It’s hard not to approve of the sentiment behind this mammoth release: a stand against fascism, misogyny and prejudice of all kinds, both within the noise and extreme electronics community and beyond. The compilation was prompted by threats made against Scottish musician Elizabeth Veldon, for having the temerity to be female and a feminist in what’s a pretty male world. Twenty-four artists/noise-activists from around the world have contributed 31 tracks, totalling nearly three hours (!) of music. To quote from the website:

NOISE IN OPPOSITION is intended as a firm “fuck off” to the moribund far-right idiots who’ve mistaken the international noise scene for some sandpit where they can freely abuse and intimidate others based on their race, gender or sexuality.

Bedsit nazi virgins and assorted keyboard warriors[…] forget that freedom of speech includes the ability to criticise […]‘transgressive’ practices such as telling female performers to ‘get raped’.

But the mission statement goes beyond the far-right, to intolerance wherever it is found. This last point fits into the context of recent news: the unfolding Twitter rape-threat scandal, online bullying causing teenage suicides and the constant issues with internet trolling.

Despite the Noise name, this isn’t all ear bleeding ‘noize’, but a much more nuanced collection of rhythmic noise, found sound, improve, experimental, spoken word and drone. And of course, some noise too. There is even sludgy techno and whacked-out Metal Mickey house.

Fascist Cult of War by Concrete/Field is a pleasing slice of buzz-noise, insect like and claustrophobic. The Implicit Order’s track, Double Standards, is an interesting spoken word piece, with quotes from Julia Gillard speaking about the Peter Slipper misogyny scandal. Veldon’s own contribution is, sadly, not the best: high pitched drones that barely modulate, let alone change, over 15 minutes. Grove of Whispers, however, offer us much better drone with NWW vibes and an echoey tannoy style French voice over. I for one find French pretty alluring, no matter what’s being said! It’s title, The Beauty of Bread Makes Me Laugh seems, well, very French somehow and ironically saucy? Fuck knows.

I rather like Hacker Farm’s awkward squad track Payday Loans. Quirky and odd rhythms made from junk – but maybe not something I’d have on when me mam is round. Scutopus take us into territory that makes me think of a technoid version of something from Pan Sonic’s Kesto album, one of the noisy tracks off the first CD. The Game is Rigged is proper dance-floor techno-noise! Ship Canal are off into another direction altogether, with ethnic trance-state drumming, while Sanderson’s Just a Few Steps More is somehow affirming. The ambiences and tones that make up the body of this track are bookended by samples: ‘We have come so far…’ and ‘Just a few steps more…’. More positive vibes here?

There is a great variety of stuff going on here and while not all the tracks are brilliant nearly all of them are interesting. I really like this compilation – it’s satisfying, at times violent and cathartic, at times almost peaceful and gentle. But what really does come across is a sense of justified anger, of frustration and the determination to stand opposed.

As a labour of love, or rather of passion and anger, this release is free to download and there’s also a DVD with insert, priced at the very reasonable £4.50 + p&p. You’d be mad not to get it!

Noise In Opposition
Grab

Tracklist
(o)†hers – Family 2013
Anastasia Vronski – 4 FaZe
Ars Sonor – World Without
Broken Tiny – Isms
Colon Three – Tired Of Your Shit
Concrete/Field – Fascist Cult Of War
Elizabeth Veldon – An Agnostic Praise For Dappled Things (A Response To Stupidity And Hate)
Grove Of Whispers – The Beauty Of Bread Made Me Laugh
Hacker Farm – Payday Loans
Jack Chuter – Justification
Kamikaze Deadboy – Cette Machine Sert A Tuer Tous Les Fascistes
Kanellos – Fourteen Ways To Kill A Blackshirt
Kanellos – They Make A Desert And Call It Peace
Knifedoutofexistence – Outcasts
Libbe Matz Gang – Congratulations, You Have Just Met The Famous BSSR Nazikillers
Libbe Matz Gang – Radio City Dragnet
Libbe Matz Gang – Amore Represso
Libbe Matz Gang – Black Cat
Libbe Matz Gang – Class War
Libbe Matz Gang – Total Despair (Colindale)
Luke Lund – Victimblamer/Honorkiller
M Nomized – Fight Against
:M:1:9: vs Broken Tiny – Opposed
Peesix – Bigot See, Bigot Do
Richard Sanderson – Just A Few Steps More
Scutopus – On Demand, Without Apology
Scutopus – The Game Is Rigged
Ship Canal – A Harrowing Explosion Of Unplanned Honesty Ruptures The Veil Of Daytime Television
The DDN – Sealions Return (Live)
The Implicit Order – Double Standard (A Pertinent Subject)
The Non-Compliant Airmen – Nobody Asks For It

Opine Ko$insky