Helicopter
Label owned by John Wiese, an artist and composer from Los Angeles, California. His ongoing projects include LHD and Sissy Spacek, with plenty of freelance work with many artists as diverse as Sunn O))), Wolf Eyes, Merzbow, Dave Phillips, Smegma, Kevin Drumm, Cattle Decapitation, and C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core). He has toured extensively throughout the world, covering Europe, Scandinavia and Australia as a member of Sunn O))), the UK as part of the Free Noise tour (a tentet including Evan Parker, C. Spencer Yeh, Yellow Swans, etc.), the United States alongside Wolf Eyes, and recently performed in the 52nd Venice Biennale with artist Nico Vascellari.
No Obituary
On No Obituary, Concealed Class - the duo of Charlie Mumma and Matt Purse - reduce harsh sound to its barest, most hostile state: absolute electronics where saturation, feedback and structural collapse are the only remaining facts.
Electric Garden
On Electric Garden, Sissy Spacek and Smegma blur into a single, unstable organism, trading identities inside a live electro‑acoustic tangle where tape, junk percussion, turntables and guitar debris drift through The Pink House like sentient interference.
Annihilation of Samsara
On Annihilation of Samsara, Attila Csihar, Balázs Pándi and John Wiese converge as a single, shifting organism, dissolving borders between extreme metal, free improvisation and noise into a dense, unstable ritual where sound behaves more like weather than music.
Declensio
On Declension, Sissy Spacek’s core duo John Wiese and Ch. Mumma condense their most feral impulses into two mid‑2024 blowouts, erecting sheer walls of cascading electronics and scorched‑throat vocals that feel like being dropped into a collapsing star.
Live Non-Plus Ultra
On Live Non-Plus Ultra, Strain of Laws—the duo of Aaron Hemphill and John Wiese—drag voice and electronics through a pressure system of sub‑bass, hiss and mumbled fragments, documenting their 2025 LA set as a single, slowly suffocating industrial hallucination.
Third Night Sparks
On Third Night Sparks, Akio Jeimus, Risa Takeda and T. Mikawa bottle a one‑off Bar Isshee trio into a crackling nocturne of electronics and synths, where noise iconoclasm and poised, in‑the‑moment listening fuse into a single live current.
Folklore & Concepts
Folklore & Concepts, the latest release by Smegma—now five decades into their outsider avant-garde career—extends the band’s legacy of ritualistic collage, spontaneous improvisation, and anti-academic noise. Infused with tape, synths, prepared piano, horns, and voice, the album melds shamanistic energy with surreal group interplay, creating an unpredictable and stubbornly original sonic tapestry.
Gong
Gong, newly reissued on CD with bonus tracks, finds Sissy Spacek at their inventive peak, transforming the noise duo format into a meticulous, sprawling environment. The album’s two extended pieces are collages of violently manipulated junk noise, shattered electronics, and warped musical fragments, merging chaos and structure. Through masterful tape edits and dense, eerie atmospherics—including glass, metal, piano, and field recordings—the band delivers an immersive, unpredictable journey into …
Raiser
Raiser captures a 2013 Bronson session of Sissy Spacek—Phil Blankenship, Charlie Mumma, and John Wiese—in Los Angeles, channeling an intense fusion of harsh noise and noisecore. The album is a relentless, cathartic experience: shriek-laced blasts, searing electronics, and disintegrating metal fragments, all reassembled into monstrous, meticulously pieced sound collages. The result is sonic destruction made compositional, a full-spectrum assault that melts into jittery static and transformed debr…
New York About the Polywave
New York About the Polywave chronicles both recent and archival New York performances by The Haters, the iconic noise and conceptual art collective led by GX Jupitter-Larsen since 1979. The collection includes the ferocious 2025 “Digging Through Time” show at TV Eye, where shovels and a large wooden clock met their entropy-fueled fate, as well as earlier interventions involving calculators against fans and amplified hole-punch devices. These actions expose The Haters’ unique sonic and conceptual…
Los Angeles, Not the Totimorphous
Los Angeles, Not the Totimorphous surveys The Haters’ uncompromising presence in Los Angeles, led by GX Jupitter-Larsen since 1979. This documentation compiles both contemporary and archival performances: the 2024 45th Anniversary Show at Coaxial Arts Center with GX, AMK, John Wiese, and Elden M weaponizing transistor radios, turntables, tape, and rust; a 2011 suitcase-smashing set at LACE; and a 1991 event devoted to tearing paper. Each iteration presents entropy and action as its own aesthetic…
Porch Music
Porch Music is a double album uniting Mitchell Brown (Gasp), Paul McCarthy, Joe Potts (Airway), Alex Stevens, and John Wiese (Sissy Spacek) from the Los Angeles Free Music Society, documenting the group's studio session at McCarthy’s studio and their inaugural live set from The Box gallery. Crafted from melting cinematic sounds, this release captures the ensemble's exploratory spirit with artwork by Ace Farren Ford.
Ex-Org
Ex-Org is the fourth album from Extended Organ, featuring Paul McCarthy, Fredrik Nilsen, Joe Potts, Tom Recchion, and Alex Stevens. Recorded in January 2018, the album documents two sessions: one as-performed and another “decomposed” by John Wiese. Here, Extended Organ conjures an unpredictable sonic environment - Joe Potts’s Chopped Optigan, McCarthy’s improvisational guitar and vocals, and a dense fabric of homemade and vintage instruments combine to create a powerful blend of immersive ambien…
Akashaplexia
Akashaplexia is the culmination of Merzbow and John Wiese’s decades-long partnership, offering over three hours of new music across four CDs. Recorded together in Tokyo, the album balances Merzbow’s psychedelic intensity and Wiese’s meticulous sonic architecture, presenting a vast and intricately detailed landscape of noise, improvisation, and unpredictable dynamic shifts.
Past Present Future
Second album of minimal musique concrète from this Ohio duo. Robert Turman is a sound artist from the United States who is most recognized for his pioneering and experimental work in the fields of contemporary minimalism and ambient music. John Wiese is a sound artist and composer who is well-known for his singular and forward-thinking approach to sound as well as his ability to produce intricate, layered works that blur all boundaries. Both experimental and post-improvisational approaches are u…
Violent Semi-Abstract
Debut duo recording of LAFMS-founder and Airway maestro Joe Potts and John Wiese. Recorded during the Joe & Joe/John Wiese mid-west tour of 2018. Melting/sweating tape music/chopped optigan.
Mirror Aggressor State
On the heels of their F.O.A.D. LP and mid-west/east coast tour, a new full-length album from the Isaac Horne/Charlie Mumma/John Wiese trio line-up.
Dawn Of The Bloody Tapes
The Cherry Point returns with the long gestating follow-up to Night of the Bloody Tapes, a speaker-shredding demolition across two tracks of unforgiving hell. Recorded in Los Angeles, 2020–2024, Dawn of the Bloody Tapes is an unrelenting underground audio annihilation fueled by xeroxed zines, shot-on-tape traumas, and scrambled late-night broadcasts. All electronics by Phil Blankenship. Mixed by John Wiese.
It's exactly what you think it is.
EKA Varna
Nearly 20 years after the release of their landmark collaboration Multiplication, and nearly 25 years since their first live partnership, Merzbow and John Wiese reunite for a deep immersion into chaotic, raging electronics. Recorded on stage at Koiwa Bush Bash, Tokyo, Japan, December 2023. Digipak CD presented by Helicopter and Troniks. Art and design by John Wiese.
Live At 落合 Soup
In a follow-up to their duo debut, 2016’s Oblique No Strategy, T. Mikawa (Incapacitants, Hijokaidan) and John Wiese (Sissy Spacek) document a blazing live performance and rehearsal at the legendary Ochiai Soup, presenting an energetic explosion of free form electronics. Recorded at Ochiai Soup, Tokyo, Japan, December 2023. Digipak CD presented by Helicopter and Troniks. Art and design by John Wiese.
Multiple Density
Kimihide Kusafuka and John Wiese capitalize on their common language of concrète cut-up sounds for their first ever duo album, following many collaborations with Sissy Spacek. In a roaring daytime session, the pair performed two sets, approximately 20 minutes each, of finely detailed fast paced electronics. Recorded November 2023 at Technology Hour Extra Volume 3 at Freaky Show, Shizuoka, Japan. Digipak CD presented by Helicopter and Troniks. Art and design by John Wiese.
Tractor 2023
The Haters classic remixed, remastered and reenvisioned! A full volume grinding cacophony of entropic sound and amplified destruction across three reworked live actions—8/15/87 San Francisco (tearing large sheets of paper & fire sounds), 10/11/87 Colorado Springs (sledgehammers smashing holes through the brick walls of an abandoned metal refinery), 12/16/88 Salt Lake City (destroyed junk on an overflowing club stage). Newly mixed from vintage material by GX Jupitter-Larsen & John Wiese exclusive…
Hunter Killer
2015 Disfathom-era multi-track recording with Mike Du Bose on vocals.
Amplified Crystal
A howling vortex of psychedelic whiteout and swirling shimmer by trailblazing Japanese icons C.C.C.C. (Cosmic Coincidence Control Center), featuring the core foursome of Mayuko Hino (electronics, voice, performance), Hiroshi Hasegawa (synthesizer, voice), Fumio Kosakai (electronics, tapes), and Ryuichi Nagakubo (bass). Originally released as a legendary, limited vinyl LP on the group’s own Endorphine Factory label, this seminal release has been painstakingly remastered in 2023 by John Wiese and …
Community Center Cyber Crash / Live In Pittsburgh
A searing document of C.C.C.C.’s indelible live performance at Wilkins School Community Center on October 11, 1992, Community Center Cyber Crash/Live In Pittsburgh voyages into an abyss of scorching sound featuring the lineup of Mayuko Hino (electronics, voice), Hiroshi Hasegawa (synthesizer, voice), and Fumio Kosakai (electronics, tapes). Originally released as a vinyl LP in 1993 that helped cement the ensemble’s legacy and influence, the album has been meticulously remastered in 2023 by John W…
Coronado
In their first collaborative album, pioneering Japanese sound artist Merzbow and prolific outsider outfit Sissy Spacek unite to unleash an unstoppable firebomb of frenzied electronics and raging percussion across two 45-minute discs in this monumental set. Assembled July–September 2023, it features a lineup of Masami Akita, Charlie Mumma, and John Wiese, with a special appearance by Phil Blankenship (The Cherry Point). Beautifully packaged in a metallic gatefold digipak with artwork by John Wies…
Cosm
A new Sissy Spacek album in the realm of free-improv, but a great expansion of the perimeter. This power trio features Charlie Mumma on drums, Masahiko Ohno (Solmania) on guitar, and John Wiese on organ. Unlike anything that's come before.
Black Tupelo
Alex York’s Black Tupelo comments on the obscured line between American folk music and spiritual minimalism. Through sampling across analog and digital media, including vinyl, cassettes, and YouTube, Black Tupelo derives all its sonic material from recordings of Powers / Rolin Duo. In the past, York has primarily sampled jazz musicians, but gravitates towards acoustic drones on this record, which lend to collage and layering. In approaching these samples, York was inspired by a Roscoe Mitchell l…
Threshold
Noise/noisecore/grindcore/cut-up in unparalleled intensity from Mumma/Wiese with two tracks featuring Jay Randall.
Mechanical Abstraction
A scorching assembly of recordings from Sissy Spacek's 2022 ensemble tour, featuring the first John Wiese solo as Sissy Spacek since 2001 and two sets from the trio of Chris Goudreau/Jay Randall/John Wiese. Jewel case with heavy 28-page booklet.
Live In Hong Kong
Sissy Spacek is known for their extended approach to sound and performance. Founded in 1999, the group (since 2013, primarily a duo of Charlie Mumma and John Wiese) have released a broad range of work, from grindcore to musique concrète, with a considerable gulf of experimentation in between. Their performance at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong and its peripheral documentation is an example of the band’s abstracting style and approach. Recorded on the occasion of Takeshi Murata’s “Infinite Doors” ope…
The Elusive Flexure
Helicopter is proud to present the first trio album of Joseph Hammer (Solid Eye, Dinosaurs With Horns, LAFMS), Joe Potts (Airway, Extended Organ, LAFMS), and John Wiese (Sissy Spacek, Strain of Laws).
Solid State of Time
Robert Turman is an American sound artist best known for his innovative and experimental work in the field of ambient and minimalism. Beginning in the mid/late-1970s, Turman became involved in the world of experimental music, being particularly drawn to the work of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley, and began to experiment with tape loops and other forms of sound manipulation.Turman’s first solo release, the cassette album “Flux” (1981), is a landmark in ambient and minima…
Plays
Available for the first time as the artists originally intended!
XCIII
More than 25 years after their first partnership, international collaborators Smegma and Merzbow reunite for an all-new album that pushes the conceptual springboard of random composition generation even further. Consisting of two movements spread over 93 tracks, XCIII presents a collage of abstract electronics, unconventional instruments, reel to reel tape manipulation, loops and effects, best experienced in unique combinations on shuffled play.The first movement, Climactic Gruesome Costumes (wh…
Reslayer
Tip! ‘Sissy Spacek reaching full maturation – Hyper destructive low end heavy cut ups. Harsh noise from unheard nether-realms.’ - Brandon Hill
Electric Field In Parallel
‘Another stunning, definitive and beyond harsh release from the arguably the most forward thinking ultra-sonic-destruction unit in the world.’ - Brandon Hill
Radio Format
While we may live in an oversaturated time of hi-definition, microwave-pulse paced images and video snippets, one format that has remained in play since the early 1900’s is that of radio. A format perhaps overlooked most in its ability to not only act as a conduit of audio, but also that of a uniquely non-visual live performance, facilitating a direct audio-only portal from performer to the imagination of the listener.Radio is a place where live collaboration and conversation can occur not just …
Mutant Stomps
These American legends of outsider avant-garde need little introduction. Since becoming core members of the Los Angeles Free Music Society five decades ago, they have retained their focus, determination and unmatched originality, influencing generations and never seizing to advance further avenues of progress. Mutant Stomps is a result of Smegma’s living room recording sessions at their pink house in Portland. All tracks were produced 2012–2013, with one dating back to 1975 for good measure. The…
Live At Zebulon
Airway began as a solo project of Los Angeles Free Music Society member Joe Potts. The first release was the Airway 7-inch, which featured subliminal messages to coincide with an art exhibition in Tokyo. Since their August 1978 live debut at the LACE Gallery, the group has performed many concerts with different large lineups, always with Joe Potts’ subliminal message experiments as a central feature. Airway’s “Live At LACE” LP, first released in 1978, and introduced to Japan by Takuya Sakaguchi,…