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The Rita

The Rita (aka Canadian Sam Mckinlay) essentially pioneered the idea of the “harsh noise wall”: a formless, unwavering monolith of sound that does to power-electronics what Earth did to metal. In recent years, numerous other artists have followed strictly to the guidelines of HNW, whereas McKinlay himself has continually pushed onward, unwilling to plough the same terrain for too long, only content while scratching deeper into the creative recesses of his mind. Dig into any of the many The Rita releases and you’ll find a trove of overt sexual imagery, allusions to silent film, and most interestingly, more shark sounds/references/worship than you ever thought possible, all playing crucial roles in both the context and actual sound of his music.

The Rita (aka Canadian Sam Mckinlay) essentially pioneered the idea of the “harsh noise wall”: a formless, unwavering monolith of sound that does to power-electronics what Earth did to metal. In recent years, numerous other artists have followed strictly to the guidelines of HNW, whereas McKinlay himself has continually pushed onward, unwilling to plough the same terrain for too long, only content while scratching deeper into the creative recesses of his mind. Dig into any of the many The Rita releases and you’ll find a trove of overt sexual imagery, allusions to silent film, and most interestingly, more shark sounds/references/worship than you ever thought possible, all playing crucial roles in both the context and actual sound of his music.

Female Statuesque
2015 Edition. The Rita continues his journey through ballet fetishism. Female Statuesque is a complex work of obsessive research on discipline, elite beauty, and suffering in the world of ballet. Monolithic walls of harsh noise with the classic Sam M…
Toe Cleavage
"With his flagship project, The Rita, Sam McKinlay has, for nearly two decades, explored and distilled into sound various permutations of fetish and vice. He is recognized as the creator of Wall Noise (or Harsh Noise Walls/HNW), but that sound — mass…
The Lilac Fairy
Pygmalion carved a beautiful woman from ivory and when he kissed his statue’s cool white lips he found that Aphrodite had turned them pink and warm with life. From ephemera, from tulle and satin, The Rita has assembled a fantasy woman; a ballerina, a…
Queen Sheets
Some time ago a colleague emailed me and informed me that an artist made a short video of herself knitting to The Rita's 'Thousands of Dead Gods.'  I watched the short video and thought it was interesting, but then also noticed that the woman had a l…
La Vierge de Nurembourg
\'La Vierge de Nurembourg\' 4 x 7inch red vinyl with Vomir, Safe, The Rita, Torturing Nurse. Very limited edition (100 copies only).
Escorting
Escorting is a new massive effort by the Canadian king of Harsh Noise Sam McKinlay, with his most acclaimed creature The Rita who, once again, waves the banner of Uashima, with a luxurious and lustful 3 LP box set dedicated to the world's oldest prof…
Women’s Vocals
For THE RITA, the abstraction and minimalism of the female form has played a major role in the fetishized development of his source sounds and eventual harsh sound manipulations.  Eye shadow and eyebrow pencil pushed to raccoon-like limits and nylon …
Predators
European tour 7". Two 5 minute studio tracks of processed underwater recordings. Bayonet and diving knife scrapings in a steel basin, recorded closely and then processed to breaking point. Limited edition of 200 copies.
Collaboration
A new collaboration with Canadian harsh noise artist THE RITA and Italian harsh noise artist ALO GIRL (Urashima label owner Cristiano Renzoni).  Taking the combined love of both projects for knives, legs, black hose and Giallo films, the two vinyl tr…
Skate-Snorkel
The second LP in the RRR Foley Artist Series. Another great noise-wall record from The Rita. Two sound sources, one for each side. Because each side is a completely separate sound source, lets consider it a split LP.
Tortured Ghosts Of Creeks And Rivers
Released on Trash Ritual [website], a USA-based label specialising in Harsh Noise/Power Electronics. Limited to 200, released in 2006 - Found this copy at RRR [website] while visiting Lowell (RRRon RRRules) - No need to try to get a copy directly fro…
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