FREENOISE RELEASES:   FULL CATALOG:



COCK E.S.P. / SUFFERING BASTARD - SPLIT 10-INCH

120g vinyl, 45rpm, $10 USA Media Mail / $13 USA Priority Mail

Suffering Bastard = Brutal grindcore featuring a dual-bass assault of the highest gain and lowest frequency, complete with brain-rattling vocal violence and remorseless drumkit abuse.

Cock E.S.P. = Ugly and unlistenable shrieking noise overload inspired by Duran Duran and a pure unadulterated hatred of humankind.

Together at last, in a beautiful green and silver cardboard jacket.



COWARD ELECTRONICS • COUNTRY CLASSICS
CDR, 15MIN, $5 USA / $6 INTERNATIONAL

Twelve classic Country & Western tunes recreated in power-electronics style by members of Cock E.S.P., Rotten Piece, Hagony and Rusted Shut. This special edition CDR includes a second C.E. album - the out of print "Coward Electronics for Kids" - to make it the power-electronics two-fer of the year.



HAGONY • THE HIGH PRICE OF ASS
CDR, 21MIN, $5 USA / $6 INTERNATIONAL


Second full-length release from this soundtrack-noise project featuring Jason Wade of Faggot, Attitude Problem and KillMoshFuckDestroy along with Emil Hagstrom of Cock E.S.P. This is in-your-face incidental music; extreme experimental music carefully crafted and layered for lush orchestral effect.



COWARD ELECTRONICS • DELIVERING THE GOODS
CDR, 14MIN, $5 USA / $6 INTERNATIONAL

The latest 20-track offering from this power-electronics supergroup featuring former and current members of Rotten Piece, Cock E.S.P., Rusted Shut, Hagony, Sad Pygmy and WRONG. For this release, the duo turns inward for their songwriting themes, singing about the hard life of power-electronics artists. Feeling misunderstood, being forced to use dirty toilets on tour, having CD cover art censored by the pressing plant, cutting up bondage magazines to make flyers, eating at Dennys at 2am, taking hot baths after particularly extreme shows, seeing a lone female at a noise show, losing money, complaining about PAs and soundmen, contracting STDs in Guam - everything is covered in an unflinching and ultra-realistic manner. This is perhaps the definitive power-electronics release... Features the hit singles "Guamorrhea" and "Sitar Solo".



COWARD ELECTRONICS • GUAMORRHEA MAXI-SINGLE
CDR, 9MIN, $6 USA / $8 INTERNATIONAL

The first single from the above CDR, this limited edition maxi-single features no less than 10 versions of the title track, plus the b-side "Bar Girls". 10 of the 11 tracks are previously unreleased, and the single is packaged in a European-style CD single slimline case.



BASIC • JUST BASIC
CDR, 58MIN, $5 USA / $6 INTERNATIONAL

Specially-packaged collection of studio and live jams from John Vance, Devin Matticks and Jeremy Day. BASIC existed from 1996-1998 as a more focused guitar/bass/drums based project by members of the Minneapolis improv underground, also performing in such projects as WRONG. Features a couple special guest appearances including Emil Hagstrom (Cock E.S.P.) and noted Minneapolis provocateur Matt St-Germain, who was taped talking to the band after a 1996 show at the Terminal Bar. Special grocery-style packaging, because it doesn't get more basic than food...



COWARD ELECTRONICS • POWER ELECTRONICS FOR KIDS
Teddy-Bear-Shaped CDR, 9MIN, SOLD OUT

A very special collection of original and re-worked power electronics anthems all scrubbed clean of profanity and adult situations, emphasizing positive family-friendly themes such as politeness, sharing, just saying no, fire safety and the innocent joy of playing with toys. You'll learn to like it, sugar! You'll be tucked into bed! Limited edition of 50 copies.



COCK E.S.P. • AMERICAN NOISE ROCKS!

DVD-R, 35MIN, NTSC, SOLD OUT

The first new video release by Cock E.S.P. since 2004, "American Noise Rocks" uses a fast-paced New Wave Cinema style to document the on and off-stage highlights from three short tours and two major festival appearances.

In this film, Cock E.S.P. bring their unique and absurdist take on experimental music and performance art to numerous venues including the 2006 "Brainwaves" experimental music festival in Boston. There they performed alongside such artists as the Dresden Dolls, Thighpaulsandra, members of Nurse With Wound and the Legendary Pink Dots, as well as other noted international acts. A subsequent "warm-up" tour before the festival included additional shows in New England and New Jersey.

The video also follows the group joining infamous French performance artist Jean-Louis Costes for the Midwestern leg of his 2007 US Tour. Their first dates with Costes occurred a mere two days after his performance was raided by the Rapid City, South Dakota police department responding to obscenity complaints - an event which resulted in coverage from several newspapers and FoxNews.com, as well as generated some death threats - all of which created paranoid tension among those on the tour which often found it's way to the stage performances.

"American Noise Rocks" opens with Cock E.S.P. traveling to Oslo, Norway to perform twice at the "Oya" international rock music festival, with an announced attendance of nearly 60,000. There they were billed alongside such artists as Tool, Nine Inch Nails, the Melvins, Lily Allen, Roky Erickson, Primal Scream and the Jesus & Mary Chain. Following this event, Cock E.S.P. went on to play several smaller shows in Denmark and Germany, which are also documented on the video.

The live footage itself is only part of the story told by this film, with many behind-the-scenes moments demonstrating how each member's personality feeds into the group's overall theme. Far from both the numbing narcotic-fueled haze of many underground rock bands on tour, and from the overly serious and elitist nature of many experimental musicians, these unscripted moments give insight into how the group's humanity shapes their art in both subtle and obvious ways.

It is worth noting that two headlining acts due to perform with Cock E.S.P. at the aforementioned festivals canceled their shows at the last minute, apparently en route to the airport in both cases. Boyd Rice - the infamous industrial music pioneer with a reputation for dabbling in fascist and satanic imagery - was scheduled to play Brainwaves, while the troubled headline-making pop singer Amy Winehouse was scheduled to play Oya. It is not known whether Cock E.S.P.'s presence at either fest played a part in these two artists respective decisions to cancel; however Cock E.S.P.'s reputation for challenging and provoking the status quo is well documented and some of their artistic peers have felt threatened enough by this to avoid any association with the ensemble.



HAGONY• IMPERSONAL LUBRICANT

CDR, 23MIN, SOLD OUT

HAGONY is a new collaborative project between two of the most unique personalities in the Minneapolis underground music scene: JASON WADE and EMIL HAGSTROM.
HAGONY approaches experimental noise music in an intensely textured manner, tightly layering different sounds on top and around others, mixing electronic noise with amplified and acoustic sound. Starkly contrasting this aural complexity, the duo employs crass and often confrontational themes and performance techniques, drawing comparisons with such visual artists as Jeff Koons and the Fluxus Movement.


JASON WADE is an experimental filmmaker and punk rock musician originally from Rapid City, South Dakota and currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He primarily works with 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm film; utilizing both narrative and abstract styles, merging underground film and music in original and dynamic ways. He often presents his work with a live musical accompaniment – including his own bands FAGGOT, RESIN and KILLMOSHFUCKDESTROY -- and is known for his expanded cinema presentations featuring up to 13 simultaneous projections. He was awarded the 2005 MMAC grant in the amount of $10,000 from the Jerome Foundation in order to produce his next film “Stabber”.


EMIL HAGSTROM is an experimental musician and performance artist based in Minneapolis, active in both local and international arts scenes since 1991. Through projects such as COCK E.S.P., WRONG and ORIGAMI GENITALIA he has been noted for applying elements of absurdity, humor and contradiction into his work; specific examples include: approaching canonized avant-garde music with a do-it-yourself punk-rock attitude, “Emperor has no clothes” type satires on underground musician peers, as well as composing and arranging music developed solely from the mistakes and unintended sounds generated early in the creative process. Through such methods, he provides measures of accessibility and universality to even the most abrasive and extreme underground music, while at the same time presenting the opportunity for other experimental musicians to question their own ethos.



COWARD ELECTRONICS • SIMPLEMINDED
CDR, 14MIN, SOLD OUT

Featuring members of Cock E.S.P. and Rotten Piece, as well as guest appearances by members of Concrete Violin and Faggot, the first Coward Electronics release in four years is a tribute honoring two exceptional musical groups.

Bloodyminded is the godfather of comedic/absurdist noise who have, since the early 1990's, neatly and brilliantly trimmed the irony and extremism of power-electronics pioneers such as Whitehouse and Consumer Electronics, leaving only a deliciously overblown minimalist parody, impossible to take seriously.

Simple Minds has cleverly sent up a series of rock genres over their 30 year history, from three-chord punk rock to mildly off-center new wave to 80's pop stardom to, finally, christian contemporary music - each time providing a brave and precise mockery of their peers and themselves.

As a study in both the similarities and differences between these two approaches to parody, "Simpleminded" achieves it's goal by presenting Simple Minds-inspired lyrics in a Bloodyminded musical style. Such an approach truly realizes it's premise as these two artistic groups share so much more in common than the usual mix of genres - ragtime mash-ups of Eminem and black metal versions of Britney Spears songs being two examples. A wonderful achievement by Coward Electronics, an ensemble which releases albums far too infrequently.



COCK E.S.P. / SOLYPSIS [SPLIT]
C14 CASSETTE, $3 USA / $4 INTERNATIONAL
SOLD OUT

 

Cock E.S.P. / Suffering Bastard - split 10-inch
110g vinyl, 45rpm, $10 USA Media Mail / $13 USA Priority Mail / $18 International
See description at left.

Coward Electronics - "Country Classics"
CDR, $5.00 USA / $6.00 INTERNATIONAL
See description at left.

Hagony - "The High Price of Ass"
CDR, $5.00 USA / $6.00 INTERNATIONAL
See description at left.

Coward Electronics - "Delivering the Goods"
CDR, $5.00 USA / $6.00 INTERNATIONAL
See description at left.

Coward Electronics - "Guamorrhea Maxi-Single"
CDR, $6.00 USA / $8.00 INTERNATIONAL
See description at left.

Basic - "Just Basic"
CDR, $5.00 USA / $6.00 INTERNATIONAL
See description at left.

Cock E.S.P. / Costes / Lasse Marhaug / K.K. Null / Richard Ramirez / Smell & Quim - "We Would Be Happy, A Noise Opera"
CD $6.00 USA / $8.00 INTERNATIONAL

A unique project featuring the talents of five top international noise acts, collaborating by mail round-robin style. Operatic tales of love, tragedy, donuts, rape and castration with a soundtrack of top-quality noise. The Cock E.S.P. contribution includes special guest appearances by Sam Lohman (Nimrod, 36, Steve Mackay) and Richard Remington (Right Arm Severed).

Cock E.S.P. - "Hurts So Good"
Remix CD $8.00 USA / $10.00 INTERNATIONAL

Featuring remixes by 88 artists including Captain Ahab, Burning Star Core, The Caretaker, Dolores Dewberry, Carlos Giffoni, OvO, Panicsville, Pengo, Radio Shock, Mike Shiflet, Sudden Infant, Sten Ove Toft, V/Vm, Wäldchengarten, John Wiese and many more.

Cock E.S.P.+ Appliancide / Waffelpung+Waffelpung - "Split LP"
CD $3.00 USA / $4.00 INTERNATIONAL

Half the disc is a collab between Cock E.S.P. and the Unconditional Loathing offshoot Appliancide. Probably our least definitive recording to date: there's the token noise along with lots of bleeping and blurping sounds, electro-loops, samples from infomercials, a friggin' ambient track, a track with a friggin' beat, etc. The other half of the disc is Waffelpung - featuring Sten Ove Toft, the hottest rising noise star in Norway today. Recorded live, his track features noisy parts, quiet parts, scrap metal shuffling, piano loops, etc.

LOTUS - "Garbage In, LOTUS Out"
CD $4.00 USA / $6.00 INTERNATIONAL
LOTUS - "2.0"
CD $6.00 USA / $7.00 INTERNATIONAL

The second CD release from this pair of oversexed computer nerds - also known for their work as Newton and Radio Shock - who have more slick dance moves than any electronic music duo has any right to possess. Opinion seems divided as to whether this CD is better or worse than their debut, but everyone seems to agree that it's virtually impossible to translate the raw and unwavering sensitivity of a LOTUS live performance into any commercial music format.

K.K. Null / Ovo
Split 3-inch
CD $4.00 USA / $5.00 INTERNATIONAL

A cute split 3-inch CD featuring the infamous Japanese noise artist K.K. Null, and the Italian free-noise combo Ovo. Null is mostly known for his extreme guitar pieces and for leading the noise-rock outfit Zeni Gevi, but here performs some surprisingly intricate hard-edged electronica. Ovo is
best known for exploring various shades of no-wave and noise-improv, however their first track is a spastic electronic-oriented remix by Miniwagonwheel. Adorable dismembered-girl cover illustrations by Stefania of Ovo/Allun.

OvO - "Cicatrici"
CD $6.00 USA / $8.00 INTERNATIONAL

The first full-length true studio recording from this amazing Italian duo. From spastic guitar/drums no-wave to free-flowing improv 'n' drone to actual noise, all with Stefania's classy vocals over the top. I'm told this got a good review in The Wire, but don't let stop you from buying it.

WRONG - "Vaginum"
One-Sided LP $8.00 USA / $12.00 INTERNATIONAL

Live improv-rock, recorded in Minneapolis 1995, and featuring a member of Cock E.S.P.