A Tier III

Facialmess.

Kenny Sanderson · Tokyo-based harsh-noise and cut-up unit · active from 1995, the moniker retired about 2018 · a deeply networked split-and-collaboration catalogue

filed under
Harsh noise · cut-up · dynamic, fast-moving noise built on sharp edits rather than a single sustained mass
The project of Kenny Sanderson in Tokyo · begun as Metodtorinus in 1995 · a catalogue made largely of splits across the international noise network
WhoThe Tokyo-based harsh-noise unit of Kenny Sanderson · began making noise tapes as Metodtorinus in early 1995 · also supplied electronics for the noisegrind project Nikudorei
ActiveFrom 1995, with the Facialmess name retired about 2018 as Sanderson moved on to a new project · a long, dense run of releases
FormDynamic harsh noise and cut-up · fast, sharply edited material rather than a single sustained wall, in the lineage of Japanese cut-up noise
NetworkA heavily collaborative catalogue · splits and joint works with Bastard Noise, MSBR, Guilty Connector and the Norwegian artist Lasse Marhaug among many others
PositionA well-connected node in the international harsh-noise scene of its period · a documentary case for the split-release economy that held that scene together
Why filedA deep and widely-networked harsh-noise catalogue from Tokyo · filed at Tier III as a scene-internal connector
Filed atArtists · Tier III · cross-referenced at Guilty Connector, Bastard Noise, MSBR and the Lexicon

Editorial.

The Tokyo harsh-noise and cut-up project of Kenny Sanderson, whose long, split-heavy catalogue maps the international noise network of its time.

Facialmess is the Tokyo-based harsh-noise unit of Kenny Sanderson, filed by the Bureau at Tier III as a scene-internal connector. Sanderson began making noise tapes under the name Metodtorinus in early 1995, settling into Facialmess shortly after, and also supplied electronics to the noisegrind project Nikudorei. The work is dynamic and cut-up rather than static: fast, sharply edited harsh noise in the lineage of the Japanese cut-up tradition rather than the sustained wall.

What marks the project as much as its sound is its reach. The catalogue is built heavily on splits and collaborations, joining Facialmess to a wide international network, Bastard Noise, MSBR, Guilty Connector and the Norwegian artist Lasse Marhaug among many others. Read as a whole, the discography is a map of the harsh-noise scene of its period and of the split-release economy that sustained it.

Sanderson retired the Facialmess name around 2018, moving on to a new project, which gives the catalogue a clear span from the mid-1990s into the late 2010s.

The Bureau's reading. Facialmess is filed at Tier III as a deep, widely-networked Tokyo harsh-noise catalogue and as a documentary case for how the international scene connected through split releases.

Filed by Bureau editor · VAGO · c. the Anthropocene · last revised c. the Anthropocene

Selected discography.

A catalogue dominated by splits and collaborations · the entries below are reference points

YearTitleFormatNote
1990s–Split and collaboration seriescassette / vinylThe bulk of the catalogue; joint releases with Bastard Noise, MSBR, Guilty Connector and others.
2018Facialmess / Stress OrphancassetteA late split, among the final documents under the Facialmess name before its retirement.

Cross-references.

ARTGuilty Connector · Bastard Noise · MSBR · collaborators across the catalogue
FORHarsh noise · cut-up · the forms of the work
LEXLexicon · harsh noise · cut-up · split release · term-level cross-reference

Coda.

Filing held open. The Bureau will close this note when the catalogue settles.

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