EMERALDS "Servant" c26 (Wagon)

Cleveland based Emeralds serves up another frothy stew of mystic miasma, probably my favorite to date. If you've been following these dudes for a while yr sure to be pleased by this release. The Ohio trio serves up two sides of mind squirming, swamp shifting, asteroid soundscapes, drawing openly from their influences (listed in the first page of their website!) of terry riley's minimalist tonal patterns and tangerine dreams moody dystopian synth soundtracks. Type of music that makes you turn off the lights (if they're not already) and stuff yourself between two mattresses and get yr creep out on (if you're not already).

Full color art of what looks like a byzantine mosaic.
Not sure of the edition or if it's still in print.
Check the sort of awkward page of the label here:
http://clevelandwagon.blogspot.com/

HEPATITIS (B) YOUTH "s/t" c15? (Friends and Relatives / Green Tape Records)

Liner notes list 12 members on the inside of the tape and it's sort of weird to say it, but it doesn't feel like that at all. Usually you put three dudes in a room and the music is totally (TOO) full, the tape is covered in loop goop and hissing twists. Not this mini-album. A nice ensemble piece that sounds like, after a hearty meal of cardboard dipped in wet sand, the band hit the recycling shed and ripped through a set of their favorite "tunes" with only themselves to please.

I'd long heard stories of the north florida scene (which was mind-blowing enough back then), weird people hanging out under bridges covered in fake blood playing 4 minute sets till the cops showed up (for real!) and have followed some of their paths and detritus since and this is a nice crouton in the sound salad. Carlos Gonzalez is listed first and since his exodus north he's put out a staggering collection of releases getting better every second as Russian Tsarlag (check the most recent LP on Night People, along with a great cassette on Bonescraper). Zach Ippen I know only from running the Green Tape Records label which had a hand in putting this (and a recent Gang Wizard LP) out, but i'm sure if you tracked down some of these other names the pieces would start to fit together.

Definitely a nice little slice of magnetic tape, pretty short which is a little sad but leaves you wanting more of that dude sort of moaning/singing through a toilet paper tube over some bass player stuffed in a bag of leaves with a drummer keeping the beat on the roof of the passing 18 wheeler.

Comes packaged in a plastic snap-shut case,
black and white photocopied art
still in print from Friends and Relatives site (along with lots of other good stuff!)

the not-super-helpful green tape records site:
http://www.freewebs.com/greentape/index.htm
and the more helpful Friends and Relatives site:
http://friendsandrelativesrecords.com/

NYSS "Stjeer" c60 (Hikikomori)

This tape is the first I've seen submitted for review that came with a nice hand written note. Jonas explained this tape isn't even part of an edition because he "doesn't think his music is good enough," which is a shame. The music is definitely good enough to be released in more than an edition of zero, especially considering the amount of stuff that's released in an edition of 100,000...

The music is hypnotic 'keyboard' that at times sounds like a budget crap-sio or SK-1 or maybe even a chord organ without the incessant whir of the motor. The hypnotic element is partially due to the semi discordant tones humming in and out and also because of the fact that it's relentless. the wailing of the keyboard is relentless and it makes you feel like yr recliner went too far back and yr head is simultaneously resting on yr favorite chair and the ground.

there are only like two breaks in the whole piece and you get the feeling it was a friggin muscle cramp that made him stop because as quickly as possible it restarts right where it left off.

Hikikomori is based out of sweden and doesn't have a website and this isn't in an edition...BUT if you write to Jonas at : calvinwiththecops [@] yahoo.se and "email a request...i'll record some of it for [you.]" i don't know if that means everyone gets their own unique tape or he'll just dub you a copy of this, either way, it's a good chance to pick up some ambient keyboard jams in a hand-collaged case from a very polite dude in the north east of Sweden.

again, no site, just email:
calvinwiththecops [@] yahoo.se

SLASHER RISK "Richard's Blood" c20 (Heavy Psych Recordings)

I've heard a bunch o' buzz about Slasher Risk so i was psyched to see this tape in the pile of 'to review.' What's even better is I was listening to it at about 3:30 in the morning on headphones, can't think of a better listening environment.

The tape is two live sides, each 10 minutes, side one from Silent Barn in their hometown of brooklyn, the second side a little further up I95 @ AS220 in providence.
The first side, though it's their hometown, sounds like they're terrifying and torturing the audience a lot more than side two, part of this is because you can actually hear the audience. The band sounds really intense and intestine eating, with a barrage of electronics, drums and guitars hitting the audience right in the kisser.

The big down side is the audible audience intensity is definitely compromised by the recording quality making you feel like you're listening from the back of the room, like you can see limbs flying, teeth hitting the ceiling fan and toenails being chewed, you're just on the other side of the room. The second side has more or less the same ups and downs, but with a more prominent vocal / guitar sound and a bit higher quality recording.

These sides haven't necessarily revealed to me what the sonics of the band are due to the recording quality, but it is definitely evidence that these folks would be an intense live band and presumably an awesome listen with a little better engineering.

Printed in an edition of 50.
black and white cover with blood red label on white tapes.
Sold Out from the label:
http://www.heavypsychrec.blogspot.com/

ANTIQUE BROTHERS "Hot Shit" c50 (Really Coastal)

Of all the things i'd never think to make a 'comeback' or find a home in the 'noise tape' community it would be "pro-dubbed" tapes. But what do i have in front of me but a new release on the Really Coastal label by Antique Brothers on a pro-dubbed bone colored tape, with printing indicating "hot side" and "shit side." Next step "one side longer to retain continuity" notices.

The upside of pro-dubbed tapes is definitely in the fidelity, you can hear the music a bit better, and i'd guess the label has to have a little more at stake in them (it does cost more right?) so they're going to expect a higher quality release, and Antique Brothers deliver just that.

Two sides of music that push and pull at elements of looseness and cooperation as a slide guitar beautifully leads the group through and off of percussive paths suggesting folk, psych and free jazz elements while never investing in one at the exclusion of others. The first side is a lot more patient and exploratory of the forms while the second side does venture into the spastic which is suggestive of out/free jazz. But still, something in there doesn't quite hold on and it remains more in the "psych freak out part" rather than a genre crossing.

The title does seem a little weird to me though, there is never really a "shit" vibe to the whole piece and hot doesn't exactly seem an apt description for something that is so toned down and focused for 3/4 of the listen. It's not for me to name releases though and it's not really worth complaining about when it's as good as this stuff.

A nice second release from the Really Coastal label with full color photo artwork.
Printed in an edition of 125 on the aforementioned pro-dubbed tapes.
still available from the label:
www.reallycoastal.com

THE NORTH SEA "Elixir" c41 (Abandon Ship Records)

Do you remember that bit by Chris Rock where he's talking about not having medical insurance as a kid; how his parent's answer to all their illnesses was Robitussin? "Flu? Tussin! Broken bone? just put some 'tussin on it!" Then there are the stories of people 'robo-trippin' (are there any verified cases of this where it's not just some kids taking so much of anything they feel like shit and call it 'high?). Then there is the very real feeling we all know of taking a bunch of cough syrup because you feel like shit and having yr eyes glaze over like maple syrup and yr motor skills slow down. This tape "Elixir" by The North Sea falls somewhere in this equation.

Long periods of extended hum, like the resonance of having yr mouth open as you fall out of a plane, give the listener the feeling of excess, the experience of witnessing too much to comprehend, like looking out of a plane window over the ocean. There's a slow wail that carries through almost the whole of the tape, giving the listener the sense of peace and almost anxiety that accompanies isolation and vastness.

The end of the second side registers the only significant shift, with the music beginning to show signs of thaw, growth and fluctuation, maybe yr peaking or coming down or losing hope or just beginning to come out of the tussin / ice fog.

It bears mentioning that I'm usually forcing myself to stop concentrating on the process and methodology of the artists and just "enjoy" the music and that was never an issue on this jam. Just sat back, listened and enjoyed.

Nice layout / full color art by pete friel.
Released in an edition of 100
still available from the label:
www.abandonshiprecords.com

GARETH HARDWICK "Carnations" c30 (Peasant Magik)

This tape got an immediate second round even though i have wtc size stack of tapes waiting to be listened to next to me. A simple packaging, color copy of what looks like a dried up river bed of rocks that's a three panel fold out. First side is a really soothing, almost disarming cascade of rising and descending synth, sort of like the rocks pictured on the front of the case. It's slow and borders on harmonic without ever relying any distinct melody.

The second side is a bit more dissonant though not without resolution, two synth lines slowing intertwining creating discord and a slight tension with a bit more high end though the tones establish a relationship and work slowly towards become a unified field of sound that is, like the first side, more soothing.

A really good listen.
Still available from the label:
www.peasantmagik.net

note: the label site says one side is guitar and the other is organ, presumably side a is the organ, side b is the guitar which would explain the difference in register and approach but with a consistency between sides in the goals of the sounds.

LEAD SISTER "II" c30 (oms-b)

This really captured my attention at first, sounding like a world war musical clash, slightly loop oriented but with a pretty interesting palette of sounds, awkward percussion sources sounded like oil barrels tapped with rubber mallets, clicking sounds being pulled from one end of the measure to the other, maybe an accordion, flutes that sound like their from the master musicians of jajouka or maybe it's a muted trumpet? sometimes it sounds like there's a whole damn wall of them! contorted mbira lines act as a cadence for the rest of the instruments, while shrill stringed instruments act as walls of swaying dissonance.

All this stuff going for it, interesting rhythmic arrangements, instrumentation, production but most of the compositions, with the exception of one on the second side featuring a nice double bass mostly felt like 10 second loops on repeat and it's a real shame because it doesn't take a lot of modulation to make something interesting; hell, that greh holger tape on hanson is nothing but sloooow modulation, same thing with a great synth tape from pulse emitter!

It's unfortunate, because it's not uncommon to come across something you're not compelled to re-listen to but this tape has all the elements of something i'd be really excited by it's just that listening to one song feels like you've just listened to the tape 5 times. I'd really love to hear something else by these folks that takes a little longer to develop or reveals a little more the longer you listen other than something that feels like a loop. Still, worth pointing out again that the instrumentation, composition and structures are all pretty interesting and a bit out of the ordinary and depending on how yr predisposed could be yr thing.

comes in a nice looking blockprinted and watercolor sleeve, white tape.
printed in an edition of 60
still available from the label www.oms-b.org

PREDATOR VISION "II" c30 (Abandon Ship Records)

On the cover of Predator Vision's second tape, mysteriously titled "II" Danny Glover is caught looking off into the distance, slightly to the left, sort of lost in thought. You would think it's because he's trying to hunt down and kill the predator in his second full length movie, but my guess is he's remembering being 16 and at his first Santana concert and feeling liberated by the "smell of pot" though he hasn't actually done any. He's staring off into the distance as the first jam lets loose a tight building kraut-style drumbeat with two guitars ripping and rolling solos on top of each other with waves of phase carrying each section into the next as the comes apart slightly only to reconfigure with some riffs structuring the final movement. Danny is staring up at the sky hard as if his neck is the sensory organ for hearing and he wants to expose it to the last riffs of the first side which sort of sounds like sweet leaf by sabbath, though the rest of the music sounded nothing like that.

there's a pause and the bass player jeremy pisani (red favorite) joins the trio of etienne dugay (real estate) on drums and ben daly and matt mondanile (real estate, ducktails) on guitars. things get a little weirder, glover's vision from staring at the sun is becoming less literal, the music has opened up; the drums remaining rhythmic but without the crisp disciplinary beat propelling it forward, instead the drums and bass now work as a "section," slightly syncopated while the guitar and occasional organ sounds float in a softer environment, one less defined by rigid shapes and more by pulsing color. Glover is into it. The mood builds and builds, lifting and sort of absorbing the influence of pisani's bass and heading back into what the three dudes feel most comfortable doing, letting it rip.

the music is abruptly stopped, like the tape ran out, or the cops broke up the show sending Glover on his way with a sort of distant, to the left, look on his face.

black and white art on tan paper
printed in an edition of 100
Still available from the label,
www.abandonshiprecords.com

BUDWEISER SPRITE "trash on the grass" (905 Tapes)

Back with more noise-constructed rock n' roll, the man with the positive vibe has an epic one this time. A c-92 usually means dulldome for just about anyone, but here Budweiser Sprite shines. Starting off with unrelenting, fast paced, driving rhythms that last for nearly half the side of the cassette, there is no boredom to be found. Only after it seems that this approach will define the entire release do the rhythms begin to change. Still using mixer/4track/circuit feedback to create sludgy and farty loops, the aesthetic is lo-fi. Unlike so much lo-fi noise though, this is multi-textured, surprisingly expressive, and never flat or dull. Rather, it occupies a certian voice that is immediately recognizable as Budweiser Sprite. This is greatly due to how he uses this fart-range. So much action is put into the sounds, so much movement and an incredible sense of head bobbing and fist pumping pace, that the true joy he gets out of making this music is immediatly translated to the listener. These muffled tones come from a party beyond the perifory, centered into focus in a way that shows how awesome and straight up happy the unknown and mysterious can be.

NURTURE ABUSE "Carcass Parade" (Truculent)

I got this tape from Chris in Providence during a tour in 2007. It is a harsh noise tape, but coming at it from the approach of somebody who is way down with noisecore. Chris is one of the guys from Suffering Bastard btw, check them out for sure... Anyway, Nurture Abuse is bleak and wrenching, a string of many short feedback / distortion / vocal pieces on a nicely presented (this is from Truculent after all) c10 tape. Imagery and titling is very consistant and what you would expect from the project's name. It's not a common situation these days to hear a harsh noise tape that screams that its roots are in punk and grindcore, versus roots in just dicking around with random gear for no reason besides being stoned, so I was happy to listen to this one a number of times. I stop listening to it once I start to feel too much like the guy who is about to have his head chopped off on the photo inside the sleeve. I feel like when the time comes for my head to get cut off I would like to be out doing something besides typing with one finger about a tape for a webzine. Otherwise it's like the guy in Jurassic Park who got eaten by the dinosaur when he was on the toilet, you know? Anyway, look up Nurture Abuse, this tape if it is still available, and related bands such as Suffering Bastard! www.truculentrecordings.net ~ Robert Inhuman 11/27/08

ABRADE / BAKA YARO / NUCLEAR DAWN / SMG 4-way split (Noise Infection Music #2)

"A FUCKING DESTRUCTION OF MELODIC WIMPS!!!" (insert xerox photo of the Pope) "THIS TAPE WILL SMASH YOUR WEAK EARS!!!" ...hell yeah, it might not be as "noise" as it claims, like any grindcore and punk slogans as usual, but that's part of the fun and tradition I guess, to seem wild and totally out of control! This tape is really fun and a firm disciple of DIY's unconditional friend. "ABSOLUTELY NO COPYRIGHTS: COPY THIS TAPE NOW!!" ...tape trading in the midst of 21st century mp3 oceans, such a strange and confusing sentiment, but somehow it maintains a soft spot in my heart, even though tapes = more garbage made/on Earth, and mp3's = not physical clutter... ANYWAY... ABRADE = intense high-energy grindcore from Chicago. They're comparable to bands like Magrudergrind and I'd recommend grabbing anything by Abrade you can find if you really love current grindcore that is not screamo in disguise. Hentai Lacerator played with them in Chi on Saint Patrick's day 2007 in a basement and it was an awesome time, very youthful and for-the-moment, the spirit of true hxc. BAKA YARO = fast intense crusty hardcore from Slovenia!!! Fucking hell, Dylan who does these tapes gets people from all over. He traded me this other noisecore tape of a band from Romania! Can't recall the name at the moment... Baka Yaro is high energy music with statements like "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" audible in between. Call me PC, but that seems like a fucking good thing to say through music or anything else!!! NUCLEAR DAWN = I love Nuclear Dawn. Brutally awesome animal rights themed noisy grindcore duo from Columbus Ohio, this time with songs like "Incarcerated By Employment", "Fuck Celebrities", and "AS IF COMPASSION WERE A LAUGHABLE QUALITY TO HAVE" - if you love fun and awesome grindcore, seriously look these guys up. If you are into music that's about radical ideas, especially anything similar to those of the A.L.F. - this is a band to get down with. SMG = The band is from Malaysia! They play super fast and muddy hxc/grind, totally desperate and wrenching, but with periodic breakdowns to string everything together. I'd like to find more from SMG sometime. I got this tape in 2007 from Dylan, but I think his contact has changed since then. I guess he is living in Spain right now! Try him at dylantaylorlehman@hotmail.com and definitely look up these bands!!! ~ Robert Inhuman 11/27/08

NUCLEAR DAWN / WARHEL / VOMITROCITY / DISMAL "SUBURBICIDE" (Punched In The Throat Records #9)

FUCK YEAH! I think I got this 4-way split tape back in 2006 at some point? In Columbus Ohio, where I was living at the time... Nuclear Dawn = awesome (seriously awesome!) animals rights themed brutally noisy grindcore duo from Columbus, guitar / drums / both screaming and grunting... I adore the style they play and even how it is recorded, totally lo-fi but you can hear everything really well. I love Nuclear Dawn. Look them up!!! Warhel = totally brutal crusty metal, whom I think live in a remote farm area of West Virginia(??) Songs themed around the atrocity of war, the atrocity of mainstream political systems, and a healthy level of misanthropy, maybe tied to Green Anarchism, I'm not totally sure and would wanna look them up further to avoid speculation... Dismal = rugged crusty hardcore from Columbus, more apocalyptic shit it seems. I think this band has/had(??) people from stuff like Killed in Action in it... Dismal is way D-beat if you are into that sorta thing. I get frustrated when bands choose that specific style and never stray from it though, it seems insecure / stale, but the stuff on this tape is still strong and exciting. Vomitrocity = gross and ridiculous goregrind from Columbus, with songs that are more about jokes and fun stuff I associate with the Cbus hardcore scene I saw earlier this decade when I lived over there. Vomitrocity was/is(??) people from bands like Killed In Action and Dylan who went on to Nuclear Dawn. Dylan did this tape, and I think his contact has changed since it was released. Try him at dylantaylorlehman@hotmail.com and search for these bands on MY space (so sad) or elsewhere. "IMMUNE TO MELODY"~"GRIND FOR LIFE!!!" ~ Robert Inhuman 11/27/08

THE BREAKS (2004 demo)

Fuck yeah, talking about tapes that have cool memories attached... I got this from The Breaks at the beginning of my first Realicide tour, solo, the Summer of 2004 - at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center in Saint Louis (fuck yeah this is from a while back, before Joe and those dudes stopped coming to Lemp...) show with Voetsek and some others... They were a really fun and exciting oldschool hardcore band: fast, catchy, youth angst, and a little blood-letting... The demo is 4 songs and a crudely drawn cover of a kid whose brainseems to be exploding outta his ears. This band hasn't existed in a long time, I think some of those guys ended up in Chicago, but if you ever see something by 'em and enjoy traditional hxc, check it out. Joe Sulier, the singer of Breaks, later went on to form the Get Born! beat-inspired punk petry series in STL and on tours, involving Jim Swill from Realicide. ~ Robert Inhuman 11/27/08

KATCHMARE + ANTLER PISS "AUTOMATIC WEDDING" (Scissor Death)

This tape was mailed to Cassette Gods with my name on it. I was recruited into CG for the purpose of reviewing tapes dealing in all variations of hardcore punk and electronic, not noise. This tape is very much a noise tape, in just about every way, in every vague and irrelevent way. I don't really listen to a lot of noise recordings, especially on cassettes, unless they are specifically driven by some form of radical or sociopolitical ideas or motivations. This element needs to be readily evident, cos I can't fucking read minds. With no notes or explaination or absolutely anything to convince me this is not just more SOUND FOR SOUND'S SAKE or worse yet the complete tsunami of ACCIDENTAL NIHILISM that carries the noise scene in the US and elsewhere, combined with any knowledge whatsoever of my personal politics regarding the functions of music and bands which are readily noticable in most of what I involve myself with, why would I be somebody who'd want to review this particular tape? There are other writers for CG that surely feel much less critical and downright combative as me about the popular noise scene, I just don't understand why I was chosen as the target reviewer. Maybe it was just another case of somebody seeing my name and making assumptions, I have no clue, but I do not usually write reviews of ANYTHING, let alone tapes, nor do I seek or read reviews at least 360 days a year I'd say, and I am on here to review variations of hardcore music. The term "hardcore" is sooo fucking loose too, I mean it can mean hundreds of things, but this tape not connected to hardcore by anything I've been brought aware of. I am not gonna get into my opinion of it as a noise tape on here, it's not why I'm writing and trust me you wouldn't wanna hear my thoughts on it anyhow. Please please please though feel free to send your hardcore, grindcore, noisecore, speedcore, etc. not-just-made-up-genre-names-as-a-joke tapes to CG with my name on it and I will talk about your tape! And this is not a rant saying you should not send noise to CG, cos I'm pretty sure you're supposed to, just please don't put my name on it cos it's not why I'm writing for CG (I said it yet again, sorry) - You don't wanna hear my opinion of the average noise tape cos I will not talk about if it sounded good, I will talk about if it taught me jackshit or not about anything. Oh yeah, for this tape, though I kinda didn't review it, www.scissordeath.com ~ Robert Inhuman, October 2008

PENIS GEYSER (3rd tape, 2007?)

Fucking hell, back again - Columbus Ohio true noisecore filth with a 3rd demo tape, from later 2007? or is this into '08?! Either way you'll be pissed if you hear it. This 3rd Penis Geyser tape offers TWICE as much as the previous one, 6 MINUTES! And it is actually a bit more to work with, sounding like it could be edited together from various recordings over a period of time, though each still only a couple seconds long of course. For fans of Gerogerigegege, Seven Minutes of Nausea, Gore Beyond Necropsy, Fear of God on a really off-day... Penis Geyser is still that ritual shame of rock music, corroding away the dignity of anyone it encounters! Tape comes in a "cassingle" style paper wrap-around adorned with a drawing of Charlie Manson with a giant cock surging out of his mouth like some kinda play on the alien from that movie, Alien. ~ Robert Inhuman 11/27/08

PENIS GEYSER (2nd tape, 2007)

"TOTAL DESTRUCTION IS THE ONLY SOLUTION" - "MUSIC IS FOR NO ONE" --- This is the 2nd tape release of Columbus Ohio's completely unreasonable noisecore band, Penis Geyser, recorded in 2007. It's a little more to work with that the one the year before, this time filling a whole 3 minutes on one side of a c6! Yeah, what an epic, huh? The recording is basically indecipherable harsh noise, straying from the completely ADD start/stop/repeat format of the earlier tape. There are three members credited (including Mikeal of the Smash Music noisecore zine!!!) for various percussion and vocal work, but it is seemingly inaudible... My favorite thing about this tape is its look - all black xerox with sparse white lettering inside a black envelope, tape's label is black print on a black label... Reminds me of the Fields Of Blood CD done on the Outfall Channel label in Dayton: ALL BLACK. There is a cool xerox booklet with a series of images of a woman altered in different ways via photocopy machine work, which I'm still/forever a sucker for. The look is totally "harsh noise", straight-faced and morbid, despite the name of the band I mean. ~ Robert Inhuman 11/27/08

PENIS GEYSER "a tribute to the smiths"

The first demo from Columbus Ohio TRUE noisecore creeps, Penis Geyser. If you enjoy music you will most likely hate that this tape even exists!!! It is actually a longer cassette but there is only 1 minute of audio on it. To make things more excruciating and confusing, the recording makes most other NOISECORE sound hi-fi and complex! It makes Seven Minutes of Nausea sound like Dream Theatre! The tracklist consists of an "intro." followed by "songs 1-26", each "song" determined by a nanosecond passing thought among the band during the course of the 1 minute recording that is more count-offs than anything else! I fucking love the classic prank with count-offs, a ritual of many noisecore bands such as Ptao and my ultimately beloved Final Exit! This tape will really piss you off, unless you love noisecore, in which case it will briefly remind you of that and then be over. It's from 2006 and I think the contact address on the sleeve is out-dated. ~ Robert Inhuman 11/27/08

ROBEDOOR / HUSERE GRAV split c45 (Not Not Fun)

This split is a great pairing of sides from the workhorse Robedoor and Husere Grav who i am hearing here for the first time. The cover depicts some sort of southeast asian ceremony happening that looks like a totally fugged up game of reverse-duck duck goose with a crowd of people reaching out to a circling figure who is all dressed up. You know, you can tell a lot by first impressions, love at first sight or don't judge a book by the cover, whatever, either way i was checking it out as i popped it in thinking "either an incense party" or "an appropriating tribal jam?"

Answer is neither, on both accounts/ sides, ESPECIALLY the husere grav side which about the only southeast asian resemblance it has is that, uh it makes you feel like "you ain't at home" (unless you're reading this from malaysia). The side is a pretty tension oriented (pun!) affair with suggestions of rhythm only ever barely creeping into the audible. It has a super bunker vibe to it, like you've been tunneling and have a scalp covered in dust and musk, possibly post-air raid. lots of smokey murk mixing with yr essential air causing you to get red-eyed and half delirious.

The Robedoor side (actually Side A)has a different 'tude invoked, while mainting an earthy feel, the tape starts a lot lighter creating a balcony of guitar and vocals, maybe there's some light coming through, but i wouldn't call it a hopeful scene if yr the lost traveler, because this stuff is definitely loaded with a sense of foreboding. Then the trees quake, the earth shakes and the dirt separates and yr stuck staring at a rumbling, thudding minimal drum scape and some super muddied up guitar. Definitely a bad sign for yr khakis. the sounds only get thicker and thicker and thicker and thicker till yr eventually totally covered in vines, lips swollen, mucus filling yr mouth and the guitar and drums just build and build becoming heavier and more violent. tape ends with some delayed out / processed vocals (i think) and yr total decomposition. maybe if yr lucky there'll be a reverse-duck duck goose ceremony where you just got ate the eff up by the jungle jams.

recommended for nights alone, camping trips or for ruining the good vibes at the holidays. great stuff.

full color cover, tape labels in an edition of 150.

out of stock at the label: http://www.notnotfun.com
some available at DNT distro: htt://www.dntrecords.com

Soup Purse / Argumentix split "True Guru Electronics" c28 (Below PDX)

When i saw the title of this tape "true guru electronics" i didn't know if these dudes were playing off the current wave of interest in 'new age' culture and music, proclaiming themselves the true gurus of electronics or just liked the way they sounded together (a great pairing of words if you ask me.)

well, after listening, i still can't tell what the exact intentions were of the artists, the Argumentix side does have a nice "tone therapy" vibe to some of it, though it sounds like a lot of the sounds are made up of tapes being eaten or distorted, stuff being cut up played backwards and washing out yr earhole, which is fine by me! a short side at 14 minutes, but a nice divergence from the more beat oriented stuff he's been doing lately.

the soup purse side is a bit of a mystery and not necessarily in a good way. don't want to harsh on anything here, but what starts as a nice pile up of voices, creating a healthy murk of vocal sounds and curdling electronics turns into samples about pissing on people and talking faux-whitehouse style vocals? can't really tell if it's a joke or serious or what and that being said it's hard to determine what to do with it. I know james (below pdx head honcho) has a real sense of humor and isn't afraid to introduce it to his music/label, and kudos for it, but this side just missed the mark and undercut what maybe was serious music? yoinks...

full color cover of some blue jumpsuit lady bowing before a disgusting 'guru' looking dude with a extended unicorn turd for a walking stick. red tapes with black and white labels, still available from the label:

http://www.belowpdx.com

WEIRDING MODULE / ARNAU SALA split c40 (senseless empire / ozono kids)

These two dudes have been on a roll in my "book" lately, Weirding Module runs the senseless empire label which released that Canopic Lidz tape that awkwardly rules, Arnau runs the Ozono Kids label that has been putting out awesome Angeldust, M Ax Noi Mach Records and running the barcelona noise scene. It's no that their recorded output, as you'd guess, is up to par.

The Weirding Module side is a continuation of the territory that he's been digging through, mucking up and re-wiring. Low repetitive bass lines loop and roll on top of each other like so many worms in a can, burbling and boiling in clean tones that are soo deep you almost lose a filling. This dream team is followed by a floor cleaner gleam on a super sharp drum machine loop that really lacks the warmth and presence of a synth, but it's a short walk alone as the beat carries on the whole side of the tape tormented, threatened and eventually subsumed by a wave of electronics and synths that whip and whirl about finally enveloping the beat as part of it's mermaid vomit sea algae jam, harsh and patient enough to soften glass.

Arnau's side is more a dentistry nightmare to the outerspace grease of the WM side. Thick electronic layering feels like a fuggin sonic weapon, all the while remaining warm. This side is also distinct from WM's with the presence of vocals. A lot of times, voices can be a hard match for the limitlessness of "noise" and as a result, at it's worst, can un-do all the hard work an artist has done to create something interesting, by grounding it, making it totally tangible and often times just a background to the voice. In the best case scenario, as is close here, the voice and the noise become the good cop/bad cop, or really, the bad cop / bad cop with the antagonism of the voice only becoming more palpable because of the shrill, skittish electronics teetering above you. This is well played out here especially at points where Arnau is practically whispering, like a stalker in the closet. Throw in some drum machines, gasping electronic and shortwave interference and you've got yrself a hot tape!

comes in real nice two color silkscreen on black paper, numbered to 100,
black tapes.

still available from the label:
http://www.senselessempire.com

EMERALDS & AARON DILLOWAY "Under Pressure" c60 (Hanson)

The work of Aaron Dilloway should be no mystery to the readers of these pages, label head at the venerable Hanson Records he has been a constant source of releases new, old and above all mysterious. His prodigious output as a solo artist, in collaborations and work with Wolf Eyes makes it hard not to run into his sonic incantations and for that you, listener, are better off. Here we have dilloway running alongside, instead of head-on, with Emeralds, an equally charged outfit, who have been here to western mass playing live more times than most local bands in the last 3 or so years. Again, for that, we're all the better.

The tape seems to walk between the worlds i imagine both of these artists inhabiting though i doesn't feel like their doing this out of a lack of shared space or goals, it's two languages that meet without needing to be translated to understand each other. The emeralds vibes are often high and in front, the repetitive warmth of analog synth lines (can't tell if they're loops or not) carried in on a bed of fog and haze. There's a really melodic, almost nostalgic/evocative tone the synths bring that allow the bed of noises to speak much more than usual. A bit of what sounds like tape fudgery has a real garbled feel that is a well timed switch out of the swelling, moody synth-mospheres. These hold solid and work as a nice contrast to the role-reversal moments that are a lot more dense and give the sensation of drowning in the haze feeling light disappear and yr eardrums burst, a nice second side to the out of body ether tones of the first side.

A solid, thoughtful take.

black and white cover, white tape. Still available from the label.
http://www.hansonrecords.net

WARMER MILKS "Slave to Suicide" c32 (Animal Disguise)

Man, you know sometimes you get the feeling "i've been here before" and you search a totally alien scenery for some suggestion of familiarity; or when you're talking to someone and you can't remember how (or if) you know them and you stare at their face, searching every detail for a feature you can recall, anything, any trait that will suggest something- open up a doorway. This tape feels like a long string of those, low rumbles that extend for a long time, sounding like a place i used to visit in brooklyn right by the expressway with the hypnotic thudding of trucks passing over a bump, over and over and over while you're half asleep. some surface being scratched, a barrel knocked over by the wind rolling back and forth on the opposing handles all night. The type of scene or setting a director would use to suggest a little kid with straight hair and cold blue eyes is evil or has super powers. this whole tape is like that with varying degrees of minimal flittering and chirping mixed with a couple of melodic pieces (my favorite at the end of the first side gets cut off!) and even a weird vocal/percussion track that is a real stand out, but again, gets cut off...

black and white "old school" style cover, looks like it would be a harsh noise tape from the late 80's, silhouette of a church, all caps lettering, really belies the content of the tape in some way, but in other ways, you know, an Omen / Argento type of feel, it doesn't. black tape with letter markings, "limited edition" still available from the label:

http://www.animaldisguise.com