The Weird Weeds - 'Hold Me' LP $15
"For the past five years The Weird Weeds have been creating innovative and unclassifiable rock and folk songs that effortlessly straddle the line between rock 'n' roll and experimentalism. In that time the Austin, TX band has toured extensively and released three albums, the first of which - 2004's "Hold Me" - was only released as a limited and now unavailable CD-R. Lovingly reissued by Zum, "Hold Me" is now available in a pressing of 300 on black vinyl, packaged in a screened chipboard cover with all new artwork by Lauren Pakradooni. "Hold Me" is also unique in that it's the only recorded document of The Weird Weeds' original 4-piece lineup that included Kurt Newman on lead guitar. The album is evidence that very early in their existence The Weird Weeds had developed a unique approach to songwriting that they've been honing and refining ever since. The core trio is Aaron Russell (Nitre Pit), Sandy Ewen (collaborator with Tom Carter in Spiderwebs), and Nick Hennies (percussionist who has performed with Jandek and Arnold Dreyblatt). Recently featured as a cover story in the Austin Chronicle, Weird Weeds have garnered much love from sources such as Drowned In Sound and Stereogum." HERE

Over the burnished sonic-façade of the debut album by Athens, Georgia’s Chartreuse (real name: Drew Smith) we are left to ponder the disc’s title as its grammatical tricks convey the same complex sense as the five tracks within, and while utilizing equally sparse materials: presuming rest to be the operative aim of the work of drone, this is both the most one may hope for and the best there is. What at once implies an absence equally implies perfection; zenith and nadir, it both mourns and boasts. The blunt intrusion of granite which fills the cover art reveals both the structure and subsequent erosion within, an early Tarantelic simplicity chewed by extensive production into a synthetic Basinski drone. Constructed of varied sizes – the shortest just under eight minutes, the longest, nineteen – there is a detectable effort to overcome/sabotage the self-effacement of the 'drone work' and subsequent comparisons to the blanched oeuvre of Stars of the Lid, aided by evocative track names (“Smolder”, “Gale of Porcelain”, “Sardis Television Broadcasting System”) and song-like truncations and ornaments which identify specific tracks – most notably the rote sample buried in “Triage” of what appears to be a televangelist or what effectively approximates one. Regardless the coming-to-terms at hand in this album, the compositions are pleasantly-rendered in arresting contrast, embodying the deepest frequencies with shape while keeping the richer textures closely tethered. Professionally-cut CD in digipak (also available in a special edition). (Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions CD, $11 HERE)

Open Range's new incarnation, Cabin Floor Esoterica:



CFE#1 A Piece of the Land C30/Box $8(US)/$11(World)
"Half field recordings, half time capsule. Collected recordings from around the mid-Ohio countryside on the A-side. Shoe leaf crunching. Birds/windchime duels and old friends strumming around on the backporch. A little bit of the nothing sound vibes that make up the good easy feelings away from the city. Side B is a strange audio-letter from '77 found in an abandoned home out in the woods. Weird ramblings on all the different animals he eats, and apologies to a girlfriend mixed with annoying woodpecker calls and quiet reading from another tape found in his house. With stamped/handwritten labels, in stamped painted wood or papermache clasped boxes (random luck of the draw) with three handwritten inserts, a random unique photo from a found 70's hunting magazine, one of 25 unique mini-photos by Katy Phillips, a random 80's Mansfield News Journal article, and dried leaves and pine from the autumn days, nestled in a bed of grasses." Limited to 25.

CFE#2 Uton - 'Violin Massage vol. III' C30 $7(US)/$9(World)
"Uton is a shapeshifting soundchanging Finnish export headed by one Jani Hirvonen for the past nearly 8 years. Here we pick up the Violin Massage series started in 2007 (previous volumes were available as a self-released 3 CD set and a tape on Oms-b). Grating and droning violin improvisations dancing on nothing but air. Completely raw and unaccompanied bowdraggings. Spinning wheels of string flurries, and the quiet scrape of a nearly soundless string. In handmade scrapbook paper 'box-sleeves' with stained labels and an old sheet music handwritten insert." Limited to 50.

CFE#3 Aaron Martin - 'Dead Teeth' C30 $7(US)/$9(World)
"A collection of seven unreleased songs from cello teacher and Topeka, Kansas resident Aaron Martin. Like an old reel of washed out cracked film, nostalgic and peacfully simple. Aaron's signature cello sings among flutes, air organ, bells, guitars, and an assortment of other instruments. The sounds weave together into beautifully flowing layers upon layers of loops and melodies. The quiet back porch sounds of those summer nights when it stays light out so much later. In sewn pouches (some brown, some red) with locally-found-feather tassles, oil painted labels, and 3 inserts." Limited to 50.

CFE#4 Tunnels - 'Meshes of the Afternoon' C40 $7(US)/$9(World)
"Nick Bindemen (of both Eternal Tapestry and Jackie-O Motherfucker) is very obviously a man of many musical faces. In Tunnels he takes it solo and weaves shimmering and droning psychedelia. Here the project finds a bit of a more tropical feel, with bumps of tribalistic rythms and near funky grooves. Frantic hand-percussion and mantra vocals dancing in the meshes of guitar and chimes. Rainfall and birdcalls. DEEP drones and finger-piano tones. In sewn pouches with 3 inserts and painted/stamped labels." Limited to 50.

CFE#5 Wings & Claws - 'Live in the Sitting Room' C40 $7(US)/$9(World)
Since letting go of the past and moving on from his previous project 'Thee Moths', Alex Botten has joined up with Sian from What the Moon Looks Like to create Wings & Claws. This live set spread across both sides of the tape finds strange drunken thumb-piano ramblings floating around in a wash of buzz and hum drone. Sians vocal layering creep through and (unintentional?) feedback slips into a loop. Hazy sleepwalking wrapped in quilts and you can almost hear the fire in the hearth. In wraparound full-color cardstock sleeve with stamped paperbag belt, painted labels, and 3 inserts." Limited to 50.

CFE#6 Diamonds T-Shirt $8(US)/$11(World)
Hand silkscreened heather grey shirts. Specify size: S, M, L, XL. Made to order and limited to 25.

WEBSITE

VAMPIRE BLUES - 'Turkish Petroleum Company' cassette £5.5(world)
"Swirling drones smothered in pure electric guitar anthems from two Jon's, one being Jon of The Hunter Gracchus / Singing Knives, and the other being Jon from Serfs. This is their debut release and is a real beauty, psyched out blues for a dark back room in hut out in the woods." Limited 100 hand numbered copies.

SKY LIMOUSINE - 'Undetected Paradise' cassette £5.5(world)
"Totally far out live synth from my man Josh over in Chicago whose had releases on Fag Tapes, Avocado Jungle and Sound Holes... totally killer freestyle jams recorded in Oct08, real deal blissed out zoned sounds, raw and ready. Regular cased tapes with black fuzz psyche sleeve..." limited to 40 hand numbered copies.

WEBSITE

expo 70/i am seamonster split 7" dosethirtytwo (co-released by Short Forest)
"One track from each on the wax. Expo 70 offers up an amazing piece of guitar drone while IAS gives us a fuzzed out drone, with this odd sort of pop sensibility bubbling underneath the distortion. The first copies come with a free 3" with exclusive tracks from both artists." HERE

Just in time for the gift-giving season, the duo FM3 (Zhang Jian and Christiaan Virant) released the objectively-sacramental ‘Buddha Machine II’, their sequel to the fabled brainstroke of three years back. Inside: nine new loops with improved sound and enhanced timbral range. Outside: eschewing the direct-current jack and Chinese subtitles, the new machine boasts embossed titles, a push-button tracking switch, and the biggest improvement, a pitch adjustment dial which allows the user to adjust speeds. This adjustment offers a respectable increment of advance for the device, as the hand-holding hand-held learns us the lesson of modulation, manipulating the constancy of the loop within the single dimension of pitch; the non-descript audio segments lend nicely to this wide range of manipulation without appearing so – for most tracks the rough quality covers whatever tell there may be – a fantastically-flawed quality not entirely soldered away. While not an overstatement per se for such a media-relevant release, the greatest treat of ‘Buddha Machine II’ is merely the new selection of sounds, particularly some wonderful new string textures - as heard in the husky steel-strike of “Ceng”, the rubber-band gamelan of “Yu”, or tight piano claps of “Piano” - to compliment the depth of recording that the improved soundcard boasts – ambient swirls like police sirens on “Dui” or the restless activity in the room between “Gen”s two big guitar notes. Despite the same truncation of each loop – generally between ten and twenty seconds apiece – these sound fragments seem to urge more toward harmony than the predecessor, as in the actual melodic development of “Piano” and the phantom verses which never quite blossom from the intensely-arrested “Huan”. While the artists would surely like you to get your mitts on a few devices to earn Junior Member status, more realistically you might have on-hand version 1.0 as accompanist, and like me, set the phases in motion to elementarily-failsafe delight. This is of course an auxiliary pleasure, as the ontology of the very machine screams of its autonomy. In three new, humorless colors – brown, burgundy, grey – the “soundbox” arrives in an austere little box of its own. Batteries not included, though very recommended. (FM3 sound object, $23 HERE)

(VxPxC) - 'Second Street Tunnel'
"We basically started -house of alchemy- to be in the (VxPxC) business. And what a business it is. We are proud that our second release with them is Second Street Tunnel. It is every bit the blissed-out, burnt-down, pick-pocketed brain-jewelry you'd would expect from them. We couldn't be happier." Cd-r edition of 123, housed in hand-made cloth envelopes.

Century Plants - 'Electrics'
"Last November we put together an amazing show here in Buffalo featuring a spectrum of -house and alchemy- friends/partners past, present and future. Century Plants were the future. And, that future is now. Featuring their set from that wonderful night in Buffalo and another live set, Electrics is Century Plants in top form." Cd-r edition of 123 in sleeves with full color artwork by Katheryn Richards.

Stone Baby - 'The Flaneur'
"Another band that has been a vital part of -house of alchemy- from the very beginning is Stone Baby. Their very first full-length release was right here with us and we walked hand-in-hand into the darkness. Well, here is their most recent, and I will be so bold as to say, their best piece of work yet. Everything they do is better than what they did before. Whenever they pickup whatever it is that they use to make these sounds, Stone Baby achieve some form of creepy decadence. Let these sounds here soundtrack your opium-saturated, late-nite stroll through the back alleys and empty buildings of your very favorite run-down city. Pre-dawn sounds for a crumbling everything." Cd-r edition of 123 with pristine art and layout by the band.

Burnt Hills - 'Amphipacifica'
"What can I say? BURNT HILLS. Stripped down to a quartet here, Burnt Hills actually play louder than ever before. You want heavy? You want merciless, unflinching, guiatr-weilding thug-beauty? Look no further." Cd-r edition of 123 with spray-stenciled vellum envelopes and mad-dog insert.

Chapels - 'So Many Blood-Lakes'
"Following releases on Tired Trails and Klorofyll Kassetter, Chapels follow the path of drone, synth and hard-lacquered un-music. Pulses, whirrs, stretched tape and banged-up strings mimic drafty, dusty expanses. Approximate Infinite Attic!......" c30 cassette edition of 40 with b/w cardstock insert.

Rambutan/Chapels split
"Rambutan, the solo vehicle of Century Plants & Burnt Hills Eric Hardiman, has been stealthily claiming 2008 as his own. Knocked-out releases on Abandon Ships and Tape Drift are must-haves. Add this piece to the list. "City of Immortals" sees Rambutan uncoiling a dark maze, unnerving and droned, walled with dead buildings and empty train cars. Side B features "It May Have Been August", a lurching, un-tuned, march of broken guitars, fractured near-beats, and slivered loops. Put yr tape player on auto reverse." c30 cassette edition of 44. Minimal b/w insert.

WEBSITE

VA40: Preliminary Saturation - ‘Disciples of the Vatican’ CDr $7
"It’s not that these boys, who make up Preliminary Saturation haven't got anything else to do. Wouter Jaspers being Franz Fjodor and Steffan de Turck being Staplerfahrer, which is already 1 + 1 = 4, but then they are also the improvisation duo Preliminary Saturation. They jam, and they jam a lot. In their own houses, with wine and cigarettes at hand, with self-made instruments, microphones (some broken ones), a laptop, and they jam, but I might have said that. Pretty much what they do sounds a bit like Bjerga/Iversen, with whom they seem to share a similar esthetic. The totally free improvisation electronic music, the electro-acoustic guerilla, the drone end of sound, a bit of noise thrown in. All of that in pretty long pieces, but it sounds fairly o.k. I must admit I am not entirely blown away by it, but that's perhaps because I think its a bit too free form and because it could use some more sharper editing, and shape the very best moments. But just like Bjerga/Iversen I'm convinced truly great works will come eventually. This is a step ahead. (FDW)" Edition of 100 copies. HERE

Kutomo - 'Lauluja surun kaaresta' CDr 10.5€(Europe)/11.5€(World)
"Kutomo is probably the Finnish project that,in the last years, has best embodied the feeling of his mother land. In his music lives all the poetry about the cold, the lakes and the immense Finnish forests. Melancholy and intimate as a day passed looking at the snow falling outside a window but also, in a certan way, "ephic" as the natural landscapes of his land. Kutomo has made works with e.g. Kulkija, Vapaa, Keijo & the Free Players, Aan, Larkin Grimm and Kheta Hotem. The covers of the packaging are two boards of wood tied together with a natural cotton ribbon. Inside, there are two photographs taken by mABA, three pages with the lyrics in English of the album and a glassine envelope for the cdr. Each packaging has a leaf from a wood near Rome and a piece of paper with a list of the materials I used. Edition of 36 signed copies." HERE

905.41: SKY LIMOUSINE - 'IN A WORLD OF DISCOVERY' C30 $6
"burke-style time/space warps by means of ultra-mellow guitar fluttering. sky limo always dispenses the out of bounds, soothed intravenous drip that turns everything it touches into bubbles, and a world of discovery is no exception to that rule. a zen comedown much needed in oppressive times."

905.42: BUDWEISER SPRITE - 'TRASH ON THE GRASS C92 $6
reiser pumps out another overdose of ocd constructed feedback and sonic warble specifically for those living outside of shadows. this is as legit as legit mangling can get. crashes and dashes leaving trash on the grasses.

905.43: RELENTLESS CORPSE - 'IS FUCKED' C30 $6
"more thick shards of stone and metal f/x labored and layered by the ohio dirt crew relentless corpse. a putrid mixture of narcotic blasts and cold vocals blended in a scumy fucking way. skunk jams, as if goldblum came back for the fly 2."

905.44: SWAMP HORSE - 'MELTED GEM' C20 $6
"its hard to imagine a world where time moves so slow that this tape actually makes sense. the lay / rankin duo provide a wave of calmness and bliss that feels a little to weird to be okay. it's like having the common cold, but falling slow motion into a bottomless pit at the same time. kentucky can't be this fucked up, can it?"

905.46: WETHER - 'OPTIONS' C30 $6
"neon black vibes from the 905 house band. you could call these stowaways, because they are always stowing away. but when the world is a race to the finish, all the muck will eventually find it's way out. even if it has to seep through the cracks and slide down the walls. what are the other options?"



any five tapes for $25.00 ppd; any ten tapes for $40.00 ppd

WEBSITE

Mudboy - 'Eno Trouble/Midiwards/Happy Birthday Song' $7
"Blocky critters jam up in the webs in my ma's bakelite every once in a while. She tell me I ought to investigate so I brung my earphones and muffled the two-step gothgroove. Check it out! Valhalla" Edition of 100 on purple shells with full-color artwork.

Soft Peace - 'Soft Peace' $7
"The dome is perfect. It is generally agreed upon what that we understand these "new curved shapes". Remind yourself of its unprovoked depth, capacity for the wormiest and the warmiest and the purist visitants. Valhalla. " Letterpress fold-out poster covers, edition of 50 on green shells.

WEBSITE

Sun Stabbed - 'The World Upside-Down' C42
"Edition of 100. Following up a killer cdr on Pseudo Arcana, the French duo of Pierre Faure and Thierry Monnier return with over 40 minutes of expertly crafted, drifting guitar feedback. Ranging from Sunroof!-esque shimmering skree to glacial amplifier buzz."

Sean McCann - 'The Truth Is Marching In' C40
"Edition of 100. Blistering circus whirl and warble. Reminiscent of wandering around a casino in the early morning. Slot machine melodies pan in and out of focus, all memories of the outside world fade, and everything around
you is covered in a smokey haze."

The North Sea - 'Hundred Flowers' C30
"Edition of 100. Brad Rose as been channeling some seriously heavy vibes lately. Picking up where Ajilvsga left off, Rose spews forth even more thick
unholy shimmer. Hints of past pursuits loom just beneath the surface, lush forest drones are completely overpowered by caustic metallic doom."

Ajilvsga - 'Three Heaps of Skulls' C42
"Edition of 100. With their third release for Peasant Magik, Ajilvsga push their sound even further. Huge slabs of densely layered scum continuously churn while Rose and Young summon shards of electricity from the high
heaven."

Hoor-paar-Kraat - 'Graduating from Clocks to Watches (Eureka Tapes Vol. II)' C55
"Edition of 200. The sound world that Anthony Mangicapra inhabits is totally unlike any other. Each listen reveals hidden elements and previously unheard sounds. Singular drones conceal a fragile universe of manipulated field recordings and mangled reverb. Meticulously constructed and skillfully executed, Hoor-paar-kraat displays a serious mastery of craft, frequently unheard of in an over saturated scene."

Korperschwache - 'Fear The Hex' 3xC60
"Edition of 100. Black Canyon Drone starts things off right away with a blast of hyper distorted guitar and doesn't stop for the remainder if the cassette. Hidden melodies float in and out, with the occasional riff and drum beat surfacing. Death Disco slows things down with stumbling drums over layers of murk and blackened filth. Dissonance and Submission finishes everything off with walls of buzz and shards of feedback. Not for the open-minded."

Monks of The Balhill - 'Ten Ways To Get Out Of The Water' C44
"Edition of 100. Vocal mantras, decaying guitars, and found sounds combined in totally refreshing way. Both sides constructed from similar pieces, but distinctive enough to show the endless stream of ideas pouring from
these two Vincents. Made with love, guitars, wind instruments, field recordings, and tigers. Art by Adriane Dalton."

Ondo - '654 65 - 694 33' C42
"Edition of 100/ Obsessively composed guitarscapes. Industry stretched to the point of total collapse. Bleak and without redemption. Look out for more Ondo on Peasant Magik in '09."

Dukkha - 'Hail and Farewell.' C57
"Edition of 100. Endless repetition. Keys spin over down tuned sludge, FX ridden guitars suffocate themselves, and utterly massive swells consume all
laid before. TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA."

All cassettes pro-dubbed. Prices: $6/$7/$9, triple cassettes $10/$11/$13, or 5 for $25/$30/$40 (US/Canada/World). WEBSITE

Stone Baby - 'Vir Heroicus Subliminus' cassette (TD07)
"The first Tape Drift appearance by Rochester NY-based Stone Baby, and we hope it won't be the last. We'd seen em live and knew what to expect, but this one exceeded all hopes by a long shot. This one is perhaps Stone Baby's heaviest exploration yet, with dense pillows of crystalline sound morphing into quasi-melodic motifs only to be obliterated by the next hypnotic swirl of noise. Like the best records, this one has both conceptual and sonic continuity and hangs together like a perfect work of art. Somehow this duo have honed their skills so well that sculpting a masterpiece such as this seems like second nature. Let's just be thankful we can all benefit. Tapes come in special cloth-covered boxes, wrapped in audiotape, and designed by Cory E. Card."

Sunburned Hand of the Man - 'Acid-X' cassette (TD08)
"Acid-X' captures the mighty Sunburned in transplendent full live show format from a very special night in Saar Louis Germany in August 2008. Killer lineup featuring Moloney, O'Shea, Schneiderman, LaBrecque, and Thomas. This tape displays Sunburned at the height of their collective powers, magically conjuring clouds of spaced out, hypnotic beauty, leading us through cathartic workouts, and finally building to a kraut-inspired jam of epic proportions. Easily one of their best yet, and you know that's saying something."

Rambutan - 'Rusted Prayers Converge' CDr (TD09)
"Debut solo release from Eric Hardiman of Century Plants and Burnt Hills. From ghostly noisescapes to swirling organic drone plateaus to pure guitar improvisations, Hardiman floats in and out of various sound worlds on this one, yet always ties things together with a thoughtful and compelling sonic thread. Four tracks recorded basement style deep in the night, and it shows. Dig in, yet another surprise from the Century Plants camp."

Century Plants - 'Circular Spaces, Vol. 1' CDr (TD10)
"The tenth release on Tape Drift brings us back to the first, with a brand new offering from Century Plants. The first in a multiple volume series, "Circular Spaces, Vol. 1" finds Hardiman and hare in particularly fine form, showing how far they've come since their debut. This one splits the difference between their melodic and noisy extremes, with two beautifully intense guitar workouts and a long excursion into the depths of sonic abstraction unlike anything else they've committed to tape yet. Debut LP out soon on Music Fellowship!"

WEBSITE

Last seen in a like-minded split with WT Nelson’s Unicorn in an attempt to out-Bastard the parchment Bastard Noise, Sandy Saunders aka Torso returns to deliver an equally devastating expanse of dark ambience peopled by less-harsh noise modules. From the first luminous tone, the cold synthesis of “Frost Corpse” leads Saunders’ six tracks through a lifeless terrain of inappropriately soothing patterns. The busy blurts of “An Industry” and “Du’a Khalil Aswad” chirp and sputter in a static anti-movement, an effectively suffocating the formal “Orchard Corpse” which comes between: a power noise vignette, the humorless goblin shrieks which attenuate behind sharp distortion add nothing to the inhuman phenomenon of the disc; the modulation of this verse morph into power-tool squalls as to erase the voice as exceptional. Strangely, “Wintersky Burial” becomes a melodramatic ballad beneath all the parasitic modulations and dry hiss, repeated in the equally automaton-emotive “And the Smoke Still Rises Pt. 2” (a proximate sequel), with MIDI-style plaints over even more aggressive yet impotent sine-wave provocations.

On the pseudo-reverse, Gack makes its first proper appearance. “Limb Donor” is presented in seven parts. Complimentary in content, these pieces utilize many of the same elements though through a greater productive tumult – an even less inviting place and desolate sound construction – made of stressed, keyed minimalism with textures of mechanical discord, we’re introduced to additional textures of liquid (metal) and miniature (metal) figurines which chirp and writhe with slight streaks of friction. The bassy notes of part four fill the ear’s chamber like carbon monoxide, priming the space for the deep, teetering taps of part five – a groping experience of perceptual blindness with half-tones/cones disappearing into a liquid blackness. An accelerated vibrato fills out the final movement, a plane buzzing like an angry hive, yet folded into itself with regular adjustments of depth and volume. Were they not labeled as such, it’d be no stretch to assume all these tracks to be created by a single individual/setup – and indeed, it may be, given the contextual-lack of Gack – though this ultimately just proves a successful method and the easy demand of the style. In handsome heavy-stock sleeves on white labeled discs, limited to 103 copies. (Small Doses CDr, $8 HERE)

Disguises - 'Post-Mortem Depression' LP
"Post-Mortem Depression", the long awaited debut Lp by Disguises, scum & splooge surfers of toronto's noise/avant D.I.Y. underground. A volcanic blast of rushing blood & damaged ear drums. "Post-Mortem Depression" was laid to tape at the Gas Station Recording Studio in late October 2007. Disguises spent a total of 2 days committing total "rock action" abuse live in the studio, scrapped off the floor by vibe captain Dale Morningstar. But before that these songs were hammered out live in front of an audience, almost a full year before recording "Post-Mortem Depression". Hundreds of strings shredded.....piles of fried speakers...hours upon hours of VHS tape ate for samples(Carpenter, Dr. Who, David Koresh, and classic Godzilla movies...there all in here) a gonzo movie buffs auditory wet dreams cum to life. What remains is a 21st Century punk rock record crafted by a band to difficult to pigeonhole in to one specific genre."Post-Mortem Depression" seamlessly blurs the lines between avant/psych creep, free-jazz imrovisation, mechanized industrial groove, and total punk attack. An album made loud to be played loud....with not one overdub, you fucking rubbahead. "Post-Mortem Depression" a modern rock record created by a band burning the heat of now. D-STROY!" HERE

l-t-(f)-r 018: CURSILLISTAS - 'Maia Maiestas' cassette series
"The explanation is fully here, but here's the short-form typed version: once a day for the 31 days of May 2008, Cursillistas sat down before a cassette recorder and improvised a 20-minute performance onto a white c-20 cassette tape. These master tapes were then hand-painted by Dawn Marna, and packaged in or with items found throughout the course of that day. These 31 master tapes are now on sale in the most limited of editions - one of one - each hand painted and packaged uniquely to match the unique performance captured on each tape."

l-t-(f)-r 021: TUNNELS WITH SEQUIN TRAILS - 'Slumber Beneath the Leaves' cassette $8
"in which mystery haunts and ritual zone-outs take musical form, presenting a pacific cousin to our atlantic l'animaux sounds. a psychospiritual musical collaboration between modern psych-drone master tunnels (nicholas bindeman, also of jackie-o motherfucker, eternal tapestry, and l'animaux's own tempera) and the ghost-folk songwriting of sequin trails (janina bain). the two are brilliantly natural collaborators, with drones, moans, and echo-effected incantation vocal lilts soaring amongst rattles and loose riverbank hand percussion, with acoustic strings and fuzz guitars winding through it all. a gorgeous and thoroughly haunting collection that doubles as a soundtrack to your most gone acid-washed dreams." running time: 41 minutes. transparent sapphire-blue c-45 with hand-painted corners and hand-stamped "A" and "B".
packaging: full-color print, pasted on art paper and folded into a cassette sleeve, with hand-written title, hand-numbered, bound up and held closed with a piece of hemp twine (Tryst Haunt subscribers' copies are made from paper used in 7" releases throughout the series). edition: limited, 150 copies.

LTH 710: ghq - 'requiem for bhophal'
"this veritable brooklyn all-star team of marcia bassett (zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, zaika), steve gunn (check the solo digitalis cd sundowner), and pete nolan (magik markers) has been killing it on releases on time-lag, three-lobed, not not fun and others since their debut in 2005, and this 7" includes guitarist marc orleans (sunburned hand of the man) in orbit as well. the extended-playing 45 (six minutes on each side) finds ghq hitting that bliss-drift stride, with droned-out atmospheres of guitar layers soothing your headspace into a fully-conscious trance. occasional vocals just barely peak through the blanket, and there's definitely enough noise to remind you this ain't just about good vibes. black 7" vinyl record is held in a black art paper sleeve, with gold-ink offset printing on the back and a paste-on full-color cover. limited edition hand-numbered to 300; embossed for authenticity."

LTH 711: vollmar - 'new best friend b/w flood punch & holy blessing'
"justin vollmar's recordings often sound wonderfully and pleasantly small-scale; they begin with gentle strums like a feathered wing brushing a rusted-out six-string, soon joined by the fragile voice of a reluctant singer who's got only one person's ear in mind. occasionally calling to mind lo-fi songwriters like oldham and elverum, vollmar's songs are focused on the intimate and intricate, and recently his presentation has become fleshed out with full-band-type arrangements - modest drums, mini-synths and warm electric guitars in service to the songs. this 7" single presents alternate, more pared-down versions of three songs from his upcoming tell the dirt lp. black 7" record held in a tri-fold chipboard sleeve, in-house screenprinted on front and back, with full-color paste-on photo on front and a hand-written note on the third fold. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300, with embossed dust sleeves."

LTH 712: elephant micah - 'in midnight b/w ocean floor'
"as consistently great a songwriter as we've had this decade, elephant micah's joe o'connell is always affecting and almost unbelievably right-on, with a subtle vocal delivery, modest home-tracked recording fidelity, and slight country-western touches. which is what makes this 7" release so intriguing - this is elephant micah interpreting two songs written by friends of his (time and temperature & microwave background), and they are his most recently-recorded works. as expected, elephant micah truly makes these songs his own through no subtle re-interpretation. synth tones, backwards noise guitar, and even a trumpet solo set these songs apart from both their original versions and elephant micah's past work, and yet joe's voice and vision comes through as accurate as always. befitting the "recycling" theme of the songs, this black 7" record comes packaged in discarded 12" LP sleeves, which have been cut down to 7" jacket size, and then in-house screenprinted over with the release info. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300."

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Moonmilk/My Cat is an Alien – ‘Passeridae I’ 7” AU$14(Australia)/AU$20(World)
”Passeridae is a new twelve-volume series of split 7” singles from sound&fury records, a small label run out of the so-tiny-as-to-be-statistically-insignificant town of Nimmitabel in the south-east of New South Wales, Australia. The series – available by subscription via www.soundandfury.com.au (with extra goodies thrown in for good measure) or individually – aims to pair Australian artists with some of their like-minded international counterparts. The first volume teams Sydney duo Moonmilk with Italian space travellers My Cat is an Alien. Moonmilk’s contribution, ‘My Mother in Colours’, is a warm twin-organ drone recorded live sometime in the last twelve months, while on the other side, My Cat is an Alien slowly orbit a dying star with their track ‘Diatomic Molecules.’ These singles come packaged in hand-screened, recycled card jackets, and include pro-printed inserts featuring the photography of David Luckwell (no, you’re not supposed to know who he is). 100 light blue (available by subscription only), 200 black.”

Adrian Klumpes/Machinefabriek – ‘Passeridae II’ 7” AU$14(Australia)/AU$20(World)
”The second volume in the Passeridae series diverts from the split format to present two trans-global collaborations from Adrian Klumpes and Machinefabriek. Side A, ‘In Stillness His Shadow Moved’, is an improvisation recorded by at home in Sydney by Klumpes (3ofmillions, ex-Triosk), which was then overdubbed and edited in Rotterdam by Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Machinefabriek. On Side B, Klumpes reworks the title track off Machinefabriek’s 2008 album Dauw to come up with ‘Second Dew’. 100 dark blue (available by subscription only), 200 black.”

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BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT - 'The Wolf Shall Also Dwell With The Lamb' LP $15
"James Blackshaw and Jozef Van Wissem created a powerful duo. Two of the most unique instrumentalists operating today combine their sounds to become one. Limited edition of 500 copies. The first 100 mailorder copies will be on white vinyl. Free Tau Emerald cd with each purchase."

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN/PRAXINOSCOPE 2xLP $25
"Extremely deluxe/limited edition double LP. Only 300 made. Gold metallic hand pulled print done by Neil Burke at Monoroid. Hand numbered. Each purchase will include a free Black Magic Disco CD (IMPREC148)"

MCIAA PRESENTS: ROBERT OPALIO/MAURIZIO OPALIO split LP $20
"Extremely limited edition of 300 copies. Hand numbered and screen printed at Monoroid on super heavy duty stock. Free with each purchase will be a Roberto Opalio "Chants From Isolated Ghosts" CD (IMPREC115)"

LARSEN - 'LLL' LP $20
"Limited to 500 copies. The first 100 are on white vinyl. 4 color screen print on super heavy duty jackets. Pristine recordings and amazing packaging. Free with each purchase will the the Larsen HMKE remix EP (IMPREC072)"

LARSEN - 'La Fever Lit' CD $12
"Brilliant new full length from Larsen. Featuring Annie Anxiety. Composed for architecture."

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Robert Horton - 'If I can't play my Boot... I don't have a leg to stand on' CDr 8€/$12(World)
"Worried by some health trouble recently, Robert had to slow down the pace and we started to miss his unique soundworld... but he's back with these 9 tracks - a selection from November 06 to March 07, inside which I find some of my favorite tracks from the man so far. Listen to the opener, Bells, here." Edition of 100. WEBSITE

It is with little exaggeration that I suggest Peasant Magik deserves its own review forum, one with a dedicated stoolie who can adequately (and timely) expound the graces of Sal Giorgi‘s relentless torrent of fine audio objects. Not only do these releases feature a choice stock of the underworld’s more aspiring bedheads presenting their most inspired works, but the quality of these recordings and subsequent mixes are of the finest set to tape in this, our dubbing renaissance. Completing the takeover, the care and quality spent on each elite edition – materialized in heavy card stock, rich inks, and vellum, plenty of vellum – ensures each album cannot go ignored. While the label ventures successfully into neighboring sonic terrains including black metal – see the fine cassette by One Master which I am ill-equipped to comment on – their specialty remains favored works of ambiance, subtle noise, and drone. A selection of these is found in the label’s four most recent cassette releases, most of which are by now in short supply.

Perhaps the most uncanny of the label’s line of impressionistic releases, ‘Illuminated Factory’ appeals to just this as drone-optimist Helm presents the title track in a steady pulse of little lights growing larger and indistinct as we near the sound object. Growing to a single pulsing beam, the piece exudes a lively confidence without exception, instead transferring any negation to “Sceptre” which follows in minor wisps and a much shakier foundation of several delicate vibrations; always barely there, the track dissipates like the slightest heat of the former, leading into the second side. For “Hearts Like Broken Motors”, the lead-footed propulsion returns in a toothy motor, though now with intervening strands of fantastically-crafted light jagging across as a lead. The elements freeze into a striated block, and with little buzzing currents the whole thing is pushed into the sizzle of a loping sea. Much more a center piece than the title track, it’s curious why the one presided over the other. Like Peasant Magik’s last tape of Alistair Crosbie, another exceptional manifestation of drone which refuses to lie dormant. J-card made with gold ink on fancy paper, limited to 100 copies.

From Andy Jarvis (Frst Prsn) comes ‘She Is Also Phasing’. The most ‘instrumental’ of the selection, these selections offer not necessarily more instruments or virtuosity than the others – though it certainly might - but the greatest degree of articulation: from “Empyrean”, channel-slipping quarks of bright noise rotate around a meditative pluck of synthesizer, coding three simple color bars; rousing, rolling percussion patters down with deceptive rhythm, a culminating effect to that of Valerio Cosi’s ecstatic works. The closing steps of this first side becomes the pacing patterns of “Encomium”, a cosmic synth composition with thousands of discrete particles swirling about in a rejuvenating NES epic. Out of the prog and into the new age, “Epiphyte” makes the tedious crossing into a Tangerine Dream mantra of broadband frequencies, fluted fumes, and a synthetic rain crackling just ahead. With silver ink, limited to 100 copies.

In its rightful second pressing, ‘Hater of Life’ is the misanthropic manifesto of noise oracle Josh Lay. Not an anthropocentric interpretation, but a necessary one of no kind reflection; the “life” experiences in this sound is the violence of struck surfaces, dropped utensils, and the regular oscillation of an ugly cloak of deep, depleted feedback. As the serpent bursting from the cover model’s skull, the sound pushes out yet quickly reaches its tether, left only to strike impotently up in booming punches. With a subject position akin to Prurient’s double-edged commands, vocals appear to appear with accumulating frequency, though only as a hissed echo stranded somewhere below - or standing somewhere above - our heads. Limited to 50 copies. Time for a third edition.

Like the smears of dusk on its cover, Rale’s drone couplet ‘Nightshade/Shadeup’ offers a muted representation of that temporary blindness experienced in transition from light to dark. Like passing traffic, a few broken lines of pronounced sound whir past the ear and from within the wall of grey sound which fills the speakers; the steadiness of the contours suggest more life, or rather, movement than we can determine, yet a rising tide of static foam grows on the top/outside of the welter, affecting an increasingly plastic or cordoned-off space of activity as if behind a windscreen. If the first side represents the commotion of rush-hour and the on-coming night shift action, the second attempts the reaction of sound damping, absorbing the wooly wall in a busier, total movement nearing the point of silence. The churn of machines becomes an internal rush of blood vessels and residual murmur, another sort of distance which in the final seconds leaks out as irredescent fluid. The imagination of Rale, for all its vividness, only reminds one the limits of our sense of sound; if not for the body, we’d have nothing. Limited to 100 copies. (Peasant Magik cassettes, $5 HERE)

SS021 Cro Magnon/Kam Hassah/Ottaven 3xC30
"three private live recorded directly to tape, Cro Magnon (nico of von archives) offer two rough tracks of deep rolling basses and feedbacks, Kam Hassah tracks are two long pieces of black electronics heavily influenced by the industrial italian school and the last tape is a long cosmic exploration made by ottaven, comes in an handmade box with three insert." HERE

Another overlooked nicety from months back, the ‘Gathering Wool’ split between Joey Chainsaw and Stefan Kushima recalls the forgone Buried Valley tapes of a couple years ago. Quite resembling the work of BV’s house-act Changeling and chums Robedoor, the first of Chainsaw’s three untitled entries draws out moaning emanations in a tight loop, matched by chikachik creep-out meter and a lo-fi stain. Dull-edged feedback is placed over the next, a rambling guitar cycle persisting with indifference, reprised as a fist-strummed lament with injured vocal unsettling whatever trance the repetition impresses. This is mated with the watery, wavering electric guitar drone “To the Jittering Horizon” on the B-side. Kushima’s minimalism consumes the entire side with a constant surge of mid-bassiness and submerged highs ala Skaters. A Crytpic Carousel C40 available for $6 HERE.

A Brooklyn trio, Black Drink offers a noisy, electrified free-form in the tradition of AMM without the braininess - a wreck of Sightings no-wave and more percussion-heavy Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood. Distorted feedback squalor leads the entire set, met by respectable yet over-consistent tempos: an early trademark, the simple drum-lines phase slightly out of synch creating a double-exposure not unlike the busy contours of the two-layer transparency/cardstock insert which houses the tape. Billowing bass grumble and muted gaps surround the distinct body of the drum kit and the almost synth-etic guitar jerks, producing a new texture with each rotation of the roller and lots of cool, ambient space. The phase-shifting of the percussion is telegraphed to guitar as the kit takes a single channel on the reverse, though eventually consumed by a tide of shakers, oscillations, and brilliant harmonic tones. Quite recommended, and available from Sicksicksick HERE for $7.

Synthesizing an alliance between two monolithic and hyperbolic genres, the split cassette by Chicago noisemakers Locrian and grind-metal quartet Continent nicely matches the often-closeted genetics of the pair with vivid fidelity. Despite the dominant space assumed by its members, track diversity, and banded presence, Arizona’s Continent is most certainly the visiting team in this equation, as the cassette arrives self-released by their tape-companions, and includes decidedly un-metal, mod photography and logos (although Locrian’s logo on the final panel is pretty brutal). Sparing us the extended entries and ambient space which generally mark those moves from experiment to metal and vice-versa, the band play four straight-forward pieces of mid-tone grind with modest flourish. With a throaty MC, the band jogs tightly through several tempos with an understated cohesion. This speaks nicely to the bold streaks of their largely a-chronic counterpart, without the excess of detail so common (and crippling) to their genre. Striking high in the ear, the gaseous howl of Locrian’s “Burying the Carnival” bridges the right-channel feedback wash with skronk guitar slivers like cracking ice over the muted squall. The two-piece (Hannum and Foisy) divide the labor cleanly - at least in presentation – if not by instrument, by frequency, with sharply-pitched arcs slowly synching with the underlying churn. Yellow cassettes come labeled with handsome, pro-printed J-cards numbered to 100 copies. Possibly still available; contact Mr. Hannum.

Klororo 007 - TEETH - 'Black Whole Heart' C20 50SEK/€5/$6
"Teeth is the pitch black nightmare of a haunting ritual of death. Building up a dreaded fear impossible to block out this recording is not for the weak hearted. Thomas Ekelund (Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Dead Violets) is the creater of this black hole of dispair, and he declares Teeth to be the disease whereas DLSODW is the symptoms of this disease. The music is minimalistic and crude, slowly getting darker and darker, denser and denser, and as the ritual evolves voices breaks through the muddy drone reaching for your reprobated soul." Limited to 100 cassettes.

Klororo 006 - CHAPELS - 'Laid Down in the Woods' C24 50SEK/€5/$6
"With several releases in the past (Tired Trails Collective, House of Alchemy) this is Chapels fifth release. Chapels is a one man project from Buffalo and Adam also plays in the Circle and the point (Blackest Rainbow) and is the man behind the label House of Alchemy On this recording, consisting of five diffrent tracks, Chapels do a psychedelic trip into the land of madness. Heavily drenched in nausea and gunpowder these sounds surely would made the conquistadors search for a relaxing spot far away from the sun. The drones are organic and moves swiftly with the help of organs, piano, vocals and samples, far away from the laptop cut-ups that is infecting the underground." Limited to 50 cassettes.

Klororo 005 - SEWER ELECTION - 'Bristning' C27 50SEK/€5/$6
"Sewer Election gives you a twisted world of decay and filth. Putting out records since 2002, on labels like Segerhuva, Release the Bats!, iDEAL and Troniks, you can definately say Sewer Election has been around quite a while delivering his punches of endlessly violent bursts of noise. Earlier this year, on his latest album called Kassettmusik, Sewer Election introduced a new sound to his music, replacing his former well knowned harsh noise to a more subtle and restrained soundscape, although nonetheless still filled with the corrupting and creepy feeling of moral decay and disease. In many ways Bristning is following in this direction, continuing with a tapeloop orientated sound, and in many ways it is not. Using all kinds metal junk to create analogue noise this recording is at times far more harsh than any fx-pedal ever can be. Bristning consits of only analogue sounds, recorded using microphones and a tapedeck, reducing the artificial feeling and creates a gritty and filthy sound of a world falling into pieces." Limited to 100 cassettes.

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New Jersey’s Human Adult Band commit another session of raw magnetism to this C27 split with former member Chaz, here repping the beat-heavy ii. Through the standard haze, the Band unfurls as rolling percussion and mumbled verses, an explosion which may never happen, peering beyond the anti-rock of Sightings to the “post”-ism of Bitch Magnet of old with contemplative guitar lines and highly motile drumming. The metallic stomp of the following piece whistles with a suspended hardcore – clearly showing in their roots - whips of distortion licking the ceiling like flames while vocalist Trevor barks a melodic zealotry. A skronk set-up builds the third and final track, a speeded aggression of convulsive chorus, frantic guitar, and percussive calamity, crashing like old steel trash-day. The blur of the recording reaches an unbearable thick as if too little oxygen wound up fogging our lens. In shocking response, ii’s presentation is tight and polished in comparison, a dubby psych-rock espousing various amounts of Mekons, Butthole Surfers, and Truman’s Water. No titles grace any of these tracks, but the tribal demeanor of the first extends beyond percussion to the snaking of electric guitar, rattling pull-offs, and dual vocal convocation to dance. Threats of a “world” vibe are defused with off-key jabs (intentional), and a general irreverence for any sort of attribution or bullshit "authenticity". The dance begins in earnest with a zombie hoodoo of drum solo with vocal accompaniment - a dynamic piece of rhythm and a small fortune of timbres. A short raga-riff session ends the side with light percussion and no clue to the truth of this selection. Limited to a scant 25 copies on Xerox-labeled cassettes with color insert. Recommended. (DIHD/Cactus Pony cassette, $5 HERE)

Dryer/Heule/Lindsay - 'Idea of West'
"Dryer/Heule/Lindsay formed to explore musical territories made prominent in recent years emphasizing quiet and static musical structures. The trio seeks to relate to these new territories through pragmatic application of improvisation and compositional structures, rather than through stylistic imitation. Also of note is the trio's adherence to purely acoustic sound production in a music typically dominated by electronics. The trio attains a new approach to music making by rigorous adherence to fundamental methods of sound production. New material is discovered through a process of simplification, heightened awareness and a shedding of idiomatic mystification. Through this practice the action of producing sound itself becomes material; method becomes content. A focus on quieter dynamics opens a new world of micro-sound possibilities. The binding element is an adherence to clarity and an elemental awareness of process and material." HERE