HUNTED CREATURES “Sleep Weed” C44 (White Reeves Productions)

They’re just wayward kids, tryna have a good time. But no. Serial killers are allergic to the sex and the fun and the teenagers in general and, when watching said fun at a distance through the slots of an old wooden fence or maybe from behind a gloriously unwashed third floor window, said maladjusted adults must feel a twinge of envy that said teenagers should carry on as such.

In so many slasher films, there is portrayed a stock F-U-N being had, but with the audience knowing full well that said F-U-N will be coming to an end. There is a light and airy playfulness specifically crafted by the director to just baaaaarely mask this atmospheric unease.

Enter Hunted Creatures’ album "Sleep Weed”, a Basinskian meditation into the (relatively) brighter bridges that link startled-awake consciousness and eerie anticipation. Three synthster-explorers (two of which who run WRP) each contribute decaying cycles, crumpled ghost-melodies, & warbled static, & wave after wave after wave of hypnotic agitations. The mood achieved camps just outside of creeptown, whilst still getting the hair follicles at the ready for an uprising. As usual, White Reeves Productions delivers!

https://whitereevesproductions.bandcamp.com/album/sleep-weed-wrp018

-- Jacob An Kittenplan

HUNTED CREATURES “Mogollon Rim” C-46 (Dynamo Sound Collective)

Really sweet piece of twizzle candy right here. Saxxyual healing commences from the blocks,wrapping and rewrapping itself around your pole. Small gestures make for really succulent moandrone. Pacileo is obviously waiting behind a donut shop all day to play his guitar for the kids getting off the bus.Keep it up Creatures, don’t become extinct!!!!


- - Daniel Seward

HUNTED CREATURES "s/t" (Dynamo Sound Collective)

Pittsburgh, PA is a really strange place. The deeply weird concert promoters seem to be in some sort of perpetual war and the vibe can be pretty down. That being said, the city is geographically quite breathtaking, with tons of bridges and weird old buildings, not to mention one of the coolest collections of businesses ever to be assembled under one roof. 3138 Dobson St. on Polish Hill has the honor of housing Mind Cure Records, Copacetic Comics and Lili Coffee Shop. How's that for a one-stop? Apparently you can add Ryan Emmett's Dynamo Sound Collective to the list of things that are "A-OK" about Pittsburgh. The label has released over thirty tapes and this one is a nice atmospheric little bugger from the four member Hunted Creatures, that features Mr. Emmett, Micah Pacileo, Amy Hoffman and Darren Myers. The A side offers a bunch of swooshes and swoops, while the B side gets us started with a humorous sample of audience clapping before getting way into a swirling tribal jam that breaks down into sampler glitches. In conclusion, I think Pittsburgh is cool.

http://www.dynamosoundcollective.com

D/S/MILLER / HUNTED CREATURES (Dynamo Sound Collective) Split c20

A well matched pair! The difficulty of finding the perfect compliment is not lost on me; trying to figure out if the pairs should be opposing and strike a balance in their difference, or is it better to find birds of a feather and put complimentary beings side by side. It may help that these two are both from Pittsburgh, PA.

In this case the two sides are good rowing partners, each working at about the same pace with similar, though not redundant, palettes. Both sides are atmospheric and textural but make an effort to build as the pieces move along.

The Hunted Creatures side is one 10 minute piece that has a distant sounding start (maybe actual dripping noises?) that feels like you're in some long defunct work place turned teenage drug sanctuary, though a bit more ominous. The established space recedes as a pulsing bass synth sound emerges and trades places with a more air driven organ tone, each leaning to the foreground like, sort of like someone rocking back and forth before they puke, or race horses trading off leading. The two eventually meet and mate, intertwining in an wormy, pulsing marriage and it seems that's their goal as the piece comes to end.

The DS Miller side is a lot more loop oriented with hisses and clicks coming round and round like some shit storm of a tape deck carousel, each rotation bringing about sweeping soft distortion and minor adjustments to the loops. The second piece feels a bit less constructed around loops has a pleasant discord combining vague casio bloops, digital interference and any number of slight buzzes and fuzzes.

Nice tape though all the pieces are pretty straight forward without a lot of abrupt changes or disturbances to the ideas that are introduced which is consistent with the art; the cover showing a beardy dude praying it up and the insert has some shadowy figures examining some sort of cave crypt, each suggesting a certain quiet and contemplative moment.

Released by Dynamo Sound Collective in an Edition of 50
Sound clips on the website:
http://dynamosound.brainisgod.com/

OPHIBRE / HUNTED CREATURES split c40 (OPH Sound)

Packaged like a wedding invitation this tape definitely had a "till death do us part" vibe shared between both sides. Ophibre's side was a sprawling 20 minute toboggan ride down a tuvan throat singer's waterslide party. Totally smooth crooning and wavering without any of the party, crooning or a waterslide atmosphere. Maybe falling off a bridge and being consoled by the sound of the wind and watching the earth approach in slow motion would be more apt. Would fit in nicely with the buddah box loops that i would play non-stop if it didn't drive the people i live with crazy (and that's not meant to be derisive.)

The Hunted Creatures side is a nice fit and disposing of the consistency of the Ophibre side works two pieces with a bit more of a contour to the journey focusing less on the catatonic elements that Ophibre wrestled with and more on the distinction between similar objects, like a desert landscape where everything has been bleached and burned by the sun for hundreds of years (or a few nuclear weapons.) This could be partially because it's a live set though that doesn't reveal itself in the recordings particularly which are of a high enough fidelity that you don't feel like there's an ocean of air between you and the actual sounds.

Nice packaging and good any season listening, deep dark winter despair or spring time with the windows nailed open.
Not sure of the edition size but it still appears to be available:
www.ophibre.com