Jessica Collins turns in her first Beru project entitled ‘What Would I Do Without You’. The first side and title track of the C48 is a muted collage of electronic sketches and vocal themes of an Anglophilic sort of like a Portishead or Goldfrapp, easily reduced to a common ancestor in Babbitt‘s ‘Philomel’. A warm synth line and the concrete sounds of rustled leaves ties the side together as it moves though several permutations, some more coherent than others. Guitar swatches, skillfully patched into songier moments, and male vocals – also quite handsome – have been lent from sole collaborator Brock Flores. Complicated by the title’s lack of punctuation, the music’s tissue-paper aesthetic gains another dimension of nuance. Roaming in leaves, is it searching or escape? The deep warmth of the male accompanist makes it less a plaintive question than antagonistic fantasy – I don’t like you, here’s what I’m doing in my head, so forth – until the explosion of cartoonish colors in the last moments bursts forth like some emergent revelation/orgasm.

On the reverse, the pairing of “Prophecies of Love & Gravities Power” crystallizes better Collins’ songwriting without losing the charm of her attention span (it’s still unclear where these five or six different motifs fall as far as form). At the same time vast and fickle, she moves between several choral fragments and obnoxious, bronchial noise; strung like charms along a simple porch-song guitar line, these fragments reveal a total design which catalogs as it evolves, allowing the uncanny romance to the lyrics amidst so much rabble, caterwaul and muscle car peel-outs. Americana wrestles the glitch off the hill with time, and in the end, Collins appears more like a Samara Lubelski or Marissa Nadler for the dark and harmony which is now so dominant in the carnivalesque final track. Though certainly conspicuous among current cassette culture – it’s what excels the album from the start - Collins’ voice doesn’t demand recognition until this late strain of sustained verse: melancholic, spooky, and clearly capable of tremendous depth, it is soon after erased in an appendix of melodic miscellany. Imprinted white cassette comes with a vellum J-card. Our highest recommendation, and genuine shock that there are still copies left. Edition of 100. (Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions cassette, $4 HERE)

PRINCE RAMA/THE GREAT VALLEY – 'Divine/Journey' split LP $8
"edition of 300. Two of Boston’s most mystical pop bands tell their stories about a journey to the center of the earth. Sonic-utopian synth mystics Prince Rama gave us their twelve-minute earth-shaker ‘Aeolian Divine,’ which winds its way to eternity, from the floating island Atlantis, through some kind of cosmic dancehall, into an infinite-space ecstatic-calm synth freakout. The pretend pop dream duo The Great Valley tell their story like magicians beside a campfire, throwing around ukuleles and organs and guitars and synthesizers. All 300 copies are in handmade inside-out recycled covers."

WISDOM TOOTH – 'Pianoskin' C21 $4
"edition of 50. Wisdom Tooth presents seven extra lo-fi messy folky pop songs about witches, the Tooth Fairy, Lady Lochness, the sick grandfather clock, and the boy Pianoskin. Like a really spooky granddad making shadow puppets."

EASYBOY – 'Friends' C20 $5
"edition of 100. Easyboy is Eric Farber, one half of Boston’s favorite tripped-out electronics duo Truman Peyote, here crafting a kind of crooked ferris-wheel ride, somewhere between sound collage and bedroom pop."

QUILT – 'Quilt' C28 $4
"edition of 100. At some strange meeting place between psych, punk, and drone, Boston trio Quilt: eerie three-part harmonies, cavewoman drumming, repetitive hypnotic guitar riffs."

THE GREAT VALLEY – 'Sophia’s Skull/White Gloves' C42 $4
"The Great Valley, pretend pop dreamsters, recorded this cassette during a week in an attic, sleeping during the day and working only at night. A choir of crickets backs up the spooky crooners on every track. The twin dreams of Diamond Mouse and Big Dipperr lying back against back: Sophia's Skull and White Gloves. Multi-instrumental music for make-believers, with saws, organs, and lyrics about shrunken skulls, little sisters, and creepy gloves. Listen to it on Halloween." edition of 100.

WEBSITE

Softlight Reveries C20 $5.75(Can)/$6(US)/$7(world)
"toa guitar transcended until further notice. 4 visitations with no begining/end, lowest of fi."

'climax one' C56 & C39 $14
"cassette one- old rig(kimberly dawn big bro's Pat and Frank on glasscading melodics to warm the heart and tickle the brain)/mourning rituals (hunter s cloud on sagging electronics vs slowdance steelgrind squashed into meloncollie murk-stew ala 20 year old dustbunny ghettoblaster). cassette two- Gitche-Anahmi-Bezheu(formerly dream safari-Ian N. on greymatter droop dazzling dizzilly about, beautifull tones bending into endless maze)/ albino groupie (pummeler's mikkel valentine on sun peirced heaven tones pointing pillows toward the promised land). liners on transparent projector paper, multicoloured spraypainted tapes $14 world/shipping all included, all shipping costs round out at about the same ($7 or so everywhere), we'll pack it nice and safe for you all."

Pine Smoke Lodge - 'eta carinae' $4.5(Can)/$5(US)/$6.5(world)
"Hillary and Matt bringing it all with this 3 track 50+ minute mindmelter. Some personal favourite listens are aiken to same idea of “The Theatre of Eternal Music”. But for me personally even more so im in love with chamber’esque acoustics running there course with just enough electronic enhancement/treatments to bring a listeners soul into further hidden dimensions of pleasure. Eta Carinae brings the stars to your doorstep with even further electronically enhanced acoustics meshed with synthetic blankets of love wrapping you tight. Bowed strings, brass, chimes, subdued racket, winds, steam, synthesized lulls, possibly even reeds...all the ear needs to take flight accordingly. Grip this! its f'n free with the double cs." and

EMAIL

Perpetually in the red, ‘The Dying Light’ begins without preface from a profane and indifferent position: nihilistically filling all 78 minutes of the disc, what light there is – the shape, conflict, dynamic of life – is already an afterthought, and what remains is a welter of bent airwaves and kicked-up ash like under the wings of some overamplified destroying angel; lulls and peaks are sporadic, organic, and thus, largely non-symbolic. Though noisier than previous Robe. endeavors, some might still sense the band’s meta-narratives of cosmic distress and occultish desires beneath these added layers of sonic rubble. I however detect something wholly different at work. In these nine tracks I hear an artistic death, a band imploding in contortions of loathing – inward, outward, and across – seated in a stubborn refusal to go on. A Little Fury Things CDr in a run of 100 copies. Available for $5 HERE.

Aleph Naught’s ‘Coagula’ is a smelting of over-hot elements rendered into huge drones. Moving beneath a thick haze of effects, the colorful titles of these tracks are even more befuddling than most as the obtuse angles of “Cast The Seed Into The Field Of Night” clash with the already obscure sound to which it’s attached. Though others such as “The Bleeding Sun” might be more readily accepted as it names an object to be identified in the abstract drone, this would undermine the singular cohesion of the style, so aptly illustrated in the cover art. Not exactly to its betterment, the momentum of the disc is disturbed as these 30 minutes are split between four discrete tracks which effectively reset and recycle the growth of each piece, and thereby diminish the sum effect. Labeled CDr comes in a full-color sleeve. A Twilight Luggage release available HERE.

Knight Rider - 'Dancing Together' lathe-cut 7" $12(USA)/$16(WORLD)
"If pop and noise had a kid, and that kid had down syndrome, then it would probably sound something like Knight Rider. This Los Angeles based duo have been around for quite some time, laying down their heavy beats, odd guitar melodies, and mostly undecipherable vocals. After a hand full of cassette’s and mini cd-r’s this is the bands vinyl debut. This 7″ contains two songs that could very well be considered ’singles’. Though Knight Rider can be known for their noisy, sometimes border line industrial performances, these songs are catchy and extremely well arranged – but without losing any of the odd qualities that make Knight Rider one of the most unique and intriguing acts in Los Angeles. This is a very limited run of only 30 lathe cut 7″ records, made in New Zealand on transparent records. They come in plastic sleeves with photocopy transfered covers and a partial fold over back side." HERE

ZIM ZIM ZIM - 'the private tapes' C30 5€
"psychedelic women duo. strange vibes. a collage from different sessions. for fans of musique concrete and finland."

A WINTER MORNING AT A FLEMISH POND C50 5€
"a very soothing and relaxing long fieldrecording of water, ducks, birds, forest whispers, etc."

DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE - '... on seafaring isolation' C40 5€
"cassette version of the oop Not Not Fun lp. very limited edition!"

ID M THEFT ABLE - 'babb's bridge' LP 12€
"debut lp by this monster of current fluxus. fits right next to Sten Hanson & Otto Muhl."

DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE - 'voyage' C60 5€
"limited reissue of the two Voyage cassettes, previously released on Skulls Of Heaven and Pacific City."

KOB - 'oops & yamaha cs1' C20 4€
"Laurent Cartuyvels (of R.O.T., Veglia Records, ...) with sparse signals and crude loops."

DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE - 'the music of belief' C60 5€
"limited tape (only 25 copies will be made available) version of a forthcoming cd (to be released on Release The Bats). one sidelong piece and 10 shorter pieces. made to awake the listener's inner-seeing or God-vision."

SHARK FLAKES - 'from love with rushia' C15 4€
"beautiful 60's style radio play by Joker & Edith. Edith Vandenhoeck plays in EekhoornX (together with Orphan Fairytale)"

PERUVIAN BIRDS C30 5€
"30 mins of fieldrecordings of Peruvian Birds."

INNERCITY C20 4€
"dark 90's style electronics by the guy behind the Why So Serious label."

DUNCAN CAMERON - 'time' C20 4€
"reissue of the Duncan Cameron tribute cassette, the guy who was used as the Montauk Channel."

PINK BUFFALO - 'made in the shade' 4€
"more old school subdued tape works and synth riddles by Eric Fry, the head behind the Scumbag imprint."

BIRDS OF PARADISE C60 4€
"fieldrecordings of South American birds..."

SWIMMING WITH THE HAWAIAN SPINNER DOLPHINS C20 4€
"a soothing 20 mins of water-, snorkling- and dolphin squeeks and sounds."

DUNCAN CAMERON - 'a horseback ride to the sanctum of Montu' c20 4€
"limited reissue of the second DC cassette. previously released on Tanzprocesz (wich is OOP)."

AUDIOBOOK - 'the montauk project' C110 4€
"find out all about this heavy project of Brain and Time altering! (in English)"

WEBSITE

White Rainbow - 'Sea Thru' C94
"NEW WHITE RAINBOW TAPE "SEA THRU" AVAILABLE NOW ON GNAR TAPES AND SHIT TAPE LABEL. C-94 MEANS 94 MINUTES OF DEEPER DRIFTS! ONE SIDE IS ONE 47 MINUTE LONG DEEP, BEAT-LESS AMBIENT ATMOSPHERE FOR YOUR PERSONAL CHILL SPACE ("MUSIC FOR A CIRCULAR ROOM", ORIGINALLY FOR A DOUG AITKEN INSTALLATION). THE OTHER SIDE IS 2 DEEP 20+MINUTE DRONE WASHES ("SKYS POSITION: FOR TOM BLOOD" AND "GNAR 2": REMIX OF MY FIRST GNAR TAPE). CRAWL INTO YOUR POUCH AND START A CANDLE. GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOTTT..... Edition: 100."

White Fang - 'Best of White Fang Vol. 3' C6
"Three of White Fang's best new tracks recorded initially as video by Sean Stout (terroreyes.tv) at White Fang's former "commune" the Meat Factory. A perfect update for fans of Fang who want it heavy and ready to fuck shit up. If you're down for the shred, then you want this. A Side: Younger, Portland Sucks. Edition: 100."

WEBSITE

WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT/(d)(b)(h) split C40 $5
”I'm extremely proud to have the privilege of releasing this fine split between what are quickly becoming my two favorite horn-centric projects going on today. Wasteland Jazz Unit offer up a complete mindfuck of blown out reed-damage scurrying between your ears in a tornado of panning shrieks and rumbles. Joined by Chris Adams on percussion for some of the most intense shit I've had the pleasure from hearing from the hardest working woodwinds in the biz. Justin Clifford Rhody's ever evolving supergroup (d)(b)(h) (here, Damaged Bachelor Hood) pick up where WJU leave off with an intensely potent cacophony of trumpet, guitars and cymbals which build slowly through thick organic dissonances and searing dynamic washes. edition of 60.”

NASA – ‘High Cube’ C32 $5
”One of the most recognizable structures at the Walt Disney World Resort, Spaceship Earth plots a timeline from the origins of prehistoric man to the dawn of the 21st century. This post-everything Orlando trio, likewise, takes you on a half hour headtrip thru the dawning of blown-out blues to the trance-inducing psychedelia of tomorrow with a little slow-burning drone and groove-damaged stoner sludge along the way. Recorded in 2007, High Cube leaves no sonic bowl left untoked, picking up where past releases on Not Not Fun and H-tapes left off. edition of 60.”

SLASHER RISK – ‘Chillers’ C65 $5
”Recorded live at the Knitting Factory this past July as part of Pendu's New York Eye & Ear II, Chillers reflects the duo's shift as part of a 8 hour continuous drone room. A final frontier for a band whose shows have been cited as both the greatest "fuck-all insane feedback seance in NYC today" (impose magazine) and "like watching them blow up an old Vegas casino" (wfmu), there was much anticipation to how this duo would translate their signature bombast for a more subdued drone. Their answer, an electric seance, summoning the most wicked thunderstorm any basement in Tribeca has ever seen. Awe-inspiring and breathtaking, Slasher Risk has to be one of the most versatile bands going today. edition of 60.”

DRIPHOUSE – ‘Romati & Gains’ C27 $5
”Daren Ho, former shredking of Raccoo-oo-oon and recent NYC transplant, has been melting minds like a hot knife thru warm space butter under his synth-ladden solo moniker Driphouse through a handful of releases from the likes of Night People and Ho's own Gel imprint. Here, Daren offers two intensely psychedelic excursions which lull the listener to a deep peaceful pyschosis, before dissolving into thin air. In a word, mesmerizing. edition of 60.”

CHIMEBAG – ‘Tour exclusive’ C30 $5
”Half hour of unprocessed Windchimes, bootlegged from an old Reader's Digest mailaway. Originally sold on Grasshopper's Fuck Yoga/Fuck Jazz East Coast tour with Slasher Risk this past November. 1st in a series of anonymous mood-inspiring "20 bags". edition of 20.”

WEBSITE

‘A Peaceable Kingdom’, the first CD by The Golden Sores and their second release to date, finds the Chicago duo recapturing the esoteric imagery, overpowering-yet-abstract titles, and cohesive drone of their debut. Though it’s honestly not plain which element is the most valuable – the religiousness of band’s visual aesthetic (from the medieval of their self-release into Bloodlust!’s baroque darkness) works phenomenal wonders for the perception of this equally austere sound – it is apparent that if any advance has been made, it is into the treatment of the recordings. With a shortening of scope, they seem to have stepped back from their play with form to make finer adjustments at the level of grain (and certainly these two things are impossible to wholly separate): where textures previously cut great swathes of vacant space in an almost figurative abstract sound, each of the six tracks on ‘A Peaceable Kingdom’ follow a similar formula of drone base and accumulating layers, resulting in an unequivocally drone album. Less Xenakis, more Oliveros - a blessing for the pragmatic drone user. Broad, low-frequency tones rumble beneath cheery mids making for a relentless optimism which clashes with titles like “Klonopin” and “The Awful Rowing Toward God”. Though marred by white-hot scrabble and jolts of feedback – certifiable “noise” - these effects appear simply a stylized veneer beneath which the actual form emerges. CD comes in a jewelcase with professional inserts. (Bloodlust! CD, $14 HERE)

#26 Frostbitter - 'Bloody Embassy' C20 $4
"This tape is kind of like a wall of synth, the fat pulsing layers of oscillators are synced up to bring out subtle melodic and rhythmic pulses within what seems to be a static sound. If you listen very closely it begins sounding like techno, but back away and it's all texture and timbre." limited to 20.

#22 Julia La Dense - 'New York Is For Artists' C92 $4
"It's like a collage but made of sound, or possibly a new method of DJing that serves no purpose. A long tape of detournement and found sounds, interpreted through microphones in couches and thoroughly processed. Julia La Dense makes music to get lost and confused in." limited to 20.

#21 Cool Band Now - 'Better Ingredients, Better Pizza, Cool Band Now/Logan Bean The EP' C62 $5
"Two CBN releases in one, this is the kind of band where the song and genre change every two minutes and yet there is this weird coherency to everything that makes it an instant classic. We only had 15 minutes of sound for the B side so I put Logan Bean in reverse and tacked that onto the end. The flow is incredible. Get a six pack and sit down with this tape and finish those beers before the cassette runs out, it's like synching dark side with wizard of oz." limited to 24.

#15 The Mystery Train / Mouse Heaven - 'Split' C15 $4
"The Mystery Train makes western punk rock music in Minnesota, Mouse Heaven makes western post-punk chamber music in California. Side A is fast and blown out, side B is slow and warbly. It all just works together somehow." limited to 62 .

#14 Arnau Sala - 'Hermafrodites' C10 $4
"Arnau Sala makes innovative experimental music in Barcelona. The A side features sputtering and hypnotic clicks, interspersed with touches of filtering, resonance, and light washes of sound. The B side is the exact opposite: the calm, machine like quality of the first half is replaced by a harsh stampede of static and engines, tamed by filters and eq." limited to 25.

#13 Verrinnt - 'The Pros And Cons Of Cloudy Sunsets' C20 $4
"From the artists mouth: 'These songs all started with brief, but intense bursts of inspiration, and were then quickly abandoned. Months later I decided to 'finish them'. I left them all as they were.' Acoustic phasing pieces, recorded in garage band through the macbook internal mic." limited to 24.

WEBSITE

Sensible Nectar C60 $4
”AM10 - Justin is Sensible Nectar. Hailing from the Baltimore area of Maryland, the sound of Sensible Nectar is not that same as that trash filled city of filth. Clean, airy delay petals with crisp transitions and haunting effects, You Are All I Could Ever Ask For is precious and chilling. Justin has been playing in several bands at a time since he was in middle school including Age Sixteen, Sawhorse, Shadow Government, A Perfect Kiss, etc. He has always been really fascinated with any sort of ambient or noise music without much contemporary structure, and is also obsessed with guitar effects pedals, so Sensible Nectar is a result of that. Justin recorded using a few mics in his garage through a Firepod into Garage Band. Minimal mixing and mastering. C60 limited to ten.”

Earth Incubator/Julia LaDense C47 $4
”AM08 - Earth Incubator is the experimental project from Russia’s Alexander Kibanov. Kibanov provides two tracks; Flight to the Sun is an expansive piece compiled with beauty and distinction. The journey is of ecstasy and enlightenment, a movement of growth and a return to educate the masses - a true hero’s journey! Taking up the better half of Side A and complementing the hiss of the typical cassette sound the track is of rare defiance. The second track provides us with Kibanov’s own rendition of the Cure’s Siamese Twins. Drudging into the depths of what Kibanov represents- the song comes off daunting and typical of such unique flavor. Julia LaDense, the “mother”, contributes her own two tracks for Side B. The first track named after a fictional town in Washington State takes the listener onto what sounds like a carrousel ride. The second track enlists J.Scott on a vocal piece reading an exert from Hegel’s Philosophy of Right atop Julia’s repertory style of classical tape noise and experimental sound. The two artists are unique in their own right but come together in complimentary sound best listened to on headphones. c47 limited to ten.”

Coyote Clean Up CDr $5
”AM09 - Coyote Clean Up is a sensational fucken sound and Double Trouble is an amazing album. 23 tracks - it just isn’t enough... after completing the album you’ll want to play it again. Double Trouble provides the listener with the most tender vibes and sensual beats - like ice melting on the tongue of your lover as she slowly slips off her panties - you know you are about to get a treat. CDr limited to ten. “

WEBSITE

HR107 Jeffry Astin - 'Stray Dreams Zodiac' C20
"In stride with the no-fi key fidelities established on an earlier summer split c19 with Josh Burke - densely packed and deeply hypnotic, all flows."

HR106 Gitche-Anahmi-Bezheu/Jugu split C24
"Incredible carousel-like sprawl from Ian Najdzionek's latest brain-child Gitche-Anahmi-Bezheu - expertly crafted meditative vibes. Jugu is a new emerging beast, with two mighty sets of industrious Gainesville hands at play : Royallen + Evan Galbicka (Antigua Ibis, head of Vanishing Hour)."

HR105 Talugung - 'Adelosa Glare' C30
"Ryan Waldron has a keen sense for the ethereal. The sounds he conjures from household glasses to rickety old strung things reflect a fair and balanced illustration of the nature of our reality. Minors and majors gently twist and curl in organic harmonics. No attempt is made to beautify or perfect the output for the objects resound in their own subtle inherited vibration, harmonious even in dissonance."

HR100 Xiphiidae - 'Sewn Within a Circle' 2xC60
"Recalls recordings passed, circa 2002 to 2009 - has the same kind of "feel" as 'Crystal Marvelous Fruit' (released late in '08 on ExBx) in that it's a collection of older material sorting through a wide array of instrumentation and sourcing but this also includes select tracks from the first few Xiphiidae releases on Housecraft like: 'Honeyguide', 'Our Bodies Anointed With Lightning', Royallen split CDr, and 'Celestial Rag Rug', as well as a couple tracks from the s/t cassette release on Scumbag early in 2006 - all with a pinch of virgin material/fold-out art and here's our #100!"

WEBSITE

A highly-probable accompaniment to the recently-reviewed Agitated Radio Pilot disc, this little CDr by Yawning Chasm (Aaron Coyne) is a somber response to the craftier Merge-iness of ‘A Field Day’. Titled ‘The Shadow is That Hidden’, these six tracks strip-down the arrangement to mainly guitar and a little keyboards, though with no less ingenuity in song-writing, nor lyricism. Recalling a number of down-tempo bands of the wounded Indie era – Codeine, Cobalt, Bedhead – the minor notes and hushed, lazily-melodic verses reverberate in the low ceiling of an overcast day, feeling as small and strangely cozy, and rather contradictory to the McCarthyian symbolism in songs titled “Distant Fires”, “Tumble River”, or “Your Bones Will Bleach White”. Probably not the choicest of comparisons, but the chord progressions and watery chorus effect in “To The Void” - relentless melancholy, and lyrical stroll - echoes Three Mile Pilot (whose recent comeback 7” I just listened to – but the comparison holds true beyond this, and the late-dawning repetition in the first sentence of this review, please believe me). The portastudiobility of all these songs are most evidently realized in the closing track, as bird sounds and the whir of ambient electricity bring a total range to such a simplistic strum and refrain; the creative glut of aMinor Forest are called to mind, but more so the ambitious poverty of that era. Handmade sleeve with photo paste-on. (Rusted Rail 3”CDr, 5€ HERE)

jason crumer - 'a personal hell' 7"
"jason crumer never ceases to amaze me. lots of people can do harsh noise well, but I can't think of too many (any?) that can make it sound so deliberate, personal, and soulshredding. this 7" is no exception, a personal hell sounds just about right. metal drags, scrapes, bangs, and creaks - blowing microphones, speakers, and yr mind. the sample will give you a hint of what's in store, but those that step up to this thing will come to get the full understanding. you won't be disappointed. edition of 300 on brown/green vinyl. cover art by chris murdoch. photos by roxann and rachal spikula."

jenks miller - 'zen automata volume one: v'
"this is a departure from jenks’ horseback project, to say the very least. it a documentation of sorts of some dying electonics – sounds made by a machine, seemingly of its own will, as it could no longer serve its intened purpose. i’ll be honest, this is a tough listen in many ways. some may find it monotonous and frustrating, others might find its purity meditative and rewarding. proceed with caution. edition of 51 copies featuring the artist’s own drawings."

ulv - 'stille storm' CDr
"striking dark ambient material from the man behind the svartgalgh label. very quiet, contemplative tracks tailor made for headphone listening. edition of 72 copies."

willful - '1982' 3"CDr
"a multifaceted, nearly 20 minute ritual that starts with some minimal acoustic noise, moves into gut-wrnching electronics, then into some metal work that builds into a massive wall of noise. edition of 61 copies."

josh lay - 'true mask' CD
"it's hard to believe that this is the first josh lay release to find its way to the compact disc format. fittingly, josh considers this to be his best work to date, and i can't say i disagree. this is a four track, nearly 40 minute meditation on the masks people wear to make their way in the world. elements of black metal, harsh noise, power electronics and dark ambient combine to create a dark, twisted environment built from electronics, guitar, and some of the most gutteral vocals I've heard him spew. the accompanying art was hand-made by the artist. edition of 200 copies packaged in jewel cases with 4-panel inserts and double sided jewel cases."

WEBSITE

A post-rock cassingle in both form and content, the ‘White Lights’ C15 by Kevin Greenspon is a nifty pair of recordings (“Flicker” and “Fade”) which have been extravagantly-rendered then flattened to overcome the imperfect feel of the engineering. Solos constructed in rhythmic duet, each side features watery, ambient guitar patterns leant some impression of direction by this low-tech, “vibe”-oriented production which the immense hiss of the dub only duplicates to complete the music’s corroded patina and smartly-composed emotion. Tape comes with a photocopied inlay.

Though the previous example hardly proves the case, around here often all you get is points for originality, and the ‘Snapped’ C20 by Splinter Cake scores across the board. Appropriating old-timey big band recordings in a righteous theft, our Smell-y host improvises snotty, bloated verses with the occasional flourish of a distorted Peavey scribble. Assuring that the mastering issue was not acute/deliberate to the Greenspon release, the caustic MC is less than complimented by the wash of stepped-on reproductive waste, though it does heighten the mystery (often betrayed by his lyrics) which sources the music to an uncertain era somewhere within the last century. It’s a crusty burlesque which results, and when it clicks (and often does), it is truly exhilarating for the re-command of agency when our crooner converges with the phantom band (“take it home, boys!”) to follow his lead - what the LA kids should be insisting replace the shitty post hoc soundtrack to that corporate “jerking” sensation. Tape comes in a thick, full-color j-card. High recommendation. (Obeast cassette, $5 HERE)

Cultus Sabbati - 'The Auraeon' LP
"In support of their recently released album The Auraeon, Cultus Sabati have released a music video of their apocryphal version of Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U." The video is a torrent of hissing noise boiling with sexual perversion and cryptic analogies to necrophilia. Often compare to black metal and dark ambient Cultus Sabbati defy all labels, preferring instead to create without putting their work in a specific grave. All the members of this illusive group remain anonymous. Though they have performed rare live rituals over the past five years, as yet no images of the members have surfaced. The Auraeon is available in full from their website and last.fm pages. Limited edition vinyl will be made available in February 2010." HERE

[TLO01] Midday Veil - 'Queen of the Void' CD
"Eluding tidy categorization, Seattle's Midday Veil draws from an ever-deepening well of influences including sacred and world music, folk, blues, metal, avant-garde, noise, new age and krautrock. Queen of the Void is a pagan rock mini-epic of incantatory psychedelia unfolding over two expansive tracks. Edition of 300 CDs in hand-screened covers."

[TLO02] Midday Veil - 'Subterranean Ritual' CD
"An abstract, improvised full-length consisting of material channeled from the cosmic beyond in a single all-night session. Edition of 300 CDs in hand-screened covers."

WEBSITE

MOTHERFUCKING - 'UK TOUR' CDr
"Motherfucking went to the UK in August to play eleven concerts and I believe this CDR is their tour CD. They play one piece, almost twenty-nine minutes, which is very much along the lines of the Faux Amis LP, but better recorded. Here too improvisation plays a big part (I have no idea about the band line up, but there are drums, bass and guitars for sure), but things are stretched out a bit more. Motherfucking takes more time to develop their piece and sound also less chaotic than Faux Amis. Everything is almost pushing the loudest peak in sound, making this (also) to quite a noisy affair. The quality is, as said, much better, with more attention to the low end of the music. Quite a dense recording, and musically better than Faux Amis, but they share both the raw energy of improvised noise rock. limited edition of 75. November 2009. 1 track, 29 min."

SEIJIRO MURAYAMA - 'SOLOS' CD
"The man who played drums in ANP (a duo with KK Null) and Fushitsusha (with Keiji Haino) returns to playing solo here, 'using one head snare drum with microphones, without sound effects', as it says on the cover (although the press text mentions a cymbal too). I assume he plays the snare drum with something, objects, sticks, brushes? Two pieces do rather sound the same: 'Ssei' and 'Llott' (if I read that well, its handwritten and not easy to read): rubbing sticks over the head and producing trainlike sounds, rolling faster and faster. In 'Aug' he plays the most 'traditional' piece of improvised music, hectic, nervous, but with a great control of the instrument, making it sound entirely different throughout this piece. In 'Ejie', the final and longest piece on the CD is an entire drone like piece. Hard to imagine how he plays this, but it could be objects pressed hard to the surface or perhaps some sort of bowing technique. This is the best piece of these four, but through I thought this was a pretty strong disc anyway. Excellent solo improvisation. Edition of 550. November 2009. 4 tracks, 44 min."

FAUX AMIS - 'I' LP
"Big band collaboration LP in the style of the Drapeau Noir album that pits a bunch of player associated with the free music scene around Lyons in France, Motherfucking, I'm A Grizzly, Julien Dupont, Francois Virot, La 6eme Faute, with members of the current crop of underground groups centered on Sheffield - Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides, Chora, Helhesten and Lanterns. In April 2008 the collective recorded amarathon five hour jam, of which this LP presents 35 minutes of highlights. The form ranges from obtuse NNCK-style navigations of the furthest fringes of form through lolloping almost International Harvester/ Parson Sound-style psychedelic monoliths. Edition of 550. August 2009. 3 tracks, 28 min."

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ecr32- deep magic/love cult split C60 $4

ecr31- inhibitionists - 'phantom tart brother' 3"CDr $4

ecr30- aghori - 'forced fate' C30 $4

ecr29- enfer boreal/pine smoke lodge - 'lighting the qulliq vol. 1' 2x3"CDr $8

ecr28- sparkling wide pressure - 'bob moves/linda speaks' C30 $4

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Astral Social Club/Glockenspiel split 7" £5(UK)/£5.65(EU)/£6.4(World)
"Wheezing skyward born machine groans and gasped tremolo root to a kinetic pulse, while distant melody zones ascend to circulate around the bass flex on this face chewer by Neil Campbell. On the flip is the first vinyl cut by Glockenspiel, flocculent tones weave with tom rub and bowed metal harmonics, drifting on the back of a drum dub to the heart of a snow-blind haze of feedback, amplified string scrape and analogue electronics. Spin at 45. Art by Noah Campbell."

High Wolf - 'Supermodern Temple' C28 £5(UK)/£5.65(EU)/£6(World)
"Seriously high-level, horizontal Sun-traveller vibes on these sides from the French hero of plantain based smoke-magic. Whale visions of the future-now seen via wound up wind chime ellipses and air bubble hypnosis. Gradual, ecstatic plateaus of inter-special communication around dawning, jungle-island horizon keyboards and euphoric ocean-floor dance-party trance-outs. Loops of shore-dwelling guitar and hand percussion rituals usher in ancient, paradise island phazer goddesses, wordless conversations and electronic transmissions between the beached tribesmen and the spirits of the spheres, bouncing universal mind-rays off shiny, green dolphin fins. Art by Jason Kerley, pro dubbed cassettes."

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Noveller is the name for the solo work of Sarah Lipstate. ‘Red Rainbows’ is her first CD and second release for No Fun (following her debut LP also from this year). The label reports extensive credentials as both filmmaker and guitarist (Parts & Labor, Rhys Chatham’s ‘Guitar Army’), which is helpful as her music is anything but instructive. Aetshetically-like in sound and image, the watercolor-in-ink images of the sleeve and watercolor-on-x-ray short film of the enhanced disc in many ways reproduce the bleeding yet contained sounds – staticky drones and mid-frequency tones - which blot out the space of her recordings. Between the harsher electronic fringes of opening pair “Rainbows” and “Brilliant Colors” and closer “Bends”, the 25 minutes split between “St. Powers” and “Tunnels” – like the few pen lines of the images, with chimes offer the greatest contour to which the rest of the material sticks - feel destined for two sides of their own identity, as do the previous three in likeness; where the latter tracks hold much in common with the mimetic synthesizer dramas of Pulse Emitter, the sound figures of the central bulk are far more organic, instrumental, and less representational. The varied durations per track – from four minutes to twenty - reveal in their comparability the ultimate aimlessness of Lipstate’s method, a plain texture fetishist who sits with each sound and stretches, plods and plays with the dimensions until some unspecified goal is met which ends each piece. Indeed amorphous and perhaps over-indulgently exploratory, ‘Red Rainbows’ in the least offers codices to guide the willing listener. CD comes in standard No Fun gatefold. (No Fun CD, $16 HERE)

TZESNE - 'CUBIERTO CON TIERRA' 2.5E
"Tzesne es el emperador vasco del ruido dróniconírico y las grabaciones de campo de otro mundo. Junto a la videodélica Paralux conforma en vivo una experiencia audiovisual absolutamente alucinogenizante. "Cubierto con tierra" es un viaje de 74 minutos al corazón del sonido. Claustrofobia caleidoscópica oscura y subyugante como un agujero negro primordial. Triple portada en papel metalizado dorado, plateado y blanco e interior a todo color con reverso freudiano impreso en papel de dibujo. Cassette azul zafiro con gotas de negro. 90 copias.// Tzesne is the basque emperor of droneiric noise and field recordings from another world. Alongside videodelic Paralux, live they shape an absolutely alucinogenic audiovisual experience. " Covered with land " it is a trip of 74 minutes to the heart of the sound. Kaleidoscopic dark claustrophobia and subjugating as a black basic hole. Triple cover in metallized golden, silver and white paper and full color insert with freudian back printed in sketchbook paper. Blue sapphire cassette with drops of black. 90 copies." HERE

Gulliver - 'Never Ask' lathe-cut 8" $12(USA)/$16(WORLD)
"Gulliver has been hard at work since his debut cassette release in 2006, however none of his recordings since then have presented themselves in any physical form. This long overdue record is a collection of seven songs that show off his witty and catchy (yet somber) song writing. This record drops a lot of the hiss the cassette contained (though this was still recorded analog) but doesn’t stray from throwing assorted sound sample throughout the record. This a very limited release of only 30 lathe cut records, made in New Zealand on transparent records. They come in full-color, hand glued jackets with inserts hand painted and numbered by the artist." HERE

DW021 Flying Sutra – ‘Glowering and Glowing Red’ CDr $10
“Philadelphia's most dangerous free-rock duo thunders back with their second disc for Deep Water, more than confirming the promise of 2007's Levitate and Dissolve. Not content to merely reproduce their strengths, Glowering and Glowing Red (its title taken from a rave review of their first disc) expands the extremes in all directions - track lengths range from 38 seconds to 10+ minutes, the sonics get even broader and more exploratory via a wider sound palette and a growing mastery of real-time looping and effects, and the mood ranges from the monumental to the absurdist. Basically, these guys continue to ride a tectonic divide between art-punk skronk and heavy-duty free energy music with the kind of untamed precision that one usually expects only from your Japanese underground masters. Serious stuff here. 14 tracks, 66 minutes.”

DW022 Enfer Boréal/the.bricoleur/Tuscarora Borealis - ‘Spiritual Machine’ CDr $10
“While our fourth split release isn't quite tied to a "theme", it does share an intentionally atmospheric state of mind: We contacted three Transatlantic individuals who we knew to be particularly skilled at the creation of musical-electrical inscapes, and asked them to bring us something "hypnotic" (however they interpreted that) from their respective audio laboratories. Spiritual Machine is the mesmerizing result, an hour-long interlaced energy meditation that takes their distinct creations - France's Enfer Boréal offers up a densely vibrational 3-part suite that confirms his status atop of the Euro avant-drone pile; the.bricoleur, a UK-based sound sculptor who has worked with the likes of Current 93, contributes the spectral concréte of the title track; and PA's own Tuscarora Borealis, also a member of the Evening Fires family, beams in a brace of looping nature drones that channel classic kosmische impulses - and weaves them into a larger sonic hologram that encompasses whatever you might find there and more. Best heard quite loud from a position of comfortable stasis.”

DW023 Evening Fires – ‘Waves in the Air’ CDr $10
“Right on schedule, Evening Fires sail back around the ridge, riding an updraft of sonic bliss on the way to bring us their sixth full-length release. Several of the tracks on Waves In the Air took shape in preparation for a live radio show in summer 2008, and it's clear that the group mind at that point was focused on the possibilities of aetheric streaming and aerial transmission. Formed into a four-track suite that unfolds across some 50 minutes, bringing together saxophone raga & guitar psychedelia & the usual clouds of drone, collecting vibrations and beaming them onward, this is the sound of wide-eyed and windswept. Those whose antennae are similarly attuned are likely to find at least a bit of sympathetic reverberation.”

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Two live sessions with guest Matthew Lessner (of Stunned pair Masons), each sprawling across a side of the C30, ‘In Orbit’ is Cameron Stallones’ second release for Stunned as Sun Araw, and his first cassette with the label. It’s hard to say what’s a “one-off” these days, but this tapes seems to approach such a polarity with it’s late entrance and early, clipped exits; the live bleariness and seemingly extended “club” mix duration. Steering uncomfortably close to the southern borders of late Jackie O-Motherfucker ("Luther") and early White Rainbow ("That Geosynchronous Feeling"), the cleaner lines of a Sun Araw as glimpsed on ‘Boat Trip’ are stewed to the sweaty hippie middles of a jogger’s body. Wah wahd, beaded, and chanted in enthusiasm not symbol, the Sun Ark room materializes in these sides yet at the same time detach as the cover image, both here and increasingly “there” (in orbit?) And back on my “one off” point”: the concentration and production which comprises the bulk of the recordings and Stunned’s always stunning presentation of material wants to deny such degradation and just let it be. And any overt similarities to previous outsider musicians is in fact the exception which proves the case, that adoration of an innovator will always look at first of plagiarism, simply by the exceptional lack of others feasting from the same corpse. And in the end, this is all we can declare of such unorthodoxy. Imprinted white cassettes in a glossy thick J-card, limited to 222 copies. (Stunned C30, $7 HERE)