BORZI "s/t" & "Live at Beerland 6.25.16" (Bored Tapes)

Bright, distorted, twangy guitars. Beatles harmonies with a pinch of sass, but still bad boy territory. High energy, rolls a plenty drum beats. Well placed, heavy bass end. Sparkly when needed, harsh when required. Well placed double guitar/bass solo on the opener "Pinnacle". If these guys head bang, sweat and stay vitamin B/Bee Pollen/Moringa smoothie healthy, plenty of shut eye before shows and such, leave it all on the basement floor, ... and rip out a steady, scrappy set like this cassette they're well worth the door price and will leave of trail of devoted fans and a good chance of being written about in "Our Band Could Be Your Life Part 2: Bee Pollen Smoothie Hangover". Yeah man, you can just tell a difference in the guitar solos here ... the guy is really selling them. I believe him. Great bluesy rock guitar hooks in "I Feel Alien" that curbstomp dings dongs like Ted Nugget and Donald Trump. Mental visions of buildings exploding and skeletons on motorcycles. "Swamp Thing" is a bit more garage and straight forward. The singer does have a growl somewhere between Danzig and Cobain that's really polished and down. I dig it. "Worry Wart" is a tight post-albani punk nugget that sounds recorded live and exemplifies Borzoi's ability to operate like a unit, a feat difficult to perform since it demands a certain level of harmonic obedience between band members. It's like a well oiled machine with measures of feedback ... oh wait it sounds this way because this is a ... LIVE RECORDING! Side two is a live recording ... as raw as an Op Ivy bootleg. The live set exemplifies the surfiness of the guitars. This is a band that is probably rocking live. Yeah ... this tape is worth checking out. Fans of Agent Orange, Pixies, Santa Cruz 80ties skate videos, gnarly guitar solos will probably dig this.

Here is Borzoi's soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/borzoi-1

-- Jack Turnbull

GOLD LEATHER “Don’t Care Nothin’” (Bored Tapes)

I was a teenage guttersnipe, raised on black coffee and cigarettes, and smashing bottles against the brick wall behind the high school where I barely attended was the highlight of my week. Any-fucking-way, I listened to a lot of punk and noise rock, because that’s what we did. I had long hair and mainly wore denim – a perpetual Canadian tuxedo – as well as a black backward trucker hat. Along with the staples like AC/DC and Motörhead, I pumped The Jesus Lizard, Melvins, Pissed Jeans, and Nirvana through my Walkman. Anything off of AmRep and Alternative Tentacles. The old Sub Pop stuff.

Gold Leather is like me back then. Don’t Care Nothin’ is the sound of the youth of today misapplying their vast amounts of spare time into destructive pursuits. Does that interest you? Or does that make you not care one way or the other? Find out for yourself, jagwad. Four songs on this tape. Four fist-pumping anthems for soundtracking crimewaves.

Gold Leather

Bored Tapes

--Ryan Masteller

FIGURAE "I & II" (Bored Tapes)

Figurae are an electronic duo from Texas and this tape is a pressing of their first two EPs. Good music to zone out to. If I shared a state with Ted Cruz, George W Bush, and their followers chances are I’d want to zone out a lot too. Since North Carolina isn’t that far behind Texas politically maybe I will give this a listen next time I consider the alternative of turning on the news and making myself angry. Figurae have not only used their audio software to make some good sample heavy idm; the way I see it they’ve performed a civil service. Thanks for that, guys.

I give the packaging and inserts an A+. While these are also the least consequential attributes of the final product they are still worth mentioning. I’m the type of person who likes to really look at a tape when I pick one up. So I noticed the handwritten 2 along with the question mark written on the top before I put it in. Not sure why Figurae did that but since they did it and I saw it I might as well write it down. The j-card consists of the “I” cover for the front and the “II” cover on the inner printed on high quality paper. Inserts are track list, a business card, and a mini-print photo of the duo. Fun stuff!  

Buy: http://boredtapes.bigcartel.com/product/figurae-i-ii

Stream + download I: https://figurae.bandcamp.com/album/i

Stream + download II: https://figurae.bandcamp.com/album/ii

-- Roy Blumenfeld

NIGHT COURT “Night Court” (Bored Tapes)

I used to watch Night Court when I was a kid. We all did, didn’t we? Remember that one episode when the indie rock band was all like, "you can't prosecute us for naming our band after your stupid night court, you fascists!" It was one of my favorites. Mel Torme was the special guest star. Harry Anderson learned a lesson. John Larroquette and Markie Post hooked up. Bull watched suspiciously, but didn't understand. Charles Robinson was officially named a national treasure. And then the band Night Court and Torme played out the episode, over the credits. It was magical.

It also only happened in my head.

Whatever. What I do know is that sometimes, rock and roll tapes like this just get under your skin and make you itch to get outside on your bike or skateboard and just take over the whole town. I was a teenager once, I know what it’s like being hopped up on soda and candy and in need of an outlet, creative, destructive, or otherwise. Night Court (the band, now, not the show) tap into that and make me want to be a kid again. Please just let me be a kid again, I don’t want to be dragged into middle age!

Enough of that negativity! You gotta rock this sucker, seven tunes by Meggie, Joe, and Jordan (and the last two are NOT remnants from NKOTB masquerading as indie kids). Same tracks on each side, so play it back to back to back to back, etc., and get kicked in the butt every time. Want a sound? Think Ex Hex and Swirlies scrapping, but with a little extra hardcore thrown in on tunes like “American Bitch.” Spending their wild youthful days in the glittering world of salons my ass.

Why does it say “This tape sucks” on their bandcamp? It doesn’t. At all.

http://boredtapes.bigcartel.com

http://nightcourtatx.bandcamp.com

--Ryan Masteller