C.I.A. DEBUTANTE"We Will Play For Spirits” 2xC45(SDZ Records/Crudités Tapes)

Part modular ambient/industrial/noise-loops soundtrack, part spoken-word socio-political critique, part esoteric conspiratorial psycho-drama, “We Will Play For Spirits” delivers like an abandoned warehouse filled to the brim with the very same greasy, hollow orbs one might find in a drainage ditch just outside a McDonald’s; i.e. it is a fucking mess. But, when taken in, in the right mindset, it is revelatory. And messy. Really, really fucking messy.

Imagine McGuyver deftly crafting a transistor radio out of two Ouija boards, a demonically possessed Teddy Ruxpin (who just so happens to be excessively invested in e-stalking* Dwayne Goettel), three stolen 9V batteries, and a rather rusty bouquet of contact mics. The very same experimental mood could conceivably be achieved from this FrankenBeaRadio, but CIA Debutante’s arrangements here are nothing short of premeditated and calculated, boasting an obvious labor of love over the expert tailoring of vocals-and-noise interplay that feed and amplify and feed, loop, feed, and amplify off one another, over and over again, this all creating an ever-evolving beast of a tale to blurrily chase.

So. What might this relatively sound like that has been done before? Not fucking much. Maybe think early Skinny Puppy’s synth-heavy instrumental vignettes, but with vocals added by a fuzzy/static/blown out, forced-baritone vocal-fry’d robot proposing some pretty-party-poetic far-the-fuck-out-there shit. &when there aren’t words meandering about, there’s an equally chaotic texture of modular synth and/or doctor’d guitar freakoutery snaking its way through this constantly shifting in-and-out-in-and-out-of-key confusion.

With or without headphones, these tapes just keeps getting better &better with each listen. Too bad the physical release is already sold out. Look for more CIAD in the future and/or download from bandcamp!

*as in e-ternally

https://sdzrecords.bandcamp.com/album/we-will-play-for-spirits
https://soundcloud.com/ciadebutante
and/or
http://sdzrecords.free.fr/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

2 X Crudités Tapes

The French label SDZ Records has a cassette imprint called Crudités Tapes which has a couple of fine releases of the analog family. Industrial in parts, electronic blippity-boppity here and there, and warm all over, The Spectrometers album Off is a thumper of listen. The group is clearly indebted to bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Suicide, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, yet they concoct a set of pieces that combine elements of stuff we've all heard before into a satisfying new whole. The title composition frames the album in mystery static as it is also the finale, but in between is good, quality music. I'd like to seek out more works by The Spectrometers.

ILth Zongz's The demolition of a ghost is like listening to a noir-industrial soundtrack. ILth Zongz is Chicagoan Christopher ILth (Functional Blackouts, Daily Void) and the album was made with reel-to-reel collages according to the label. I'm impressed. This sounds way more digital and as each track is simply titled "Song 1-9" we as listeners are encouraged to draw our own conclusions. Both tapes add a great deal to the musical dialog of our times.

Buy and Listen HERE.