I was fortunate enough to meet some fantastic people when I relocated to Switzerland. Before the move I emailed Dave Phillips (as I knew he lived there part of the year) who recommended an art space/collective, bookshop and performance venue called Humus. Soon after I moved I went to see a live show and was welcomed warmly by the hosts and the attendees. One of the guests was also one of the organisers and part of the Humus art collective, and I’m proud to now call him a friend – Francisco Meirino. He has been creating some of the most dynamic and consistently spellbinding experimental music for almost 20 years. He is heavily involved in much of the underground artworld of Lausanne and the greater Vaud region of Switzerland. This month’s mix kicks off with a recent release by the man himself. This is from a stupidly limited 10” lathe pressing (should have been 100 as it’s so good) that is one of the best records of 2026 – hands down. The pacing and detail is pure magic and it is as sinister as it is beautiful. I’ve had the good fortune of seeing Francisco live a few times recently, plus the pleasure of seeing his studio. It’s a sight to behold and the live performances are electric. It’s rare to capture the breadth of emotion of these performances but Despise//Despair does this with both fists to the sky.
Next up is a track from one of my favourite noise records from recent years courtesy of US artist Shredded Nerve. There is something so eerily stunning about Justin Lakes’ music. It harkens back to the great noise purveyors of the 90s, but is totally its own beast. The range of sounds crawl under and over your skin as high frequencies scratch your eyeballs, while mid tones turn you in your preemptive grave. This track evokes the early Wolf Eyes trio and bleeds noise in a more brooding emotive space than many harsher CDs of 80s and 90s Japanese noise standards. This is definitely bleak and bewitching music.
Then we have something very new from AX (Anthony Di Franco). I have listened to Di Franco’s music for a long time; mainly via his band Ramleh. This is very different from the Ramleh catalog and sits akin to Drew McDowall or Growing. It’s a record of fuzz and grandeur, building plumes of resonance, feedback and amp worship. The record doesn’t really break any new ground but what it does is refine the genre into an absolutely blistering masterclass. More refrained than the later piece by Marco Fusinato, but nonetheless valid and totally welcome. This is the kind of music I can happily get lost in, listen to, engage, while walking or while making art. Like Growing’s first two records it pitches itself in the perfect spot between noise and ambient.
I was lucky enough to see Cyess Afxzs perform a multichannel epic at the incredible arthouse Cinema Bellevaux in Lausanne this year. It is one of the best sounding shows I have ever heard. I mean it melted my mind. Cyess Afxzs is Stuart McCune, who also currently lives in Switzerland, although he’s originally from Northern Ireland. His music is hard to classify as it embodies so many rich currents of sound, from noise, to jazz, to improvised electro-accoustics, noise and full on production wizardry. This piece is taken from his most recent record, but I implore you to go listen over at his Bandcamp as there is such a rich seam of experimentalism and some of the best production in the noisier genres. Upon seeing him perform live I engaged in a long conversation and we have so many artists that we adore in common. He is a huge jazz fan so we talked about Cecil Taylor, Sonny Sharrock and Dewey Redman. I have a stack of his music to devour after a recent trade and I can’t wait to hear more.
Next up is a section of a track taken from the recent Unglee Izi behemoth, which is a massive 4 CD album on the unmatched Nashazphone label. Izi’s music lives on a singular plane. He seems to approach each record with the precision and mastery of people like Lustmord and Alvo Noto, bringing a wealth of space, restraint and grandeur as one might expect from an ECM record, or a film soundtrack. Often this level of detail and refinement can sound cold and heartless but he seems to buck that trend by painting vast soundscapes that have more in common with Béla Tarr and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. I have to use visual artists as a comparison as there is so much going on, even in the quietest of moments. The recent boxset is also incredibly beautiful and produced to the highest standards. It feels like a work of art and has such great design I’m surprised it wasn’t created by Lasse Marhaug. I hope to hear him play live one day and would kill for him to come to Lausanne and do a multichannel performance at the cinema. His last record was one of my records of the year and this latest effort is definitely in the top of new music from 2026.
I have followed Thomas Ankersmit’s music for quite a while now, enjoying his solo work and also his collaborations with Valerio Tricoli, especially their insanely good CD on PAN from 2011. The track I have chosen is from the most recent record, The Dip, which I managed to pick up from the man himself when he performed a blistering show in a very stuffy, narrow room near the main station and Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne. He performed to a very unsuspecting audience who gradually thinned out throughout the booming bass and harsh noise. What was great was how many people stayed who weren’t used to this kind of music. They listened and they fell under his spell. Even my wife who is not into noise and experimental electronic music was won over and implored me to grab the record, which I was going to do anyway! As you can hear in his music he has mastered his art and is able to use modulated synths to paint vivid and disturbing worlds. Sometimes I find he sits in the higher frequencies more than I like, but on The Dip he finds the perfect balance and even enters the realm of arpeggios akin to Caterina Barbieri. This record is immense. Go listen.
I mentioned in the opening text that I had been in touch with Dave Phillips, who was kind enough to tell me about the best spots to visit in my new hometown. While making this mix he dropped a new record with sound artist Antoine Chessex. And my goodness it’s an absolute gem. On top of that it’s mastered by my man Francisco so all in for the local people. I first discovered Dave’s music when I grabbed his They Live LP on RRR back in 2009, which still has the best and most relevant artwork. Go check it out. This record blew my mind. It’s a creeping sinister horror movie split/spilt over two sides of wax. Ever since grabbing that I have tried to pick up as many of Dave’s CDs as I can. But when I heard this record the stars aligned. It has that dark heart and explosive center that is needed in noise music. This is black metal without the pomp, punk without the cult fashion. It’s pure noise and pure expression. This is the sound of despairing for humanity and an anthem for the gateway of hell to open up and swallow vitriol, tech bros, fascists and industrialised farming. It’s quicksand for evil.
I can’t say much about this record which hasn’t already been said by Bradford Bailey in his wonderful editorial for Soundohm. Here is the link. This is a nasty and ferocious record that brings to mind the screeching playing of Skullflower, the harsh tones of Merzbow and the playfulness of Makato Kawabata. I mean for me it’s those three artists combined. As Bailey puts it “blurring the lines between fine art contexts and musical extremes, within each of its states of evolution Fusinato unleashing a towering body of music that subtly doubles as critical illumination of the cultural importance and internal workings of Noise itself.” You can also hear Keiji Haino fully realised in the wall of relentless din and spasmodic play. This is not one I put on to do other things. This is noise that requires attention and has more in common with Peter Brötzmann than it does with drone or longform modular synth wizardry. Everything is in the red including the inception. Go get fucked.
And we finally rest on the best noise trio since Wolf Eyes fucked our ears when they recruited John Olsen. Organ of Corti are Joachim Nordwall, Dan Johansson and Matthias Gustafsson. I mean what a trio! I have picked up as many of their physical releases as I can as they have made some of the best 7”s of recent years. This track is taken from a full LP which is a work of art in itself. Most of my favourite noise records are produced by one person, and although they are a trio they still manage to hold on to that unified sound, not pushing out stuff like a noise band but like an introverted experimentalist. I’m not really sure how they do it but I love the result. They work in loops like Aaron Dilloway and have the playfulness of Leif Elggren alongside the cinematic backdrops of John Duncan. This is the sound of the ghost in the machine and she’s fucking pissed off.
Razor One
Despise // Despair
Francisco Meirino
Despise // Despair
lathe cut 10″ on Decimation Sociale
2026
Razor Two
Only This Can Be Mine
Shredded Nerve
The Meaning of Life
CD on Total Black
2024
Razor Three
AX
Vulcanalia
LP on Nashazphone
2026
Razor Four
A Scanner Darkly
Cyess Afxzs
A Room in the Void – The Collected Philip K. Dick
Double CD on Input Error
2026
Razor Five
Le Quatrieme Disque des Transits aux Saturnes
Unglee Izi
Le Temps Des Figures Du Soleil Noir
4XCD on Nashazphone
2026
Razor Six
The Dip
Thomas Ankersmit
The Dip
LP on Students of Decay
2025
Razor Seven
tüüfi
antoine chessex & dave phillips
vrhältnis
CD on Coherent States
2026
Razor Eight
Untitled 1
Marco Fusinato
The Horizon is a Razor
LP on PAC
2026
Razor Nine
Fabula
Organ of Corti
Locus
LP on Dead Mind Records
2025
Inside No. 9 is an attempt to share unique narratives through the mixing of 9 songs. Every episode will showcase a new theme, opening up new tributaries of discovery. Inside No. 9 is presented by Peter Taylor, a former features writer for Foxy Digitalis from back in the late 2000s. Peter is a visual artist and musician and has been creating music as MAbH since 2008.
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