Cadaver in Drag - 'People Mean to Die' (Husk)

I'm not the best one to describe records of this genre, which I believe is called 'grindcore' but someone more attuned to such cultural nuances can certainly correct me. Cadaver in Drag are a four-piece gang of kids from Kentucky who thrash through 9 songs in 16 minutes on this self-released CDr, though most are around a minute long, and 'Baptized in Embaling Fluid' is a long, slow one with (i think) keyboards and a really miserable, downer vibe. The Hair Police guys helped out with the recording of this, and Robert Beatty is credited with electronics and editing, and I'd guess 'Hermaphroditehandjob' is entirely his work, cause it's a cut up work of speedy fuckery. The other tracks are more in the grindy style - insanely fast, blast beats, thick fast guitars, breakdowns, screamed/screeched vocals that are unintelligible, and song titles like 'Sorority Whore', 'Beaten to Death With a Prosthetic Leg' , and my personal favourite, 'Cut into Eighths'. It's an aesthetic, a movement, a lifestyle, and when I've dabbled in it's exhibitions, I've enjoyed what I've seen. Energy, obsession, and definite chops but committed to burying them under white noise and distortion. When these tracks really hit, it's when all of the dissonance builds into these clouds of sharp, rusty overtones and some sort of metallic sheen takes over. I know this is a million miles away from black metal, but the one time I tried to get into Burzum I found that it also worked well if you kept the volume super low, in a bit of a Rafael Toral manner. This works too with Cadaver in Drag, but then you can't hear the majesty of 'Cut into Eighths' as it was meant to be heard. I dig it either way

Alva - 'Slattery for Ungdom' (Menlo Park)

I've always wondered about this record cause Alva was of course Thomas Edison's middle name, and Menlo Park, NJ is where his famous laboratory/inventionworkshop was -- so it this just coincidental that a label called Menlo Park released a CD by Alva? This was Alva's last gasp and only 12 minutes long at that, but it packs the soundspiral of their first disc into a quick demented cockpunch. The medieval aftertaste is still present, as are the ghosty child vocals, bursts of slapstick chamber music, and weirdo atmosphere. If anything is different maybe there's a bit more confidence, some bangers and mash freejazz moments ('Ooon Ong' and the end of 'March to Underneath') and some blatantly 'straight' tracks like 'Happysick' which are actually the strangest of all. In 1999 we were all worried about the y2k bug but we shoulda been morning the demise of Alva, though I don't know if more material would somehow damage their 'legend'. A buddy of mine emailed one of 'em a few years back offering to release any leftover material that might have gone unreleased, but received no reply. It's better off that way, we keep telling ourselves ....