Most of my money in that regard was spent on stuff on Extreme ("Music for Bondage Performance", etc) and Manifold (Hands To - "Nazha", weird field recordings) and whatever Dave from Ear/Rational was touting...

I remember I went to a Masonna/Merzbow dual bill in Boston at this tiny venue in '97... Akita had a flourescent light fixture that he'd replaced the bulbs with 5' long metal springs, which he had dual-mic'd and wired through like 3 distortion pedals and then a feedback loop -- and then proceeded to bash with a ball peen hammer. It was like sticking your head in a blender... pretty awesome.