CRUUDEUCES "St. James" c21
ALEX HOMAN "That Is No Way To Talk To A Lady"
WEIRDING MODULE "Peace Offering" c57
(905 Tapes)


Cruudeuces is the music project of Nathaniel Brennan of North Adams, Massachusetts; a cool town to visit if you ever find yourself in the Northwestern part of the Bay State.  First off, you've got one of the coolest geological sites in all of New England: The Natural Bridge State Park (cool).  Secondly, this old mill town is home to a very cool contemporary art museum: the spacious and enticing group of buildings known as MASS MOCA (whuzit?).  Lastly, there is Mr. Brennan himself, noisily submerging his clarinet through a number of aquatic effects and using a net of coarse mesh to reel in the day's catch of sound.  This guy puts out a lot of stuff, and this is as good as any I've heard. The state park is just a minute from the dude's house, so blast some noise music as you drive by.

Alex Homan - Swishy delay loops with a bit of vocals and a lot of guitar.  Some of it gets very jiggy, but the endless echo bores me.  Only occasionally does a clear sound cut through on the A-side.  If you get drunk enough, you can make this kind of music without an effects pedal in sight.  Looks like Mr. Homan got the memo and attempted something on the the B-side that sounds more like the Beatles' acid damaged outtakes for "Across the Universe" followed by decent Popul Vuh imitation.  Make what thou wilt of this. c38

Michael Troutman, bassist of motor-city-styled rockers Awesome Color, makes something much more interesting with his Weirding Module solo project.  The first track "Cat Suicide"is a really heavy instrumental take on an Alan Vega-less "Ghost Rider."  The tape doesn't let you down from there.  Each of the following nine pieces is filled with interesting and dynamic electronic music of various styles.  Great recording with deep bass and an uncluttered arrangement. This guy has done a lot of good stuff already (check), but you'd be hard pressed to find a better representation of his skills than this new release. Recommended.

905 Tapes - Over 150 releases thus far and not stopping.  All of the tapes in this new batch have great art design: the front image being a removable rectangle that covers the J-card on which the credits are written.  Very much so: http://905tapes.com/