Napalmed – Strident abrasive auricular erosion

You asked for something obscure? Well, here you have a true underground release. Napalmed is a noise/industrial project from the Czech Republic that is around for more than 10 years, with numerous people involved and a guy called Radek Kopel as driving force.

Dozens and dozens of home-made releases were created, mainly tapes in small quantities, but also various cd’s and vinyls. Like this 12″ in a colourful manga sleeve on Lo-Fi or Die, a label normally more into breakcore. Apparently this is a collection of Napalmed’s early recordings remastered from cassette.

Loads of samples, for instance from cheesy pop music (Alphaville’s ‘Forever young’) or trash metal, records played at the wrong speed, cut up tape loops and radio broadcasts are combined with harsh noises, created with the strangest sources like junk materials, household products and old analogue equipment. Everything is totally lo-fi and the sequence of sounds often seems to be completely random and improvised. Lots of distortion and never a dull moment.

To be honest, this is not a record to play often, unless you’re aiming for a nervous breakdown. But the musical madness and chaos of Napalmed often puts a smile on my face. At least its noisy and entertaining.

artist: Napalmed
label: Lofi or Die Records
details: vinyl lp, 2005