WE DESERVE THIS“Silencer” C26 (Crow Quill Records)

One day, I was ascending stairs to the house of a kid I tutor for math, when he opens the door; shit-eating grin, expectant, knowing full well that I could not possibly ignore his t-shirt…fucking SLAYER.!

Since this portal, the kiddo has all but made plans to be the next Kerry King! We mostly read books that are hard for dyslexic middle-schoolers to read and do math that one might need, were one to not get ripped off at the local grocery store and/or bodega. This kid is a pretty bad-ass human-in-training, so I try to shoot as straight as I can with him.

If he were to come up with jams like “We Deserve This” within the first two years of his culling friends to be part of a band in his small town, I’d be happy for him. He’s scared of talking to “girls”, but he and I both know we need a lead singer here… I really hope he studies Kerry King more, and out-shines my own guitar skillzzz.

http://wedeservethis.bandcamp.com/

and/or

http://crowquillrecords.com

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

FRANK HURRICANE "Off Da Chain" C62 (Posmicom)

2nd printing of this bad boy, so you know the shit is tighter than the shit in a shrimp's asshole.  Frank's comedy tape, as if he wasn't funny enough in the real world. Last minute mother's day gift?

http://posmicom.bigcartel.com/product/frank-hurricane-off-da-chain-cs62

-- Ed.

LX SWEAT “Sweat Sweat Sweat” (Not Not Fun Records)

I first heard this tape around the same time that I was listening to Leonard Charles's Abracelebrex (reviewed back in March), and now in my mind they are permanently linked. Both artists take inspiration from hopelessly kitschy synth funk records, with Leonard Charles going the all-live/all-analog bedroom recreationist route, and LX Sweat doing more of a druggy minimalist chopped-and-screwed kind of thing. They're both archetypal one-man-bands, although LX Sweat is the kind of one-man-band that could only exist in this decade, when Ableton Live and Garageband are the go-to instruments for young punks and stoned electroboogie enthusiasts alike.

Most of the tracks on this tape consist of pitched-down and heavily altered funk and r'n'b loops that repeat for the entirety of the song, with one or two layers of added vocoder and live keyboard. The timbres are hazy, the repetition is heavy, and the mood is more oozing than ecstatic. Despite being titled "SWEAT SWEAT SWEAT," you probably won't be pumping these jams at the gym. And as with most artists doing lofi electronics, you can easily level criticism at Senor Sweat for being lazy or sloppy, but that would be totally missing the point. This isn't technical music; it's about establishing a particular mood and absorbing the listener into an unexplored world of shady alien nightclubs and late night slime. With that in mind, I give this tape my personal approval 100%.

(PS: It looks like during the time between when I got this and when I wrote this review the tape has sold out. No worries! You can grab more recent LX Sweat tracks from Not Not Fun or check out their older stuff on Soundcloud.)

http://www.notnotfun.com/shop-3/

https://soundcloud.com/lxsweat

—Will Griscom

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

ALVARIUS B "Chin Spirits" C24 (Chocolate Monk)

This collection of solo jammers from an ex-member of a Frasiertown grunge band of the 1990’s (as well as pre-historic & future times, arguably), starts with a composition consisting of only samples of Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction (because why not?). Side A continues with some pretty & gritty acoustic string things, stripped-down funeral-mariachi-style, wart-rattle and all. After previously hearing a couple Alvarius B albums that were collections of previously-not-worth-releasing stuff, this is a pleasant find, side A ending with Al. B. Sure in character, talking you through the tuning process; riffing, improvising, goofing, scowling.

Side B is the real shitt. This is my jams. Straight up. Yuh. Primordial-ooze-down-the-side-of-a-mountain vocal howl with bowed-string screech.  Sickened pre-historic post-apoca-dirge. Lomax grit saturating the tape. Scritch-scraping with ethno-Folkways  Mickey Mouse chants.  Weirdo plucked string & vocal drone, with Earth chants & vocal freakers. Super sick (meaning rad, but also meaning worse than the flu) vibes. Tape ends with a sparse bit of squeaks & scrapes from some sort of bowed string instrument.

This came out some number of months ago, in an edition of 60, so if you run to the mall now, you might just have a chance.

-- Garrison Heck

For those not in the know, Alvarius B. AKA Alan Bishop AKA Your Uncle Jim was the bassist and vocalist of esteemed occult rockers Sun City Girls. Also, surprisingly, this is the first Cassette Gods review for a release on Dylan Nyoukis' long-running label Chocolate Monk  -- ed.

PAINTED FACES "Real Life Horror Stories Part II”

The 9th solo record by Broklyn NY's David Drucker, this tape is one of those glimpses of some special private thing that seems like is one of the best things people do for each other.

David floats around between these free & easy beautiful 80s-y teen romance movie songs, warbly acoustic freaky folk ditties, drony chanting whispered monologues, and more abstract blippy blipps.

The whole tape is weird and nice! Like hangin around in a dirty hammock, maybe you're napping with somebody you crushin' on.

I can imagine you not liking that it's a lil bit nostalgic, or perhaps a lil bit too chilled out if you are the type of person who needs to continually refill your reservoirs of destructive power, and yeah, sometimes I have a hard time coping with what is kind. But if you are ready to accept and feel a warm embrace from a strange human soul, go for it!

I hope people give it a listen, it's got that special aura.

http://paintedfaces.bandcamp.com/album/real-life-horror-stories-part-ii

— Devin Brown

TRUFFLELINA “The Book of Truff” (Stronj Flow)

This is a dense & intriguing album.  Profound.  The singer exudes total ownership of the material, which moves through diverse modes and moods.  Soulful and  intellectual.  Impressive.  Psychedelic singer-songwriter blitzes, some quite long, everything feeling free & easy, open & wandering.  A real treasure trove, there’s a lot of lyrics that I get in glimpses & glimmers.  The package design is cared-for, classic.  There’s so much to unpack.  As a beginning, it barrels into a psychedelic assault of rollicking drums, full-tilt beat-poet gush wallowage, and guitar squall, then a pair of woodwinds blow alongside the rumblings of low-frequency noise.  There’s theater, camp, pathos, shifts & movements.  All art, all freaks.  I bet if I had a better appreciation for Frank Zappa I’d be better at describing this album.  Inspiring. 

--Kevin Oliver

POPPENHEIMER “Karmageddon” C32 (Outer Realms)

Insanely limited to 12 copies, this release has risen to the top of my current rotation, much to the dismay of my neighbors and roommate. This 32 minute recording was culled from a live guitar/synth/vocal improvisation which, on more than one occasion, has convinced me that there is a seriously deranged person in my house who is about to murder me. Texturally the record is pretty varied and dense while remaining completely unhinged. I listen to quite a lot of doomy noise stuff, and this has definitely been one of my favorite releases in the past year. There are passages of low, tape saturated synth pulses, that are violently interrupted by either squealing guitar freakouts, or indecipherable screaming. Every outburst gradually degrades into feedback, lulling you back into an uneasy calm before the next psychic assault. KARMAGEDDON plays out the same as most horror movie soundtracks: ominous and terrifying before the bloody, caterwauling murder scene. After the first crescendo, it just makes the next mellow section even more tense. It’s no wonder i was sneaking around my house with a shillelagh preparing to bludgeon my would be attacker.

Side note: have you woke up to your housemate blasting Van Halen records? I have. This tape has saved me on several occasions when Diamond Dave and his cohorts have ruined a perfectly gloomy afternoon. I put this tape on immediately upon waking, and adjusted the volume, finding the perfect blend between the two recordings. I doubt my living buddy found it as amusing as I did. Good news is I finally found a way to tolerate Van Halen. It might be my own personal Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon moment.

In summation, I enjoyed this recording on many levels. If you need to get dark, buy one of the remaining copies, or stream it on bandcamp.

http://outerrealms.bandcamp.com/album/karmageddon

- - Joshua Meakim

BLIND TIGERS “Mosquito EP” (Gubbey Records)

How many Veruca Salt references does this Hard trio get per show? How do they feel about that? Being from Loo-Vull, have they ever opened for Heartless Bastards up in Cincy?

Blind Tigers are pretty straight-forward bar rock with a slightly heavier bent. Distorted guitar & bass & drums back strong, no-frills vocals. Keyboards add a few flourishes between the words, but the overall theme is less-is-more, catchy repetition.

http://www.blindtigersusa.com/

and/or

http://gubbeyrecords.net/

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

BIG SIGH AND BAD DREAM VACUUM "It Gets Easier" (Oligopolist Records)

The first bit of information that this cassette gives in it's liner notes is that it was recorded "between Portland, OR, Denver, CO, Louisville, KY, Bloomington, IN, Brunswick, ME, --from 2012-2015" this is all you need to know to make sense of this tape. The songs change scenery and tone like a cross country drive, everything is different from a distance but once the car picks up speed everything blurs into place.

The 1-2-3 punch offered on the first side of Buzzed, Sown, and Circus show the time and distance that went into It Gets Easier. Buzzed is a fuzzed out banger with the mangled vocals and hooks that'll have the listener wearing out the tape. Sown is an instrumental track that opens with the lush electronic textures that one would associate with the Northwestern drone scene, but it slowly morphs into a busy jangly guitar melody that has all the down-home playfulness of a Kentucky grass jam. Big Sigh then turns in Circus, a delirious pop tune that could sit well as a deranged Sgt. Pepper's b-side. The vocals are mangled and demand that the listener sign a contract with "The king of sleep"

Whatever this guy wants me to sign, I'm on board. What I'm trying to say is, this tape is necessary and weird.

https://oligopolistrecords.bandcamp.com/album/it-gets-easier

-- Scott Murphy