David Russell - Architecture [Pilgrim Talk]

So here we are. I have another awesome looking lathe cut from Pilgrim Talk on my hands; this one's a clear 33rpm 7incher, and it is very, very good. David Russell is an artist I have never encountered before and I am wondering why. Apparently, Architecture is a "greatest hits" of Russell's best loops as chosen by Nick Hoffman at Pilgrim Talk, reissuing some out of print stuff as well as new material. There are 11 tracks over the two sides and at least as many loops if not more.
This stuff is really wild and really replayable as well. I don't know what Russell used to create these (except that "Erie" is created from recordings from Lake Erie!) but I imagine its quite a range of materials. The scathing, blistering bluster of the unironically titled "Shriek!" scares the fuck out of you right as you drop the needle. It's a very unfriendly little scalawag. Flipping the switch to "Fiddler" Russell gets the train a-movin'. There's the implication that a fiddle is involved here but hell if I can figure out how. It sounds more like a heavily botched/manipulated trumpet melody to me, with a snare or something providing some sharp crackle and pops. "Snap Dragon" is a sexy telephone party gone haywire, with them all cradling each others' receivers and ringing excitedly. "Who Dunnit? Loop" is short, all murk and grind. "Jerk Loop" is one my favorites, a seriously fucked dancefloor stomper. Don't even know how to describe it, very playful, very groovy. Very cool. "Swagger Loop" keeps the energy high with a much more ominous point of view. Mechanical shuffling with a relentless whining sine melody. "L W P" is also a neat one and totally changes styles. It appears to be all piano at work here and its creates a ghostly but surprisingly uptempo little creepout to end the side on.
The second side allows its four tracks to stretch out just a tad more. "Tremor" is a hyper-ventilating little groove. It's the kind of stuff I imagine all the weirdos out in Western Mass and Antwerp dance to all night long. "Loop of Guilt" is another favorite. Totally not getting the name here as this one just makes me wanna jump and jive. It's an expertly crafted beat from various vocal samples and a few raw drum hits. It sounds like something a very adventurous party DJ might have spun back in the early 90s. The aforementioned "Erie" is another anomaly in a record full of them. Apparently created from recordings of Lake Erie, this thing seems way too rhythmic for that to be so. There's definitely a submerged feel but there's gotsta be some drums on here somewhere! Anyhow, "Slighted" returns to the vibe of "Swagger Loop" but develops it much further. Plenty of distortion, lots of sounds all sputtering for your attention. It really feels like its building to something but alas its just a loop (or more accurately a collage of them). This is a case where its definitely about the journey though.
Some seriously excellent stuff here, possibly my favorite Pilgrim Talk release. What I love about Russell's work here is that most of these are simply just a single loop, but he constructs them to have a lot of depth as well as to throw you off guard slightly so the loop never feels too familiar or repetitive. Great work.
Limited to 50 copies but happily still available. The artwork/packaging is very nice as is typical of Pilgrim Talk's output.

Veyou - Garden [Pilgrim Talk]/Back Magic - Goldilocks [Pilgrim Talk]

These lathe cuts are the second and third releases (not including the 0th release, a Locrian/Katchmare split) on Nick Hoffman's (Katchmare, the Scissor Death label) newish label Pilgrim Talk. The label seems to be geared towards the lathe as a number of the releases have been on that format. I was excited to check these out as it's my first and only experience with lathes.
Garden is a ten incher by Veyou, the duo of Hoffman and Stephen Holliger (Swim Ignorant Fire). With their tape on Scissor Death being my favorite of Hoffman-related projects I was excited to hear more. There's no shortage of weirdness on here. "Side A" is lethargic basement crawl, tentative frequencies getting bullied, random percussive noises, with an occasional synth stab or cymbal swell. The only thing that remains constant is an uneasy creaking drone over which all the other sounds do their jig. There's an attempt at melody in the second half with a repeated keyboard line but for the most part the duo is taking their cues from the great unknown. The last few minutes bring a steady drum beat (that sounds a tad like someone dribbling a basketball) and groaning electronics. Quivering synths follow and at some point the whole piece seems to be slowed a little causing me to wonder what sort of post-production process this went through. "Side B" begins with a weird hollow drumbeat that seemed to skip a lot causing me to check for defects but nope, no unintentional locked grooves just a weird pastiched drumbeat. There's a few more stitched together sections, well in fact there's a lot more. Where the first side seemed to be a more or less live take, this second side is an arranging of all sorts of random recordings making it hard to keep a handle on. There's squirmy feedback cutting straight to full bodied drones, bits of random percussion drifting in and out. Some parts are pretty, some are silent, some feature some vague synth/organ action. It's odd to say the least. The capper is it launches into a weird keyboard demo at the end and then proceeds to scramble it. It certainly puts you in a zone, what or where that zone is still remains a mystery. I'm really not sure what to call this.
Goldilocks, an 8 inch lathe, by another one of Hoffman's duos, Back Magic. I guess this is supposed to tell a story about Goldilocks or something, but I'm pretty sure that's all bullshit and since I've got a bachelor's in literature I'm gonna go ahead and trust myself. No story isn't a bad thing though, the only bummer about this is my record player has a difficult time playing some of it. While only drums, guitar and voice are in the credits, there's definitely some organ action on the first side. Everything is steeped so heavily in reverb, I am wondering where this was recorded at (just checked the insert, Opium Den, whatever that place is). "Hecate Rising," the only jam on the first side, is a slow moving wander through wherever the Opium Den. Warbly keys, warbly guitar strings, warbly unintelligible vocals and the drums holding it all together (with some of the rhythmic manipulation on the Veyou record too). Kinda like The Unicorns if they were really sad and recorded their lonesome tune in the largest meat locker in the midwest. Side no. 2 features 4 songs "Summer Special" a pastiche of guitar arpeggios and cymbal hits leads off with some nice choirboy vocals as well. It ends in a cut up drum solo which is a pretty cool touch. The second song "Ghost Train" features heavy organ use though it isn't much more than an interlude. After that we get to the crown jewel of record, "Glamor Shots." It's as if somebody flipped the groove switch on as this track really swings. Anchored by an absolutely killer guitar riff, more garbled vocals and solid drumming it really deserves to be front and center on the A-side rather than tucked away on the second side. Really rad jam, I want more. "Dowser" is a downer, especially after the preceding groovefest. But I like the latin drumming as it gives the mellow track an unexpected samba-ish shuffle.
So there you have it two very odd but certainly cool lathes, each outfitted with their own killer artwork per usual with Hoffman-styled releases. Garden comes with a fold-out mini-poster and a 7 minute CD-r of guitar/drums songs while Goldilocks comes with an insert and an awesomely bizarre full size art booklet. Thoroughly top-notch packaging as is expected from Mr. Nick Hoffman. Both were limited to like 30 copies or something and are now out of print. You still may be able to dig them up somewhere, or just pay strict attention to new stuff brewing at Pilgrim Talk. Here's hoping "Glamor Shots" gets the full-scale reissue it deserves.

Locrian/Katchmare – Split [Pilgrim Talk]/Veyou – Veyou [Scissor Death]

Nick Hoffman of Scissor Death and its brand new vinyl arm Pilgrim Talk sent these over recently.
I’m always to happy get a Locrian record in the mail and this is the first time I’ve heard them on vinyl. They fill the first side of this 7inch with “Drosscape”. Beginning with distorted guitar tones, Locrian immediately casts a dank fog over the room. There’s a tense, ascending theme that is repeated and layered upon gradually. Brief bursts of feedback are spread across the track occasionally until a moderately violent eruption comes near the end putting the strained but relatively calm drone at odds with the bloodthirsty guitar feedback. Locrian has a real talent for finding a small, engaging idea and manipulating and modifying it through the course of a track, this piece is a perfect example. Just before the side abruptly ends there’s a bunch of delayed guitar tones piled on top of each other creating a weird, polyrhythmic web. It’s really quite cool.
On the flipside, Hoffman’s solo project Katchmare contributes “Scarab”. I’ve never been able to put my finger on Katchmare and this side doesn’t help me out too much either. The track seems relatively straight forward at the outset. There are a couple layers of pulsing drones and one almost bubbling type sound. Everything gets pitched up before another more distorted tone comes in. This is where the track starts to get good, there’s a great Velcro-quality to the new tone and it brings the track alive with a heavy, vibrant pulse. Before long, a squeezed, filtered tone takes over spurting almost haphazardly before jumping to sustained tones and then cutting back and forth between those tones, silence and distortion; it gets to be almost too much for the brain to handle. True to Katchmare style, the track gets increasingly odd and disorienting until it meets its conclusion.
Veyou is a duo of Hoffman and Stephen Holliger (Swim Ignorant Fire) and as far as I can tell this tape is the first of, what I hope will be, many more releases. Like Katchmare, bouts of silence and quick cuts between sounds play a big part here. Once the tape starts rolling there are quiet guitar plucks, trudging machinery, shimmering synth tones, and a big echoing Jabba the hut type growl are floating around being manipulated, repositioned and mashed together. Sharp drone galvanizes everything around and a single chiming bell enters at semi-regular intervals before backing off and dropping back to a mess of sounds a la the beginning of the side and without warning I’m thrust back into more intense drone proceedings that alternate between being pleasant and uneasy but always riveting. After a brief period of silence, there’s an absolutely perfect ending which initially echoes some of the previous sounds but instead washed out and distant, then there’s a 20-30 second bit with a catchy, looped techno melody. Bizarre, awesome shit. You gotta hear this stuff.
The second side starts up with a number of competing textural tones before a filtered drum machine or something like it falls into a lurching rhythm. The bell from the previous side makes an appearance along with some acoustic percussive jangle and I think there might even be a cymbal in there somewhere but maybe it’s a sample or something. Unlike the last side, this piece moves pretty linearly accumulating an assload of cool sounds into its maelstrom before dropping out leaving a sine tone and more percussive sounds. An ascending/descending synth melody applies a bit of pressure and slowly takes over the track, though insubordinate shards of feedback and synth squelches undermine it. This side strikes a delicate balance between fluid, full-bodied drone and unpredictable, manipulated noise dynamics. It just builds and builds to a wonderfully dense cacophony before being sent on its way by a spacey synth tone. Let me reiterate what I said before, this is great shit. You gotta hear it.
Both are cool records, great solid stuff by Locrian and Katchmare, but this Veyou stuff is blowing me away. The 7inch is packaged with grim thoughts in mind, grey on black artwork and cool grey marbled vinyl. The tape comes with placid artwork that belies its sonic contents, an insert and hand-drawn labels. Both are still available but be advised that the 7inch is limited to 100 and the tape is limited as well I’m sure.