Ajilvsga – Thorazine to Infinity [Peasant Magik]/Ajilvsga – Sacred Arrow [Arbor]

Ajilvsga is a project of Mr. Foxy Digitalis himself, Brad Rose, and Nathan Young. Just so we’re clear, Nathan Young is not Nate Young, at least as far as I can tell. In conference with a few close friends we’ve decided this new Ajilvsga stuff (these two and the double cassette on Not Not Fun) is the best Mr. Rose has put his name on. Is it a coincidence they are all on tapes? I think not. Furthermore, I’ve heard rumors that his upcoming label is gonna be doing a few tapes. Is it that the proclaimed hater of cassettes, Mr. Rose, has finally seen the light? Let’s hope so, both for his sake and our own, cause these little suckers—released on Peasant Magik and Arbor—are total domination 2 tha maxx.
Thorazine to Infinity begins with the hum of electricity, certainly a fitting beginning. There’s some thick dirty guitar (bass?) going down and maybe a bit of synth or effects too. It kinda has a drone-doom thing but you know, not mind-numbingly boring. I tend to be a fan of low frequencies so I wish they were mixed a bit louder for full on quaking effect but they still do a damn good job as is. It is tapes like these that make me wish I was one of those dudes whose hobby is his stereo; you know so I could play this way too loud on huge fucking speakers and go deaf and get kicked out of my apartment. It’s a good thing I’m not one of those dudes though cause I wouldn’t want to be deaf and homeless. I don’t have the balls for that. “I am Your Charred Remains” is easily my favorite piece on the tape. It’s more actively droney/noisy than the mildly lethargic opener. Again, the Ajilvsga dudes are playing with raging thickness/sickness. It sounds like there are lots of loops/tracks stacked on top of each other, shuddering under the wait of it all. Short repetitive loops are contrasted with the protracted fuzz giving the mass a good dose of rhythm/momentum and ending with some dude cackling. Total daze of thunder.
The twelve minute tremor, “Asphixiation”, starts slow with an insistent revving and loopy synthtones. Almost halfway through a weird percussion type thing starts going down. I think it’s a handdrum of some sort and it comes out of nowhere. Somehow the bizarreness of the hand-drum-on-tremulous-electronics action works, don’t ask me how though. The piece takes on a strange, sauntering psych vibe. Man, what a peculiar ordeal that was. The short closer, “Lex Talions”, goes even further into psych territory with more drums and other percussion, a bowed/blown instrument, guitar feedback and a thumbpiano/musicbox device of some sort. These guys sure turn the tables with style.
Sacred Arrow isn’t as colossally crushing. “Salt Plains” sounds like might just be two guitars a-droning. Well it’s not necessarily droning cause there’s definitely some strumming going on, yet it still has that effect. It’s a nice simple track that doesn’t get old despite a relatively small amount of change. There’s some theremin-esque sounds at the end too. Strong but subtle (it’s oxymoron day!) sense of melodic structure too, so it sounds real nice on the ears without being obvious. My only complaint is one guitar has too much of a transparent flanger thing going on. “Wolves Standing in Water” brings back the rumble; well I guess for the first time on this particular tape. There’s an elusive melodic loop buried underneath the murk that’s pretty fun to chase. It’s a pretty solid wall of low-end too, which I like, consuming everything like a black hole or the blob. The final minute sees the blob get briefly upturned by a couple pulsing rhythmic loops before blasting them away and everything ending in Armageddon. “Fire Builder” takes the entirety of the B-side and, soundwise, it fits somewhere between the two on the previous side. It’s also the most straight “drone” to my ears. Woven in between the long heavy layers are different bits of manipulation, originally, I thought a field recording of some sort but now I’m not so sure. More eerie theremin sounds pop up too. Yeah, eerie is a pretty good way to describe to the track. It reminds of the more sluggish (not in a bad way) work of Family Underground and other acts. Though perhaps a bit too protracted for its own good, “Fire Builder” is excellent way to, as that one Oscar-winning m&m guy put it, lose yourself in the music.
Each label has done a fine, classy job packaging their respective cassettes. Thorazine to Infinity comes with a textured slip cover, printed j card and the whole deal. Sacred Arrow comes with a double-sided full color printed/screenprinted j card and sprayed case. Both are still available but limited. 100 copies of Sacred Arrow and only 75 of Thorazine to Infinity.

Kevin Shields – Cavity Fever [Arbor]/Kevin Shields – Human Wider Experience [Tanzprocesz]

So after I discovered the greatness of Eva Aguila’s Kevin Shields project in the lovely summer of ’07 with the massive mind ripper/contender for album of the year The Death of Patience, I had snapped up some current (at the time) Kevin Shields frequencies right away. So now it’s almost the end of the year and I’m finally getting around to reviewing them, but hey, it’s rare when something I buy gets reviewed at all.
Starting with the Cavity Fever tape first, cause haven’t you heard? Tapes rule! This cassette is a bit more sedate than some other Kevin Shields work, but keep in mind that term is relative. The first track “Homely Straw” is a couple bass tones pulsing at various speeds and a slowed down alarm bell. There is some delayed contact mic’d stuff going on as well, almost chiming as the bass pulse gets more sinister. The track to me, actually occupies more of the drone realm than noise. “Lovely Day is a Hike Day”, however, gets noisy. There are plenty of high pitched sine tones against roughly manipulated waves of feedback. The thing then dissolves into to a strange keyboard part. Not a ditty, but close. The last track on side A, “Coarse Truth”, sounds like an extension of the previous track. The keyboard part is still present but jagged shards of fuzz being worked and kneaded dominate the track. On the second side, “Gaming Ritual” brings back the keyboard slowly adding layers of distortion. Eventually the keyboard is phased out leaving a vast shitstorm of electronics washing over me like the plague. For the all the noise, it’s a pretty moderately paced piece that builds to a great sputtering, spitting climax of charred circuitry and gnashing teeth. The oh so truthfully titled “Because I Know You Can’t Get Enough” closes out the tape, operating like everything heard previously condensed into three and a half minutes. The noise, the keyboard, the scrambled rhythms; they’re all there.
The magnificently titled half-hour of power Human Wider Experience is coarser and more forceful. After the one minute opener “Catalyst”, “Covenant Grunt” takes the stage. With a sustained bass note with actually some really sick beats. Well it’s not “beats” so much as just the way Aguila cuts up the tone but it works and little by little succumbs to a barrage of flames. After the frayed, 91 second inferno “Frecke Wrist”, comes the most interesting and best track “Children’s Court”. I’m not sure what the sound source here is but it sounds like a brittle clanking toy guitar or something. It sounds like there are also some soft vocals in the background which add an interesting “human” counterpoint to the ear piercingness of the other noises. Out of nowhere the whole thing coheres into relatively solid brick of sound (for a moment anyway). There is a lot more manipulated filter/synth type sounds that actually work really well with the harshness, both opening up the sound and adding a bit roundness to the serrated static. Aguila’s knack for composition really comes into play here but because the track, lasting nearly 17 minutes, never gets tired. She constantly adds new sounds and ideas, whether she’s building on previous ones or growing a whole new garden of sound. One of the things I marvel at most about Aguila’s work is how well she controls the chaos. A lot of noise stuff I hear sounds like the gear is running the show not the artist, but with Aguila’s work the effortless construction and grace of her style is unmistakable. As much as I love The Death of Patience, “Children’s Court” may be her best work; that I’ve heard at least. Utterly amazing. The short fifth track, “Shat & Boney Enjoying a Little”, features some help from Amy of Yuma Nora. Though I’m not exactly sure what she’s operating in the track. It’s probably the most harsh and heavy piece on the record. Unrelenting torrents of feedback. “Slug Mouth” really did a number on me because of its sweetness. After 25 minutes of noise, I was thrown off by the extended, clean solo keyboard piece. I kept expecting to be lacerated by a brutal feedback squall, but was even more thrown off when it never came. Just five minutes of twee keyboard plinking. I’ve got to hand it to Eva; she knows how to keep me guessing.
While neither are as brain collapsing as The Death of Patience both are totally sweet in their own right. Cavity Fever is sold out at source but you can probably still get it at a few distros, Human Wider Experience is available however, though limited to a hundred. Both releases are aesthetically pleasing as well which is a trademark of both labels. Arbor did a classy job as always. Cavity Fever features killer artwork by George Myers (Breaking World Records), a double sided j-card and the most beautiful, blue-green sprayjob I’ve ever seen on a tape. French label, Tanzprocesz has been responsible for some of the most innovative packaging ideas I’ve come across. The packaging of Human Wider Experience, while not particularly ingenious, is certainly out of the ordinary. A recycled fold-out, sprayed LP cover with pasted on art and info and the CD-r is floating on of those little numbs. Definitely nice to see when most labels are just doing the standard CD-r-in-slipcase thing. Collect ‘em all.

Widening Horizon – Widening Horizon [Arbor/JK Tapes]/Laissez Faire – Asylum [Abandon Ship]

The subject(s) of this review could rightly be described as “the future”. Mike Pollard and [name removed by request] are two teenage kids from Illinois (how sick are they of reading that?) who run two killer labels Arbor and JK Tapes, respectively, and play under solo guises Treetops and Laissez Faire, also respectively. The bros collaborate as Widening Horizon as well. I reviewed a Treetops a tape a little while back and now I’ve come full circle (triangle?) with debut cassettes from Widening Horizon and Laissez Faire.
Popping in Widening Horizon my ears are met with a bright but murky mess which is what I like to hear. Mostly sloshed vocals, feedback, and keyboard drone. There is also flashes of drums and cymbals, probably the work of Mike. There’s a post-Skaters vibe about the whole thing, which I personally dig. I like how totally drenched the thing sounds too. It’s hard to adequately describe, but the tape is just drenched in sound. The heavy floating here is really rooted by the drums, which are played pretty tastefully never really dominating the overall sound, but making their presence felt amongst the oscillating tones. The phantom melody that flows through the whole thing is key. There’s no one element that’s providing it but somehow all the sounds cohere in one big blurred meditation.
The B(elligerent)-side comes out a lot a more aggressive. I’m not too sure what the dudes are playing here, lots of distortion (though not harsh), flute-like feedback, keyboard sounds, and whatever other shit was around for them to bang on. There’s not much to grab onto here. The thing that’s interesting is that even though it’s fragmented, there are so many fragments piled on top of each other that it sounds rather full, even as the sounds shoot past you. Towards the end of the first side there is some slightly discernible vocals and militant drumming which sounds real nice buried under all the delayed feedback. Overall, a real cool tape, especially for a debut. There’s supposed to be more on the way from Widening Horizon (a series or something?) and my ears are looking forward to that for sure.
It’s interesting listening to [name removed by request] solo debut on Abandon Ship and comparing it with previous Treetops knowledge because I can start discerning who brings what to the Widening Horizon jams… sort of. Mike appears to bring the drums, [name removed by request] brings the keyboard(?) and they both deal pretty heavily in feedback/vox/whatever. Anyhow, the first of the four tracks on Asylum is, if I’m reading it correctly, “Afgan”. Beginning with some looped organ/rumbling, it’s got a more meditative feel than the Widening Horizon stuff. Feedback is present but mostly kept at bay, leaving the beauty (relatively) un-obscured. There’s a constant activeness to the sounds (on the WH tape too) which I can’t really figure out. The sounds never stay in the samespot for long, though it’s not like they’re darting around everywhere. Possibly my favorite track on here is “Platypus”. It starts similarly to the previous track with billowing waves of reverbed fuzz. Things increase steadily until there’s a thick layer of fluctuating noise that would seem harsh if it weren’t for the mellow pretty rays dappled over everything. Everything drops out at the end leaving a brief but striking keyboard bit. “Pomegranate”, though a bit rougher, has the melodiousness consistent through the tape, for the most part at least. There’s an excellent moment, where against a droning keyboard loop [name removed by request] lashes out with measured brief bursts of harshness. Very nice. Maybe that one is my favorite actually, or maybe it was the first track. It’s hard to choose. Anyway, the tape ends somewhat anti-climactically with “One Wiseman” which is a slightly manipulated recording of some dude being interviewed/talking about an Asian woman’s sound exhibit at an art museum and Michael Jackson (“another interesting personality”) and “losing your edge”. I don’t know dude, it was weird.
Both tapes come packaged nicely. Widening Horizon comes in a double-sided, wrap-around card plastered with psychedelic geologic/ecologic collages and sealed with a sticker. Totally killer. The Laissez Faire tape comes with a fold out j-card with very blue artwork. It should also be noted that the colors used in the artwork is totally the color of the sounds. Widening Horizon was limited to 40 and all sold out at source, so if you see a copy, snag it. Asylum is still ready and available from Abandon Ship (though limited to 50) so check that one out before it’s too late.

Warmth – Warmth [Arbor]

Warmth is a project I’ve been a little on the fence about. I’ve heard a handful of releases and while I found them intriguing none of them really stuck. Until now that is. Warmth is an LP reissue/remixed/edited version of a self-titled(?) CD-r on the now deceased X Died Enroute Y label. The CD-r featured a rare duo formation, consisting of Warmth main man Steev Thompson and Branden Diven of Quilts and a bunch of other cool things. So anyhow, let’s get this review poppin’
Side A starts out quietly with a submerged glistening something. There is a rhythmic crackle that I can’t figure out if it’s part of the music or a skuf on the LP. Intentional or not, it adds a steady forward movement that works out real nicely. That submerged glistening synth or whatever it is rises in volume and drops. The volume swelling and tapering becomes a motif throughout the side. What sounds like a heavily reverbed guitar comes in with other kinds of looped electronics and subsides. A lush synth swell emerges for maybe fifteen seconds and abruptly fades. Then the guitar comes back for a moment and then the synth with a more fleshed out, ethereal, echoing ice caverns bit which wanes revealing a gusty whining wind type sound. After comes one of my favorite parts a brief bit of thick, almost shuffling looped two note synth melody. Low in the mix, there is something that sounds like a faraway church choir, while static white noise and mild mannered feedback dance and crawl over top. The piece is incredibly hard to pin down. Every time a beautiful loop or melody materializes it slinks away almost immediately, leaving the quiet base warble. There is a crescendo at the end which is really fantastic, and much more extended than any other the other parts. It builds into a gorgeous cacophony, ultimately receding back into the ether while a lone guitar feeds back and a synth wobbles on its last legs until the end groove. The piece is strangely composed, the continuous rising and falling of a slew of sonic fragments. It reminds me a bit of those old haunted house rides; not in the sense that its “scary” or “ghoulish”, but rather that you are taken on a ride through a bunch of short-lived events that together assemble a unified experience, but without direct transition between them. Sometimes fragmentation or holding onto an idea too briefly before moving on can be frustrating to listen to. Somehow though, Warmth makes it compelling. Maybe it’s because you want keep revisiting it and take the ride again or perhaps it’s just because the fragments all sound so good. It’s probably both and more. A very cool side.
The B side has a rhythmic crackle as well, which makes me wonder if it’s intentional or if my stylus is messed up (hope not). It begins with a slow burning drone as some Medroxy Progesterone Acetate-esque rustling white noise enters. The piece moves in a style not unlike the first side, but a bit more subtly. There is a strange alien transmission halfway through, though most of the time the track glides along on glacial tones. That is until some shrieking echoing guitar or synth comes roaring onto the scene. The placid atmosphere is shattered by a downpour of exploding feedback which sticks around for a bit until fading into looped organ tones. Which, of course, fade too, as swirling jet streams and moaning guitar swells take the track to its final conclusion. As mentioned, the piece works in a similar way as the first but a bit sparser and more subtly, I prefer the first I think but Side B is a cool little number in itself. One note though, my bass speaker is pretty much to the point of coughing up blood, so I can’t discern much of the low end business that’s going on, it sounds like it would be pretty cool though if I could hear it.
So Warmth remains as enigmatic as ever. This is a really great release and makes me want to hear more of/revisit their other stuff. I’ve yet to come across anything quite like the project, which, at the very least, makes it worth delving deeper into their discography. I say this every time but the LP comes packaged in Arbor’s trademark classy and capable aesthetic, with a printed/screen-printed cover by Roy Tatum and Mike Pollard and also a 8.5x11 insert by Steev. The crowning achievement/sweetness/whatever is the cool citrus-y creamsicle vinyl and a-shade-darker-than-lime green screen-printed labels. It’s a total package and still available from Arbor but limited to 300, so get it already.

Black Monk – Flowstone [Arbor/Not Not Fun]

Black Monk was a duo consisting of Roy Tatum (Changeling, Quintana Roo, the Buried Valley label) and someone else whose name I cannot ascertain. They kept a pretty low profile only releasing two cassettes over their lifetime, one on Buried Valley and one on Maim & Disfigure. But now the crew is given the “box set” treatment. While Flowstone is an LP, it collects the out of print tapes and offers unreleased material just like those expensive box sets in the locked glass cases, but way more affordable and with 100% more analog sweetness.
Side A consists of the previously released material. It starts with “Murmur” which apparently collects the entire cassette of the same name. Black Monk establish their sound right from the get-go. Heavy, low-end drones and free/tribal drumming. There are no credits, but the drones sound like they're coming from guitar. Not e-bow style though, slow singe strums letting the drone swell and taper based around a few chords. While the guitarwork is pretty simple and repetitive, it’s effective. It also balances the hyperactivity of the drumming, which is a constant, though varied, barrage. Whoever the drummer is does a good job of not falling into the standard role of drone drummer (i.e. basic, measured drum hits) or the role of rock drummer sitting in on a drone session, which always ends terribly. I don’t know very much about (describing) drumming, but the guy moves from frantic to emphatic rather easily. The drums are mixed pretty low in comparison to the dronemaker, which gives the whole track a really odd disembodied vibe. The audible but utterly indecipherable “background” noises going on certainly help that cause as well.
The second half of side A is an untitled track originally released on the V cassette on Buried Valley. Immediately, it establishes a totally haunted, wobbly seasick vibe. Unlike “Murmur”, the guys are working entirely in unison on this one; forming like Voltron to create some of the most effortlessly eerie, pulsating drone I’ve come across. It’s much harder to pick up on individual elements than in the previous track. There is a main loop that sounds to me almost like a slowed down locomotive whistle. That loop is surrounded my heavy fuzz fog, and various subtle changes occur throughout. There isn't much (any?) drum presence that I can hear, sometimes it sounds like there might be some buried under the miles of murk and other times it sounds like there is none at all. Maybe you can tell me. Sweet track though.
The B side is the previously unreleased title jam. “Flowstone”, in some ways, is a marriage of the two styles on the other side. The drums are pushed to the fore-front. Showing off some serious free jazz chops. There is expansive, low-end smog that coats the rest of the track, providing a subtle, groaning bed for the drummer to shred some heads. The dynamic between the two elements is interesting because the drone is pretty much unchanging; however, depending what the drums are doing, it kind of takes on those characteristics. I'm not sure, I think there might be two guys jamming on the drums. There is no way a mere mortal could pull this stuff off all by himself. Maybe it’s possible, but there is frenzied cymbal bashing and intense tribal tom-tom torture at the same time that I just can’t fathom coming from one set of hands. I really dig how the fiery, primal percussive assaults offset the cyclical drone cloud. You get the best of both worlds, the raw, physical high of witnessing someone just kick the shit out of their instrument and the buzzing, hypnosis of looped fuzz infinity.
The LP is pretty well organized, in that each successive piece takes it up a notch (there I go sounding like Emeril again). They all have the same DNA, but each takes a separate sonic approach. It’s a bummer Black Monk is done for, but maybe the release of Flowstone will warrant a reunion tour, any takers?
The LP comes in typical classy Arbor/Not Not Fun fashion. A stark design lay out, a fold out crazed-scribble poster by Black Monk and black labels on a black LP, which is the coolest black vinyl has ever looked. It’s like a twelve inch black hole. It’s sold out on the Not Not Fun end, but Arbor still has copies. You know what to do.

Tent City – Tent/City [Arbor]/James Fella – D888 [JK Tapes]

When I can, I like to do some sweet theme-teamed reviews, and here it’s themed times two. Theme one is James Fella does his thing on both releases, the first with his Tent City crew and the second all by his lonesome. The other theme is Chicago area label bros Arbor CDR and JK Tapes each put out one of the releases. So they are, like, connected but times two.
Anyhow, nuff o dat. The Arbor CD-r starts us off, man I have to say this thing looks and feels totally sweet. Arbor always brings its A game on the aesthetic front, but Mike Pollard has outdone himself this time. As you can see this thing is sewn from a classic red cowboy bandana and even has a little button snap to make sure yr CD-r is nice and cozy and don’t fall out (dontcha hate that?). This release is apparently the studio debut of Tent City, which is interesting cause they’ve been around a while you’d think they would have done it by now, but who knows. They seem to be pretty fucking good at the live thing considering the long live recording on their Cascade Trinkets CD-r is one of my favorite pieces of music from this year. Anyhow, enough about that. The CD-r is made up of 5 untitled tracks ranging from 2-12 minutes. The first track starts out with a little of the typical Tent City sound, wind instrument and thumb piano type sounds over shaking and tinkling, then about a third of the way through a really low (in pitch and volume) synth pulse takes over. The synth continues to the second track and is joined little by little, by muted guitar and sounds akin to the rustling of broken glass. At the end a neat little dilapidated piano loop materializes which is sweet, but it’s a little too late though. The first two tracks are much too drawn out, and for some reason everyone seems really timid like they aren’t comfortable with the synth loop or something. There’s just not a whole lot interesting going on. Things begin to pick up in the third track, however. A guitar is riffing on the melody from “Unmade Bed” against some thumb pianoing and rattling and shaking. It happens gradually but things get jammin’, anchored by some sweet thumb piano licks. The fourth track is the longest and best. It’s a bit more aggressive, with a percussive presence something the previous tracks lacked. There is actually a distinct rock vibe to the track courtesy of a grinding, dirty guitar riff and later a 4/4 drum beat. It seems like an odd fit at first but it actually ends up being pretty groovy. The caravan moves along getting to a surprisingly noisy crescendo. The final track, a two minute coda, is a nice droney sendoff with a bunch of loops and the plucked sounds of something. A pretty little piece.
It seems like the studio recording may not be Tent City’s forte, at least not yet. The record gets off to a needlessly slow start but the second half is quite cool. Still respek to TC for trying something different. They’re still one of the better improv’d jams acts (I don’t mean that like jam band) around. The thing that’s so sweet about the live stuff I’ve heard is they always seem to be movin and groovin to a vibe of raw, communal inspiration. But here, you don’t really see it too much until the fourth track when things start clicking. It’s a decent but not perfect effort, but certainly worth checking out if you are a fan of the group or sweet bandana packaging.
D888 is interesting cause the insert gives a pretty detailed, second by second breakdown of the sounds heard for each side by Fella himself. This makes my job really easy cause I don’t have to guess or hyperbolize the sounds coming out my speakers. I can straight up tell you, “Dudes, the sounds you hear at 2:25 in on the A side is empty mic sockets while phantom power was turned on and off, tracks then punched in and out while making one master from the eight tracks.” But that doesn’t have the same mystery to it, so I’m gonna go with a sorta old fashioned type review.
The alternate title for the tape is “compiled sounds salvaged from the memory bank of a digital eight track recorder late summer 2007”. And that is pretty accurate to what it sounds like, but it’s also a bit more. It took a couple listens for my ears to figure it out, but after they did D888 became a rather fun tape to listen to. I’m generally not into the whole collaged aesthetic cause it usually comes off as too scattered, and I am a man of composition (whether it’s improvised or meticulously constructed). However, this tape is pretty well paced. Side A begins with echoing guitar until a bit of noisy drones and whathaveyou join and eventually take over the track. Noises are looped and layered building to chiming feedback which promptly cuts out and more looped noises replace it. Then a zoo of squiggly sounds emerges. They sound like the “telephone” setting on toy keyboards, but at all different speeds. The track continues this weird wobble for a while until guitar and a fuller drone take over until the end click. My apologies for all the “untils” and “thens”. Odd little track but it moves fast over a relatively wide range. Side B begins with guitar as well but it’s a weird muffled fuzz tone and some vocals are in the mix too I think. Quickly after, there is some clipped electronic sounds hopscotching around and eventually cohere into a steady stream. Then similar sounds but a bit more dronier (which consulting this handy insert are the “same sounds, less loud and slower”). After that comes the coolest part of the side, a bunch of skittering sounds all combining into a wicked cacophony of sound. Overall, it’s a pretty interesting tape worth repeated listens.
The James Fella cassette comes packaged in JK’s, signature by now, d.i.y. aesthetic; this time a paint drenched tape case. Both releases are still available from their respective labels, though they’ve been out for a little while so you may want to hurry and snag a copy if you want either of them.

Evan Miller/Gown – Split [Arbor]

I was browsing random websites the other day and anyhow, I noticed that this Evan Miller/Gown isn’t sold out. And well, dammit, it should be. I bought my copy immediately when I heard about it, figuring it would be gone quick. So now, I feel I must do my part to vouch for this tape’s greatness and give it the proper props.
You know the drill, two guitarists, two sides, one sweet spool of tape. I think Evan Miller is a relatively new face but lately he’s been rollin’ out some tapes on Night People and I’ve been digging ‘em. I’m no scholar of Fahey or Jack Rose or whoever the god of the acoustic guitar is. But I do know that I like the way Evan Miller plays. Apparently, “Spectre” was recorded in a storm which is rad cause you can hear thunder rolling in the background, which sometimes provides great punctuation, and maybe even a bit of rain too but I might be confusing that with tape hiss. This track moves a lot slower and is less sweetly melodic as his other work I’ve heard. However, there is way more sparseness and tension in this piece. It makes me think of a lamenting score for a wounded cowboy in a western. Like the dude is shot and the music starts and there is a ten minute long slow motion sequence of the guy stumbling around all bloody, crawling through the dust and writhing in agony. The track is based around a couple circular arpeggios, which are broken up every so often with melodic flourishes. The track actually reminds me of Earth’s latest stuff, not so much aesthetically but in the way that restraint is used to create intensity. Cool track and an interesting take on the solo acoustic guitar thing.
Miller’s track is cool and all but the real reason you need this tape is what comes on the backside. Gown (a.k.a. Andrew MacGregor) is probably most well known, at least nowadays, for playing with Thurston Moore in the Bark Haze, however based on “Pigeon Church”, Gown could kick Thurston’s and his own ass at guitar—combined, which doesn’t really make sense but this track is that good. This track is so good that my friend who loves Daft Punk stopped everything he was doing said “Drew. Who is this? This track is incredible!” “Pigeon Church” is like a wind storm, an electrical storm, and a snow storm combined and played on guitar. I’m not sure if this thing is multi-tracked or looped but either way it’s rather dense. There are tons of frequencies flowing out of the amp and Gown blows them every which way, all around the track. What’s amazing to me is, for ten minutes, the track somehow never loses the blustery, weathered texture, or its undulating intensity or its melodic center. Sorry to quote Radiohead, but everything is in its right place you know? The guitar tone is very electric and powerful, but not noisy in the way you think of Hototogisu or someone being. Its palette is very much whites, greys, silver rather than black. Last I heard, MacGregor moved up to Newfoundland, so I hope he’s basking in its remote, solitary chill and recording shitloads of stuff. It’s almost mean to just give me one track; I need a hundred more at least. I mean really, only one windswept, classic, masterful, mind ripping Gown piece per release? Come on! How am I supposed to live on that?
The tape, as mentioned, is still available from Arbor and it comes with an insert, printed tape labels and a classy, 3 color screen printed J-card of a wildcat battling vapor (or something like that). So, get it already.

Ghosting/Robedoor – Split [Not Not Fun], Robedoor/Yellow Swans – Split [Arbor], Yellow Swans/Warmth [DNT]

Alrighty, I guess it’s back to the split 7inchs again. This time we have a trio of them, and in a seamlessly transitioned Ghosting -> Robedoor -> Yellow Swans -> Warmth review no less. All sorts of incestuous connections here: Ghosting and Yellow Swans are from PDX area. Robedoor, Ghosting and Warmth all have had releases on Arbor. Yellow Swans had a split 7inch with the Goslings out on Not Not Fun earlier in the year. Robedoor, NNF and DNT are all buddies down in Los Angeles area. But who really cares about any of that, it’s about the music! And there are certainly some choice cuts here.
Portland, OR’s Ghosting take the A side with “Rivermouth”. Is “Rivermouth” a technical term? Like ‘mouth of a river’? Or just one of those neat image-phrases? Nevermind, there are more important things at work here. “Rivermouth” is a nice bout of electric metallo-drone. Lots of beautiful hissing tones lurk in the background, driving the track, while some sort of electrified muted banjo sounding thing jives at the forefront. (Quick internet research tells me it’s a ‘guitarsnare’; I don’t know what that is but it sure sounds cool). The best part of the track, hands down, is the ending where each of the layers are pulled back one by one revealing tons of sounds you didn’t even notice. It’s a cool effect. Ghosting generally works in long form pieces, 30-40 minutes it seems, so a 7inch cut is quite a change but they do so nicely, providing you with a quick Ghosting fix if yr on the go (well if yr on the go with a turntable at least). I’d like to see them experiment with more shorter form works, cause “Rivermouth” conjures up a real nice atmosphere akin to a year 3000 technologically engineered superswamp. Sorry that is probably about the best I can do to describe it. It’s real modern sounding and real prehistoric sounding. And, most importantly, it’s real fantastic sounding too.

L.A.’s Robedoor rock the B side with “Roving Shaman” which is a pretty spot-on title. Really they already wrote a perfect review by naming their song that. Oh well, now that my existence has been negated, I guess I’ll give it a shot. This is Robedoor at their most subtle (though they are definitely not taking it easy). Britt and Alex unwind eerie spools of vocals, chimes, and flute-y feedback (or maybe it just is a flute). It kind of reminds me of that piece of music in Boogie Nights when Dirk Diggler is getting the shit beat out of him. A real insistent, bone-chilling loop of a chiming bell with all sorts of creepfestery built up all around it. To continue the film comparisons, the track also brings to mind old black & white Japanese samurai films with a ronin wandering a hillside in solitude; it’s perfect mood music. Try watching Sword of Doom set to “Roving Shaman” sometime, I bet it rules. My favorite part is the way the vocals subtly creep out of the crevices and cohere around the main loops adding brief harmonic consonance to the otherwise steeped-in-dread track and then disappearing back into the mist .

Continuing on to the Arbor split with Yellow Swans, Robedoor comes with “Tremor Deliverance”. Sure, that last track was excellent and all, but this one is a certified banger. Featuring the modest palette of cello, keys, guitar and voice, Robedoor create a ballad of total uplift and euphoria. It’s like the roving shaman died and is going to heaven and meeting God and learning the universe’s secrets. Man, am I bummed turntables have no ‘repeat’ function cause this is achingly good set-your-mind-free music that would benefit from being played all day, all night, all day, all night and so on. A sea of warm, enveloping tones swelling (enswelloping?) all around you. Beautiful.
Yellow Swans bring the jam on side B and as 94% of everything they do, it ain’t got no title. Damn man, I don’t what kind of performance enhancing drugs the Swans have been taking lately but they should ease up because cause ruling this hard all the time has got to be bad for their health. I'm certainly not suffering though. This track features a bit more movement than their piece on the Goslings split with a short melodic loop driving the track with all sorts of distorted vocals, distorted guitar, distorted effects, distorted feedback and probably some distorted distortion in there too. It kind of sounds like a super slowed surf song but, you know, played by Yellow Swans. A real deadringer. And while I still give the track from the Goslings split top honors, this one made me seriously reconsider. Fiery.

Rounding off the trio, comes once again, Yellow Swans! I’m pretty sure this one is untitled as well but there is a giant (intentional?) blotch of screenprinting ink over the info so who really knows. Not I, that’s for sure. This track isn’t quite as monolithic as the other Yellow Swans 7inchers but it features some real nice guitarwork courtesy of Gabe. Lots and lots and lots ecstatic ringing notes. Pete cooks up some real nice whirring and whooshing in his electronics kitchen as well. My big complaint is that the track feels way too short. It’s poised for a sonic implosion/explosion but instead tapers off. It’s still a nice track though, it just means I’ll have to give it a few repeat spins to get my fill, which doesn't sound bad at all now that I think of it.
On the flip comes a track by Warmth a.k.a. Steev, a former Jean Poliseman. It may have a title but I’m not in the mood to squint my eyes to death to make it through that deep endless blue. I'm not actually sure what Steev uses to construct his brand of musics, synth or a sampler maybe? There are what sounds like vocal clips and Vietnam movie helicopter sound effects, which makes me think “Sampler?” Anyway, that’s not really too important. The track begins with about half: short repetitive loops and half: sounds trickling in and out. The first part of the track is alright but doesn’t totally impress me, however about halfway through there is a shift where a subtle but thick synth loop takes over and rides the track to it’s end. It sounds sort of like early Excepter (“Vacation” maybe?) minus the constant machinebeats and I like it a lot. Overall, it’s a nice outing and I’m interested to hear more from the Warmth moniker.
A few aesthetic details to go over. Each release looks real nice—though I’d probably give the blue ribbon to the Ghosting/Robedoor cover, which has a multi-screenprint job on grey sparkle paper and some stylish lettering. The Robedoor/Yellow Swans features screen printed art by Shawn Reed of Night People records on lightly shimmering purple paper. Yellow Swans/Warmth features involved double-sided (nice) fold out artwork by Belgian crazyman Jelle Crama. I have no idea what’s going on on the sleeve but I like it. It also has cool inkblot logos for each side, I really dig the Wu-Tang by way of Batman label on the Warmth side. Ghosting/Robedoor and Yellow Swans/Warmth are on white vinyl, Robedoor/Yellow Swans is on black. Those first two are sold out at source, but the rbdr/ys is still readily available from Arbor and I’d probably call that the pick of the litter anyway. Don’t give up hope though; the other two were produced in editions of 300ish so check the distros. Try Here or Here for ghstng/rbdr and Here or Here for ys/wrmth. (fck vwls)