CHARLIE MCALISTER “TWISTED DESIRE” (SPEW GEYSER)

Well well well well well. The whole neighborhood is going to shit. They are saying this area is turning into the south side. I don’t really know much of what they mean, but I am taking it as its spit out. The time that takes place throughout the days on this planet, I tend to staying indoors. I havnt grown too old for the bars and such, but I have drank more than my fill of sauce, and understand finally how lame I become with that outside atmosphere. Hey, I might be growing old, or maybe I am enjoying my own sauce inside. I enjoy all types of sauces. I enjoy mineral spirits breathed heavy from a cut 2 liter bottle. I enjoy tape head cleaners, the smell of dust and mildew, old pages, new pages, sticky liquid, varnish, etc. I also enjoy on occasion stewing and simmering and hearing object sound. Abjeck. ?? sound ?? there is too much talk of sound.

Here we witness some of that sound. I have bantered enough about Mcalister. And you can google or droogle or whatever have you all you want and keep the mysteries going and failing and falling and rising and birthing. But what you get on “TWISTED DESIRE” – the new cassette tape from mcalister and celie d. – is more birthright. Real stomp. Real heat. Fake heat too. A fake tattoo. I engulfed a pastrami on rye. The fire light up the sky. Twisted desire deals the cards in a straight stack. 

Blemished herk, strings about to break. Just a regular band.  your honey pot. Drinking patio water.

I shouldn’t have to tell you to get into this system of events. Don’t you understand the whole scene birthed,  drives itself for real on  treds that are balding ?? put your fuckin $10 in an envelope and send a letter, written with a fuckin pen and ink, and send it to the address below. Don’t be shy my hipster hupcats! Maybe you wont get shit…but I am sure you make $10 in tips easy at the fuckin coffee shop. You can cast me out – but you wont keep me down. Mcalsiter is still thriving on the meat of a subculture gone kaput. A lot of folks are. I am no one to be telling anyone “how things should be or shouldn’t be” - - -hell this computer is fixin all my type writing errors for me. But if you want the real grit of what has become “cassette culture” – do yourself a favor, and do some studying. You have to know where you come from before the tabs come out. 

These tabs. They are for the yearning. Get it. If you can. You can. Just try. Boot off.

TODD LEDFORD & SONS

PO BOX 51

MCCLELLANVILLE, SC 29458

-- Chris Fischer

FURNITURE HUSCHLE – “Bootleg” / CHARLIE MCALISTER – “Provide For the Baby of Lullibies” / Cash Nexus – “The Long Fade” – (Spew Geyser)

NEW SPEW GEYSER HAUL! Back the truck up, and get ready to load and drive. Spew Geyser is back at it.

Straight out of the swamps of South Carolina the never failing Spew Geyser records team (formally : Freakshow (late 80s/early 90s) * Flannel Banjo (1990s-2000s) * Tar Owl (2000-2006ish) *Meggapekka (2012-2012)) is at it again. Huncho C.Mcalister has been providing the knowing with some really amazing cassette releases over the years, and I for one am glad it continues onward.

CHARLIE MCALISTER – “Provide For the Baby or Lullibies” is a lost album of  lost songs all recorded around the turn of the century. For anyone who follows Mcalisters output, its always enjoyable to navigate the fractured timeline of his recording history. I myself have been following Charlies output since the early 1990s…the manner of recording and the instruments used continually revolve after the course of a few tapes. One part : examination of “new” material to use, one part: cause the shit got lost or destroyed – I am sure. These songs definitely fall around the “Turn of the Century Photograph of” (Unread cassette release) as you can hear familiar song structure, and instrumentation,  in particular the heavy use of violin and wine glasses (?)  - the sorta lead banjo plucking…etc. its hard to convey.

Some of these songs can be found on the Mcalister “living” boxset (Doormat tx) dubbed “Charlies Blood” or something of that nature I guess…a boxset that is continually changing and growing as time proceeds onward. Regardless of all this, screw examinations, this thing is a pretty essential collection of song. Fractured a bit as a whole – but some really great songs none-the-less. See : “have a manwhich”  “Divorce Court” and the (half) title track “Provide for the Baby”

CASH NEXUS – “The Long Fade” is a strumming burner, ripping apart the guts of indie rock and reassembling them into something a bit more bizarre, though still digestible with only taking one antacid. Cash Nexus is one part of the stumbling / grand / long running nut-rock outfit WCKR SPGT, and you can see where this round peg fits into the square whole of it all. A constant run of saturated guitar buzz and samples of speech hide behind these songs, creeping up here and there, making it into one long opera, akin to channel surfing the radio dial. Sometimes clutter. Sometimes a fluid hit. Always confusing and worth repeat listens.

FURNITURE HUSCHLE – “Bootleg” is what its called? I am not exactly sure. It is a collection. It is culled from a huge spectrum of releases. There are no titles. There is no information. It must be a bootleg! A bootleg deemed acceptable from the source? Furniture Huschle is another limb of WCKR SPGT. The rotting cells of the brain maybe…being a long time fan, I am surprised some of these songs I have not heard. It’s a nice collection of oddity and stumble, and honestly…perfect Furniture hits. Audio art and slam poetry meet nice with cheap electronics and stumble into the depths of the sub-underground. A place that is a safe-haven for this sorta thing, cause the world will never understand how brilliant it is.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand why Furniture Huschle cant be played on mainstream radio, but I dream of a world where it is, and where these sorta tapes are found in boxes on street corners for everyone to find and enjoy. Hell, that last part might be true. Keep your eyes peeled in trash bins near you for Spew Geyser tapes. Exhault! Do not punish them God, for they know not what they do.

Spew Geyser releases can be found by sending S.A.S.E. here :

Spew Geyser / POST OFFICE BOX #51 / McCLELLANVILLE, SC 29458

or at : www.spewgyser.com

-c. fischer

CHARLIE MCALISTER / SPEW GEYSER

TWO NEW MCALISTER CASSETTES VIA SPEW GEYSER

let me let the computer world know. sub-underground madman genius charlie mcalister upstarts new label "spew geyser" and as always, with any mcalister related projects, its quite a doozy!

mcalister has been releasing cassettes since the mid-late 80s on various micro labels, including his long running "flannel banjo" imprint, which spanned a good 10 years before falling off the map, only to resurface here and there under the title "tar owl" - but like all mcalister output - it was shrouded in mystery. never any sort of web presence, which i myself admire, being a fan of letter writing. again, though, it was a sporadic release schedule to be sure. about a year ago tar owl became "meggapecka records" and it seemed as if charlie was back on the map again - releasing three or four tapes with a fury. now, the name has changed yet again, this time to "spew geyser" and things are looking good. an extensive websight has been set up in which you can order new (and older) cassettes & records as well as issues of the fabulous "sardine magozine" of which there are 10 issues available, and may quite possibly be the greatest collection of consumerism collage and writings known to man. 

but here we have two new mcalister collections. the first is "triangle state mental zone" which was originally released as the complimentary supplement to sardine magozine #9&10 (thick ass double issue). recorded mostly in 2010 with the help of one rebecca h. who sings & shouts along, as well as helped to co-write some songs, and add instrumentation. overall grand collection in true mcalister form. songs suffer from the falling apart treatment - rag tag explosion & electric snap and buzz. subjects revolve around the "triangle state" of south carolina as well as food products, backwoods exploration, and of course bodies of water. overall very raucous, though on a few songs, the sleeves are rolled down, and some heart shines through. especially on "tourism is dead" and  "hugor" the later which pulls from an old folk melody - or so i think - its very recognizable, yet hard to exactly pin down. complete with kazoo and mumblings. may be one of my favorites in recent memory. 

also just released is "enthralling pop songs and attempts at jazz" credited to c. mcalister and sagging sandcastle. collected recordings from 2010-2013 which contains some songs from various lathed plastic plates which came out over the past couple years. there were about 4 or 5 of these released cut by rah rah records, and put out on a few different labels in very small editions. as cool as the lathes were/are - the quality was pretty crackly. so its nice to have some of those in better quality. as the title states, this collection showcases songs closer to the pop form, but again, deconstructed as always. solid catchy tunes that it seems would win anyone over. not exactly sure what attempts at "jazz" are made, but many of the songs on the b side include trumpet via celie d. who executes non pitch perfect blow-alongs that fit perfectly with mcalisters demented strum and hoot. these are the newer songs on this collection, and its always exciting to see the constant change in style and playing that happens from release to release. 

anyone with pen and paper (or now a paypal account) should write to spew geyser and explore some of the best clatter junked song writing around. and do it quick. you never know how long charlies records will be available, or how quickly the man himself will disappear and retreat to the bogs and inlets. spew geyser also has releases from other tape vets : furniture huschle & caleb fraid, and is currently working on a compilation which will be sure to showcase all over madness via many folks, calling in from the sewers to the highrises all across this great and odd world.

SPEW GEYSER

PO Box 1156 
Clinton SC 29325
www.spewgeyser.com