JAAP BLONK "Songs of Little Sleep" (Scumbag Relations/Sleepy Cobalt Sound)

On a loosely conceptual album concerning the entering and exiting of sleep, its cycles and the subconscious, Dutch composer/performer/video artist Jaap Blonk fractures into a chamber ensemble of clones of himself, extending far past the outer limits of extended vocal technique.  

Jaap forms the base of his repertoire around a lineage of Dada sound poets, his recording of Kurt Schwitter's 1922-32 masterpiece "Ursonate" being his most well known.  His live performances border on scholarly presentation- he's an expert on this subject and one of the few preservers of the literature on the underground circuit.  As in the Dada tradition, Blonk's pieces are based on phonetic vibrations with no logical context, only emotional/aesthetic.  As if aurally observing a sleep study, you hear Jaap enter into a deeper subconscious state- yawns turn into low guttural grunts and blistering harsh noise coming unbelievably from a human voice.  Tossing textural scrapes and use of electronics allow for plenty of sonic variation on this extended player, though i'd be just as convinced by the vocal alone.  

stream/purchase at http://sleepycobalt.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-little-sleep

- -Matt Robidoux

TARAS BULBA: “Light Painter / Death Stalker” double a-side c45 (Scumbag Relations)

I usually get really frustrated when a musician creates countless guises for themselves and their various stylized sounds, it gets so damned confusing, and I worry that I'll miss something that I'll really like because I won't recognize where it's coming from. However, I’m starting to realize that as long as the parties involved are doing great work, it doesn’t matter what the hell they call themselves, we’re gonna figure out what’s going on eventually anyways. Rasmus Svensson is quickly becoming a big deal, not just in his native Sweden either, and not just as a musician, but also as a zine maker, a graphic/installation artist, and all while running his own label, Push the Button Multimedia. Normally working with his other bands Smycken, PWR, and Night Piano, this is the first I’ve heard from Taras Bulba (I’m assuming that the change of title was in service of the noisier, grittier sound) and it certainly didn’t disappoint. As the title dictates, there’s a definite progression between the songs from a place of safety to seriously dubious surroundings. Starting out with heavy flute echoes, adding organic percussion, followed by ominous electronics, and finally concluding in a serious guitar-psych run through the jungle. I find it interesting that he chose to break it up into songs over one long composition, but it in no way detracts, it almost listens like a math equation, it’s the science of interesting transition. A really great listen and the same program on both sides works in its favor too (no rewinding, heavy replay).

One-color silkscreen covers (either copper or blue), black tapes with brown spatter paint.

http://www.scumbagrelations.net/

SALT & PEPPER "s/t" single sided c20 (Scumbag Relations)

So this was in a stack of tapes i got a while back (a long while?) from the dude over at Scumbag Tapes/Relations and it had slipped through the cracks and ended up on the bottom of a pile and shit on me if it wasn't my loss!

This tape is a brief moment of shining sound, literally because the tape is spraypainted a toxic gold and figuratively because the music rules. Remember in Zelda when you went into that dude's cave/store and there were only three things for sale (which, i would like to point out without question played a influential role in the current boutique/gallery/store interior design schemes popular with entrepreneurial youth)? Well, if you can imagine a world where that guy doubled as a used equipment salesman and you could purchase some totally sweet keyboard covered in moss and gemstones and take some of yr magic zelda-world potion, burn a bush, head underground and jam out for a side of a c10, you'd end up with this tape.

Not to be mistaken, this tape in no way searches for the metaphysical, postures about having a self realization read from the shapes of clouds or echoes of seashores; nope, this dude just jams zelda style, simple melodies (with a tenor straight from the theme music) and a clunky keyboard drumbeat to follow along. Man, i wish there was a second side to this tape!

wrote to the label for more info but haven't heard anything yet, unfortunately out of print (sorry i slept on it!) but the Scumbag Relations label is worth checking out anyways, this tape alone is proof of his good sense of sound.

http://www.scumbagrelations.net
http://www.myspace.com/scumbagrelations

MANDARIN CLIT "Pisum Sativum" (Scumbag Relations)

Scumbag Relations sticks so rigorously to its scum electronics cage one can't help but applaud it. Since the very first tape dubbed its way into the world the mission has been: disgusting, creepy-crawl, experimental nausea. Long may the Scum flag wave. Mandarin Clit has been a very recurrent name in their catalog and each CS I've heard bearing that name has made me feel ill, confused, and awkward. "Pisum Sativum" is no exception. Housed in a a great hand-cut J-card of a pile of olives (and bearing a tiny insert of a photo of a vagina with a twig laying on it), this one-sided C23 is as true to form as a person could conceivably hope. Dry scrapes, a metal object being touched and dropped, the steady hum of a machine, dead space -- this is the ultimate in total unfeeling music. It's not for the listener OR the person playing it. It's hard to even say why it exists. It freaks me out. Cheers!

NECK HOLD / YOUNG ROMANTIX split (Scumbag Tapes)

Two more bands I’ve never heard of gangbang this split CS on the Midwestern haven of misanthropic obsession, Scumbag Tapes. Neck Hold have a shrieky instrumental no-wave energy that’s not bad at all. Hyper but not spazzy, the guitars sound like oscillators and the drums sound like guitars. It has all the fidelity of a cell phone recording a car stereo across a parking lot but that only adds to the pissed-off-ness of the proceedings. It’s over pretty fast too, which suits music like this. Young Romantix are even no-wavier, with sax and a girl screaming and the songs are bit more song-y (at least at first). The vocals remind me of Pukers (which is obviously a compliment) and the sax reminds me of some Michigan scum crew, and the meeting of the 2 is kinda a match made in heaven/hell/heck. I can’t imagine why this band wouldn’t rule at a house party, unless they pushed their keyboard stuff to the forefront (which is their main cheesy weakness). Otherwise: B.Y.O.B. In an oversized bag with a magazine photo of a blonde model as ‘artwork.’

JOSH MCABEE AND THE (7/13) MOON "untitled" (Scumbag Relations)

As a general policy, I’m pretty PRO-confusion. But this tape really puts my stance on the stand, cause there’s so much weird misinformation going down that I don’t even know how to process the actual audio. To avoid total falsehood-perpetuating, I’ll just transcribe the facts I’ve found. The spine of this CS says “Josh McAbee and the (7/13) Moon.” Then there’s song titles on the inside, but no album title. The Scumbag Relations website lists this release as “7/13 (moons) ‘ism is not.’” Then on the likely-long-since-updated tripod artist site it mentions this tape as “7/13 - ‘Ism in not.’” Then on McAbee’s MySpace page it seems to list the ‘artist’ name as “(7/13)” even though the URL is myspace.com/713moons. Clear as mud, right? I do however give massive credit/laughs to the honesty of his MySpace page slogan thing: “Making no sense since 1984.” At any rate, the songs/sounds contained herein are zero-fi mechanical landscapes of foggy FX and distant whirring motors. Cold and impersonal and 38 minutes long. Those seeking additional info are advised to conduct their own investigation.

JERRY BINKELE AND HIS HAPPY HAMMOND untitled (Scumbag Relations)

Utterly baffling 1920s-sounding C24 of generic jaunty guitar/organ instrumentals that sound like muzak for a cartoon circus or Disney saloon where Steamboat Willie would kick it. Totally non-modern and deeply irrelevant, regardless of whether this is vintage or just a ‘joke/prank’ thing. Did Scumbag just hijack audio from an old thrift store LP? Would be pretty shocked if this was a 2007 recording of a 20-year old into underground noise (like everything else on this label). Can very clearly see myself being buried in my grave before I ever throw this in the tape deck again.