Locrian - Territories [At War With False Noise/Basses Frequences/Bloodlust!/Small Doses]/Locrian - The Crystal World [Utech]

In this post-Yellow Swans world of ours, Locrian has always been one of the most consistent and musical of the noise brethren. I'm sure buckets of sweat went into it, but it seems Andre Foisy and Terrence Hannum just have this special chemistry. There must be an explanation, like they're telepathically linked or Siamese twins separated at birth now reuniting as one mind or some comic book shit like that. I don't know how it got be that way but it is, and there's hours of evidence and thousands of witnesses to prove it.

Bringing in the concept of collaboration to an already perfect union is a funny proposition. Collaborations, particularly in an improvisatory environment, are always risky but are always interesting as well. You never know if the unknown volatility of collaboration will lead to an explosive re-imagining of the participating parties' sounds or will it just sort of fizzle out.

In all honesty, I was initially a little resistant to this Territories LP. One of the main things that I absolutely love about Locrian is the singular chemistry shared between its members. I felt like adding collaborators would dilute the magic. But truth be told, once I nestled up to it a bit, I noticed that there' s a lot of damn fine shit on this record.

Opener, "Inverted Ruins," is a good choice to bat first as its opening seconds are phenomenal. A thin wave of feedback lingers as an echoing synth trots out a simple melody and what a great pair they make. From there the piece morphs into an actual song with loping drums, Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, the Bloodlust! label) growling through some effects, and a number of instruments being pushed into unstable territory. Its yet another great example of sustained tension, a feat that Locrian performs probably better than anyone else. There doesn't seem to be a lot happening; each performer is incredibly restrained. Yet! By the end, the track is just quaking and you have no idea how it got to be. The next piece is my favorite from the record and one my favorite Locrian pieces period. "Between Barrows" stews in a boggy single note synth for a while, augmented by tasteful cymbal rolls. And then it happens. Channeling, whether directly or indirectly, Basil Poledouris's magnificent opening titles for RoboCop, the piece flowers into the most beautiful of Locrian's career. Bruce Lamont contributes lilting saxophone to Foisy's and Hannum's brooding guitar and organ. It's hard to adequately put this into words. The piece is so simple but its blackened elegance is breathtaking. A must hear. "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism" is the default epic, totaling 11 minutes with 4 additional players in tow. After the near silent two minute intro, a guitar slams out a pretty rockin' progression and synth seethes along with it. From there the double bass drum kicks and the track gets a shot of heavy metal adrenaline in the heart. I'm not the biggest metal fan on the planet, so I don't totally connect to this one. It's pretty good but, in my opinion at least, it lacks a lot of the texture and detail that made the previous piece so brilliant. It does feature a pretty sweet outro though, as everything but a sole guitar falls away. "Ring Road" is another long one featuring Solotroff on vox and synth. The whole affair is a heavy throb of multiple synths and bass guitar. It's a muscular arrangement but Hannum (I think) is still working hypnotic bell-like melodies within the humid terrain of bass and synth. Tremors pulse underneath until crumbling into feedback and a melody via slide bass (again, I think.) "Antediluvian Territory" is the sole piece made only by Foisy and Hannum. The latter brings out the organ and tapes, while Foisy contributes clean-toned guitar harmonics. It's a nice piece, certainly in line with the darkness surrounding it on the album but its a touch brighter and a little more airy. Minor key organ still looms ready to swallow up the bright harmonics, but said harmonics manage to get out unscathed. The finale "The Columnless Arcade" is really great. It's dense and gritty and there's a certain looseness to it that isn't present elsewhere on this very tight record. Sounds intermingle and disappear into each other. That's the first part of the piece. There's an abrupt shift into a full band affair with pummeling drums and so forth. The shift is jarring at first but the guitarists (Foisy, Hannum and B. Judd) whip out some excellent guitar leads before the piece subsides in a brief glistening organ outro.

It's not a totally cohesive record but it was an interesting experiment and all personnel involved produced some great material.

The Crystal World, Locrian's latest studio effort, also changes up personnel with the addition of Steven Hess (Pan American) on percussion and electronics for the whole album. The record is inspired by JG Ballard's novel The Crystal World about an African jungle that is slowly crystallizing. Opening track, "Triumph of Elimination" introduces the feel of the record. It sounds like a jungle, the tinkling guitar could be any number of creatures. But it doesn't sound like your typical, red-blooded jungle full of life. It's ominous and strangely empty. The tinkling guitar motif carries over to the second track "At Night's End" as Locrian further expands on this dim portraiture of a fading jungle. Hess's drums drop in the song's back half. Foisy contributes many excellent guitar leads as Hannum moans, probably prostrated over his organ. The piece features Locrian's signature polyphonic approach to audio hypnosis, inculcating Hess's drumwork seamlessly into their sound. The title track, throbs on a lone sub-bass synthesizer before Foisy introduces an arpeggio made more complex through a hall-of-mirrors use of delay. I think Hannum might even be wedging a few piano notes in there too(?) A soaring distorted guitar tone lingers with swelling synths and sporadic drum hits. "Pathogens" is the first of two 11 minute monsters. Starting out real slowly with a barely noticeable taped key and a few ruminations of guitar, it isn't until halfway though Locrian comes out of their shell. The drums pound with a nearly jazzy swing as the strings and keys strain themselves around the drums, pushing themselves into corners they're afraid to go. I think its the most unusual arrangement Locrian has yet come up with, neither guitar, synth or vocals are the main focus but twitch and fret at the fringes of the piece allowing Hess to fill in his primal ferocity. "Obsidian Facades" changes the tone with a scream and an ominous two-note pulse. Pouring on copious amounts of fuzz and feedback, the piece trudges along; too heavy to be ghostly but much too chilling to be anything but. In the final minute or so, an ascending/descending guitar melody emerges so lovely you have no idea how to process it amidst the murky horror. A marvelous piece, which segues into the epic finale "Elevations and Depths." Opening with stark acoustic guitar strums and Rosemary's Baby-esque vocals by Erica Burgner, the trio launches into a full-on dirge 3 minutes in. The Burgner's coos are replaced with Hannum's distant shrieks and thick fuzz is exchanged for the acoustic guitar. Maybe my favorite element at work here is the zoned out surf guitar accents, pulling all the right things out of Badalamenti's work in Twin Peaks. It doesn't end there though, Locrian shift gears again into a fantastically beautiful arrangement of acoustic guitar, violin by Gretchen Koehler and I believe multi-tracked accordion by Hannum. It's just an incredible, incredible arrangement, worthy of accompanying the climax of a feature-length film adaptation of The Crystal World, if there ever is one. Really brilliant work.

Without doubt The Crystal World is Locrian's most cohesive full-length yet, though I don't know if I should make the claim that it's my favorite as I do really like Drenched Lands a lot. Needless to say, there's some gorgeous and powerful stuff here and anything with the Locrian seal should probably be in your collection.

Territories is available is you haven't already grabbed that one but the The Crystal World is still nearly a month away (it drops 11/27/10) so in the meantime you may want to grab Locrian's new split LP with Century Plants on Tape Drift as that is sure to be a monster as well.

M. Geddes Gengras - Pink Trails/Deep Moon Time [Stunned]

So I've always liked Mr. Gengras's stuff, and his side on the split with AM Shiner at the end of last year was pretty damn slammin' but this right here, this Pink Trails/Deep Moon Time, his expansive new double cassette on Stunned, is some serious fucking business I was not prepared for.

MGG rips the first tape hard unleashing some Yellow Swans-ish zen-through-grime action. Initially hitting your ears with a manipulated tape of hand drums, Gengras lies you down in a coffin in no time and starts shoveling on dank fuzz and synth. This first side is really incredible, so gnarly and throbbing but still so beautifully melodic. A layer of snowy feedback is caked on everything. Some deep sub-bass synth lurches and grinds making be think maybe there really is that underground volcano ready to swallow up LA. Powerful and heavy as hell yet scrappy and detailed too. It's a fighter without a weak point. More and more elements surface Gengras eventually singing something but there's no way to tell for sure what, or even guess, due to the racket. Seriously brilliant piece. The second section of the side manages to come off as even more unstable with speaker cabinets buckling under their power and shriveling up against weird taped clatter. Raging feedback and a lilting melody hit back simultaneously. Going all rock tumbler on us, he's grinding down grit to gleaming gems. Then, Gengras, whips out some tabla amidst the noise and a Moog with the one-way ticket to hell. And we coast out on some raucous hand drum action. So Side 1 down, mind blown. 3 to go.

The second side opens up with the same tabla as feedback begins to work its way back under your fingernails coloring them a grody brown. MGG tries to keep your mind clean with a fantastic, soaring synth melody buried under the gunk. Subterranean tremors start crumbling the interior of this here temple Gengras has built and all the ghosts and ghouls are set free. The voices join for a decayed symphony as the damned march to the gallows, while Mr. MGG is over there in the corner just fuckin' one-finger jammin' on his Korg. He then pulls out the Sun Ra chops he's been hiding, molesting the keyboard and wringing out a devilish extended solo. The synthesizer dies off ever so slowly, bedded in rattles, clangs and rumbling, speaker-ripping bouts of feedback leading to a lonesome melody coming from either a guitar or a keyboard (I can't tell!) At that point, the side seems to launch into a new section with polyphonic organ tones and a random instrument being strummed to death. Before long the competing melodies begin tear each other limb from limb. Gengras beckons you to experience the aural cannibalism.

It's a nasty mess and this is worth picking up for the first tape alone. I know usually save this for the end of the review, but fuck it, Recommended.

The second tape Deep Moon Time finds Gengras taking it easy for all us sinners. Gone are the feedback doused arrangements and putrid audio infections. Beginning with two dueling clean-toned synth melodies, the piece is immediately more relaxing than the previous half hour. However, MGG hasn't lost his edge, massive sub-bass swells push their way in turning the piece into a thoroughly ominous affair. It's now just a matter of time to see what evil thing will happen. The section segues into a new set of sustained tones, really the first place the tape goes a little drone. From there Gengras constructs melodies out of the ether. Slowly but surely he molds the melodies, eventually whipping them into an improvised synth solo. Gengras just keeps riffing away, against the foggy bass, until the piece drifts away.

The final side continues the vibe of dense, packed bass and single note melodies. An echoing melodic figure treads water before being swept away by the current of other swelling tones. Literally unstable bass rumbles turn up nearly shaking the piece off its hinges. The crashes get louder and sharper moving at a relentless, metered pace for a while before sputtering out. The next piece hits instantly with tangled, thicker-than-usual melodies. And when MGG pulls out the late 70s film score synth lines, man oh man, it's too much. It's a beautiful polyphony that's way too short. The next track attacks you with the sharpest, most brittle synth tone west of the Mississippi. A saturated bass throb hits hard and heavy and we appear to be moving full circle back into the grime of the album's beginning. Cycling on two-note bass waves, a melody cuts its path puncturing the monolith with quick stabs, gradually tearing it away to reveal a beautiful, shining chorus from heaven underneath. This is an epic, epic event.

Gengras has found a luscious and muggy middle ground between analog synth composition and the improvised noise sphere and I can't get enough. Headphones are a must!

Chock another "one of the best of year!"s on the Stunned Records 2010 scoreboard. What are they at now 6 or 7? Great artwork, chunky "butterfly" 2xCS case, seriously massive tunes. There's no reason not to snatch it up except, well, it's almost sold-out so hurry.

You Are Not All Boring - Pixelated Getaway [Boring Tapes]

Pixelated Getaway is the debut release for both You Are Not All Boring, a project of Jason Boyko, and the label Boring Tapes. Boyko provides nine instrumentals that mostly throwback to 80s new wave mixed in with a hefty love of ska and reggae as well.

"Riding Mowers" kicks off with a mechanical buzz and some birdcalls before launching into a no-holds-barred cheeseball synth/snare/bongo ditty. It's not until a theremin-esque keyboard lead enters that the jam really hits its stride. The jams rolls along in that mode for a while before leaving that theremin lead by its lonesome, ending things on an eerie note. "Lagging" recalls an old video game soundtrack (a la Streets of Rage) by way of Miami Vice and Duran Duran. Serious forward momentum based on a circular melody, heavy synth toms and some cool lead lines. One of the better songs on display. "Miles" continues the vibe with a mellow laidback groove. At least until a fluttering sequenced melody kicks in. "Island" takes the tempo up another notch with repeated synth-bass line and dubby organ stabs. And then the track goes OFF with this wiggling, warbly synth-xylophone solo! Totally rad. (Also really dig the rustling drum machine backing it up as well.) Then Boyko takes it up another notch doubling the long, sinewy melody with organ. The drum machine gets thicker and the jam grows more and more bad ass. Great piece of work, good use of dynamics, instrumentation and just a real sweet melody too. "Evil Electronics" closes out the side, with another xylophone melody and a crunk snare and clap pattern. An ominous bass throb earns the track its title. Halfway between the score of an 80s horror movie and a club groove. It would be great piece to accompany one of those bad-trip-in-the-dance-club scenes. Way too short dude.

Side B starts off with "Physical Dimension" flips the script with a 4-on-the-floor disco jam. Focused on an excellent clipped vocal melody, almost more akin to a siren, it hits all the classic disco marks continually ramping up the energy. Boyko even drops in the syncopated synth stabs at the end, wearing his dub influence on his sleeve. "Cruiser" is another favorite, a super cheesy dub ditty. My mind is flooded with memories of the early 90s, Ace of Base, the rainy, trashy beach stage of the aforementioned Streets of Rage video game and so on. There are a handful of fantastic synth melodies all intermingling making for another bout of excellent listening. "Ska Synthesizer" is similar but sped-up almost to a vaguely country rhythm. After Boyko launches the main keyboard melody all thoughts of country music dissipate as he layers on more slot machine synth. "Last Light" wraps the tape up. It's another good one incorporating all the elements you've come to know and love throughout the tape, heavy dub rhythms, creepy theremin-styled tones, a long stringy melody all played with a light, carefree touch. A perfect way to end the tape.

Overall, it's a pretty darn fun tape if maybe a touch on the long side. You do have to be a person who can stomach plastic-y instrumentation to appreciate it, but there's lots to love and groove to in this collection. And though lots of people are starting to get back into 80s dance grooves, Mr. Boyko is carving his own niche with that serious ska obsession.

The tape is limited to a scant 25 copies, though it looks to still be in print. Ch-ch-check it out.

R. Sawyer - I Burn [Bridgetown]/Kevin Greenspon - Corridor [Bridgetown]

Couple of short discs here from Kevin Greenspon's Bridgetown label. The first is by R. Sawyer formerly Timeload Fowl and the second by Greenspon himself.

Timeload Fowl contributed a great side to the Gilgongo LP he split with James Fella and Sawyer delivers more good if also more mellow stuff here. Kicking things off with "Constricting Realities I," which amounts to a single soothing drone for most of its duration. Sawyer layers a few more light drones, adding some harmonic divergences but maintaining a focused, subtle touch throughout. "Amaryllis" is similar but hints at a little chaos brewing inside as opposed to the arctic inner calm of the first piece. The piece is more complex than it seems at first glance, due again to Sawyer's extremely subtle hand. Things open up a little near the end before merging into "Constricting Realities II." This piece is much more expansive than the first "Constricting Realities" with slight, rhythmic pulses gliding underneath. The title-track "I Burn" immediately introduces the listener to a noisier palette. It's certainly not noisy in the way his work on the aforementioned Gilgongo LP was but there's a constant, if distant, rumble for the smooth guitar tones to contend with. After a few minutes everything breaks up save for a recording of children playing and a smidge of static. From there Sawyer commences a chilly slowburn of melodic guitar swells. "Blood Bright Star" features the most tension anywhere else on the disc, making for the best listening as well. Fuzzy guitars jet along in a vacuum, hi-pitched notes provide flickers of melody along with percussive elements. The track gives itself a makeover halfway through into a rather beautiful glistening, melodic chorus. Overall, the disc is a well-played hand of guitar atmospherics.

With Corridor, Mr. Greenspon delivers a disc of his brand of "actual songs not improvs" using guitar, electronics, tapes and emphatically no synths. "Once by Chance," the opener, is literally just a taster, introducing many elements without developing them. "Sinking" features a revolving set of distorted, trembling notes that bleed more and more as the clock ticks. Augmented by breaking waves, the guitar eventually tapers and dissolves into them. "Drift Away" comes next, which is an interesting placement as the guitar here seems to be emulating the crashing waves that came before. Greenspon even manages to work in a mellow guitar lead amidst the mist. "Alarming Return" is just that, loud, scraping cassette shards which shatter the placid rays of guitar. After the final crash, the piece drifts off on a multi-tracked melody. "Eyes Forward Still" features more conventional guitar playing as Greenspon spins a lovely blue-grey guitar melody in, what may be, the finest piece on the record. "Unbearable Keepsake" seals up the record with speedy guitar playing submerged in a serious bog of noise and feedback. The track devolves into chunky noise before doin' a 180 into more relaxed guitar swells. A nifty little disc when you add it up

Both are still in print, the Sawyer disc is in it's first edition of 50 and Greenspon's disc is in a second edition of 50 after an initial run of 75 (and 100 copies of a cassette version on Nautical Leftist Antiques) so they are each available for you to gulp down. Greenspon has been particularly busy as of late, touring and dropping releases left and right so you may want to lend an ear in that direction as well.

(D)(B)(H) - Bleach is the Color of My True Love's Hair [Lighten Up Sounds]/Neon Sea - Fading Light [Lighten Up Sounds]

I've finally found some time to discuss these tasty, beautifully packaged morsels from Matthew Himes's Lighten Up Sounds label.

Starting off with cult crew in the making Damaged Bachelor Hood better known as (D)(B)(H), a project headed up by Justin Rhody featuring the talents of a staggeringly large list of other people. The first piece on the tape, the title track, features some excellent drumming from Matt Shuff (who also plays melodica, guitar and trumpet on the recording) and Kray Fanny weighs in on guitar, radio, percussion and, uh, foot massager while the main man Rhody himself clatters away on paper, vacuum, violin, cymbal, metal and trumpet. Knowing the instrumentation is definitely necessary to envision this stuff if you've never heard it. DBH's music is definitely "improv" but it gets a little more hairy labeling it beyond that. I personally don't think calling it "jazz" is that far off but that might not put the right image in some people minds. The set moves through junky, heavily percussive passages (even on the instruments not generally deemed to be "percussive") while also delving into some near-drone excursions with some pulsing electronics (the foot massager?) The trio does a good job navigating between the various sections somehow making all their bizarre activities makes sense in the context of the piece. My favorite parts are definitely the percussion-oriented ones; coming off of the drone-y section the trio whips into a fantastic all-percussion bit with drums, various objects and what sounds a little like a cash register bell. Totally free and very detailed, the piece certainly goes out on a high note. Well technically it goes out on a few seconds of trumpet and a DJ announcing "You just heard DBH here on DBX. Yeah, I know. Dumb pun." Really cool set.

The second piece of the side "To Me, It Seemed Obvious" features TABOO, who I'm guessing is a band rather than an individual. TABOO contributes vocals, bass and drums while Matthew Himes plays guitar and finger cymbals and Rhody focuses his attentions solely on trumpet. It's a strange track made even stranger due to following that long free set that came before. Over a simple 4/4 beat a low voice grumbles semi-inaudibly with the only phrase I can really pick out being "you're alone." Trumpet and guitar sort of dither around along with someone whistling but the main focus is on the chugging, lo-fi weirdness coming from TABOO.

The taking up the second side is "Creating an Atmosphere in Which God Will Speak" which is another trio formation of Rhody (guitar, violin, feedback, cymbal), Himes (percussion, electronics) and Tyler Larson on drums and guitar. This set was recorded in a live environment so the recording quality is murkier and the piece comes out a lot more jumbled. Instruments randomly pop out at you, temporarily escaping from the lo-fidelity bog, meanwhile people are laughing and cheering making me wonder what was actually going on during this sweat. Did someone turn the game on? Does DBH regularly play sports bars? Or was DBH doing some kind of interactive doing some kind of interactive live performance? There are some cool bits that sound almost like organ, but I'm not sure what is actually behind those noises. Guitar probably. There's some cool violin work in the back half too that I'm enjoying. I just wish the recording quality were a little better on this piece; the murk gives it a curious vibe but I miss the dynamics and detail of the title track. I'm guessing at least part of the goal of the piece is just to (re)create the live environment of the band playing and the crowd discussing "the NBA All-Stars." Odd, to say the least.

Neon Sea is a new project to me, consisting of Oakland-based Dan Kaufman on accordion, bass, drums, tape manipulation and "vocal rasps." Unlike the electro-acoustic clatter of DBH, Neon Sea works with sweeping drones/tones. There's a fine static to the proceedings, perhaps some accordion wheeze had a hand in that, while various effects pulse and sputter, stepping in time. All forward thrust, bouncing along on stuttering, clipped loops. Drums make their appearance with a bit of interplay with bursts of heavy electronics. The drums are a nice presence as they don't overwhelm the electronics but provide significant rhythmic backbone to hang the freaked out electronic signals on. Those signals get real freaked 2/3rds through "Side A" where the monolithic electronics dissipate into frantic warbles. From there they try to at least bundle all their nerves together so they continue as the drums trudge along. Before long though, the drums say "fuck it, I'm out" and the side wraps up in a storm of feedback.

The flipside is real sweet; there's a lot more space and it feels a bit creepier. There's a quiet relentlessly pummeling loop underneath, small swells of feedback and a wealth of eerie creeping creaks. Kaufman bashes away on cymbals like there's no tomorrow though the drums are pretty buried in the mix for the most part. Hissing static envelopes everything for a little while before the pieces settles into a brooding, ominous bass note. Kaufman does a great job molding the other sounds around the monolith. Really rad, I've added this to my list of upcoming Halloween listening. There's a second piece on the side that is noticeably brighter. Not necessarily any happier, but brighter. The bass eventually begins to flow through a swamp of sine wave hiss and chime and I really wish it lasted longer as it seemed to be headed somewhere real cool.

The other thing I must mention here is what a great job Lighten Up Sounds did presenting this pair of cassettes. The packaging on the DBH tape is stellar, great Beatles/wood grain wrap-around slip-on cover which when removed reveals a cover depicting the full set of auxiliary DBH band members George, Paul, John and Ringo. On the inside there's a mini-booklet with matching wood grain cover, with track/personnel info, badly xeroxed photo and bonus Donald Barthelme poem. Fading Light also features a wrap around slip-on cover with double-sided j-card and what I personally love, the Cotton Candy flavor Bubble Yum-inspired pink and blue tape.

Both tapes are still available in editions of 50. And I'd probably advise you to keep an eye on the label as its got plenty more in the works including a Caethua/Shep and Me LP and a pair of tapes I'm personally very curious about by Soaking Rasps and Mole Hole.

The Extraordinary Pigeons - Journal of Graphic Noise: Issue One [Pigeon Coup]

Journal of Graphic Noise is a new art zine from Seattle act Extraordinary Pigeons. The 20-some pages of artwork are accompanied by a lathe cut, cut rectangularly to size to slip inside the pages of the zine. The concept here though is the audio on the lathe was "created by converting the zine's images into sound with reverse spectrogram technology." Reverse spectrogram technology? Sounds like a made-up something from one of those 50s sci-fi movies I love but I'll take the Pigeons at their word that it exists.

The artwork in the zine was created by the members of Extraordinary Pigeons and I don't know how many members there are but it seems like there are 3 hands at work. The first set of images are a grey-scale, topography-gone-psychedelic affair. They look they were made on a 20 year old computer, mapping diagrams of microscopic bacteria. Next up are 4 bizarre ink/colored pencil drawings of faces with strange features and creatures popping out of them. Gruesome teeth, skeleton/Swamp Thing hybrids, some sort of rabbit/beetle/larvae thing. Weird shit. The last section, probably my least favorite, continues the WTFs with a centerfold of two cats doin' it and computer manipulated photos of children and boy scouts.

Now for the audio portion. The small, weirdly cut lathe makes my automatic turntable flip out. It refused to play it for a while until I outsmarted to the stupid machine. The sound of the images via that "reverse spectrogram technology" is strictly harsh noise. Heavy crunching static crackles and rips in surprisingly dynamic fashion. I'm assuming there has to be some human organization here as I'm guessing the images themselves don't indicate any temporal instructions to the audio conversion. I don't know if the Pigeons scan the images live and sculpt the output from there or if this is all put together on a computer. Either way, it's a pretty good shot of harsh noise and the lathe ends on a groovy, crackling locked groove.

This certainly an interesting release and the first time I've ever come across something like it. If you are interested I recommend heading over to Extraordinary Pigeons' awesome website ("we are a band, this is our fucking webpage.")

The Douglas Firs - Haunting Through [No Label]

The Douglas Firs is a project of Neil Insh of Aberdeen, Scotland and this CD-r Haunting Through is supposed to be a taster for a forthcoming full-length, most likely to be released on cassette.
Apparently the material on this disc was recorded over a six year period and its separated into four songs, two in the 3-4 minute range and two in the 6-7 range. "The Quickening" begins with footsteps crunching through leaves and an unidentified rumble that slowly comes into focus as slightly ritualistic tom toms. A melody tinkles along with a chattering crowd and Insh drops in a folksy violin with multiple voices singing and on a dime the track turns into a pop tune. Petering out into crowd noise, the song resets itself to a lovely waltz with echoing piano, humming violin and loping drums. Insh's voice carries the tune to its next passage, a duet with a female counterpart over puffs of accordion. The folk-dance feel earlier in the piece returns before dissapating into an a capella choral interlude. When you think it might go out on a big crescendo, Insh subverts expectations as the piece slips away on abstract field recordings and a lone synth. The song perfectly introduces Mr. Insh's style, at least how I see it. Insh is working largely with traditional or conventional folk and pop influences but chooses to weave them into an elaborate, unconventional fabric over the course of a piece. So rather than delivering something standard like your average indie pop band, his songs feel a little more alive, as they take you somewhere. "Future State," the shortest at nearly 3 minutes, is woozier with a lovely melody and a swelling chorus of voices, recalling some of my favorite Spiritualized moments. Second half of the piece is an interlude of subtle tones. "Grow Old and Go Home" finds Insh and his female counterpart whose name I sadly do not know singing over a sparse piano arrangement until synthetic and acoustic percussion kick in. An array of brass provide a fantastic segue to a more grooving version of the song with shakers and a walking bass line. This doesn't last for long as the final minute or so features a quiet organ and recordings of dogs barking in the distance. The final track, "Soporific" may be the strongest. After an extended intro of ambient synthesizer, Insh's carries a sparse arrangement into a new movement that hints at getting a little more rockin'. The reason I feel this is probably the best piece is simply that the melodies and all the "pop" elements are stronger here than anywhere else on the disc, and there's a bit more grit courtesy of some guitar fuzz. From the rocking middle section, the song tapers off into just voice and piano atmospherics.
This disc has definitely piqued my interest; The Douglas Firs show a lot promise. There's a bunch of great ideas and melodies here, and Insh is certainly approaching pop music from a more interesting perspective than most. I'm looking forward to hearing the Firs on a longer record that will allow them to unfurl their limbs a bit as well. Not to mention, it'll be great to hear 'em on tape.
I really have no idea how to find a copy of this as I don't think The Douglas Firs have a myspace or anything. I guess hit the ol' Google now if you're interested, besides your job just got a lot easier with this new Google Instant thing.

Debacle Records Round-up

For those involved in the Seattle noise/drone scene you know Sam Melancon from Debacle Records nearly props the scene up singlehandedly, the guy is crazily active both with his label which focuses exclusively on Seattle-area artists and with Debacle Fest a multi-day festival which he curates. This year's Debacle Fest is coming up quick, starting tomorrow night and running through Sunday (Sept. 17-19) and features the likes of Pete Swanson, Rene Hell, John Wiese, Chrome Wings, Stag Hare as well as local/Debacle favorites Dull Knife, Du Hexen Hase, Physical Demon, Wind Swept Plains and Megabats, among many others.
Anyhow, a long while back Sam handed me a hefty stack of Debacle discs and I'm sad to say I've only taken the time to review a few of them so I'm playing catch up now.
Various Artists - Bleak|Beauty
Since I was just mentioning the curatorial capabilities of Mr. Melancon. I figure a compilation is a good one to start out on. Culling artists from across the Debacle catalog and beyond, there's hearty doses of noise from Slates and Pig Heart Transplant and gritty, occasionally groovy, malfunctioning machinations from Summon Thrull and Physical Demon among many other sounds. The opening track, Slates's "Rainscatter" is all jagged, serrated edges; a relentless 7 minute rumble in the gutter. Certainly a brave way to kick off the disc. Meanwhile, later in the disc Pig Heart Transplant give the listener a quick run through the wringer with "How to Survive in the Woods." What I really like about the track is how succinct the pummeling is. They drop in and 3 and a half minutes later your skull is pulverized. Thunder Grey Pilgrim and KRGA both turn in some really nice drones as well. TGP's track "Breathe Eons Breadth" does a great job balancing melodic elements while sustaining atmoshere. There's some sparse, ringing Western-ish guitar notes near the end which you know I love.
Although the disc is solid on the drone and noise fronts, it's often the oddballs that catch my attention here. Walrus Machine delivers a great, idiosyncratic jazz track "Attic Stains" which stumbles around at a quick pace like a drunken man chasing the bus. Red Squirrels make an excellent raga-ish contribution "My Bike is a Sailboat" that definitely stands-out amongst its company. Forrest Friends are probably the weirdest band in Seattle and their track makes that very clear. A four minute menagerie of literally thrift store instrumentation. Cheap acoustic guitars, weird metal chimes, yelping, hand drums, toy accordion, you name it. Wind Swept Plains challenges them for weirdest here though with a loping, detuned, weirdly voiced "folk" ditty. Megabats shifts things into a heavy fog with sequenced melodies and drum machine barely peeking through, very nice.
Overall, it's quite a good compilation as it features a lot of quality work that covers a lot of area on the sonic spectrum. Perhaps a good place to start if you've never heard any Debacle material before. There's plenty of artists here I hope to hear more from.
Megabats - In/Out
Megabats is Sam Melancon's music project along with somebody named Riley. There's next to no info on the disc so I'm gonna guess this is predominantly keyboards, electronics and possibly a guitar. The disc veers back and forth between dronier selections and rather vibrant keyboard-driven pieces. "Meek Attack," the opener for instance, finds Megabats gradually building in volume over the course of 7 minutes. Grey-blue drones dominate but it's slowly apparent there's a synth melody burbling underneath. The next track "Battleground Sky" totally flips it around. There's pretty much no reverb, just multi-tracked, quivering synth. A stomping bass drum is a nice touch that really slingshots the melodies on their way, upping the energy of the track. The melodies slowly become more complex as does the drumming. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear live drumming on this track as well. Since they're trafficking in such boldly in electronic textures, the live drumming gives the piece a wonderful balance between the electronic and the organic. Nice choice boys! "Bag Lady," the only short track, is another good one, delivering a heavily murked out two minutes of looped melodies. "Clever Teeth" twinkles, lopes and glimmers over its seven minutes while "Jarritos" slightly echoes "Battleground Sky." Its got a murkier feel than "Sky" but its got a boatload of keyboard melodies all locked arms and skipping down the street. Megabats kick in the distortion for the default epic, the 13 minute closer "Canopy Fire." Spitting sequenced synth melodies through static distortion, the duo straddles the noise and electronic music realms without actually sounding like either.
Hemingway - The Mansions in Heaven are Empty
First of all, love the title of this disc. Now that that's outta the way, Hemingway will be playing Debacle Fest in their two-man heavy metal riffin' guise Great Falls. On this disc though, a single 22 minute track, they use space very well. Panning spacey, percussive bass notes while a guitar crackles and feeds back, the piece moves through peaks and valleys. Just when you think a crescendo may be on the rise they push everything back leaving only a few deliberate sounds. This disc is all I've heard of Hemingway but from where I'm sitting they are at their best when they are the most restrained. They really know how to hone in a few potent sounds and garnishing them with a few noises around the frayed edges. The duo mostly moves back and forth between a simmer and pummeling, as occasionally they like to drop some in-the-red rumbles on you. The back half of the track continues the peaks and valleys trajectory but also works around a loose guitar progression leading to a modest but satisfying finale.
Slates - Street of Dreams
Here's another single-track CD-r but this one's twice the length. Yikes! I'm guessing there's a concept here but there's practically no info to back me up. If you look at the cover which is a really wonderful piece of photography, you'll notice the house burning amongst the beautiful flowers and otherwise quiet neighborhood. The cover folds out to show the rest of the photo a crowd of neighbors grouped in the street, some craning their necks out windows, all attention focused on the fire. The flip-side of the booklet thing shows the fire from another perspective, raging even further, with the group of neighbors still captivated by the smoke and flames, with one man caught in the act of photographing the fire on his cell phone. I'm guessing that this piece is attempting to capture the experience on these onlookers. I may be way off base here but I'm goin' with it anyway. What's my evidence? Slates's track sounds like a fuckin' fire! It crackles and grumbles incessantly and grows, very slowly, more massive, more intrusive and more violent. There's a hypnotic aspect too as you see with the onlooking crowd. (May I also cite those DVDs of nothing but footage of a crackling fireplace to warm the homes of those without chimneys?) You can't keep each crackle, crunch and pop straight and, for better or worse, you get lost in the noise. Some people will appreciate the experience of this 44 minute arson-steeped piece, others won't, but it's gonna keep burning whether you like it or not.
Anyway, Debacle Fest will be kicking around The Josephine and The Black Lodge here in Seattle over the next three days. Hit up the Debacle myspace for full info

Flower Man/Carl Calm - The Breslin Wayside Rotary/The Sag [DNT]

In anticipation of an upcoming Caboladies LP, DNT Records CEO Tynan Krakoff has prepared this double cassette of the two Caboladies solo projects. Flower Man and Carl Calm each contribute a succinct, twenty minute tape to the release though on slightly divergent paths.
Flower Man's tape is marked DNT053A so I'll start with that one first. Cramming in 10 pieces, Flower Man is apparently a bit of a wildman. He's all over the map here with his electronic squiggles, acoustic percussion and weirdo birdcalls on the opening title track. It's somehow frantic and mellow at the same time, don't ask me how. "Away Outdoors" could be an m83 outtake or something, a buoyant synth arpeggio recycles itself and chiming tones hammer out a melody. Very nice piece. "Yayenna Airplane" is a bunch of spacey oscillator manipulations a la Forbidden Planet. "The Quoclo Zoom" sounds like an old video game score with a marching drum machine and stressed synth tones warning of the ghosts, neon boulders and other dangers lying ahead, waiting to befall you. Wrapping up the side, "A Ripple Near the Sun" rests on a looped group of synth plinks with animal-like oscillator manipulations groaning and squealing over top.
Flipping it over "Fostered by a Latch" (ha!) burbles and rumbles to a start. It's another weird one with an array of percussive electronic noises and I think briefly a voiced couched in radio static. "Resurfacing" resembles the title track but features a number of glistening keyboards nestled uncomfortably next to each other over what I think is the same percussion loop from the first piece. "The General Effect of Science" is a collage of random electronic beeps, swoops and whirs similar to "Yayenna Airplane," do I detect a pattern here? "To Be/Wildlife" is a very nice synth number with a mellow, smooth arpeggio and a grumbling oscillator. "Seagull Pill Box" closes out the tape with more animal-like noises, like recreating an aural jungle habitat using nothing but a synthesizer. I know I'm repeating myself but this is some wild stuff, if a little underdeveloped.
Carl Calm flips the script with what is more or less an electronic/dance project. Contributing 5 tracks and one alternate mix... "Acayucan Cacique (Orchestral Mix)" flickers to a start with stuttering organ backed by almost choral keys. It's a great introduction to the tape; its rather a modest arrangement but still with an epic touch. "Crocs Time" gets the beats rattling and shaking, they tick away in a vacuum so to speak until the synthline drops and everything suddenly makes sense. The spacey arpeggiated melodies take over while the beat smashes away in the background. Mister Calm keeps piling on more keyboard melodies and subtle funk guitar stabs among other sounds. Very cool groove. Almost makes me wanna go out and buy a pair of those ugly ass Crocs shoes outta respect. "Bone Destined" takes the tape into a more abstract zone, with many, many layers crashing into each other. Although, they start communicating and making friends as the track progresses with a slowly pumping drum track, materializing along with hints of melody.
"A Royal Hole in the Sky" is built upon a series of short loops, I think from a bass or guitar. Carl does a good job jostling through and splicing the series of loops while the drum track clicks away. "Broad Jaunt" is actually not much of a jaunt. It's by far the most chilled out piece on the tape. Unfurling cosmic keyboards with scattered drum machine coming along for the glide. The tape is bookended with "Acayucan Cacique (Hype Mix)" a much more upbeat version of the track. A drum machine marches along with disembodied singing and scrappy keyboard melodies which I'm really digging. After a breakdown into a solo section of said melodies, the track comes back a little heavier before settling back into the song's main passage.
It's a cool little set as you definitely get a bit of a yin and yang vibe, Carl Calm's intricate sound structures and Flower Man's talent for concocting exotic textures. When DNT drops that Caboladies LP I'm gonna try applying this little decoder ring to see how the two members' styles fit together.
This has been sold-out for a while now, so check the distros for copies...

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.

Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase - Seashard [No Label]/Rack Rash - National Felt [No Label]

So apparently Chris Cooper (Buddies/Chris Cooper Bill Nace Duo, Fat Worm of Error) is in a techno band now and this tape Seashard, the latest from his solo guise Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase, is his him in that "techno" mindset. I'm gonna guess that this tape has, at its center, guitar, as that's the instrument Cooper generally performs his wizardry on, but it's very possible I am way off on that as there must be at least a sampler or something everything that is channeled through. The sounds have gone completely ballistic here, all sorts of weird bloops, squirts, crackles, scratches, pops, cowbell hits? tear through you like shrapnel at a mind-boggling rate. I haven't been able to discern a coherent rhythm here but everything flies by so fast it wouldn't have been missed anyway. At one point, Cooper shifts into hyper drive with ascending synth tones follow by pitter-pattering snare and long, agitated bow-scrapes on guitar or bass. There's a cool "glitch" section, which makes me think "wow, glitch music would actually be pretty cool if it wasn't always made on fucking computers." You may have noticed that I'm just clutching at anything to write about for this review. This is because, well, how do you describe this? Hopefully, I'm giving you general idea of it (maybe? [shrug]) but this thing is on its own orbit. There's some beats here but they either creep up on you or just straight up hide. Near the end of the first side Cooper brings out some strange melodies and the tape develops some forward momentum before mellowing out on the comedown.
The second side is even a bit better I think. Beginning with a weird collage barrage of laboratory beeps, racecar-like sound effects, percussion plunks etc. From there it jumps off the deep end into 50s sci-fi sound effects (back when they made them with oscillators and circuits and such) but in a strictly non-cheesy way. Strange little melodies pulsate, either butting heads or jumping in each others beds. Receding into a softened squirm and scrape affair, with a drum machine puttering along underneath, it launches into a gnarly, cut-up, hard-panned freakout. These are probably the most "normal" moments of the tape as there's a steady if subtle beat and it slows down just enough you can start getting a hang of all the sounds going on. The most upfront beat of the tape turns up later still skittering away like the drummer in a 60s jazz quartet on a solo. Slowing down even further, the tape concludes with a handful of sounds conversing across the left and right channels, birthing melodic bastard children until muttering "Fuck, I'm tired. I'm outta here." This is the most thoroughly inventive cacophony I've heard in a long time.
Who knows if Cooper himself can wrap his mind around this incredible piece of confusion he's created. This is the uncharted, intergalactic intersection of techno, free music, weirdo music, jazz, avant-guitar and probably a bunch of other shit but its way more wild and fresh and exciting than any of that implies. Absolute jaw dropper, I highly recommend seeking out a copy of this as I doubt you've ever heard anything quite like it. I haven't at least.
So now that 3-D is all the rage (again) everyone's jumping on the band wagon and Fat Worm of Error's Tim Sheldon is right there along with everybody else. Check out the packaging on this thing! It's like the smokestack is coming right at you (it is!) Sheldon somehow found time to hand carve the title into the tape shells too. Anyway, so the presentation's awesome and this tape also helped me get a step closer to hearing all the Fat Worm members in solo form. Only one more to go; Donny, I'm comin' for you next. This tape is another perplexercise you'd expect from the crew but probably not in the way you'd expect. National Felt is all slowed-down samples of what sounds like various pop-rock songs from the early 90s. I'm sad to say I don't recognize any of the samples but they got me singin' "bay-buh!" in a slow-mo, Tears for Fears-sounding voice. The tape hops from sample to sample sometimes looping them or slicing and splicing them up. Along with that, Sheldon lays down some grrrrzzz's and oscillator squeals, static blurts and sounds of random shit getting knocked around in between and overtop the samples. It's quite a cool piece of music (probably about 10 minutes in length) that seems to cover a lot of ground in that time while also being paced rather quickly. It's unexpectedly listenable in a really great way.
I believe the b-side is just a repeat but for some reason it never sounds identical to the side that came before. I guess that's a testament to the elusiveness and wonder of the tape. Or maybe I'm right and it's not identical. Or maybe Mr. Sheldon is just fuckin' with my head. I'm okay with all three possibilities.
Both tapes are self-released so I guess try tracking down the artist, or getting them at a show. Some distro out there may have a copy(??) Anyway, maybe try Cooper at angsthasepfeffernase[at]gmail[dot]com and the Rack Rash myspace

3" CD-r Round-up

Every so often I collect a bunch of examples of my favorite digital format to make one big party review. And it's that time again.
First up from the Netherlands is Dead Neanderthals - Dead Neanderthals [No Label]. When this little disc showed up I thought I was in for some black metal or something of a similar ilk. I was immediately inundated with plenty skull (and bone) imagery and titles like "Cannibal Ambush," "Rat on a Stick" and "Napalm Death Trap." Anyhow, do you remember Ettrick from a couple years back? I know that's ancient history in small-press land but that's probably the closest comparison I can make to the Neaderthals even though neither really sounds that much like the other. The key is that Ettrick was a black metal duo on saxophone and drums. There's no personnel listing on the Dead Neanderthals CD-r, and the first couple listens left me in such a perplexed state, I had a hell of time trying to figure out how many people were in the band, sometimes it sounded like two, sometimes four, sometimes in between (3.5??). I checked myspace, the keeper of all secrets, and it turns out its a saxophone/drums "grind-core" duo with the ominious monikers of O and R. Whereas Ettrick indulged in 15 or 20 minute single pieces on their 3inches, Dead Neanderthals tear through 10 tracks in as many minutes, rattling your skull harder and harder each time through and giving you no time to collect yourself. "Idiot Runt" pelts you with squealing baritone sax and thud-thud-thud drumming as if you're the idiot runt in question with these two neanderthals pounding you into a pulp. "Fire From the Sky" uses a lot of effects on the sax making it sound like an otherworldly synth while overdubbed deep bass sax parts drive the piece. "Rat on a Stick" is all machine gun drumming against a killer(!!) solo evoking all sorts of apocalyptic urban decay. "Bloodied Knees" is "Rat"'s song-like counterpart that continues the vibe but with a more melodically-minded approach. "Cubic Aesthetics" is the longest at 1:48. It features a number of overdubbed, interplaying sax-lines that O twists and mangles until out of breath while R huffs and puffs relentlessly on his drumkit. "Sneak Attack" stands out as the most "jazzy" in a spastic Zorn way. There's even a touch of blown-out Wasteland Jazz sax at the end too. "Demonic" rips a screaming solo (that sounds a lot like trumpet even) over a juggernaut bari-arpeggio. "Cannibal Ambush" begins with a scream and then turns into what I'd say is the most fun track on the disc, very boisterous and with a big grin plastered across its face. The finale, "Metal Totem" totally rules, as its basically one long decrescendo as the band splinters apart leaving a brief but excellent solo sax moment at the end. This thing is a lot of fun and it hasn't gotten any less fun after a bunch of listens. I also dig that the band doesn't really sound too much like jazz or metal or this, that and the other. They aren't doing something completely unheard of but they definitely synthesize all their influences into something with their own vibe. Can't wait to hear more from this crew, now just get working on something for an analog format, ok guys? It's a self-released disc so check the myspace if your interested. It comes with a sticker too.
Fossils From the Sun - Lights [Kimberly Dawn]
I've been totally out of the loop on Ray Hare's Fossils From the Sun project. Last time I heard him he was making minimal electronics experiments with his guitar. Now hearing this disc, he has totally revamped his sound into a bleak, post-Suicide world. One that removes any of the few pop elements Suicide had. Over a repeating arpeggio (sounds like a synth, could be a guitar) Hare gets into Frankie Teardrop-mode muttering and snarling about flashlights, greenlights, stoplights and "everybody's dead" in a dubby, mental patient haze while the machines occasionally malfunction around him. Super-minimal and ten minutes long, the song is still entirely captivating. It's lack of "progression" actually works in its favor as you sort of enter into this black hole where the beginning sounds like the end and when you exit you wonder where the hell your mind has just been these last 10 minutes. The 3" sort sort of works like an extended cassingle or 12" single as it gives you the "b-side" a longer, louder, less minimal live rendition of "Lights." It is interesting as the track is a basic approximation of previous track but I think the melody is only similar and not the same. Hare shrieks a bit more here and he's got an extra instrument around providing both squalls and a surprising and rather pretty mid-section of swelling tones. This lulls you into a false sense of security before Hare burns the place down in crazed, ring-modulated fury. Despite ending on whispers of "don't be afraid," I remain uncomforted, Ray, thanks anyway. Totally chilling and great. We need more people de-constructing song-forms into... well, this. Check out Baronic Wall for similarly excellent, paranoid vehemence. Sold-out at source. Check distros or with the artist.
Interstates Etc. - Sanctuary of Memories [Kimberly Dawn]
Another one from Frank Baugh's (a.k.a. Sparkling Wide Pressure) Kimberly Dawn 3" CD-r label, which is one of the big players in keeping 3inchers (and consequently these round-ups) in business. This one is by Brandon Greter who runs the Dream Root label and also operates this great new project. I think this release might be better than the tape I reviewed a few months ago. The phenomenal first track "Inescapable Rain in Yoshiwara" sets things off down the right track as Greter rustles all sorts of junk and clatter together over a brooding, infectious barely-there melody that twinges of Twin Peaks to me. It's a really unified track despite lots of bizarre sounds constantly smacking you in the face. That Greter maintains the uneasy, mournful mood over the seven minutes is a feat in itself. "Fog at Toluca Lake" changes things up with a coventional-sounding guitar starting things off. It takes a few slowly plucked notes and twists them a little with various effects, never deviating too far from the original melody. Greter keeps things pretty minimal save for some more guitar fuzz near the end. "White Claudia" is a fuzzy guitar piece that Greter fucks with a whole bunch, I'm guessing in post-production. Unless its a loop and all the fuckery is live. Anyway, it's a nice wandering melody and Greter balls it up and uncrumples it with all sorts of stutters, bloops and spoonfuls of saturated fuzz circuits. Around halfway through a beat picks up in the back which helps complete the arrangement. It amounts to some kind of sleepy, guitar-fuzz-laden two-step, which, hey, that's perfectly fine by me. Dude's all over the place but definitely does it with his own style, it'll probably be a good move to keep your eye on this guy. Sold-out at source. Check distros or with the artist.
Extra Sexes - Muted Collar [412Recordings]
AG Davis is back with his heavily fucked up, garbled electronics/objects/tape+software edit creepjunksplattercrunchmayhem. The last Extra Sexes tape had some weirdo basement dance grooves mixed in with the brain assaults. Not so, here. This 16 minute beast, in two parts, goes for the psychic jugular. The sound sources Davis is drawing on around this time seem to range far wider than anything else I heard from him. Furthermore, he picks and chooses his times to pummel you rather than just making it an all out gorefest. There's a new sense of restraint and thoughtful use and embrace of patchs of silence. Though the first minute of "Part 2" may give you whiplash it morphs into a weird spaced out siren/bell tower passage. After which, Davis pulls out all the stops with a great, spluttering battle-ram of a showdown. Culling bits and pieces of too many machines on the verge of breakdown to name, its a well-played card before receding into silence, bell tolls and trickling creeks punctuated by severe spikes of distortion. Going out in a blaze of gore, Davis presses detonate and launches a decimating, harsh breakcore explosion. Dare I call this Davis's most mature and detailed slice & splice freak out yet? I hope this disc is a taste of what's to come on his upcoming LP. Still available.
Mesa Ritual - Voltaic Processions [SickSickSick]
Like the Extra Sexes disc, this 3inch comes in an oversized (i.e. regular sized) jewel case but does it one better with invisible artwork I don't get to see often enough. Mesa Ritual is SickSickSick head honcho Raven Chacon and William Fowler Collins, and they offer a 20 minute slab of thick ass, mastered-by-Pete-Swanson noise. The track isn't especially aggressive, it's just grimey. Seriously grimey. It's pure caked-on grit, you can't see what's what. I don't know what was at Chacon's and Collins's disposal here so I'm gonna go with the age-old catch all: electronics. What sounds like a hefty stack of machines sputter and crumble and whistle and stumble as the piece gradually gets louder and louder. Definitely an exercise in "monolithicism." Oh! But wait! Out of nowhere in the middle of the piece, still caked in dirt mind you, is a beautiful, heavily buried melody. Is there a way out of this bog after all? The melody vanishes after moments so I'm guessing the answere is no. It's back to slogging through the dense, disease-laden terrain. Mosquitos keep buzzing in my ears and chewing up my flesh and I can feel the earth shifting and lurching under my feet. Something that sounds like electronic windchimes creeps up behind me before turning to a swarm of angry wasps. There's an end in sight, but I'm already a swollen, malaria-infected, and utterly broken man by the time it arrives so who cares. Sold-out at source. Check distros.

Jeremy Kelly - Shortwaves [Sweat Lodge Guru]/Andreas Brandal - Into Thin Air [Sweat Lodge Guru]

Sweat Lodge Guru is a pretty new label and I was instantly impressed when I held these tapes for the first time. SLG definitely puts a lot of effort in their packaging which is nice to see right out of the gate. The Brandal tape's J-card is printed on sparkly silver paper and the Jeremy Kelly cassette shell has rad semi-invisible imprinting you have to flutter in the light to see. I like shiny things what can I say. Especially when they come with nice sounds.
I feel each new Jeremy Kelly tape I hear gets progressively weirder. This one starts out with the title track "Shortwaves" which is static, oscillator noise and an alien voice giving some kind of argument on the nature of individuality. The track rolls along, fueled by confusion, before, lo and behold, I hear some drums. What will I hear next? Will J Kelly turn this skiff around and launch into a song? Nope, Kelly just rips into drum solo/assault. Some people play drums along to Led Zeppelin for fun; not this guy, it's only static-drenched, sputteringly spouted philosophies really make this dude wanna rock out. "Projection" shows up with dark synth swells, traces of wordless vocals and other sounds. There's a bit of drums swirling around too but it's mostly electronic signals making swooping birdcalls, thick crunching surges and other noises. A slow slide into bad-acid-trip-in-the-desert territory. Will you find your way out alive? The forecast doesn't look so good, man.
"Swallowed by the Sea" picks up on the b-side with more crackles and squeezed-out synth tones. Plenty more bad vibes and drums at work here. Seasick synthesizer bobs and weaves like a drunk failing a breathalizer test. The electronics are agitated and Kelly over there on the drum kit is annoyed they won't just play a song with him. "Asahara" is an attempt at friendlier zones, a melody is played on some bizarre concoction that sounds like a cross between three keyboards, a dulcimer and a bongo drum. I've heard the guy makes his own instruments maybe this is one? There's a hint of an Eastern-vibe to the melody that is until it gets picked apart by jealous electronic gadgets. The final track "Recursion/Dream Theatre," which I'm assuming is a taunt at crappy prog-rock, takes over with what sounds like a fuzzy reversed guitar playing a little loopy melody. Since when did this guy get all lovey-dovey? Kelly just riffs over it with all sorts of mellow, octavia-style leads. It's a great few moments. Rest assured long-haired dudes out there, Kelly hasn't gone completely soft as he returns with a scrambled drum barrage and even turns out some straight Van Halen-style guitar licks. This is a good little tape, lots of cool ideas and it moves along at a rapid clip; worth a listen for sure.
I've been hearing a lot about Norwegian musician Andreas Brandal as he's had releases on such illustrious labels as Stunned and Tape Drift among others, and now I finally get to hear him. The multi-tracked guitar affair of the title track kicks off the tape. The track has a dark shimmer like the artwork. It's harmonious though not particularly melody-driven but Brandal does a good job creating atmosphere with a relatively standard mode of guitar playing (muted strumming and single-note lines.) It ends on a cool rattling rhythm too. "The Whispering Gallery" plucks bass notes over a continuous, though shifting, guitar drones. There's a nice interplay between the drones and melody, as the piece gently veers back and forth between tonality and strained semi-atonality. Like the piece before it, it ends on an interesting loop of a cricket-sounding device among other things. "Invisible Green" has great rustic piano-playing and various sounds of jingling chimes, brittle leaves crunching underfoot and somebody rustling around an attic. Brandal's guitar playing is very nice but it's this stuff that really gets me going, as these sounds are so pungent, and dripping with natural atmosphere that the subtle drones lying dormant aren't even necessary. "Shadow" is all ghostly harmonics and hushed, hollow metal clinks. "A Midnight Visitor" has a great, wheezy organ which stumbles around in a stupor, most likely after having too much fun on the devil's day. Mechanized burblings occur in the background before dropping out allowing a lovely, but ominous, string part (cello I think) to lead the piece to an impeccable end. The organ returns for the b-side on "Room Number 3." Drones rise and cut off sharply, in a thickly woody atmosphere. There's a short melody that sounds like an organ coughing, or choking maybe, that's rather interesting in the piece's stark environment. "The Seven of Hearts" sounds like it might have a bit of effected banjo though I s'pose it could just be guitar. What sounds like a recording of footsteps (or maybe people playing basketball) creates a cool little underlying rhythm while the banjo/guitar/whatever continues its arpeggio. The piece shifts into a pretty bed of organ drones where it finally lays itself to rest. "A Premonition" changes up the pace considerably with what's more or less an electronic beat and a bit of synth action. The piece still fits into the quilt of the album but alters the color palette a little bit. Closer, "It Walks By Night" moves further down this path with unsubtle synth sweeps and siren-like oscillations. The piece develops into some kind Romero zombie movie-esque score, maybe not literally as I haven't seen one in years but that's what is coming to mind. Heavy synthetic swirls, haunting melody, you get the idea. The tape is a nice little suite moving from guitar to organ to synth. Brandal has been making music for a while now and you can tell, his hand is very sure and the tape has a very mature feel.
Both tapes are still available from Sweat Lodge Guru, which looks to be a label to keep your eye on.

Deep Magic - Soul Vibration [DNT]

The last batch of DNT jewels had a lot of big names in it but it was this unassuming gem that really wowed me during my first survey of all the materials. Just when I think I'm out of the neo-new age, "psychy haze vibe zones" (as a friend recently put it) they pull me back in.
The gorgeous first twenty minutes of the tape by Alex Gray (Dreamcolour) are, well, gorgeous. It's complete sonic anesthesia. You could give me a root canal and I'd be fine as long as this was pumpin' in my Walkman. It's keyboards and stuff but what Gray used to make this isn't really important. It's the effortless melodies he creates and the lovely, indelible arrangement of the piece. It evolves slowly but never releases its core melody that entranced you in the first place. Have you ever seen the film For All Mankind? (you should if you haven't) This piece totally reminds me of that, witnessing pure, inescapable, indescribable, otherworldly beauty for an extended period of time. You close your eyes while listening and you'll either melt or just glide for eternity. Deep relaxation music for sure, just a brilliant piece of work. No joke, it's seriously therapeutic. I love this.
The rest of the side is filled out by a nice piece lead by atmospheric echoey guitar, backed by liquid keyboards. It doesn't match the unspeakable genius of the first piece but it holds it own. I particularly like these deep bassy bass throbs that occur in the second half of the track. The real key here is that Gray manages to make music that's weightless and still substantive.
The tape starts up again on the B-side with some placid hand drum action and smooth tones. There's all sorts of new-agey talk about "energy" and endless reflections and "laughter in the universe" and "peaceful vibrations of the soul" on the j-card, and this piece seems to have no other goal than to emit easygoing vibes. The track doesn't develop much, just keeps takin' it easy. The last track resembles the second one a little bit. Heavy shroud of delay amongst others things. I think there could be some sax buried in here too as this is the murkiest piece on the tape. Not dark or dank just cloudy and all smeared together. The second half of the piece mellows slightly, running on synth fumes, before coming to a complete stop.
This is the first I've heard of Gray's work as a solo artist but I was thoroughly impressed particularly with the first piece. The tape's been sold-out for a little while so check the distros or wait for Gray to drop another atomic bliss bomb.

Marinos Koutsomichalis - Malfunctions [Agxivatein]

It's no accident Greek artist Marinos Koutsomichalis named this CD-r Malfunctions. There's a lengthy artist statement included with the disc which ends with Koutsomichalis stating the goal of the release was to "listen to all those sounds that were not meant-to-be."
The first of seven untitled tracks is a very minimal drone affair using synthetic tones that sound pretty normal to me. Though I guess I may have a skewed sense of "normal" compared to most other people. That seems to be the point Koutsomichalis is trying to make though, that what are perceived as malfunctions are not limitations inherent to the machine but limitations projected by the person using or experiencing the object. The second track is a lot louder and thicker. Electronics spit a variety of "malfunctions," spluttering tones, white noise, jittery, crunchy loops. It's a very dimensional piece of work and Koutsomichalis definitely put a lot of work into the mixing and arranging of the piece. All the interweaving layers, enter at different volume levels, drop in volume or out completely to return later. There's a very methodical use of dynamics, despite the constant changes, Koutsomichalis develops a complete continuity to the piece and its rhythms. The third track is a single tone percussively stuttering and sputtering in a haphazard way. I really can't tell if there is any manipulation here or if Koutsomichalis is just leaving the tone to its own devices. I'm gonna go with the former but it could go either way. Koutsomichalis seems to be most at home with a lot of sounds as the next track is an excellently dense and noisy trip. The thing just throbs, sick with static, incinerating everything in site. It maintains this constant heaviness while still throwing plenty of curve balls, but ultimately all of the malfunctioning electronics are whipped right back into shape. What really surprises me about the piece, and one of the reasons why its so great, is that for a bunch of malfunctioning sounds this piece is really melodic. There isn't a melody per se, but Koutsomichalis organizes the piece in a very consonant way letting the piece move smoothly despite the seriously jagged texture. Damn fine work. The next track continues the minimal/maximal pattern with a minimal piece of snaps, crackles and pops. This one gains a simple polyrhythm after a while based on one machine making something akin to the tick tock of a pocketwatch. The next track is another noisy one, which also the first place on the record to engage in loopy, squiggly hi-pitched frequencies. The eight minute finale looms along in a constant state of agitated, prickly static. There's vague movement underneath, but you only get intimations of it which draws you deeper and deeper into the piece. It doesn't change a whole lot, but its mystery never fades either. It's a great note to go out on.
Though the minimal experiments aren't as strong, Koutsomichalis is a fantastically adept "noise artist;" he knows how to sculpt/carve/whatever with pure noise and make it compelling. That's not something I can say about many people.
Edition of 72, available from Koutsomichalis's label, Agxivatein.