The Watery Graves of Portland is/was Curtis Knapp on piano, Davis Lee Hooker on upright bass, and Adrian Orange (aka Thanksgiving) percussing and recording. As the name suggests, they are from Portland, the land of the thirty-hour day where no one pays rent and one can subsist on damp air alone. 'Caracas' is their only LP. I’ve seen this filed under “jazz”. I suppose I see why someone would feel inclined to do that, but make no mistake: this is to jazz what Do Make Say Think is jazz - there are a few parallels to be drawn but it’s really in no one’s interest to do so. Still, it’s would be difficult to describe this record without a number of jazz references. The band’s sound is dominated by Knapp’s piano, and is therefore mostly Satie for his casual, strolling style and light composition. Bass and brushed drums travel well, minding themselves and rarely stepping out of turn (except in order to be kick ass - that happens a bit). All eleven tracks are tastefully brief, hovering between two and three minutes, yet melded together by interludes and ambient ruckus. Following the grand introduction of “The News”, “Dead Body in the River” is a terse little story told by piano to rhythm section - at times reminiscent of Brubeck’s plodding “Take Five”, but a tad more atmospheric, as if from Rachel’s ‘Handwriting’. Maybe I’m given to suggestion, but the general feel of this record could well be described as “watery”; wet and cold, in the same way old Blue-Note records feel overcast and dank. “Three White Men Rowing” and “Caracas” are two particularly rousing tunes with skittley drums, bulging bass, and sassy piano. Patches of exotic percussion are found throughout the record, and special guest Adam Forkner (White Rainbow, etc.) stops by to add some serious trumpetry to the final tracks, completing the quartet ever-so temporarily. The loose pacing of each song gives the album a distinct liveliness as tempos speed and slow, often several times in one track. It’s almost like they won’t (can’t?) keep time. That LIVE sound is all over this, adding a rough, intimate feel that nicely compliments the melancholy of these songs. This is embarrassingly listenable in ways which would make a self-conscious youngster destroy things in compensation. That’s okay; it’s your journey. The LP comes in beautiful hand-screened jackets, with a CDr version of the album and two posters, plus a hand-sewn booklet of letters/fan art. Dear everyone: this crew is showing you up! (Marriage Records LP, $15 HERE… Yeah it’s a year old - big F!) Very recommended.

Bangor Records is a new little label out of Montreal. They've had two releases so far, one of which is all gone. The first release is still available, and it is RAD. Animal Psi recommended for fans of any artist mentioned below. The label's all like:

Mile End Ladies String Auxiliary - 'From cells of roughest air' CD/10"
"Coming from backgrounds in rock and punk, The Mile End Ladies String Auxiliary (MELSA) takes the conventionnal string trio format and twist it so it integrates the angst and energy crucial to these genres. The ladies began working together as a module of large scale experimental improv band Set Fire to Flames and decided to carry the experiment on their own. The MELSA blends elements of punk, folk and minimalist composition, with an ear for the music of avant-garde legends like Arnold Dreyblatt, Iva Bittova and Steve Reich. They are Becky Foon (A Silver Mount Zion, Esmerine) on cello, Genevieve Heistek (Sackville, Hanged Up) on viola and Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You Black Emperor, ASMZ) on violin... 'From cells of roughest air' is the Mile End Ladies String Auxiliary’s first record and a first also for the Bangor label. It features a vibrant main composition by the whole group and three solo pieces where each individuality can fully express itself. The main piece was recorded by Howard Bilerman at Montreal’s Hotel 2 Tango and the album mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering. Available in hand-packaged CD and 10” vinyl formats with beautiful silkscreened cover."

The 10" is $15/15€ post-paid and the CD (barf!) is $10/10€ post-paid... TOTALLY GET THIS! The Bangor website gots Mp3s, ordering information, and more HERE. Enjoy!

Hototogisu - 'Chimärendämmerung' CD $14ppd (US) (De Stijl 062)
PayPal to DeStijl<at>Mindspring<dot>com, or EMAIL for more data.
The duo's newest full-length is out now. Animal Psi review HERE. De label says:

"Hototogisu are Marcia Bassett and Matthew Bower, and they dwell upon two continents (Marcia in brooklyn NY and matthew in leeds UK). Both share rich discographical heritage. Marcia has recorded with numerous labels (siltbreeze, time-lag, eclipse, troubleman unlimited, etc.) with UN, GHQ and the Double Leopards, and Matthew with Total, Skullflower, Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra and more. Chimarendammerung is the 3rd Hototogisu release on Destijl and the 5 untitled walls of vertical viola drone / overtone, lapped by shifting electronic waves of feedback, blackened guitars, rhinegold cast deep into dying rivers, an instrumental cycle of conflict, of the birth of a supreme aristocratic beauty into a fallen world, and its inevitable conflagration, then a glimmer of hope of escape from the cycle, in tune w/ the breath of the cosmos, like a glacial reimagining of van der graafs 'a plague of lighthouse keepers', and it represents a current plateau for the duo."

Melted Mailbox is ending its short subscription life, but there's still hope: All 7 LPs are available as a box set, and orders are still open! From the Melted Mailbox site:

"MELTED MAILBOX is a collection of music that arrives in bi-monthly installments. The first series will consist of seven one-sided 12” records. The music-less side will be etched. Each record will be bright & thick. The series is limited to 700 copies & all tracks are previously unreleased!! Limited Edition CDR’s with come with the first 300 subscriptions! Limited Edition Paintings & Prints!"

The records:
*Sunroof! - 'Goldfoxradianthowl' [17:24]
*Dino Felipe - 'Lucky Chairs EP' [17:58]
*Keith Fullerton Whitman - 'biprosia (parts 1 & 2)' [14:58]
*Arrington de Dionyso - 'The True Folk Sounds of Arrington de Dionyso' [17:07]
*Ariel Pink - 'Witchhunt Suite for World War Three (parts 1 & 2)' [17:06]
*Carlos Giffoni [16:46]
*000 - 'Railroad' [14:30]

Plus:
* Melted Mailbox Stickers
* Hand made box & packaging
* Postcards by photographer Tim Guillen [miami, fl]
* Limited edition CDR's (from unannounced contributors)
* Pins & buttons/various surprises

The entire set is $70ppd (US), $125ppd (World) [do the math - it's a steal!] The set ships Novemeber 5th (following the last installments), and the series will not be available in stores. Contact melted@meltedmailbox.com to order and check out more HERE. Keep your ears crooked for series two...


Artists! Submit art NOW to Melted Mailbox!

Melted Mailbox wants to provide an audience to artists of all styles & backgrounds. Anything that you send, in any quantity will be put into a mailing. There are 700 total subscriptions – any contribution (be it one copy or 700 copies) will go into a mailing. We will post your name on the Melted Mailbox site with a link to your site or contact info.

If you have the desire to contribute 1 to 1000 (whatever & however much you want) of ANY physical format ANYTHING THAT YOU CONSIDER ART we will too.

Examples: cloth / paper / cardboard / wood / napkin / loose-leaf / dvd / cdr / cassette / vhs / stickers / patches / pins / scribbles / doodles / paintings.

ART SPECIFICATIONS
-no more than 12" x 12" x 1"
-must fit inside box without damaging vinyl
-no urine, sperm, feces or blood

If recieved August 21st - October 20th art will go into mailing three.

Send to:
MELTED MAILBOX c/o Matt
455A Myrtle Ave
Brooklyn, New York 11205

Sounds just like Shalabi Effect. Where’s my check?






==========================================================
When I was a kid I was reading a copy of Ben Is Dead when I came across a review of the first Three Mile Pilot LP. The entire review (keep in mind, this was 1993) said, quote

Sounds just like The Replacements. Where’s my check?

I read this over and over. I was totally into 3MP (see?), yet at the same time strangely attracted to the arrogance of this “review”. I thought, “one day, I’ll be a dick too.” // Now I’m inadvertantly asshole enough in real-life (57% according to one online – and therefore bulletproof – quiz), so I chose to pay homage without transgression. I’ve taken liberties with the reference, and indeed the newest release by To Live and Shave in L.A. actually does sound a whole lot like Shalabi Effect at their most experimental and the closely related work of Et Sans (see: musique concrète, sound verité, extreme cut-and-paste). Compiled of recordings from the last four years, the concept of ‘Horóscopo: Sanatorio de Molière’ is characteristically high (from the Blossoming Noise website): “Horóscopo, Vatican temporal assassin, is ordered to fall 300 years through time to prevent Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière) from writing the scabrous Tartuffe. A portal divides, doors fly open... Horóscopo’s eyes roll back into his head, and an empty scabbard clatters across marble. "Taisez-vous, et songez aux choses que vous dites." The Nightgaunts descend...” - Got it! This incarnation of TLaSiLA features: Tom Smith, Rat Bastard, Ben Wolcott, Don Fleming, Mark Morgan, Andrew (WK) Wilkes-Krier, Chris Grier, and special guest Thurston Moore. The music is such an authorless tangle, it’s impossible to parse who contributed what; I can only say that if any of those names pique your interest, you will not be disappointed.

The cover art of the digipak is particularly eye-catching, and I spent a good five minutes staring at it before I realized I had yet to hit play. Track One opens on a collage of death rays, cut-up conversation/crooning, and a little late-night piano melody, all woven through an increasingly pervasive tone-riff. The frequency is always in flux, as this fucked-up radio won’t stay tuned, dialing-in nearby planets and cable satellites. Two intros on a verse and a swarm of digital gnats, the radios continue to shifts, and a glimmering beat actually develops among the alien pulses and bleeps. Streams of liquid spurt through the soundscape and this is all very surrealist. Armies of sound continue to enter at random through track Three, now as a brassy overture bleeds into a traditional minimalism akin to Terry Riley’s live recordings (‘Olson III’ comes to mind in particular). Nothing lasts long on this album, and soon a whole new barrage of transmissions blast through, laced with static and cosmic timbres. Four opens and closes with an exceptionally stimulating series of vocal samples, book-ending a mudslide of thick, greasy rudeness. Either the album becomes more consistent by track Five, or I have just grown accustom to the patterns of randomness, but a theme apparently emerges for each track from this point on; a theme that is introduced early, then slides underneath each successive layer, always audible but more so when new layers are thin or gapped. Seven plays somber like an early requiem, and Eight takes us outside (who knew we were In?) to the sounds of earth-nature, interrupted by what appears to be a five second sample of the history of rock-n-roll, collapsing into a hot, dense little dot.

There are many ways to approach this album, both as a casual listen or a text to decipher; there is certainly too much going on to put into words. This is an exceptionally cerebral album and surprisingly user-friendly, asking no prerequisite from the listener. This is a mature experimental treat for gourmand and novice alike. Where’s my check? (Blossoming Noise CD, $13 HERE)

The newest long-player from Chicago’s Zelienople is an unusually diverse batch of whispered psychedelia. The album manages to cover a substantial breadth of sounds while all the while sustaining a consistent high. Rarely wandering, each track feels deliberate despite the light-headed flourishes and drone passages. What makes the album unique is the careful interplay between instrument and vocals/ a relationship reminiscent Sebadoh, Wooden Wand/ WWVV’s ‘Xiao’, Maquiladora, and dark, early Smog (c. ‘Burning Kingdom’). Rather than lose itself in variety, the band composes itself in the mix so deftly that the record remains not only whole, but linear. Over all, the album sounds as though recorded into the same mushroomaphone as Eyes and Arms of Smoke’s fantastic fantasy ‘Religion of Broken Bones’ (shit - add that to the list above). Like a more concept-driven ‘Spiderland’, the songs create and manipulate both scene and emotion with an overwhelming power. A quartet in membership, Zelienople maintain the presence of one/ a lone, sorrowed spirit.

‘Stone Academy’ enters through “Plaster Dog”: a droning, groaning instrumental which flaunts the concept with the addition of a single vocalist. Like a ghost ship floating alone a fog, the tired tides turn to a maelstrom of metallic sheets and winds of agony/ the barge enters a sunken cave where the lost singer returns with steely guitar and harmony to sing the bare lament “Fuck Everything”/ melody and guitar break-down in a forgotten, Barlowesque fashion, dissolving into “Elephant”/ between mechanistic scraping and tapping drone, the voice of a horn is lost in the gusts of an accordion breeze until the deep beating of the hull on a shoal awakens the singer once more. “Fire Machine” engulfs the vessel and singer with the billowing chaos of winds, drones, and scattered percussion. /// Flipping sides, “More Mess” recalls the sparse guitar and ornament of “Fuck Everything”/ with a melody familiar of Wooden Wand’s ‘Harem of the Sundrum’ LP, the singer is present in voice only, and shifts again to horn as “Southside”/ a brassier horn this time, accompanied by clattering percussion, the intonations meander a glimpse of free-jazz. “Pissing” again rejoins the guitar and voice, with specks of tambourine/ a membrane forms and the tune invisibly shifts to “Bird’s Face”, where our singer drowns in electric guitar and a swirl of feeback which washes through to “When You Were 9”: the ship settles into a harbor of chirps and moaning chorus/ the silence of stillness erases all sounds when a sudden sailor’s ballad rises from the heart of the ship/ with marching guitar and percussion, arching strings and an imaginary army of hand-claps, the harbor fades majestically as the singer and spirit return to sea.

Each record in this hand-numbered edition of 300 comes mounted with one of six beautiful photographic prints by artist Dianne Jones. One might be tempted to rip the print off and frame it/ let me suggest framing the entire fucking record. (Root Strata LP, $14ppd(US)/ $16ppd (World). As with each Root Strata release, this will be gone in forty seconds/ GO HERE NOW!)

Noise artists calling themselves American Band essentially beg one of two impressions. Either: bursting with irony, subject to an obscene, iconoclastic aesthetic and a general air of smiling depravity; or, as with the band in question, severity and a wrathful brooding, fitting the namesake of a dark, brutal death machine (I suppose an American replica of Prurient might cover both bases, but whatever [I thought he was British; isn't he British??]). Further, if this genre of noise is subject to the spectrum of subdivision that other genres be, ‘American Band’s First Album’ demands a ‘hardcore’ sub-camp for its Spartan, unrelenting attack of/on sound. With just one exception that proves the rule, each track on this disc fiercely asserts less an idea than an even more powerful impulse to destroy, like the aliens in the ‘Alien’ movies. The stark font and sinister art of the digipak cover recall the militarism imprinted on later hardcore punk, while the album’s sound incorporates aesthetic concepts from this and other combative genre sub-sects. Of the album’s five tracks, “Bone Skirt” and “Garbed Edge” – title-imagery fitting perhaps a Neurot release – are both presented as live recordings from summer 2005 and 2006, respectively. “Bone Skirt”, the CD’s first track, opens to a whir and rattle, as though someone on stage is playing an industrial fan or maybe a Dremel tool on sheet-metal (alongside Matt Franco on guitar/vocals and Jason Crumer on electronics, Lee Counts is credited “on metal”). This quickly gives way to the swell of brutal feedback and rifts of high-frequency buzz. At a leisurely 22 minutes, the track offers a menacing cadence, merging maximal noise with organic - or at least live - sound, forming macroscopic shifts which move the music linearly, however creepy the pace may be. “First Time In Heels” follows, laying a foundation of low-end buzz over which mechanical parts squeal and spin. The recording has a deep acoustic quality, vividly portraying the open ‘space’ of the presentation. This is short-lived, however, as quickly a massive, singular tsunami of stuttering feedback rises up, drowning all other sound. The wave labors, swapping channels, cutting in and out in a glitch-y fashion. It fades, then rises again in full health, dragging along the sound of ghosts and appliances. With a crash and a literal whimper, the track ends, and “General’s Lament” enters slowly with a soothing drone. The pinnacle track of the album, the drone stretches at an irregular pace, as shimmers of feedback burst overhead in transmitted packets. As though tuning a cavern to pick up a lost frequency, the signal comes in fuller and louder, though never as pure as the drone underneath. Tuning past, the drone regains it’s presence like a pulse which then dies away into silence. The second live track, “Garbed Edge”, enters abruptly with the swell and buzz of the opener, though at a far swifter gait. The tremolo of feedback is so aggressive that an almost gabber beat is formed, over which gilded screams mix with the clash of metal until it is all sucked into a vacuum and shattered. The finale “Terrified” is brief, and carries on the brutality of the former track, though minus the percussive phantom and plus a rabid dynamic of busted-electronic reverb, the screams of dying machines, and the roar of electrified clouds destroying the earth. HxC. (Blossoming Noise CD, $11 HERE)

The other day an envelope materialized in my mailbox that appeared as though it’d been stepped-on at least ten times over, with layers of stamps and addresses, and return-labeled to DAS (a.k.a. dAS). Inside, I found a dusty plastic bag filled with some sort of gravel-like textile, a pretty, unnamed cassette, and a card. The card explained that the tape is a copy of Big City Orchestra’s ‘We Like Noize Too’, released by the Bay Area’s UBUIBI, and recorded in 1990(!). UBUIBI is the same outfit which recently released the ‘Women Take Back The Noise’ comp (See?), and both the label and BCO has been around long enough that this seemed a plausible recording, though ever more vexing as it showed up alone without correspondence of any form. Now, I’m still not sure whether this was meant as a threatening gesture or some sort of dare, but I was genuinely concerned as I extracted (over the sink) the cassette (wrapped in foil) from the bag of, what, coal? shale? brimstone?? I ran the tape through my oldest jambox to shake loose any dust/debris that made its way past aluminum security, and then put it in. According to the card, this is a live recording by a four-piece incarnation of the Orchestra (dAS included). Under "Process", I learned that "Fifty 7" 45's were prepared by spraypainting black and etched with a spirograph. During the three hour performance the records were subject to; candle wax, cutting with razors, white-out, tape, glue and misc. flames. All fifty records were used by all four artists." The effect, as you may have guessed, is ultimately that of an early LaMonte Young/Terry Riley experiment; a minimal fabric made of loops and snippets of conventional sound. Like a room full of staticky radios, the racket is at the same time chaos and choral. The spin of the turntable creates a steady meter through which a number of really nice noises emerge and transform. The real-time and random elements of the concept give it a tasty organic feel despite the lackluster quality of the recording/dub. An approximately 90 minute cassette, 'We Like Noize Too' features much to hear and almost as much to enjoy; the highlights are found in the moments when several seconds of the original recordings show through unobscured, breaking the momentum of the drone and recalling the ruinous songs underneath. As a collective spanning multiple decades, BCO has released hundreds of cassettes, LPs, and CDs, of what one can assume to be highly-diverse qualities. In this sense, I would be hard-pressed to give an image of a single "sound", but could say that it will be conceptual and experimental in the truest sense, and likely wrapped in something that scares the shit out of you.

There are currently a handful of mysterious releases available through UBUIBI:

*'In A Persian Market' CD; in hand-sewn carpetbag. Albert Ketelby's classic ravaged 78 minute soundscape. $35ppd(US)

*'Tryst 5: the Hand and Star issue' CD. Musical guests: The Haters and Big City Orchestra. $8ppd(US)

*'Tryst 6: the Sex issue' CD. Musical guests: Nux Vomica and Big City Orchestra. FOR ADULTS ONLY.[?] $9ppd(US)

*'Tryst 8: the Food issue' CD. Musical guests: Voice of Eye and Big City Orchestra. FOR ADULTS ONLY. [?!] $9ppd(US)

***Get them HERE***


dAS also has a radio show in northern California. Check it out HERE.

!!!!!!!!!!!From DBA.com: (!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Tik///Tik / Stomach Aches - 'Seadoor' split 2x 3" CDr, edition of 50, $8ppd (US & Canada)/$15ppd (World)
"Elaborate music deserves elaborate packaging. Captain Ahab has called the Stomach Aches one of his favorite producers. With the same genre playfulness of early Beck combined with the sophistication of the best Aphex Twin, the Stomach Aches are one of LA's best kept secrets. Also hailing from LA is tik///tik, self-proclaimed "amateur" musician, has quickly become a local favorite. Combines everything you love about top40 pop, digital noise, and true romance into a completely individual sound. There currently is nothing like tik///tik and thats why we love him... Features a remix of each artist by Captain Ahab. Artwork include full color transparency art by Tik///Tik sewn together with stenciled boat art that houses two "anchors" (aka 3" cdrs) tied to the packing by ropes so your ship will never get lost at sea. Both these artists are also featured as remixers on Captain Ahab's 'Snakes on the Brain' CD." Mp3 and order HERE.

Foot Village - 'Fuck the Future' CD, edition of 1000, $10ppd (US & Canada)/$16ppd (World)
"Pure hardcore. No electricity. Fuck the future. Foot Village needs nothing but their own fists to make music, to make you scream, to make you dance, to make you thrash. An imaginary step back to a time more futuristic than now, yet shrouded in magic. Kung Fu was invented by peasants as a method of fighting so confusing to their enemies that it appeared as magic. Foot Village has invented acoustic hardcore in the same regard. If you are confused, perhaps you are the enemy. Foot Village features members of Men Who Can't Love, Rainbow Blanket, Gang Wizard, Rose For Bohdan, and tons more. CD compiling Foot Village's early "country" releases. Country as in songs about the countries of this world. Done as research for their current work building their own nation, Foot Village. Originally released in extremely limited edition and now sold out, all tracks have been remastered by Pete Swanson. Contains all tracks from debut 3" cdr, 7", and World Fantasy 10". Art by Lart." Mp3, order HERE.

Brian Miller vs. Nicholas Gitomer - 'Slavelords' CDr, edition of 50, $6ppd (US & Canada)/$12ppd (World)
"Recorded during Brian Miller's period of prolific collaborating (see Celesteville, Argumentix, Kites, Ren Schofield & of course Kevin Shields), this session dedicated to the lofty notion of freedom shows two old friends doing what they do best: sparring. Utilizing his signature deep harmonic noise, Brian Miller (Foot Village, Gang Wizard) faces off against the brutal psych-folk guitaring of Nicholas Gitomer (My Little Red Toe). Beginning just as horse play with some cute pop vs. noise antics, the fight escalates into some trans-Platonic, hyper-cosmic clash of the magi shit that music be heard to believe... Packaged as rough and tumble as possible in a burlap sack ready to toss in the slavepit." Mp3 and order HERE.

"Big Fucking Deal!": DBA is offering all 3 hott new releases for just $20ppd (US & Canada), $30ppd (World). This is top secret for Anipals only, so you need to write Brian at dbombarc@deathbombarc.com and tell him "Get 'er DONE!"

AND: Outdoing this month's HUGE radathon of Friends Forever vs. Nightwounds, October's DBA Tape Club release will be a split betwixt My Little Red Toe and Skull Skull - a band made with parts from Liars and Young People! It's not too late to be a bad ass... Enlist HERE! 12 tapes/ 24 bands/ $40!

This looks great! The first release from Finland's newest little label, Harha-askel:

v/a: 'Goin' Down Slow - music for acoustic guitar'
"A compilation of new music for acoustic guitar. 13 tracks by 13 artists/acts from New Zealand, Norway, UK, Finland and USA. Blues,folk, noise, drone etc."
Featuring: Tom Carter, Robert Horton, Andy & Michael Futreal, Keijo, Mark Dagley, Mike Tamburo, The North Sea, Stephen Lewis, Sindre Bjerga, Amigo Result, Ville Moskiitto, Don Bosco, Armpit.

Limited, numbered edition of eighty copies. Black cd-r, handpainted cardboard sleeve, printed inserts. 6€ ppd/$8 ppd; go HERE.

It's about damn time! From the label's website:

BONUS - 'On Earth' CD $12ppd (US)/$14ppd (World)
"On Earth , is the first studio document created by the group, recorded with Marcelo Spinna at the Space in May 2006 with production assistance from Pete Swanson (D. YELLOW SWANS). While previous CD-R releases were entirely improvised, On Earth is comprised of three untitled pieces composed by the group with elements of restrained improvisation. Musically, each piece has a specific concern, ranging from extremely subtle microtonal shifts to distorted crashes of intervals against one another. On Earth captures the reductive BONUS sound with all the sustained tones and sparkling textures, but with a more focused and succinct delivery. Edition of 500."

Zelienople- 'Stone Academy' LP $14ppd (US)/$16ppd (World)
"Cracked song poems from a basement in Chicago with no lights on. Zelienople create acoustic improvisations that have as much in common with Thuja as they do the late period work of Talk Talk. Slowly drifting guitar tones run head first into blown out harmonium drones and the broken edges of homemade instruments. These songs aren't drifting as much as they are lost at sea. Each cover comes with a real photo by Bay Area photographer Dianne Jones. Six different ones in all. Hand numbered as well. Edition of 300."

For Mp3 samples and to order (quickly), go north to Root Strata!

What's in a name? ErstQuake 3 - Four-day festival!
(co-curated by Erstwhile, Quakebasket and Little Enjoyer)
At Tonic, 107 Norfolk St., NYC

Thursday, September 28:
Jeph Jerman/Greg Davis, Los Glissandinos (Kai Fagaschinski/Klaus Filip),
Bryan Eubanks/Barry Weisblat, Scenic Railroads (Joe Panzner/Mike Shiflet), Mattin/Tim Barnes

Friday, September 29:
Sachiko M/Sean Meehan, Michael R. Bernstein/Mike Shiflet, English (Joe Foster/Bonnie Jones), Burkhard Stangl/Christof Kurzmann, Aaron Dilloway/Lasse Marhaug

Saturday, September 30:
Radu Malfatti/Mattin, Kai Fagaschinski/Burkhard Stangl, Cosmos (Sachiko M/Ami Yoshida), GOD (Bryan Eubanks/Leif Sundstrom), Aaron Dilloway (solo)

Sunday, October 1:
Jeph Jerman/Tim Barnes/Sean Meehan, Ami Yoshida/Christof Kurzmann, Sachiko M/English (Joe Foster/Bonnie Jones), Phill Niblock/Jason Lescalleet, Jazkamer (Lasse Marhaug/John Hegre)

$18 per night, $65 for a festival pass (plus one drink minimum per night); doors open at 7:30 each night

Ordering Instructions (Dear New York: you're weird)

How to buy advance tickets: Tonic wants people to pay for their drink
ticket in advance also, so a ticket to any single night will be $18
plus $6 for the drink/tip, so $24 total. a four night festival pass
will be $65 plus $18 (four drinks for the price of three), so $83
total.

there will be no actual tix issued this way, your name will be placed
on the advance paid list at the door (just like we did it last year).
there will be other ways to buy tix through Tonic's normal channels
closer to the fest, but as of now, this is the only way to get them,
directly through me. you can PayPal me at erstrecs@aol.com or send a
check to:

Erstwhile Records
374A Monmouth St. #2
Jersey City, NJ 07302

Is "Schizo" a genre yet? How about now? Devil Music is all over the place like nobody's business. "Message", at 33 1/3 rpm is an extended pastiche of styles yet to be mixed in a single album, let alone a single song. Opening on a dark, solid punk jam in the vein of labelmates Magic People or even Love Life, the three-man group (for this recording anyway) weave thick, murky synthesizers and junkie drums into a tres chic club jam for a decade passed. With vocal watermarks looping in the goop - "Someone will preach a message/the devil wants me" - it's like a Locust track run at quarter speed. Fade out, and then... what's this? Does the other band have a track on this side too? This is the same song?! After an unexpected break-down, the band says "Fuck gears!" and switches vehicles altogether, losing the synth and sprinting into instrumental "post-rock" mode with drum/guitar/violin in a rocker reminiscent of Hangedup or Esmerine. Crazy, right? Anyhow, I can't complain because they do it all very well, and any attempt to pick out a dominant style is useless. If this is the ground they can cover in seven inches, I'd be eager to see what they do with twelve or more. On the flip-side, GOLD tones things down conceptually, not sonically, straight-up lunging at your ears with unrequited mathmatics. Like a Don Cab highlight, drums pulse and piston while the sound of a thousand guitars form fractal patterns high and wide. Building a city just to level it, "Wive Hive" tears by with power and force, and does not facilitate a quick recovery. The split comes nested in very fine, red-as-hell covers & labels screened with gold in a eyeball crushing design. (Mister Records 7", 4th installment in a series, $4 HERE)

What a treat! There's something inherent in the Ariel Pink sound that is enhanced by the vinyl format. Unfortunately, he has been limited - until recently - to very few releases of the fairer sort. The latest of these blessings is the 'My Molly EP': Four tracks of top-form Pink plus a cover song! Check it - "The Bottom": wicked new-wave synth-line zig-zags while Pink alliterates like a motherfucker and backs himself - very nice; one of my favorite Pink tracks to date. "My Molly": Dove-tailed lyrics and collapsing melody. There's a generic comparison to be made here, yet it escapes me... refrain like a Turtles/Beach Boys song or something thereabouts; "Rock Play": What? Fat Wreck Pink?? A thick bass rumble and ultra-sneer Pink "They just want to play/ all day/Yeah, they don't wanna work/ all day" - Okay! Flip it over and blam, a Smith's cover! "This Night Has Opened My Eyes": Chelsea's right; Ariel does a good Morrissey, and this is an open acknowledgment of one of the man's most vital influences. Sounds like a demo for said track, except on a 4-track made of bread-dough, like in that Tomie dePaola book (anyone?); all mushy, mouth-made beats, color-bleeding guitar and vocals, and melodies that spell "Solid Gold". Oh, and finally, "GoX2" (sp.? it's cut off on the sleeve) is a nice little send off with jangly, chorus-peddle guitar and soliloquy to a sweetheart... Mysteriously silent locked-grooves urge you to flip this gem over and over. Comes in a b&w sleeve with crazy middle-earth artwork, including handwritten lyrics(?) - the first 100 came with unique, hand colored sleeves as pictured above in a "limited edition" (methinks they got lazy and said, "Fuck it - Limited Edition!"); a handful of these are available at the Tiny Creatures gallery (see below). Also included: an array of fun postcards of the highest quality in all shapes and patterns. (Tiny Creatures 7", ed. of 1,000, $7.50ppd HERE).

ATTENTION! This Saturday night, baby-label Tiny Creatures is having an opening - they have a gallery! Sorry for the short notice. I just found out today. Read about it HERE, and here:

'Tiny Creatures opening', Sept. 16 2006, 6-11pm
Featuring art work by Ariel Pink, Vibe Cental, Matt Fishbeck and performance by Holy Shit!
628 N. Alvarado Street, Los Angeles CA, 90026 (in Echo Park by the 101)

Be a winner: show up!

That's right. Then check this out (from ReleaseTheBats.com):

DOVE YELLOW SWANS - 'LIVE DURING WAR CRIMES VOL.2' CD
"The second volume, this time a collection of darker and more sinister live recordings taken from their tour in Europe early 2006. 42 black minutes of creepy soundscapes painting a depressive picture of a world going down in dust and ashes. The 5 songs all has a weird desperate and dense apocalyptic feel to them, making this a haunting and very bleak experience. Trashy dark rumblings and total coldness. Again very well-edited stuff by Pete Swanson, works more like a full proper album than just a collection of random recordings. Amazing... Comes packaged in a Dual Plover full color sleeve with black felt. Cover drawings by Liz Harris of Grouper. €8.50"

Also up for grabs HERE:
TAR.. FEATHERS - 'MAKE WAY FOR THE OCEAN FLOOR' CD
RACCOO-OO-OON - 'IS NIGHT PEOPLE' CD <---- Animal Psi recommended with extreme prejudice!

Arbor got treats to rot yr teeths. From the website:

Shepherds - 'Acid Bath' c20 $5ppd
"The acid drenched guitar hymns on this tape, seem to come from somewhere other then Brooklyn. It sounds like an escape from the city. The sounds contained within still feature the rhythm and busy-ness of the city, but sound as though they were recorded on an old tape deck in the woods, or the shed in the woods behind the cabin in the woods. It is only fitting that members of Shepherds come from groups such as Meneguar, Woods, Non-Horse, and Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice. It features the same "drop everything and make music" vibe that those other projects produce. Perfect hearthside tape to keep you warm as those metropolitan winters are approaching. Features super nice silkscreened art by Shawn Reed of Raccoo-oo-oon with copper rusted tapes. In a numbered edition of 100 copies."

Fossils/Waves - 'Ghetto Primitive' split CDr $5ppd
"Crumbling latitudes form a sonic bridge connecting Hamilton, Ontario and ypsi, Michigan. Recorded at the peak of canaduh's summer, the fossils half of this split stinks of the melted ghetto blaster thistrack was recorded on. The whole things chugs along at a super slow-mo rate giving the whole track a gotham city sewer system field recording vibe. Waves is john olson of American tapes, wolf eyes, dead machines, and just about every other rad unit out there. Here he comes in surfing on a sonic torrent of sirens crashing like the waves and bringing the seashells onto the shore. Wavesss second track sounds like the distress call of a submarine crashed on the ocean floor being heard through dolphin ears. In a numbered edition of 100 with slim cases slathered in a whole bunch of paint, but actually ends up looking super slick."

Also available:


v/a - 'arbor.' compilation CDr + 18pg art book $8ppd
treetops - 'sandy floors' 3" CDr $4ppd
horse head - 'birds and bees' c36 $4.50ppd

Arbor also carries a handful of rad releases from other labels. Look thee, HERE.

Yum. From Not Not Fun (.com):

Family Underground/Quintana Roo - 'Vengeance Valley b/w Horses Neck' 7"
"A pair of implosion constructs from Denmark’s finest and Eagle Rock’s vaguest. Originally conceived for the Quintana/Underground doomed west coast tour dates, but car rental hostilities and passport chaos shot the drone team scheme dead. Alas. At any rate: the single still stands. “Vengeance Valley” finds FU at their most steeped-in-dread, channeling Spahn Ranch brainwash kill vibes into rumbling black hills of bad acid alchemy. Pure murder magick. Q Roo’s “Horses Neck” wanders its own Death Valley nothingness, loses contact/control, and carves slow sigils in the sand. A hovering aura of desert oblivion. Black vinyl 7 inches in hand-numbered, hand-screened grey cardstock jackets with skull-rider/ancient ruins cover art. Limited to 300. $5" Presents!

Boy, this is dense! One million sound-colors spurt toward the sky in a black torrent. For those unfamiliar, Hototogisu is Marcia Bassett (Double Leopards, UN, GHQ, and on) and Matthew Bower (Total, Skullflower, Sunroof!, and on and on). The third Hototogisu release for De Stijl/the latest among many, ‘Chimärendämmerung’ contains five untitled tracks working in a 60 minute cycle. Like the work of Yeh/Burning Star Core, the intrigue of this album is found in the bowed nuance of strings beneath (or behind) huge slabs of damage. Fucked-guitar squeal-and-skip shade the foreground of each track, alongside an overwhelming static of dark feedback drone. In brief moments and with assorted depth of clarity, instruments project forward as the whole sound dispatches into singular pieces, nearly exposing individuals wielding a guitar, a viola. Lying deep beneath the composite sound, a glinting tone reaches out in code, offering hints to a holistic understanding. This is the mystery of the piece. Often residing higher in decibel than the bulk of either artist’s tangential catalogues, this album scrapes along the ear with abrasive drive, by contrast serving relief with dips into low brain scrabble and rumble which ventures only half down the spine before it dissipates and reforms back in your sinuses. These moments are found at their peak in the middle movements (three long pieces capped with two shorter tracks), while both the intro and exit tone things down to an earthy core, suggestively beginning and ending abruptly as though they are to form a loop, or exist as a segment within a larger revolution. As so many noise records fail to distinguish within themselves during such maximal compositions, the varied register of each track within ‘Chimärendämmerung’ creates a crucial dynamic, encouraging the listener to consume the onslaught wholesale. However, with central tracks at 14, 15, and 18 minutes long, the album lends itself moreover to a segmented approach. The very-professional digipak includes vibrant, imposing, though somewhat disassociated imagery, which illustrates nicely the mystery of this album. (De Stijl CD, available 9/26. More info HERE.)

In related news, the always en vogue De Stijl recently signed a production & distribution deal with behemoth Sub Pop. Expect easier location of the label’s fantastic, yet historically obscured record from artists such as Hototogisu and Smegma. Gilmore Girls, perhaps?

TARENTEL - 'Ghetto Beats on the Surface of the Sun' 4LP series Pre-order
$13ppd (US)/$19ppd (World); both LPs 1 & 2, $24ppd (US)/$32ppd (World)
"LPs 1 & 2 arriving last week of September. Tarentel's predominantly instrumental compositions read like chapters in an epic novel - cinematic and absolutely breathtaking. Tarentel's tidal force and blissful elegance elicit the kind of ecstatic response their name suggests. We are ecstatic to be releasing the latest set of recordings from this great band, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun. This album is being released as a series of 4 limited 12" LPs, where each LP is between 30 and 40 minutes... It's a ton of great music."

Also:
KEENAN LAWLER - 'The Ghost of a Plane of Air' CD $12ppd (US)/$15ppd (World)
"R.Keenan Lawler has spent the last 25 years developing his own personal sound world, constantly pushing himself in new directions and developing new techniques, while remaining completely focused on his vision. His experiments on 1930 National Resonator guitar are the stuff of legend you sometimes hear from town to town by someone who may have had the good fortune to witness one of his performances. In 1999 he self released The Ghost of a Plane of Air, it quickly went out of print and has since been heralded by many as a minimalist masterpiece. It is now available for a larger audience. Lawler here pushes the bounds and very definition of the resonator guitar: bowing, picking, scraping, knocking and combining it with electro-acoustic manipulations and on site recordings. The sound that pours from the speakers is dense, affecting, cavernous and like no other, often delving from delicate picking into a flurry of notes and ecstatic drones. The Ghost of a Plane of Air is the sound of a man looking deep into his soul and coming out the other side changed, scarred and poetic. This reissue has been remastered, and includes one new additional track recorded during the same time period."

MIKE TAMBURO AND HIS ORCHESTRA - 'Ghosts of Marumbey' CD $12ppd/$15ppd
"Mike Tamburo is back again picking, droning, buzzing and rocking with the biggest line up of the Universal Orchestra of Pituitary Knowledge (his backing band) yet. Collaborators on this project include Ken Camden (Meisha), Keenan Lawler, Brad Rose (North Sea, etc.), Jeff Komara .(Arco Flute Foundation, Air Guitar Magazine), Matt Mcdowell (Nux, Arco Flute Foundation), Pete Spynda (Meisha, Arco Flute Foundation, Air Guitar Magazine), Bryan Camphire (Bloody Panda), Blake Mcdowell (Bloody Panda), Wilson Lee (Fathmount), John Fail (Lied Music, etc.), Tusk Lord, Nick Schillace, Charlie Vinz (Head of Femur, STMonroe, Bobby Conn Band). Co-released With New American Folk Hero."

RAMESES III - 'Matanuska' CD $12ppd (US)/$15ppd (World)
During the quiet nights of winter while the snow gently falls outside, the fireplace offers warmth and light. The UK's Rameses III hail from a place where subtle drifts are priceless. These insular drones are highlighted by rich acoustic depths, adding so much contrast that it's heartbreaking. Recordings of birds add a natural grace, and in the context, this trio is freed. Within these digital walls rises something majestic, extracted from the soil.
With their latest full-length release, Rameses III build upon their burgeoning reputation as architects of some of the most beautifully striking soundscapes around. Matanuska invites metaphor, conjures atmosphere and envelopes the listener in its shroud. Glistening waves of string and keyboard hum and shimmer to create wondrous ambient sculptures that eventually find release in a blossom of bucolic folk. Matanuska will appeal to fans of Stars Of The Lid, Eyvind Kang, Brian Eno, Thomas Koner and Richard Youngs."

Order HERE, from Music Fellowship.

Like the house band in the Black Lodge, Wooden Shjips pump waves of heavy smoke, filling your head and making you do whatever you do. This is straight psychedelic rock and roll, and a high-point in what is likely a hot new wave of huge sounds ala Comets on Fire, Psychic Ills, etc.

The untitled 10” and accompanying sleeves – unmarked, save the small print of tracks on the dust-jacket – threaten huge jams that speak for themselves. And they do so. The centerpiece of the record, “Shrinking Moon For You” features constant bass groove and clattering percussion high in your skull, with razor-thin guitar ripping webs across the face of the track. Hot licks and totally radical solo prevails, making all the kids dance like they got sparks in their hair. Velvet-y vocals waft in and out; guitar turns to fuzz-wash; and sleighbells ring in the end of the marathon: time for round two. The flip-side, “Death’s Not Your Friend” is a fun little song with stuttering organ, throbbing guitar, and boomy vocals, sounding like Silver Apples and everything Clinic stole from them. The final track “Space Clothes” is an outro of sorts: over UFO-dashboard pulses and beeps, and wet, organic grumbles, a voice accented from another decade presents a little sermon, his voice reversing as we enter hyper-drive and haul ass out the galaxy. (self-released 10”, second & final pressing, limited to 333, available from Aquarius Records and Volcanic Tongue [UK])

The band’s proceeding 7”, also untitled with no additional artwork (save the murder-red of the labels on sexy clear vinyl), is even more tightly wound. In reverse order, “Clouds Over Earthquake” opens on some slow and heavy bass-bass action and a subdued yet peaking lead. Vocals appear where the guitar is scratched-off and disappear as it returns to lead the band out the hole in the roof. Back in front, motorbike bass-guitar leads the phantom lock-groove rhythm section of “Dance California”, while a loosed guitar with dangling strings dices the air with ridiculous rippingness. If you don’t freak out to this, you’re probably tied up. That’s cool too. The fact that this is an “edit” confirms my suspicion that in another dimension the Wooden Shjips’ are perpetually rocking an all-night diner, surrounded by grinding maniacs and smoke, lots of smoke. Get this NOW! (Sick Thirst 7”, second & final pressing, limited to 333, available from Aquarius Records and Volcanic Tongue [UK]) Don’t be a jerk - get them both!

BONUS! The band made an (awesome) video for “Dance California”. You can see it (and that’s all) at the Sick Thirst website.

Roy (Changeling/Quintana Roo/Black Monk) has a new cassette label called Buried Valley, offering spray-painted tapes with handsome card-stock inserts. There are two pieces of evil waiting for you:

First is the split entitled 'Fog Shrouded Marsh'. Robedoor enters the woods with "Always Stalked", an aptly-named track opening on droning chants, wicked percussion, and mild electronic-torment. The chants rise to wails, though anguished to a timeless degree. It is uncertain whether this is stalked or stalker, but either way, they've been out there a while and now they're really fucked as they turn inward. Changeling drags the body even further, as "Sanctuary By The Sea" drops the voices in a reef trench on some foggy coast where the damned come alive upon disturbance, with an eerie chorus of voices and uncomfortably deep, warm drones. C-20, limited to 50 copies.

Next, Black Monk's 'V' is a creep-out session of ambiguous drones and de-tuned crashes. The sound is huge, and as distant as it may appear, a buried whining/sputtering sound lingers much closer in another room. On the second side, the wind picks up and someone starts playing the drums! The gale turns to a growl as the drummer pounds on despite your suffering. Like a lightning storm from inside the videodrome, there is no consolation. C-20, limited to 40 copies.

Both releases available from Buried Valley, $6 ppd US/$8 ppd World each. Get them HERE!

More to come...

Speaking of Changeling, Not Not Fun just released the 'Astral Arch' 1-sided 7"!

From the label's website:
"Attention sky-walkers: the eagle has landed. After an honest fistful of serenity-smoke cassette releases, Changeling finally alights his wings-of-gauze/claws-of-fog on this one-sided black vinyl seven inch. “Astral Arch” is a tranquil electric halo of hushed guitar sunrays flickering on lapping waves of cloud voice peace. A song for closed eyes, no memory, and impossible drift. Hand-numbered, hand-screened olive-branch cardstock jackets with unreal shape-shift cover art by Changeling himself. Plus the B-sides are stenciled with cryptic metallic runes. Limited to 176."

$4; Get it HERE.

My main man Matt has a site called Outer Space Gamelan where he writes thoughtful reviews of far-out shit on a near daily basis. At the risk of making this site look like crap by comparison, check it out NOW. He likes it heavy. If you do too, you'll be by everyday.

So: Excepter has been posting streams of recent live shows for download. They're up to 36, and there are some past shows available too. Get them HERE (They're free!)

Also: the band will be playing an awesome show in NY with: Growing, Comets on Fire, Ex Models, Excepter, Aa, Vaz, Matt and Kim, Dirty Projectors, Stars Like Fleas, Child Abuse, Artanker Convoy, High Places, Roxy Pain, Ecstatic Sunshine, Talibam! "AND SPECIAL SECRET SURPRISE GUEST! WHO WOULD DARE???"

BIG OUTDOOR SHOW IN BUSHWICK: SAT SEPT 09, NOON to LATE (RAIN OR SHINE)
**NEW ADDRESS: 339 Scholes St @ Bogart St, Brooklyn, NY (MAP)
ALL AGES, $10+ (sliding scale donation); MORE INFO HERE.

Shuta Hasunuma’s debut release is a modest selection of light-weight, atmospheric pieces centered on gentle guitar passages. Like an album of source material for The Books, we get the warmth of that band’s music minus the quirk and severe quotation. Instead, Hasunuma’s shades his album with subtle piano melodies, sparse field recordings, and sprinklings of digital sugar. In concept, the album is a walk through the city: a small city to be certain, where one can walk from downtown to the forest’s edge in five song’s time. We enter in what is likely a train terminal; “Departure” transitions into “Green Repair” as glitchey honks and buzzes surround and we sink below the surface of the street into the hum and whistle of the city. After a couple blocks, things end with a start as the muffle of clouds drum down and the sounds of the city are overtaken by thick droplets of grey. The day picks up as the clouds soon break and the sunshine opens on the grassy patches on the edge of town. The tune of the temples are the soul of the album, and the playfulness of strings and wood remain throughout as we pass the shouts of “Rec Shop” and squeaks of “Hammock”, finally reaching our destination (best track), “Long Road Home”: finding our tune, we whistle and the earth joins in - in an earthy way - with brassy honks and chimes. Yet our day extends into the next. From the chirps and rustle of morning, into the digital-industrial sounds of working machines, we struggle to place ourselves in “Karma Fulcrums”: the initial pulse we sense becomes conflicted with another, white noise creeps in and disorganized bleeps arrive in clusters, as does the tinny strings which play a muddled song of discontent. Looking for stasis, we welcome the returning noise of the machines at work through which we find clarity: entering “Prelude”, we realize the preceeding day has not been a single, fantastic experience; this is the greater awakening to the harmony in every day. “Repeat Cycles” is our meditation on this theme, as drones on high swirl about us and little sparks of sound leap up around our feet. Gradually set back on the ground, “Eurikago Afternoon” reminds us our tune, and sends us along. Packaged in a gatefold sleeve, the photo-mosaic cover a reflection of the music’s discrete elements and overarching harmony, Shuta Hasunuma’s debut is a meditation on everyday life and a nice accompaniment to the coming of autumn. (Western Vinyl CD, $12 ppd; get it HERE)

Also from Western Vinyl:

Bexar Bexar – 'Tropism'
In many ways similar to Hasunuma’s debut, this CD-r (Bexar Bexar’s second full-length) backs off the electronic ornaments and focuses more on curtain-in-the-breeze guitar and afternoon ambiance, creating a seamless soundtrack for reading and naps. (Western Vinyl CD-r, $10 ppd upon request from orders@westernvinyl.com)