16 Bitch Pile-Up, and others.
Due
soon:
Planned
Obsolescence (with Blue Sabbath Black Cheer) CD (Artecnico)
Negation
Is Freedom CD. Special edition includes 'Live At The Grosvenor' DVDR (Artecnico)