At Indieterria, we have had probably every genre of music under the sun sent to us to be reviewed. From mock opera to spoken word or acid jazz – it’s been pretty crazy ride. We remember certain artists well for being original, or very bad or truly phenomenal. We will definitely remember …(everything) ruined that was sent to us by traditional post for being revolutionary, crazy and radical in every sense of the word.
…(everything) ruined is probably one of the most unique projects we encountered so far. It is like Mr Bungle (Mike Patton’s of Faith No More solo work) teamed up with a spoken word ensemble and forgot to turn off an old transistor radio in an underground studio during an orbital bombardment. For untrained or sensitive ear, the music …(everything) ruined makes would be just a cacophony of noise. For those who are open to extreme genres of music (and possibilities) – it is very curios mix of noise, sludge, grind core and spoken, strongly politically influenced poetry. It is not for the faint hearted but fans of harsh noise wall and power electronic genres, should be delighted.
Front cover
If layers upon layers of home-made squeaks, bangs, crashes, beeps, squeals and scratches are your thing, then look no further for your noise fix. Christopher Nosibor, the main man behind …(everything) ruined uses a laptop, a bespoke noise generation program and Audacity. A simple set up but the effects are really great. By his own admission, he is influenced by Whitehouse and Ian Dominic Fernow AKA Prurient and those are legendary creators/multimedia artists in the industrial metal/electronic noise circles. If anybody has the time, please check them out – it’s always good to keep your musical horizons expanding.
The CD sent to us is the latest EP released by …(everything) ruined and it is titled “Antisocial Distancing”. There are 4 tracks on it, two nearly 8 minutes long, one standing at 6 minutes and 40 seconds and one is just under three minutes. That’s nearly 25 minutes of pure hardcore radical brain hammering. Play it loudly on a Sunday afternoon and I guarantee, you will not have any visitors, friends and neighbours bothering you until the next pandemic starts. Pure bliss.
The EP starts with a track called “2 Meters” with a subtitle of “An Internal Monologue”. I think this is an excellent example of what a “slow drone” composition of noise genre looks like. It is quieter “song” with several well-defined layers of droning, repeated scratching sound. The volume differences are not big but we are still able to distinguish between the higher and lower tones that creates a constant dissonance. The lyrics are quite short with a rhetorical question “Do you know what two meters looks like?” repeated all over again. I think majority of us can relate – when the social distancing rule of 2 meters was introduced in 2020, many people chose to disregard it, invading not only our personal space but violating the medical advice. I had this exact monologue many times in my head when queuing inside supermarkets or generally going out and about. “2 Meters” is my personal favourite, not only because it loudly states what I wanted to say to many people straight to their faces, but it also takes some serious skills and technical knowledge to play with sound dissonance without making the listener’s ears hurt. Precision is the key.
Band cover (the release is limited to 32 copies)
“On Brand (Corporate Brainwashing Cunts)” is less forgiving. This is a proper power electronic/industrial noise track with power tools (hammer) beat and incredibly complex fast drone background. If you concentrate, you can hear other samples such as somebody typing on a keyboard, footsteps down the corridors and opening and closing of doors. I’m not sure what this specific sound at 1 minute and 13 seconds is, but it reminds me of an old ZX Spectrum when the tape tried to communicate its code to the computer. Maybe it is a deliberate wink to the Generation X who have been working in the corporate environments since the prehistoric times of 8 bits computers and still haven’t left. Look, this is what you have become: from trendy grungers to homo corporatus repeating the same old slogans about brands and sales. The vocals are incomprehensible yet few key phrases come through the noise and distractions: “be the brand”, “24/7”, “keep your mobile at hand”. I have been to several management meetings in my life and believe me, they are exactly like this – boring, droning, waste of time and productivity. If you are stuck in the corporate hell with no life-work balance, run. And don’t look back.
The third track “SludgeLord” is a full-blown extreme noise extravaganza – there are no spoken word parts, it is fully instrument, unforgiving, radical, relentless and very fast. I absolutely love it but it’s not for everyone. I grew up listening to extreme and experimental music, so I’m quite used to it but majority of users may find it just an awful lot of noise. Yet if you are an adventurous spirit, try to find the rhythms among the chaos and you will see that it is a proper, well-constructed music. If this s not your thing, don’t worry, it is called an extreme genre for a reason! As for me, I want more sludge! SludgeLords for everyone!
Picture by Annabelle Jenkinson
The last track “Thoughts For The Day (You Are Special: Hate Yourself Harder)” sounds like a pop track in comparison with “SludgeLord”. It opens up with birds singing, gentle declamation, peace and motivational quotes. Soon the noise starts again, high pitched, tense, clouding everything. You no longer can hear the narration, the words are blurred, occasionally expletives cut through the sonic chaos. And then, just when you are not expecting it, everything stops. There is nothing more but silence.
“Antisocial Distancing” by …(everything) ruined is not a record for everybody. Maybe it is meant to reach only certain people, a special kind of music lover that is not disgusted by offensive language, lack of well-defined beats or lack of scandalized music as we know it. Given a chance, listeners can broad their horizons, discover an experimental branch of music or learn a few things about multidisciplinary revolution art that incorporates spoken words, music made with unconventional tools and instruments and other, often visual arts in form of screen projections, posters or even dance.
Bored of lads bands and skinny girls on sofas? Then take a deep dive into noise, sludge, extreme industrial and learn to swim. You will never look back.
Antisocial Distancing is out now on Bandcamp and we are told that an US release is coming shortly.
…(everything) ruined online:
https://christophernosnibor.bandcamp.com/album/antisocial-distancing-2
Follow Christopher Nosibor online:
https://twitter.com/chris_nosnibor
https://www.facebook.com/christopher.nosnibor
https://www.instagram.com/nosniborchristopher/
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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