In 1992, there was a label/record store in Osaka called Les Disques Du Soleil. According to Discogs, there were only two releases ever: A 7″ by UK-based Organum (David Philip Jackman) and a various artist CD called ‘Noise Forest’. And well, as you might have guessed, Cold Spring has now rereleased that sampler on CD, black and a gorgeous (forest) green vinyl. In 1992, I was still expanding my horizons concerning listening to more extreme types of music, so I hadn’t found out about Japanese noise yet. I mean, this album is over 30 years old! But listening to this CD, I can imagine what drove CSR to release this album. But more on the content later.
In the late 80s and just about up to Y2K, many labels released and invested time and money in creating perfect sampler CDs. Producing a CD was still expensive as f***, so a GOOD sampler was the best promotion card you could invest in for your label. A few examples would be ‘Invisible Domains’ on Malignant Records, ‘Karmanik Collection’ on Cold Meat Industry, ‘Xerosma’ on Ant-zen, ‘Exploration One’ on Body And Blood Exploration, ‘Death Odors’ on Slaughter Productions … And that’s just from the top of my head. I love samplers from that era as they provided you with the needed information and a proper direction in what to expect from a label. Which was killed by file sharing and streaming services because of low sales, hence no income, no more samplers, no more labels … I think it’s a pity and samplers nowadays just aren’t those samplers anymore, except maybe for vinyl and tape samplers with a conceptual approach.
But, back to the forest: This is a proper Japnoise sampler if you were ever looking for one! The spirit of the sampler albums from the beginning of the 90s is here; it has some big names, some – for that time – unknown ones and sadly also one who has left this earth (Monde Bruits). What you will hear: Merzbow, CCCC, Solmania, Dislocation, Monde Bruits, Masonna, Violent Onsen Geisha and finally, Incapacitants. Two bands per side on the vinyl, so yes, the tracks are all reasonably lengthy (5 to 12 minutes), and there are no ambient ones among them. Excellent choice for a rerelease!
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