Psychic Blood "Autumn Curses"
(Feeble Minds)

Here is some cranked up, youthful, shoegaze noise rock played at full throttle. Fans of Metz, the Swirlies or My Bloody Valentine will be able to get behind this.

At first I was about to dismiss this cassette as another Sonic Youth rip-off project played by rookies, but Psychic Blood is determined to stand out. Psychic Blood avoids becoming copy cat rock through pure aggression and determination. They don't have the ability to solo on end like J Marcis does in Dinosaur Jr. (thus separating that act from countless indie rock three pieces), but their songs have a maturity that is expansive and complex. The songs rise and fall, linger, drive and live in a state of constant flux for the most part.

There are a few exceptions. For example, there is a chord progression on the song "Tuff Luck" which is ripped right out of "(I got a) Catholic Block" by Sonic Youth. It is subtle because it sits between two different progressions, but it is still evident and distracting.

I know chord progressions and certain motifs are copied infinitely in the world of music. Study the history of the AMEN BREAK drum beat for a perfect example. But if you are going to copy a certain chord progression, at least present it differently by playing it with different tones. Maybe try the progression with a flanger as opposed to drenching it with reverberation like every shoegaze band in the universe does. Or doing it acoustically. Or try playing the progression through a non-traditional instrument. Whatever, just remix the music as opposed to redoing the music. Otherwise, the reviewer begins to question the integrity of the artist. My question when stuff like this is caught is "are you interested in progressing underground music or are you just in this to imitate your predecessors because you like them?". To be fair, the artists may not have known this progression prior to writing the song. In my own defense however, it is a fair critique when certain moments sound too much like lost B-Sides to classic indie rock albums like Sonic Youth's "Sister".

Another complaint I have is the vocals. This seems to be coming up a lot as I review tapes. Maybe it's just me and most people don't give a crap what people are saying. But I will argue there is a severe lack of focus today with rock bands when it comes to lyrics. What the hell is this vocalist saying on this cassette? It sounds like he's playing a game of chubby bunny. The vocals are atonal and don't congeal well to the shoegaze guitar. The vocals are passionate, growled and abrasive, so I do not question the singer's intentions, but they are distorted and reverberated into background noise. I don't pay attention to them. I suppose the album would feel lacking if they weren't there, but they also don't contribute a whole lot. A lyric sheet isn't bothered to be supplied.

This is a gnarly and good tape made by three guys who have potential. Hopefully these guys will stick around long enough to make some significant work. For now they'll have to settle being accomplished and solid. Psychic Blood's drive and ambition is ripe to blossom into innovation.

--Jack Turnbull www.jackturnbull.com

CAUGHT ON TAPE "2x Cassette" (Manhand)



Though C.G.s is a beacon for the groundbreaking and often critically underrated, I have but one rap sheet from the "mainstream" and you will seldom hear a peep from me about it in the future.  This beautifully hand painted 2x cassette package comes from the duo of John Moloney/Thurston Moore documenting some of their best captured last year of free improv touring.  Like their s/t lp on Feeding Tube Records and lesser known Manhand releases "Acting the Maggot" and "Irish-American Prayer" the stuff is duplicated straight from cassette recordings of live shows. 

A bit about each side:

A1: Right out the gate with full frontal guitar musk, barrage dissolving into TM's patented tonal scrapings and knocks.  Later a rendition of "Staring Statues" from the Psychic Hearts LP.

A2: Frantic drums dissolve into what sounds like jamming on a no input mixer but is probably the tape recorder too close to guitar amp destruction through the tri metal pedal, then back into hc punx blast w hints of stoner riffs/full boogie/halloween vibrato in no set chronology.

B1: Floor tom wash under rat squall/heavy space fire from some far off place.

B2: Buzz and howl in continuance with side A1/crash decaying into next crash. Room noise and drones.  Drums to the front with an abrupt ending.  2/4 sides have an abrupt ending.


Check yr favorite record store for this and the Caught on Tape LP and look out for more undoubtably sporadic releases in the future.

- -Matt Robidoux

STENORETTE "01 [Red]" (self-released)




In a series of color-coded releases, Stenorette presents subtle, aurally pleasing sound collage w/ a concise visual aesthetic.

From their bandcamp site: "Stenorette is the experimental sound project of Ben Worth and Ben Dyson - two ex-pat Brits who met in their adopted home city of Toronto, Canada. Their sounds are created using various tapes, vinyl, found sound, and heavily processed guitar. All work is 100% improvised and every session is recorded live to cassette. It is often unclear who is doing what."

RIYL: cubes, off white, tonal music, planes taking off and landing, oxygen tanks, moons, doors opening and closing, foreign countries, rpgs, chimes, mobiles, low talking, sub-frequencies, cb scans

- -Matt Robidoux

http://stenorette.bandcamp.com/album/01-red

MIDDAY VEIL "The Current" (Translinguistic Other)

Cowabunga. Weirdos unite through the transcendent power of "Midday Veil", a six piece psychedelic rock band who recorded this cassette, "the Current", in Seattle. I would definitely agree this cassette is very current sounding. Fans from the whole spectrum of exotic sound ranging from 80s synth horror movie soundtrack enthusiasts, Swedish hippie commune members with a love for Harvester (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZAxzdB94jw), Blue Velvet lounge ballad jazz cats, and anyone you could generally describe as a pretty cool dude/dudette can get behind this cassette and feel like they have just listened to something better than one hell of a flying carpet themed pinball game.

First, this cassette stands out because it is so full. A spectrum of tones, moods and genres melt together at hypnotic dance pulses. The Midday Veil has six members who can travel just about any speed and tackle any theme effortlessly and as a unit. With six songs, 3 on each side, this is just about perfect in your 1988 Honda Accord cassette deck while driving by the beach late at night on Halloween. The production value on the tape is stellar and on par with early seventies rock and roll studio whizzes. The doubled female vocals balance the horror synth with strong, sultry disco harmonies. GNARLY Fuzz Bass lines throughout.

The overall magic glue of The Midday Veil's cassette is that this is dance music at its core. It is demanded by the band's emphasis on percussion, drumming and modular synth. Even the ambient parts oscillate and are presenting in pulsating melodic sequence. Emily Pothast gets straight up Aretha Franklin ballad sounding and the baritone guitar even gets close to Black Sabbath territory, but these would sound best live in the center of a roller rink while everyone was busting a move.


This is really a full spectrum dance cassette. Keep your cassette player in the repeat position and play it at your next costume party.

High honors!

Also available on LP/CD/Download: http://middayveil.bandcamp.com/album/the-current

--Jack Turnbull

Simon Joyner
"A Rag of Colts-Disgraced Songs 1987-2012"
(Unread Records

 Simon Joyner is a folk fella currently in his 40s residing in Omaha. His music has been cited as influencing and inspiring artist such as Conor Oberst and The Mountain Goats and reached acclaim when John Peel played Joyners album "The Cowardly Traveller Pays His Toll" in its entirety on air. The great label Unread Records and Tapes, currently operating out of Pittsburgh, has released 3 tapes by Joyner. Rag of Colts, the latest release, is a collection of demos and abandoned songs from 1987-2012. Joyners style is reserved and pulls no tricks but his style of song and storytelling is pure. Some songs are Joyner alone and others are with a band or another collaborator. All in all for someone who is not drawn to this sort of thing I really enjoyed this tape. The whole thing plays out well and is a nice clouded dip into his world.

http://unread-records.com/
http://unreadrecords.bandcamp.com/album/unread-125
http://www.simonjoyner.net/

-- Mark Johnson

Hi, My Name is Ryan
"Secrets" (self released)


Here we have a tape by Ryan Avery of Phoenix. He's know for his performance art and playing in the thrash band Fathers Day. He has released a tape of private acapellas, poems and pocket recordings. This tape comes with a insert urging you to listen to it alone so you can fully take in these times where hi life was truly changing. The whole thing he's trying to accomplish can be admired, but the fact that there's edition of 100 on pro printed tapes with bandcamp links takes all the intimacy away from it. Secrets was not for me but glad you did it Ryan.

--Mark Johnson

http://himynameisryan.bandcamp.com/album/secrets

MOIN - 12" EP (Blackest Ever Black)


Blackest Ever Black drops a brilliant debut EP from Tom Halstead and Joe Andrews aka Raime's rowdier alter ego, Moin. If you caught their side of BEB's Confessions split series with Pete Swanson, then you've probably been anxiously awaiting this to arrive. It absolutely delivered, too. A bit more brash and less direct than this duo's previous output, this EP holds a much sharper blade to their usual medium of live drums, guitar, bass, and various scrap metal. Angular guitar riffs shriek and howl, with cyclic drums and bass passages that stagger in and out of any particular time signature. There's bursts of strategic feedback that are so pointed, you can almost feel it jabbing at you. The entire record has an overwhelming nervousness throughout, mainly in the vocals, with fits of harsh noise and post-punk shrapnel, and you never really know which they'll drop on your head next. Moin have offered up a dark and curiously melodic album, with all the haunting momentum and environmental abuse you'd expect, but this project nods more towards early outsider rock and hardcore, maybe even no wave, than Raime's dub, dread and electronic vibe. Highly recommended. Get a copy from B.E.B.

Hare Akedod "001"
(Hare Akedod)

Here we have a fancy packaged tape by a duo consisting of Bent Von Bent and David Edren from Antwerp. The duo plays in the style of past Ultra Eczema releases on 001 we hear a zither, electric and acoustic guitars, synths, singing bowls, vocals and effects. This their first recordings, done live in 2011, and is very pleasing to the ear but you get the point very fast and they don't try to surprise you. Drones and plucks here and there with effects bending things every now and again. Packaged in a large single tape case with a red gel inset and dual color cover.

http://hareakedod.tumblr.com/
http://hareakedod.bandcamp.com/album/001

-- Mark Johnson

EGON GONE "A Buffoon in Every Gallon" EP
(self-released)


Prolific sole proprietor Egon Gone ghosts a new batch of tracks from a new bunker in wooded Ohio, a segmented slithering worm type of an ep , ranging from >0:40 soundcheck segues to guitar and casio psychic pop pastiche, equal parts beat and noise driven.  Textures unravel surprisingly throughout.  The arrangements and drum programming are a carefully plotted sonic illustration of the true producer's ear.  recommended hits: "Drinkin' Till the Flies Come Home" and "You Can't Kill Me".

On the later part of the tape, "Demon at the door" and "13 Seconds of Dust" veer towards a ghoul-ish p. industrial place, highly recommended for Gristle fans et. al.  

If you want for Egon to linger longer, he's posting new tracks on his soundcloud pretty consistently.  For a phys. copy of "A Buffoon…" paypal/contact trashunderspace@gmail.com and await further instructions.


- -Matt Robidoux


DAVID KENNETH NANCE
"Lush Bruises Suck Rice and Barley"
(UNREAD)



This new-ish UNREAD (release #122) offers some finer NE trash and roll, presumably rehearsed and recorded in one of three attached apartment houses that do that sort of thing in Omaha.  David Kenneth can howl like a Mick + Jonathan steering a scrap heap through through basement leakage, with extra cowbell and tape hiss in his crew to spare.  Themes are typically isolationist, drunkenly and existentially, scrubbing streets and unloading spiritual ammo, not impervious to loneliness but not defeatist.  Choice moments arrive in the way of shimmering leads over crashing free rhythms with the song structure teetering more towards the chaotic.  Mid album track "Lights Stay On" shifts to a lower gear for slower burners and some country joe reminiscent jamms.  The tougher/leathery tracks approach the cook-out zone but mostly steer the ship smoothly back on course.  

visit www.unread-records.com/releases/lush.html for this and many more releases, limited drawings/prints/paintings/nice notes by Christopher Fischer. 

- - Matt Robidoux


Alcohol Party / Tropical Trash
split cassette

This cassette is not innovative, but it is solid. The genre of "punk" (in lack of a better word to describe the music) is not progressed by these bands, but both acts impersonate the heroes of punk past extremely well. Like baking a layer cake, they also know how to converge their influences in interesting ways, although I was left wanting a few more ingredients.

On side A is Alcohol Party who bring two songs to the table: 1. Spider Milk and 2. Highly Suckable. You can hear post-hardcore influences loud and clear; the songs are on the long side and remind me of "Drive like Jehu" or even a more frantic and mathy "Birthday Party". There are disconcerting, repetitive minor note changes in the bass, yelled lyrics that are impossible to make out (and frankly sort of feel like an afterthought) and endless drum rolls. Let me elaborate on the drums here; the drums are great. They never take a backseat. The drums never phone it in with basic 4/4 beats. I really liked the drums.

Alcohol Party also incorporate influences from noise. Halfway through Spider Milk an oscillator makes sounds that are like an UFO landing. But their noise doesn't surprise me; it meshes with the general feel of the anxious, abrasive song.

Noise meshing isn't necessarily good. Noise, at its best, can be unsettling. Here noise is introduced but then just goes away before it can transform. There is only ONE oscillation in Spider Milk, it comes and goes and feels tamed like a lion at the circus, put on display momentary only to be quickly snatched away from the lime light.

"Highly Suckable" also introduces a synth for a second, but again, it is a device to showcase a sonic range, not something that transforms or pushes the boundaries of synths. Still, I need to call a spade a spade; these guys really do bring the rock, are tight, together and know how to play their instruments.

Alcohol Party's goal feels like they are interested in impressing the audience with quick chord changes and non traditional song set ups. That's fine, even impressive and commendable, but punk is out to ruin your evening. I'd like to see Alcohol Party go all the way and just give in to nihilistic noise. That, or maybe take a que from Pissed Jeans and really focus on their lyrics. Have them be understandable, relatable and ... whatever, maybe darkly humorous. Or they can be earnestly serious. It doesn't matter, they just need to be considered more.

Tropical Trash are slightly heavier and their guitars are a little more rounded as if they were coming from seventies tube amps. Their vibe is akin to a more masculine late 1980ties Sonic Youth that never becomes dire and completely out of control like the piercing, feedback drenched breakdown in "Silver Rocket". Frankly, this sounds so much like Daydream Nation it makes me nostalgic. Again, like Alcohol Party, Tropical Trash are very talented and know how to balance chaos and control. But that range needs to be exploited more here. Tropical Trash get closer to this, especially at the end of their second song "Leisure Expose". A single chord is held out for an extended amount of time. The song becomes quiet; hints of a crescendo are given through amplifier feedback that sound like humpback whale calls. Tropical Trash's lead singer then leans in like a young Steve Albani before the song goes back into full throttle.

There are moments of brilliance on this cassette. I really want to know what happens to both of these bands and I really want them to continue. I'd love to see where they go from here. Both bands have done their homework and put some real TLC into the cassette (I forgot to mention that the production and mixing on this cassette is FANTASTIC). I just want the envelope to be pushed a little more with the structure. I want the noise to be more piercing, I want the lyrics to be unavoidable (even just a lyric sheet in the liner notes I'll settle for) and for both bands to try producing their own personal "bohemian rhapsody". I bet all of this can be accomplished on full length releases.

Overall, this tape is a great pick up for fans of post-hardcore and punks bored of the Ramones but still haters of high school.


--Jack Turnbull www.jackturnbull.com

Al Qaeda
"Invite Us Back Sometime"
(Teen Action Records)

Al Qaeda is a project fronted by Scott Miller which features a constantly rotating cast of collaborators from members of The Locust to The Minutemen. They've also put put releases with a far spectrum of people from Cave Bears to Richard Ramirez and Cock ESP. This new cassingle put out by Teen Action Records out if California gives us 2 banging tracks that both beat you and cover you in an uncomfortable fuzz. Chainlight opens with crisp crunchy field recordings that are looped and then accompanied by light organ sounds. Then this shit drops the bass. Beats are clicking in and out of time with cars driving around your head while breaks come in segued by trains and footsteps, then going right back to the bass drop. Marquee starts off more breathy with a clicking right off the bat. Those clicks become more and more footsteps in the sand like and then shapes into a faux reggae beat. Steam whistles chime in and so do drums ever so slightly while someone drills you into one place. Highly recommended tape that is extremely rhythmic with an overall tense feeling.

--Mark Johnson

http://alqaeda.bandcamp.com/
http://www.teenactionrecords.com/

Welcome our newest reviewers


Meet Mark Johnson, out newest regular writer at Cassette Gods.  Mark plays in the bands Bang! Bros and Hunnie Bunnies and performs solo as Truck Stanley's Night Dreams.  Continue to send your tapes and records to the Cassette Gods address in the side bar as Mark will be sorting through them regularly.  You may have also noticed some recent reviews by Jack Turnbull.  Hopefully he'll be checking back in and providing some more thorough criticism. I should also take this time to say that if you live in the Boston area and would like to take your crack at being a Cassette God, please do drop by Deep Thoughts in Jamaica Plain.  There are still nearly 100 submissions looking for listeners.  Grab five, give me two reviews and you can take five more.  Sound like fun?

Greyghost / TALsounds (Hausu Mountain)


Here we have a split tape from Hausu Mountain, a label ran by Doug Kaplan of Chicago. They released a stellar tape by Moth Cock we spotlighted a few months back, so I was looking forward to hearing more from the label. This particular split is apart of their mungen series, which features solo sessions recorded live with no overdubs. The tape starts off with TALsounds, Natalie Chami of Chicago. She uses synths and effects to make slow moving swells that stay at a somber pulse. Her side is overall stagnant but ends with some thick thumps and sweet leading loops. On side B we have Greyghost, Brian Griffith of LA. It begins with pitched radio frequencies but eventually fades into a hazy non moving bass loop peice. Both sides hit very somber grass lying cloud watching moods. If you're looking for that, check this out! 

http://mugenseries.bandcamp.com/album/mugen-volume-2-talsounds-greyghost

http://hausumountain.com/?page_id=9

-- Mark Johnson

BROKEN MACHINE FILMS "Album 02"


One of the great pleasures of listening to cassettes is that this outdated audio platform is inexpensive to both produce and purchase.  Often when I visit my local record store which offers a fantastic selection of tapes I make my purchases based upon the visuals of the item alone.  More often than not I know little to nothing about the artist or producer of the object.  Because the cassette ranges in price from free-$10 (I won't pay higher than that and even then I need some real convincing) with an average price of $4, if I get a cassette that is insultingly bad I don't feel too guilty just tossing it, reusing the cassette for another recording or giving it to a friend.  

This is liberating for the artist.  If the artist is to produce a cassette which is a failure, it's not the end of his/her career.  They can quickly and easily produce a new cassette.  It's not like a hollywood director who makes one flop and then his/her career is done for the next ten years (if their career is not permanently destroyed).  For some reason M. Night Shamalama-ding-dong is an exception to this rule.  Seriously, did you see "Signs"? The movie was so insulting to my intelligence it's an unsolved mystery why any producer allowed him to get near a camera again.  But I regress from the topic ... 

As a result, cassette tapes are often experimental.  Artists can afford to travel down paths they'd be too afraid to try otherwise, but they still get to have the satisfaction of producing an object.  

"Broken Machine Films Presents - Album 02 - the gravity - sophtimore" is a perfect example of this trend.  When I received it, it was very mysterious and intriguing.  First off, it's title is confusing.  There is only font on the spine of the cassette, with the exception to the words "MEM 36" on the back paper flap and "A" and "B" written on both sides of the cassette.  There is no contact, no website, track listing, artist credits, recording information, NOTHING.  Because the font size of the text is basically uniform to the naked eye ("Broken Machine Films Presents..." is slightly larger in font size) I'm not even sure what the name of the act is. Is the name of this act "The Gravity"?  Or "Sophomore?"  Why is it presented to me by a Film company?

The cover of the cassette gave me little to go on too.  It is an overexposed close up photo of a pretty woman dressed in lipstick with her eyes closed.  

I rather enjoyed the ambiguous design decisions.  I enjoyed imagining I found it on my front steps like Bill Pullman found a video tape on his in "Lost Highway".  To prolong this fantasy, I made an executive decision to not ask my digital overlord google what this object was so I could review the sound objectively.   

When I placed it in my player, it starts off with what sounds like an early seventies game show opening credits theme.  Sexy disco horns, banging drums, I just got asked to be in the showcase showdown! The track ends after 22 seconds however.  Then a few seconds later it switches to a solum spanish guitar solo.  But after fifteen seconds it's over.  Now I'm listening to what could be the music to a Miami Vice Drug Bust montage.  Don Johnson in a Hawaiian shirt telling some sleaze balls to "freeze!" is the first mental image I get in my head.  But after just over 3 minutes, this is over too! Now I'm hearing a lonesome voice recorded on a phone voice mail machine while reverb guitars play in the background.   That ends after less than a minute and I'm hearing symphonic strings, brass instruments and an organ.  This ends after a minute and is followed by a cowboy folk song about drug awareness that is recorded at a slowed down pace so the vocalist sounds like a deep bass.  Are you beginning to get the idea?  

What unifies all these tracks is that they all sound dated.  Not necessarily dated to the same time period, but these are all sounds from a distant past.  In all honesty, these are sounds that can no longer be captured because of the advancement of technology.  Of course you can still play a lonesome cowboy song and you can make a recording on a voice mail machine, but there is a "grime" and "dirt" to these sounds which is reminiscent of late night exploitation films from days past and fantastic VHS finds at Salvation Armies.

For those with ADD or enthusiasts of nostalgic sonic documents, this tape is a treat.  That said, side B of this tape is less successful.  This is because unlike side A which is dominated by constantly fluctuating tracks, about half of side B sounds like an Indian Yoga Work Out video.  Now, I'm not hating on Indian music or work out videos.  But something is lost when the tracks aren't as spastic as a Charles Bronson power-violence record.  The Yoga Work Out video track simply goes on for too long.  I actually love the music, but it is constantly interrupted by an instructor's voice telling me to "shimmy left" and then "leg kick".  The instructions are humorous, but I'd rather just focus on the music itself.  About two minutes of this track would have been enough for me to get the idea, but it goes on for about half of side B. 

When I was done listening to the cassette, I decided to pay my bills, think about my dead loved ones and return to the world of digital oppression.  The nostalgic fantasy was over.  The illusion wore off and I asked google what this was. 


As it turns out this tape isn't played by an eccentric genius who can switch genre like the flip of a switch. It is a concept album.  From the artist's website, here is his description of the tape in his own words.  

"Lost and obscure 8mm and VHS audio samples, family cassette ramblings, meditation pieces, found deceased-persons mini cassettes from old answering machines, long since defunct band practice sessions from original 4-track tapes, influential forget-me-nots, field recordings, and various other ancient retro-phemera from times gone by. Recorded straight to 25 year old cassette tape stock. 
30 years in the making... Enjoy." 
-Joshua Rogers (aka Broken Machine Films) 

Mr. Rogers must have regularly attended thrift shops and garage sales to make this compilation and I applaud his efforts.  The end result is a sampler of time capsule chachkis.  Less interesting and mundane sounds are edited out to bring you the best of grandpa's closet.  


This tape is why I like cassettes. This release is a casual but well edited mix tape of recordings that could have easily been lost to history.  Admittedly, I'm too much of a novice to cassette culture to know if this is a "thing" that people do, but in any case this is successful experiment and one of those "why didn't I think of that" projects.  And if you don't like it, no worries.  It's probably like $3. Ask for you money back and buy two king size snickers bars.  

-- Jack Turnbull www.jackturnbull.com   

BANG BROS / WET GUYS split


First a note on the following review....This is the first in a series of semi-regular guest reviews.  Please continue to send your tapes to the editor's address and he will spread them around to the new pool of reviewers.

The central themes of this tape are sexual double entendres, partying and juvenile freedom.  

Bang Bros (presumably because they "bang" on their drum machines but also named after a noteworthy porno website) sound somewhere between Merzbow, percussion centered free jazz and some six year olds tripping on acid while strangling their speak and spells.  This cassette release from the prolific two piece was recorded live on a video cam in Jamaica Plain, Boston (hence the title of the cassette, "live from Youtube").  While I applaud the low brow DIY recording technique, it does not serve the duo's sonic range well.  Drum machine high hats loose their punch.  Everything feels mid-tone; bass tones are too treble and vice versa.  With that said, there is an impressive sonic range these two make from humble, minimal equipment.  Their equipment is listed in the liner notes of the tape.  Their track starts with an ambient drone but quickly goes into hyper speed no-time-signature electronic tribal drumming bliss.  The sound is liberating and potentially seizure enduing to squares and pigs.  The Bros track runs just over eight minutes with little let down.  This is a great length for their sound; long enough for the drums to become transcendent, but short enough for them to not become tiring.

The Wet Guys side of this tape is narrative and in desperate needs of visuals.  The track begins with an anonymous voice screaming "Wet Guys!"  ... Get it?  As in, "I'm wet because I'm orgasming."  Or is he a wet guy because the man on the cover of this cassette is in a kiddy pool with floating beer cans in it?  It's a stupid pun that isn't funny the first time and is screamed pretty much for the entirety of the track over repetitive water bubble sounds and what sounds like the beginning of a totally gnarly distorted guitar that just farts out after a single chord.   Unlike Bang Bros, the sonic range of Wet Guys is very limited.  Any instrumentation, composition or concept all feels secondary to this anonymous man screaming "wet guys".  At a certain point another anonymous voice responds "gay guys".  A call and response occurs for an exhausting amount of time.  I don't see the humor or significance in this.  It's just an adjective and then a noun.  The people on the tape seem to find it hilarious however as audio laughs are heard.  Perhaps if I was seeing what was going on it would give the audio context. Alas, the cassette has its limitations.     This is a really crappy half cassette documenting what was probably a really awesome party.  This is not music and it is a stretch to call it noise.  The closest comparison I can make is to maybe weird old footage Andy Warhol took of people he thought were interesting and attractive doing nothing.  It is unintentionally voyeuristic and just a weird, half baked document.  It leaves lots to the imagination, but ultimately it is not satisfying. 


My biggest complaint about this cassette is not knowing why the cassette was made.  These two performances work better as youtube videos.  The Bang Bros track is impressive but video cams are bad audio recorders.  I applaud their DIY approach and I'm not saying they need to rent session time with a professional recorder/mixer, but they should consider applying better recording methods to give the audience a better idea of their live performances.  As for Wet Guys,  my complaints have been stated. Their track does nothing for me and I'm not going to waste anymore time putting down their creative endeavors because I'm beginning to feel like an a-hole.   

-- Jack Turnbull www.jackturnbull.com  

Not much info on how to acquire via the internet.  Try discogs?