Anoema press release:

A giant of Scandinavian experimental music, Lasse Marhaug has been active in sound creation since his teenage years. His interest has spanned a wide range of styles: from improv jams to film sound, from humorous collages to crushing harsh noise works. This non-stop activity has resulted in a massive body of recorded work and numerous live performances everywhere around Tellus. Besides his solo work he has collaborated with a multitude of fellow sound artists as well on recordings as on stage.

In the everflowing stream of music from Marhaug, Quality Control takes its position within the noisiest end of his output. Manifesting strong manual qualities it rushes forward to present us with a panorama view of a mock world inhabited by trash electronics battling it out on a barren desert field at the end of the known universe. From short outbursts to extended epics, Marhaug works out an explosive brew of storming feedback and out-rock guitar overload. Quality Control shapes a portrait of a mature artist at the top of his game.

Reviews:

LASSE MARHAUG - Quality Control (Anoema 40; EEC) "Lasse Marhaug, head of the norwegian noise mafia, jumps right in and starts trashing the place. A symphony for a demolition team of one. This release is a definite nod to Merzbow: with every tone fully realized, dynamically placed, and the physicality of CONTROLLED mayhem! "Trashplate", the opening track on the disc, sounds as if he attached contact mics to his body and jumped into a mosh pit at a Bad Brains gig during their "I Against I" era. "More Sugar Please" brings in a repetitive rhythms with bouts of sonic terets and A.D.D. panning. "Magical Mystery Lore" gives no hint of "Revolution No. 9" but does build upon the layered guitar feedback ala "Metal Machine Music". "From The Future" , the shortest track on the record, is actually the most uneventful one; perhaps a comment on Marhaug view of the future. "Fungus For Fellini", perhaps my favorite song title in quite some time, brings this musical trip to an end. Fellini used to blast music really loud on the set to get his actor's comfortable, then overdub dialogue later; perhaps this is Lasse's intention as well. Marhaug's "Quality Control" is his best release yet! A real face melter." -Chuck Bettis/downtownmusicgallery.com

TOSHIJI MIKAWA - GYO-KAI ELEGY (CD by Anoema Recordings)
LASSE MARHAUG - QUALITY CONTROL (CD by Anoema Recordings)
Mikawa is known for being one of the two form-destroyers in Incapacitants (and before that some time in Hijokaidan). Although he has been active in these Japanese noise groups since the late 70s this is his first album under his own name. It's pretty rough material as could be expected, but there's also a delicacy at play here that makes this record quite an exciting listen. The best thing here is that Mikawa unleashes his sound with the same intensity that made Incapacitants so infamous, but there is always place for detail, with several layers working simultaneously, the screeching noise always supported by a more subdued backbone, like a second noise record being played in the next room and softly filtering through. Timing and some form/idea of basic compositional interest are obviously not completely lost on him; nothing outstays its welcome here, and nowhere does it get boring because of a possible lack in sound variety. Simply a great noise record.
Quality control is probably an self-critical joke towards his own release policy, but it is fact that people like Lasse Marhaug have shown that releasing 5 CDs a month doesn't mean that they don't know what they're doing. Well, maybe he doesn't, but there certainly is no quality decrease since I started listening to his music several years ago. On this new one he's not discovering new land for himself, more like taking a walk amongst already explored territory. That's not a bad thing, Marhaug is still inventive and abrasive enough with each release to make it an enjoyable listen. Especially the frenetic (the louder you play this the more sounds seem to emerge) nature of some of this material reminds me why I became a fan in the first place. (Robert Meijer, Vital Weekly)