Invisible Path - "Dreams Woven Within the Tapestry" (Jehu and Chinaman)

Sensory deprivation. Zero gravity. Stanley Kubrick. My mind is perfectly still yet it is racing. The music of Michael Bailey as Invisible Path is laser beam focus. Solid blocks of tone colors slowly drift around and around on his tape Dreams Woven Within the Tapestry. The one-time Barn Owl musician nails the complex simplicity of atmospheric drone music and I couldn't be more calm in my own headspace while listening. Give this album a try!

Buy and Listen HERE.

follow on twitter: @teflonbeast

SON OF SALAMI "Sontava Nights" C22 (Goaty Tapes)

On Sontava Nights, the newest release by home-recording master Joe "The Pizza Slice" Agresta, we're served up a fresh pie with some fancy toppings thanks to trustworthy label Goaty Tapes.  Son of Salami releases are always a cause for celebration, but this one is extra mouth watering based on the strength of the songs and the ease with which the artist employs his un-conventional recording approach.  "Baby Mayo" (my favorite off the album) reveals deeper meanings with each listen, and "Teardrops From Me" is a bonafide one minute wonder.  Sontava Nights is also a showcase for some cuts that have a much darker sonic pallet than previous Son of Salami material (see video for "Kill Mother Nature" below).  Act fast because this will surely sell out quickly.  http://goatytapes.com/
 

The Inverted Orange - "S/T" (Prison Art)

The Inverted Orange's self-titled new cassette is a swirling rhythmic ride of guitar lead textural compositions. I would say the guitar is the focal point and/or fulcrum around which all the pieces revolve. Though there are vocals on several tunes, they are added sound colors as opposed to more trad.-rock verse-chours style offerings. Looping lines and pocket-grooves create trances on this tape. At times I reminded of Discipline era King Crimson ("Resisting Animal Urges" for example). Overall the album conveys a sense of keeping the works tight as the guitars never fly off into wank territory (not that there's anything wrong with that). I feel like this tape could be a good addition to a late spring sunset. The first stars appear in the sky as the end of The Inverted Orange's final notes fade away.

Buy and Listen HERE.

follow on twitter: @teflonbeast

PETER BRÖTZMANN / JOE McPHEE DUO US TOUR

BRÖTZMANN / McPHEE DUO 
2013 N. AMERICAN TOUR

May 31 austin, waller creek auditorium, 710 e. 41st st.

June 01 chicago, constellation, 3111 n. western ave.

June 03 orlando, timucua white house, 2000 s. summerlin st.

June 04 jacksonville, karpeles manuscript library museum, 101 w. 1st st.

June 05 philadelphia, philadelphia art alliance, 251 s. 18th st.

June 07 peterborough, the thing in the spring, town hall

June 08 washington dc, union arts and manufacturing, 411 new york ave ne
June 10 montreal, suoni per il popolo, 4848 saint-laurent

June 12 buffalo, hallwalls, 341 delaware ave.

eremite.com

take note free jazz heads

WRETCHED WORST - a good band

Having a shitty Monday?  How about you check out this dark and dangerous band from KY.  They remind me of long running Western Mass institution Grey Skull, but they manage to "hold it together" and "rock" longer.  Don't get me wrong, this is still some "I'm just starting up the metal song, can you tell if I'm tuning or playing yet?" shit.  What's really amazing about this kind of music is it puts you in a constant state of expecting a big explosion, that more often than not, never comes.  I'm listening to the Sisters Piss II cassette on FIH right now, but there's plenty to check out on their bandcamp page.  If you love detuned bass strings slapping against the fretboard, in-the-red vocals,  stop/start drumming and guitar feedback, then Wretched Worst is your jam.  They've got an LP out now on Prison Tatt Records, plus a sizable discography to acquire.  Absolutely killer live.

CHRIS CORSANO & BILL ORCUTT"The Raw and the Cooked" LP (Palilalia)

You almost definitely slept through the Corsano/Nace/Orcutt 7" on Open Mouth, so you've really got to act extremely quickly on this one, as the last available copies are drifting away right now as we speak. If you're a fan of the more intense realms of free improv, then this well assembled live album featuring ex-Harry Pussy guitarist Bill Orcutt (who is also behind Palilalia Records) and veteran jazz noise/drummer Chris Corsano (of the ever boyish physiognomy) will surely provide hours of ear drum bursting pleasure.  Forced Exposure, Mimaroglu or Fusetron are the best places to grip this bad boy in the USA.  If you're in Europe, try Volcanic Tongue.

There's a small sample up on Orcutt's soundcloud:

Why Noise Music Is Cool

Contortionist Jazz Exotica @ Savage Weekend. photo by No-Core, thanks!

2 X Golden Cloud Tapes

I have two more high quality releases from the Golden Cloud Tapes label to share with you today. Orchard Thief and Grapefruit (the artists), two very different musical stylings, but both present good listening experiences. For guitar-bliss fanatics who wanna zone to flowing lines of six-string chicanery I say investigate the wandering tones of OT's First Dimension Park. If walloping dizzy burbles of synth is yr bag, hop into the sound universe of Grapefruit. Blurred Tunnels is a voyage...from Friday night 'till Monday morning...ya dig? I'm a huge fan of transcendent sythn lines - amazing compositions!!

Buy and Listen HERE.

follow me on twitter: @teflonbeast

HAVES & THIRDS 12" (Hot Releases)

Haves & Thirds on tour now with Outmode and Craow.  This is the dude who runs the awesome Tampa label Cephia's Treat. Really like his jams.  The 12" uses samples from the movie Airplane, which is pretty weird.  A great record.  Try to find it.

MAY
17 CHAPEL HILL "savage weekend" @ the nightlight (medispa only)
18 CHAPEL HILL "savage weekend" @ the nightlight
https://www.facebook.com/events/406050262824530/
19 ALLENTOWN @ good weekend w/ THE UNDER SIXTEENS
https://www.facebook.com/events/513119172057620/
20 PROVIDENCE @ dungeon c w/ NOISE NOMADS
21 BOSTON @ deep thoughts jp
https://www.facebook.com/events/190494347767548/
22 NYC @ home sweet home
https://www.facebook.com/events/249127331893634/
23 PITTSBURGH josh rievel presents...
https://www.facebook.com/events/454967917918708/
24 CLEVELAND @ pats in the flats
https://www.facebook.com/events/172260706261532/
25 DETROIT @ contemporary art institute of detroit w/ WOLF EYES
https://www.facebook.com/events/526825447363042/
26 CHICAGO @ landscrape
https://www.facebook.com/events/137966206394972/
27 ST LOUIS @ apop w/ LARVA
https://www.facebook.com/events/503157923080870/
28 NASHVILLE @ the mean room
https://www.facebook.com/events/516843021686603/
29 CHATTANOOGA @ sluggos
https://www.facebook.com/events/311877918943349/
30 ATLANTA @ wonderroot w/ FEATURELESS GHOST & ANTICIPATION
31 JACKSONVILLE @ shantytown w/ BURNT HAIR

JUNE
1 TAMPA @ cyborg city w/ VORLOK


http://morerecords.org/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

░▒▓ CRAOW ▓▒░

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw55bW214Pw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmY71bwGdN8
https://soundcloud.com/scum-rod
http://craow.tumblr.com/


░▒▓ OUTMODE ▓▒░

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__eXFlgeey4
http://vimeo.com/45407856


░▒▓ HAVES&THIRDS ▓▒░

http://cephiastreat.com/
http://soundcloud.com/hot-releases/haves-thirds-make-the-stand
http://soundcloud.com/hot-releases/haves-thirds-a-creeping-tide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w-5gHLXVaI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOHYgZgTK6M

3 X Field Hymns

Appropriately (or inappropriately, depending on your POV) I started listening the latest batch of tapes from the Oregonian curators of all-trips synth, Field Hymns, while reading an article about the work of H.P. Lovecraft. HPL is a writer whom I know nothing about other than recognizing his name and I remember reading about how Metallica used one of his stories for inspiration on Ride the Lightning. All of this has little to do with the music actually heard on the tapes of Cremator, Black Hat, or Plvs Vltra, but the mood has been set in my listening arena.

Cremator's epic Alpha Ralpha Boulevard is perfect for where I'm at and for fans of synth arpeggios and endless sound waves drifting in/around your vibe. Field Hymns writes this tantalizing introduction to the album, "Cremator's new album title comes from a tale about a sudden, radical shift from a controlling, benevolent, and sterile society to one of individuality and danger ruled by an elite group called the Instrumentality. Now picture the soundtrack circa 1979 by Klaus Schulze and filmed by Jean Painlevé." How could anyone NOT be intrigued by this description alone? Jamming the tape is even better.

Black Hat's Covalence is a work of depth and details. Its almost difficult to enjoy on first listen because the mood it creates is intense. Half formed musical sounds fight for space amongst beats & brittle pulsing clacks, scary, but good.

Yo-Yo Blue by Plvs Vltra is the least like the other two in this trio of tapes. Collage and improvised sound explosions are the MO here. There's a lot going on sound wise on this album. J-pop snippets clash with synth chords that clash with mumbled dream speech. Sometimes the pace is frantic, while at other times I'm drifting internally, the sound of my own inner-voice replacing the music. This is a fun tape to experience.

I never did finish that Lovecraft article. After four or so paragraphs I was completely absorbed into the atmosphere put together by another solid batch of Field Hymns tapes.

Buy and Listen HERE. 

follow me on twitter: @teflonbeast

Dear Tapers...

***This will be my only use of this blog for anything other than simple review postings. 

I'm assisting (one might say curating) with the production of a new podcast dedicated to funny, novelty, and just plain weird/humorous music on tape (mostly). Starting now there will be an ongoing open call for musicians/performers to submit songs and/or humorous recordings. We're not necessarily into stuff that people already know. The idea is that the audio is "new," but we'll consider anything that strikes us. SEND US YOUR SOUNDS. SEND SEND SEND.

Send all submissions to teflonbeast at gmail dot com with "Podcast" in the subject line.

Thanks!

MOTH COCK "Bremmy" (Hausu Mountain)

Quite simply, the best tape I've heard in a long long while. At times, I felt like I was listening to some old school Morton Subotnick shit. These jams are heads and tails above all but a very few "noise, synth or whatever" artists hitting it today. You must have this in your life.  Made by two dudes from Kent, Ohio with clarinet, trumpet and 'tronics. See them them this saturday in the 10:15pm slot at Savage Weekend in Chapel Hill, NC.  You'll die!

Harshcore and Der Einzige - "Live Bujun Dokument, Graz, Jun. 11, 2009" (Old Bicycle Records)

This live split cassette is great for you static noise trippers/both abstract and fundamental....

weird
wonderful
trumpet blasts (gone in a blink)
snow, beep, muffled screams
tap
tap
tap them bones

Buy and Listen HERE.


follow me on twitter: @teflonbeast

Blindfold - "Artifact Effect" (Antiquated Future Records)

Blindfolder is the moniker of Kieran Harrison-Buhlinger. He comes to us from the Pacific Northwest. His music however comes from everywhere all at once. Artifact Effect is an inspired collection of junk sound sculptures. Using sounds gathered from over five years worth of recording this album creates a mood like few other tapes. The mix of real instrumentation, field recordings, and basic electronic improvisational manipulation is quite engaging. This is a good example of the kind of music cassettes were meant to carry. Weird sure, but creative. The packaging has lots of color, a veluum layover, an insert, and hand-typed labels. Overall great effort!

Buy and Listen HERE.

follow me on Twitter: @teflonbeast

Ramble Tamble - "Pioneer", "Flying South" (self released)

AWESOME! 2 fantastic tapes by TURNER WILLIAMS aka RAMBLE TAMBLE. turner is the man - a good dude, a great musician, and he plays in the fantastic brutal psych group GUARDIAN ALIEN.

PIONEER is a wonderful tape, one I will listen to again and again. the tunes are instrumental out-sider-y folk jams with the occasional tape collage withering in the background. they are odd, beautiful and primitive. side one ends in an EPIC jam that revolves around a repeated simple chord progression (similar to that of NIGHT MOVES by bob seeger). ITS AWESOME

the second tape, FLYING SOUTH, is wonderful as well and has some obvious inspiration from the anti-art stylings of henry flynt (one of my all time favorites) - lofi acoustic noodles and drones set the mood for tripped out country living. 

ROCK ON TURNER

DIG IT

Vapour Trail - "Vernal" (self-released)

With this post I wanted to share my initial review notes exactly as written, without structuring them into proper grammar...

Side A is the slicker side - B is more "analog" - A is the better composition - i like the handmade packaging, but with music like this (this meaning long synth "space" passages) I hope to see ornate colorful design - it completes the presentation/invites the skeptical listener in - VT's work is sure to appeal to the ambient/drone-heads out there - pretty music - so sample the wares!

Buy and Listen HERE.

follow me on twitter: @teflonbeast

Tough Fuzz - "Vol. 2" (Ewe of Now Records)

Tough Fuzz is back with a second volume of beats and woozy vibes. This go around is less straight sunshine...more seasick. There is a sense of falling apart in these tracks. If we take the subtitle, "this was not heartbreak," at face value however, we might not need to feel so bad. The music veers towards skewed lounge (with still enough bumpin' beats to kind of give one the sensation of, or at least the memory of, a rip roaring party cruise). Hallucinogens are wearing off and the vacation is over as the final seconds of Vol. 2 fade off. This tape is sold out now, but if ya find yourself on the west coast this summer, Tough Fuzz might have a few copies left at some shows...so fuzz on!

Buy and Listen HERE.

follow me on twitter: @teflonbeast