COY DADDIE



Based fully on presentation, I assumed this was going to be Columbus Ohio’s best Ty Segal rip-off: home-dubbed, heisenbergian face illustrated on the cover with the slogan “IF IT AIN”T ROCK N ROLL IT AIN’T SHIT.” I was pleasantly surprised when I was blessed with the sounds of dueling Dulcimer and Saxophone.

This tape, dubbed directly to a Maxell Communicator Series C30, has a Clean side and a Dirty side (labeled). The clean side sounds fairly dirty on its own with its stretchy dulcimer drones and tormented sax trills punching in and out between long winded rips. The piece eventually opens up to sections of wah-ing, pitch-shifting and… complete cacophony. The addition of effects definitely helped keep my interest after quickly discovering long dulcimer and sax jams just aren’t my thing. Coy Daddie then moves to stabbing rhythms before a complete metallic reverb drowns each instrument in an echo chamber. Eventualy the “clean” side dies down and dissipates. At this point I am beginning to think the tape is mislabeled and I just witnessed the “dirty” side by mistake.

The B side is much cleaner and sounds like it’s a very similar or the same composition but without effects, giving clarity to which effects were used and when. The flip side also affords more depth into the performance of each instrument; we can hear the dulcimer or sax in their natural environment and can imagine the performances a bit more vividly. Then comes the distortion, pitch-shifting and you realize Coy Daddie is comprised of a gang of liars who enjoy a classic mess-around on a lowly cassette reviewer and hold the coining rights to the Saxtronics tag on Bamdcamp.

LIYL: Merzbow, Hair Police, Yellow Swans

-- Joseph Morris