NAPS / LUNG CYCLES "S/T" C60 (Lily Tapes And Discs)

Organs hum softly in their immensity like humpback whales drifting on the seasoned tides and currents. This is no place for mankind’s annoyances. This is no time for unrest and anxiety upstarts. Down chuck and pillow piercers only find home here now please forever. Distant as in distance as for dissenting to dreams from the day’s dissonance. Our decadence pays off in these moments of clamming. Squeezed tight to mox the pearls we hold in our throats for their gain levels peaking. As low as divers dare and rumbling like the belly aches of the split earths forming new sentiment layers over old scarred and pitted landscapes washed over and picked clean by the scavengers of the eco systems. This wonderful life has feeling in sounds held out for weeks in bliss bubbling from open mouths at gentle kiss. The silk flows from our touch as energy is shared by all like a Tesla coil standing definitely in the far off night of our dreamscapes. This music can be your life. This montage can slow forward to a crawl. You can be happy if you choose this. You can be complete if you become as content. Flowers over doorsteps and doves upon their skin cooing against arteries full of curves and bends. This is Naps. This has been a channeling of their side…

Lung Cycles also let loose drawl open in speechless patter upon the emerging light. As petals are summoned open before the dawning sun. These organ petals do the same for the souls of the people whom have gathered in sum. Though...  some of the others... of peoples I mean... may quaf up that this is not music. That this is not heavy gravel. Awe but they are the quaffers after all. And they are unlike these quakers herein whom toil soil so they make growth over the shifting weeks in virtuous patience expelled through commitment and strained white knuckles in clench. This is not pious commandments spat from pulpits but this is the tolling of Sunday church bells over towns far off in distance from the pollutions of the short spannable panned handlers of instantaneous gratifications. This mends mankind's ills in meditative tones not jerks muscles in quick seizuristiuc twitchings played in short sharp shocks. This grows. This is not the reaping itself. That comes later as this stays with you far after it ends honestly. So the others can toil nothing but dull habits of unimaginative constraint as they balk but these lands are fertile and rich in their deposits all the same. And those whom are with the know are indeed the luckier ones hearing herein. The others cannot understand the simpleness of this sort of nature in sound. This minimalism escapes them entirely. The emotion is unsettling to dulled senses even as much as becoming offensive to their undeveloped steps leading to their boredom. They cannot balance in such thick gravitational hymnals held down by these pervasive pilots of the pineriol glands. Though them that hold the knowledge are unconcerned with the wriggling of worms above the fields and equate their time to the burrowing type. In note in scope and in triumphant chordings drowning the dirt clogs from sea to shining sea. Amen.

Artifact itself is a beautifully pro-dubbed and pad printed (brown on yellow) cassette tape. Housed in an eco friendly Brad pack hemed by the wonderfully splendid Stumptown printer folks of the Oregons… if I’m not mistaken. Which I am... as it is SPBlanks but it is a top notch knock off so I don’t feel ill. Cheers to both then. Wonderful top to bottom. Thank you kindly for this. I will treasure it. Thanks.

▬Andy Tithesis

POEMME "Moments In Golden Light” C40 (Constellation Tatsu)

Poemme’s J-Card art hosts verdant meadow beside deciduous treeline, all hedges and edges blurred via hungrily wide-eyed aperture. Soft glow of overexposure leaves only hints of shadows’ existence, all hues bleeding into darkness, rendered saturated. Radiant.

The sounds cultivated and magnetized within bear much resemblance; an impossibly blissed-out wilderness of ambient swells & all-pervasive timbre warble (think SOTL), but with added angelic choral cloud whispers that lazily drift en masse above myriad mic’d bodies of water and birdsong, with seagull, pan flute, & tympanum accents paying subtle visitations, resulting in our slow’d heart rates, uncluttering/defragmenting minds, & relaaaxed everythaaangs.

This tape is the perfect pairing to CT’s other summer batch release “Latitudes” by Mike Nigro & Andrew Osterhoudt, which explores similar space & beatifix, but juxtaposes heavily in the mood and rhythmic department. Great for listening back to back, Poemme’s “Moments In Golden Light” will shake off any weariness the former stated release might bring on, every single time, giving us a smooth tour of our psyches’ peaks, valleys, & kickball-able meadows.

www.ctatsu.com/portfolio/moments-in-golden-light
and/or
https://poemme.bandcamp.com/

--Jacob An Kittenplan

MIKE NIGRO & ANDREW OSTERHOUDT"Latitudes” C44 (Constellation Tatsu)

Newest-Age Wielders of all Darker Crystals, BEWARE!

Mike Nigro & Andrew Osterhoudt have fashioned here an uneasy-yet-universal cosmic montage of self-erasing constellations, ouroboorish celestial tropes-gone-rogue, and one-way-expansive blueprints that ought fit within the catalogue of some otherworldly, parallel label titled “Black Hearts of Space”, were they not delivered right here, via CTatsu.

A thinly veiled underbelly of forlorn paranoia glowing from the ungazeable navel, these oft-co-opted New Age scripts have been artisinally poisoned juuust enough to feel both beautiful and toooo beautiful to be true, their hues oversaturated along the shadowlines, a neon cobweb spinning itself in fractal dissonance, just above the highlight.

Any attempted Channeling* of energies alongside these all-synth soundscapes might invite stories of most blissful peaks e’r visited (where travelers froze themselves to death in acrophobic dread), or conversely, a second-wind-given some (comatose) diver as they come up for air (after being clinically dead for an hour).

Disorienting, spooky, gorgeous; this tape is an emotional tour of acute schizophrenia, with subtle mood swings swirling throughout its entirety, despite (and in fact bolstered by!) an otherwise 95% state of consonant docility.

Quite an adventure. Best with headphones and a comfy floor to lay immobile on. For hours afterward.

*AO’s alias.

www.ctatsu.com/portfolio/latitudes/
and/or
https://mikenigro.bandcamp.com/
https://channeling.bandcamp.com/

--Jacob An Kittenplan

TELYSCOPES "High Fidelity Drag” C48 (Silver Bullet Recording Collective?)

Sometimes, you hear a band and obnoxiously opine, “now, just why the hell did this band that sounds JUST like this other band really NEED to put out an album of their own?”

And, with rock music, you’re usually right. The bewildering volume of underwhelming knock-offs could stretch from here to Uranus, for sure, but Philadelphia’s Telyscopes? Dude! Dude not only deserves a “pass” but some serious cheering from the sidelines! Touch (Get-the-Fuck) Down! Olympic levels of reappropriation here! Light and carry that long-extinguished torch! We miss it soooo much!

Remember the ‘90s heyday of Elephant 6’s re-envisioning of the Beatles & Beach Boys infectious choral work and tie-dyed riff psychedelia? Well, “High Fidelity Drag” picks up where early Of Montreal left off, mixing the Lo-Fi aesthetic of Cherry Peel with the frenetic, dizzying near-progginess of Satanic Panic In the Attic’s surfy, Wilsonian charisma…and then he adds in some downright funk-doppelganger OM’y bass lines. This tape is a serious keeper for mid-evening party-jamz-kicking! Long live Psychedelphia!

https://telyscopes.bandcamp.com/album/high-fidelity-drag

--Jacob An Kittenplan

BABY BIRDS DON’T DRINK MILK “Burritos” (Lillerne Tapes)

We have some flowers and a decorative watering can on a little stand outside our front door, you know, to class the joint up a little bit. One day I saw what I thought was decorative grass sticking out of the watering can, and I asked my wife if she had decided to enhance the display in some way. She said no.

The mystery deepened.

Then I solved it almost immediately: a bird had started to build a nest! It was a little chickadee-type thing (what am I, an ornithologist?), and soon enough, there were eggs, and then soon after that, baby birds. Feeling entirely too destructively helpful one day, I came outside with a human baby bottle full of warm milk, intending to nurture the baby birds. Much to my surprise, the mother bird alighted on the can’s handle, and gave me the scolding of a lifetime:

“You foolish human, baby birds don’t drink milk – they eat burritos!”

First, I was surprised the bird could talk. Second, it reminded me of a band I’d heard one time. Then it hit me – I had a tape called “Burritos” by a band called Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk, which was really coincidental, but I decided to go inside and play it. Maybe it would impart other bird lessons in much the same way my new chickadee friend had.

Turns out the trio BBDDM makes lovely, ethereal indie pop that drifts across prairies and deserts and snowfields and lakes, ingeniously folding the space into the music so that it breathes without effort. At times eschewing traditional songcraft to allow the music to expand, at others knocking out a melodic earworm hook with wonderful harmonized vocals like they could do it in their sleep, BBDDM had me hooked, gripped in the talons of “Burritos,” floating high above ground on a cloudless summer day.

It was like a whisper and a dream, but the melodies were true, and the feelings were mutual. I became a bird through magic, and it was only then that I truly understood.

Parts of this story are true. One of them is that this tape came out in 2016. So please, enjoy with me the memory of its physical passing.

Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk

Lillerne Tapes

--Ryan

C. CHAMBERS “Ignoring The Savage Land” (Uuhngreh Schpuggenuh Records) C-40

He’s never early, he’s always late.

C. Chambers, formerly of Kaleidoscope Death, packs the van with all the goodies. The place that was once the ash-tray is now a daily-fortune drawer. A new one appears at dawn. The old one gets fed to the paper tiger. When the vehicle is moving, the interiors of the tires are filled with tiny toy cars in an endless loop racing, huddled together. This detail is on the honor system, as no one is able to see inside to verify.

Black angel did weep, wait, I don’t think John Cale is on this one. Neither is Tony Conrad. That is probably why I feel way relaxed. CC charms the ears with bow on strings in the wee early hours.

Bang a Can, finger callouses are looking mighty authentic. That contact mic smells of marjoram and thistle. Wait, I think I was flossing with those strings. Vocoder Moroder is no where in sight. I like the choice of different color owls string lights arranged around the campsite. The songs ‘til Dawn.


--Adam Padavano

SOAPLANDS "S/T" C15 (No Rent Records)

Now for the sudsy sounds of SOAPLANDS friends. This little delight comes via No Rent Records. A swell label that is on top of their game no doubt. Sycophant lips are fat and juicy folks and mine are thin and chapped... so this is for real! Just FYI. I tell the truth. I am also single and available for most parties and get togethers. I will include my pager number at the end. I will buy you beer! If you pay it. Sorry. I am desperate and addled. I used to have standards. Now I only have the memories and most of those were written on blackboards. Damn, sorry, cannot focus right now. Maybe it's all the dopamin contained herein this release that got released by No Rent. IDK. Anyways I am worried about the cave boys in Indonesia or wherever. If you are reading this and they have since perished I am sorry. If they are still in there then this is still topical. If they were rescued then I lost some money... but how will they adjust to life on the outside i wonder? With everyone knowing they are as stupid as they all are you know? Nobody wants to be failed spelunker. It just sounds bad. Uh... where was I before I wrote that stupid line? Oh yeah... tape review of SOAPLANDS with it's titles that give off a contact high all of their own. Neato. Send more now! Ha Ha. Okay then. Blah blah back to before I wandered off in a rantle. That's a rattle + rant folks. Okay go... [cont. from above] but here is no exception to the greatness and swiftness like a puma that is No Rent Records! Try to follow. I'll try to throw you off. This may or may not be called fun. Not sure. Never had any before. And so we go...

Pretty dark blue tape here which was undoubtedly made in a shop. White pad printing and a two page j-card printed front and back. Neato. Clean too. How befitting really. Great job all around on the tangibles. I want to add real quick (which means ramble for me) that this tape runs the same on both sides. Meaning the whole album is recorded twice. When it flips the album begins again every time. Flip it over and guess what!? It's the same thing again. Now some less experienced person may scoff or roll eyeballs but stifle and hear me out on this. I have thought long and hard on this exact subject in recording aesthetic. I lead a very exciting life no doubt. Anyways I’ll explain why this is always better to do if you can afford the extra tape length friends. First you do not have to worry about splitting an album up by hacking it in half timewise. Which we all know can be a pain in the old uploader. Second your listeners will benefit by not having a forced even if brief interruption that is unnatural to the initial flow of the album as it was intended. Well usually anyways unless you are a super tapehead and planned a bathroom break accordingly but that would be a rare exception I am going to have to say. Thirdly it is a known fact that tapes can accidently if one is careless enough be re-recorded over. Okay only if the tabs are left in but sometimes they are and then shit gets dangerous. Anyone familiar enough with tapes has done it at least once and if not it will happen eventually I promise. Either by an a-hole friend or when you are baked like a kite. Ben Franklin style you heard! Then forever after that that song you smudged will always have that stupid little reminder of your dimness upon it as to mock you for being such a clutz or having crappy friends. Not only when you listen to your own messed up tape but whenever you hear the actual song played anywhere. Your mind will make sure to add it in your head. It will haunt you till the day you die I promise. So yes... two sides are much better than one here. You will always have a backup. There is more but I forgot so I will shut the front door and review the actual music finally.

It was good.

No I am being silly and you can’t get off that easy anyways. I could go for days about my kitty cat’s sleeping habits and preferences for kibble alone. Don’t provoke me! The cover art tells me that I am in for some vapor love whether I like it or not. I have my moments honestly. Meh but I am right as it plays... well at first... wait… it seems maybe… no this is more. Getting excited now. Prose time... an urban sprawl futuristic rustic banana pancake whiffle dick bat waffle huckleberry karate kid cinema magic the gathering in a Chinese internet cafe ain’t got shit on this! I am a moron… sorry. Took a lot of head trauma as a youth and/or I have tourettes I am pretty sure. It is how I felt though honestly for a second. Music is hard to put into words sometimes you know? Good ones anyways. I say anyways a lot in this review. Pause and reflect. What are you doing with your summer days and or life Andy? Got kinda dark there. Okay stop and continue now also again pretending that didn’t just happen. That was a note to self just ignore it. He does it for attention and it is sad. Don’t encourage it. Moving on then… I have nothing to compare this music to just yet as it covers a bit of everything really it seems. All the popular non popular little pocket scenes of the day. Groovy melting pot of youth culture sounds here. So as I pull random words from my burned out archives here are some that are not mine actually...

‘The Birds Above Methadone Mile’ is the name of the first song. It is an atmospheric tripout launched into a huge wide black hole. Much like your mothers… er... of invention i mean (ask your dad about them. You will know how cool he is upon his answer.) if she was blasted off on a rocket ship in the future (or: ‘into the future’... whatever works for you!) and if they were thawed out from cryogenic preservation pods and fully revived. Walt Disney is her bunk mate too. Wow I am bad at this writing stuff sometimes. My bad reader dudes of all gender belts. So get ready to blast off with me anyways and oh oops... I have just exploded on the launchpad. Bodies are on fire and a woman is crying hysterical. Sounds like my first… nevermind. So like other similar tragic moments I have encountered of my own non stop sobbing as I stand at public urinals while leaking nothing but my own tiny tears… this too is promised to be a short thing that I stretch way way out beyond what it really is and should be... okay? Okay. The let me pop some more pills and away we go… again...

‘Serotonin Jacuzzi Lust’ and we are only on the second song! Can you imagine! Remember there is another side as well to get through…. that title though! Ha Ha. Even I can’t make this stuff up friends. I like Soaplands. Cray cray indeed. I promise I will never say that again until I find out what it means. Then we shall see. Somehow I ate a bag of magic mushrooms I had been saving for... I don't know. I guess it was for this SOAPLANDS review. lol. Oh snap I need to be quieter with my writing. Neighbors just banged on the wall like they are the police. Who does that? So back to the song title. I can't make that title up as Soapy already did and that would be plagiarism and I'd go to jail. Unless I made vaporwave then it would be acceptable and called progress. I'm JK... but NR. Still not sure what vaporwave even is honestly. But I pretend to with the yutes and we both nod with sure faces as we pass. Both having no idea in our heads that would constitute an understandable definition of the so called genre. Anyways I think the best is it's just plunderphonics using only 80's aesthetics. Think that is as close as anyone will get.

Okay I think I'm having a flashback now... feeling good again. Back in white bars of slippy sliding soap cake action. Sorry that was dumb. I blame the drugs. Anyways I think Soaplands has a good doctor and/or medical plan based on these titles alone and I would like their number please. Leave it in the comments. Those got to be good for something anyways. I imagine SOAPLANDS has a medicine cabinet filled with good time goodies. Oblong happiness and every other shape you can imagine with divider lines for easy well dividing of pill highs. Various colors like a Chinese smorgasbord which I'm not sure even exists but the majority of you will never know that so I will leave it in there... and bottles... plenty of medicine bottles. Made out to fake aliases and others containing friend's parent's names of which I am sure they were given the proper permission to take. Rule one: never ask questions. Remain dumb as... uh... um... point is ignorance is bliss my homies. Stay dim. It's what's in right now. But yeah SOAP has got the dope in more ways than one and all are fun. I am jelly without peanut butter right now honestly. Munchies! Gimmie gimmie gimmie! Haha…

And one more ‘Haha’ maybe... but then, wait, what’s that… Oh?… OHHHHH! THE SHIT SON! MY JAM IS HERE! (after some really bad and overly sweaty dance moves that were edited for content from this review i sit back down and continue… cool story i know ☻) This song is/was/always now is feeling nice all up on me. Sounds weird I know but remember: DRUGS IS BAD. So don’t take them. Give them to me and I will destroy them properly. I do the lord’s work I know. It’s because I love you all. Yes you read that right… I love you all! Awe. This is some good shit. I am feeling it big time now. Music and drugs have me happy as hell I think I am the Jesus Christ maybe even! My mother’s name is Mary. Anyways I am sensing some real intangible golden audio in orbital here right now friends. This is that secret special sauce they tease us about. Warbling in my outer spaced apart regions on it’s way to my own home milky heartlands. This is the greatest thing I’ve ever felt/heard and it maybe just the drugs talking but Soap is dope as shit to me right now and I love them like fam! Beautiful stuff ladies and gentle creepers. Sweet virgins should blush near here and the naughty neighbors even will quiet down some to hear when it’s dank like this is. The grim grimey danger underlining this expanding sound is bubbling up and over like a satellite of love overdub. Yes I think I am peaking right now and these are good drugs. Yes I like it slur(s) and mad-damn(s) and also BRING MORE DRUGS PLEASE! Can’t wait to see what this song’s title is going to be… YES! YES! YES!

‘Techniques Of Religious Ecstasy’ is this third track’s name and like I said for the whole paragraph above already but hey i’ll write another as I am feeling it... so oh chico this is what I signed up for to be honest. Some unhappy mutated crossover experimental sounds and angst at play. Power electronics with a death industrial pace forced back by a dark ambient downpour. A sudden chill runs down my spine and unties my shoelaces. This is a sock knocker friends. I could easily use one of three wishes I rubbed out on my lamp to demand a full album of this kind of gnarly heavy stab of induced agony via pure noise. All this in just this one song and over before it gets even close to old by me. Super duper neato. A Soaplands fan is born herein undoubtedly. Thank you. So like all good things it passed quicker than I would have liked it too but I will get to listen to it again on the flipside. Sweet.

Now for the last song ‘Godmode: Potential Immortality - Pure Pleasure’ as I think I may be coming down now. I need water and a clean place to sit. Good luck. Anyways this song has not just a long title but it is also the longest song on this tape. A befitting end to this rather super short album. A dark ambient like song that runs 8 minutes of the entire 15 minute album. But it is a lovely or rather unlovely somber melting away point to ease/disease you back into oblivion. That old abyss which stares back into you like Nietzsche promised it would. I think I’m coming down now.

So all in all and back again on side 2 (or side B… ‘B’ as in butternuts). I really did enjoy this. Complete from the very bottom of my tiny shriveled black heart muscle long atrophied in mummification. Blessings to Soaplands and No Rent Records for this… and before I sleep for a week I just want to say… bring on the damn full length! I will write a book about it. Haha. No lie.

Soaplands “S/T” on No Rent Records
or:
norentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-nrr68

(sic) @ et al... ☻


▬Andy Tithesis

D/A/D “The Construct” (Hausu Mountain)

My father appeared from the sky.

“D/A/D,” I said.

“Son,” he replied.

He handed me “The Construct.” In it contained the secrets to time and space, to human evolution into immortal galactic beings. My father was one of them. He had appeared from the future.

“Son,” he replied.

“D/A/D,” I said.

My father disappeared back into the universe. The year was 2013. For my father, the year – measured by humans as the amount of time it took their planet, Earth, to orbit its nearest star, Sol, aka the sun – meant nothing. Time was no longer calculable in his estimation.

I looked at “The Construct” as it sat there in my hand, a document, a vault of knowledge. I put it in my pocket and returned to my life, certain that the moment would arrive – a moment that would mean something to me and that I could perceive as separate from other moments – when it would make its use known, make it obvious. On that day my father would return and guide me into the sky with him. Until then, “The Construct” remains forever in my safe possession, away from those who would use its secrets for destruction.

“D/A/D,” I say, every day, for as long as it takes.

D/A/D

Hausu Mountain


--Ryan

HEAVILY FORAGED "Twink Peaks” C29 (Gay Hippie Vampire)

sporadic electric guitar
clanks, possessed amp
fuzz, vibrant frog
ponds, wayward fax
machines, and a discombobulated
sample looper in various
stages of faltering,

these all minimally
stumbling into each
other, just before
dawn

https://gayhippievampire.bandcamp.com/album/twink-peaks

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

+DOG+ "O” C10 (Love Earth Music)

Is this the mellowest Harsh Noise possibly concocted? At what point is the line drawn betwixt calming-but-dying-box-fan and juuuuust too much variation for sleep to be (as?) likely? Is this grey noise? The free App on my PhartSmone says there isn’t a single instance in the recording where the main frequency climbs above 250Hz, and it peaks out at 6KHz, max. AKA this is a serious sub-woofer jammer, and would probably be a solid gold hit amongst weirdos in the deaf community if played through the right speakers, and/or anyone who wants to listen to a distorted three second thunder-clap stretched out to 200x its natural length.

Sounds maybe like a thousand contact mics surrounding a Laundromat, each one run through a different heavy distortion pedal, and/or perhaps laying down in the back of a pickup truck that’s whipping down the interstate, your head surrounded by paint buckets that are barely weighted down with loose nuts & bolts, and/or it’s just the iphone recording you took from your pocket while moshing right next to the bass amp at a grind fest, all the blown-out 10 minute sets cut & pasted over top of each other with no mixing whatsoever. Possibly all three? Do not listen to while operating heavy machinery; you won’t notice a thing.

https://dognoise.bandcamp.com/
and/or
http://www.loveearthmusic.com/love-earth-music----dog-.html

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

VARIOUS ARTISTS “Touched by an Angle #2” (Crash Symbols)

“Do you feel it?,” Crash Symbols asks us about the second edition of their “Touched by an Angle” compilation series, a series that should be added to much more often than it currently is. At this rate, volume 3 will be out in 2022. That’s too long to wait.

“Do you feel it?” 

Yes, I feel it. God, stop asking!

Before I start quoting “Hott Fuzz” at a constant clip this morning, because that’s the only thing that comes to mind when the angel/angle thing (always hilariously) makes an appearance (and God help my family, I really AM gonna quote “Hott Fuzz” all day now), I need you to all pop in this tape and take your mind off swans, slashers, and “the greater good.” For my sake.

That’s it, let the Crash Symbols-y goodness flow over you. You’re familiar at this point, aren’t you? This wonderful label knows exactly what it’s doing in the world of underground electronic music, dropping knowledge on noise and drone to dance pop and back without even batting an eye. And with “Touched by an Angle #2,” not only are we treated to some label stalwarts (the incomparable Don Gero, YlangYlang, and Ratkiller, who have released some of my favorite tapes on the label), we’re also treated to some newcomers, who have released some of my favorite tapes on other labels. Let’s do a quick roundup of those, shall we?

I’ve loved Me, Claudius’s “Reasons for Balloons” on Dinzu Artefacts, and I wrote about it here.

I’ve written about Új Bála too, twice in fact, once for “Butcher’s Tears Dry Slower than the Average One’s” and once for “Breatharian High Society.” Do not sleep on Új Bála anymore!

Have I written about former_airline? I sure have.

There’s even been a Frank Hurricane sighting!

So yeah, those are just a handful of artists on this massive 26-tune tracklist that make the purchase of this tape absolutely ESSENTIAL for your Crash Symbols collection. Somebody from something called “Ruix Zine” even referred to it “equal parts label sampler and eclectic mixtape.” That person is not wrong. Buy in to what Crash Symbols is doing, and buy in soon, before it’s too late.

Crash Symbols


--Ryan

ANIMAH “Animah” C19 (Solid Melts)

Major chillout time. But don’t relax – these cold climates are the icy attention Animah’s paying to those who have wronged her or hurt her. The vibes originate from a dull ache of heartbreak, radiating out as a defense mechanism, a barrier repelling the attention of strangers, maybe even the attention of those she knows and loves. “Animah” is four frozen tracks of luscious synth-pop, the attraction of the melodies at odds with the heart of the message. A great addition to any goth-pop radio station mining the first-wave hits of the 1980s. I think I just gave away my go-to radio station – figure it out if you’re smart enough! (You’re probably smart enough.) But buy this tape first.

Animah

Solid Melts

--Ryan

NAPS / LUNG CYCLES split C60 (Lily Tapes And Discs)

Organs hum softly in their immensity like humpback whales drifting on the seasoned tides and currents. This is no place for mankind’s annoyances. This is no time for unrest and anxiety upstarts. Down chuck and pillow piercers only find home here now please forever. Distant as in distance as for dissenting to dreams from the day’s dissonance. Our decadence pays off in these moments of clamming. Squeezed tight to mox the pearls we hold in our throats for their gain levels peaking. As low as divers dare and rumbling like the belly aches of the split earths forming new sentiment layers over old scarred and pitted landscapes washed over and picked clean by the scavengers of the eco systems. This wonderful life has feeling in sounds held out for weeks in bliss bubbling from open mouths at gentle kiss. The silk flows from our touch as energy is shared by all like a Tesla coil standing definitely in the far off night of our dreamscapes. This music can be your life. This montage can slow forward to a crawl. You can be happy if you choose this. You can be complete if you become as content. Flowers over doorsteps and doves upon their skin cooing against arteries full of curves and bends. This is Naps. This has been a channeling of their side…

Lung Cycles also let loose drawl open in speechless patter upon the emerging light. As petals are summoned open before the dawning sun. These organ petals do the same for the souls of the people whom have gathered in sum. Though...  some of the others... of peoples I mean... may quaf up that this is not music. That this is not heavy gravel. Awe but they are the quaffers after all. And they are unlike these quakers herein whom toil soil so they make growth over the shifting weeks in virtuous patience expelled through commitment and strained white knuckles in clench. This is not pious commandments spat from pulpits but this is the tolling of Sunday church bells over towns far off in distance from the pollutions of the short spannable panned handlers of instantaneous gratifications. This mends mankind's ills in meditative tones not jerks muscles in quick seizuristiuc twitchings played in short sharp shocks. This grows. This is not the reaping itself. That comes later as this stays with you far after it ends honestly. So the others can toil nothing but dull habits of unimaginative constraint as they balk but these lands are fertile and rich in their deposits all the same. And those whom are with the know are indeed the luckier ones hearing herein. The others cannot understand the simpleness of this sort of nature in sound. This minimalism escapes them entirely. The emotion is unsettling to dulled senses even as much as becoming offensive to their undeveloped steps leading to their boredom. They cannot balance in such thick gravitational hymnals held down by these pervasive pilots of the pineriol glands. Though them that hold the knowledge are unconcerned with the wriggling of worms above the fields and equate their time to the burrowing type. In note in scope and in triumphant chordings drowning the dirt clogs from sea to shining sea. Amen.

Artifact itself is a beautifully pro-dubbed and pad printed (brown on yellow) cassette tape. Housed in an eco friendly Brad pack hemed by the wonderfully splendid Stumptown printer folks of the Oregons… if I’m not mistaken. Which I am as it is SPBlanks but it is a top notch knock off so I don’t feel ill. Cheers to both then. Wonderful top to bottom. Thank you kindly for this. I will treasure it. Thanks.

☻ Andy Tithesis

EARTHEATER “Metalepsis” (Hausu Mountain)

Hey, I know everybody’s talking about “IRISIRI” and whatnot these days, and why wouldn’t you, but let’s slip in our time machine and set the dial for February 24, 2015, the release date of “Metalepsis,” and think about that one for a minute, shall we? It’s the one that started it all, the relationship between Alexandra Drewchin and HausMo, the golden time of strange heavenly alchemy. That time is over, as “IRISIRI” is on PAN, but still! Eartheater + Hausu Mountain = radiant delight.

Don’t be a dumbass ass donkey; get yourself a copy of “Metalepsis” and remember your roots! Mine are German, mostly, with some Hungarian and French thrown in there. I’m a mutt.

Eartheater

Hausu Mountain


--Ryan

DECORARTION "More Piles " (State Champion Records)

Is it 1992 or 2018? Decoration is riffin' hard on this musicassette somewhere in between Gumball, Barlow-Core, Watt-core and Fugazi.  Is this sound now classic rock?  The other day I heard someone accused Dinosaur Jr of being dad rock, which judging by his and others' tone, has a negative connotation.  How can Dino be dad rock, when the young State Champ bands (which the accuser held in high regard) are reppin' the same sounds?  Either way, to each his own.   I can hear Jon Solomon spinning this tape at WPRB around '92 (before he entered fatherhood) and hopefully in 2018 (after the birth of his child).  Recorded by Phil Connor at In The West Studio, New Brunswick, NJ and it sounds great.

https://decorationnj.bandcamp.com/album/more-piles

-- T Penn

RAIC “Symbiosis vol. 1” C47 (Lurker Bias)

“Symbiosis vol. 1” by the Richmond Avant Improv Collective (RAIC) is really a feat. Now, before I get into it, full disclosure: I am a huge fan of what RAIC does. So I’m not exactly an unbiased party coming into this. But this release speaks for itself and really displays a sort of musical branching out for RAIC that I’m very happy to hear.

The material for this release came about after a day-long recording session back in December of 2017. RAIC went into the studio with Ceremonial Scissors, a Richmond-based “avant trash” band to record a single improvisational piece. The idea was to record something to send to a few percussionists in Italy who they were planning on collaborating with. However, what was supposed to be a quick studio session turned into a day-long affair and, in addition to the track for Italian percussionists Paolo Sanna and Giancomo Salis, the group wound up with about 90 minutes of recorded material that was just too good not to use. Much of that material will be released as 2 different upcoming albums, and the rest of it composes Symbiosis (which will have a second volume coming out via Lurker Bias in the near future).

Now, I usually don’t like to write or read track-by-track reviews, but I feel like I need to talk about individual tracks for this one because there is so much range on this album. The opening track, “Reciprocal Altruism,” is a sometimes eerie, sometimes contemplative journey. Laden with washed out guitar, miscellaneous percussion, piano, and amplified twiddlings of unknown origin, this track really carries the listener through a range of worlds, all while still maintaining a low key, meditative aura. Though less melodic than much of RAIC’s improvising, this track showcases just how well this ensemble listens to one another, the most crucial aspect of good improvisation.

The second track, “Endosymbiosis,” comes in with swirling and pulsing electronics that last the duration of the song, accompanied here and there by oddball piano, sometimes manipulated. This track showcases the noisier side of RAIC. In fact, according to RAIC member Sam Goff, Symbiosis is the closest to a noise album that RAIC will get. If you’re at all familiar with this group, you’ll know that their music runs an enormous gamut of styles. From jazz to ambient to post-rock to noise to electroacoustic and everything in between, RAIC is definitely not afraid to dip their toes into new musical water. (In fact, I have it on good authority that some of their upcoming material will feature straight-up country and funk pieces.)

“Ectosymbiosis” follows, continuing the electronic atmosphere from the previous track for a while before shifting to a percussion-heavy mix, complete with sparse but high-energy vocals. My favorite track on this release though is the closer, “Antagonistic Symbiosis.” This is an epic, 17-minute long ride through a throbbing sound soup. Electronics that ebb and flow, tom-heavy driving percussion, the blathering of a lone bugle, it’s all here. RAIC tends to gravitate toward longer pieces anyway, so they are right at home with this marathon of a track.

If you’re a fan of any sort of vaguely experimental music, or jazz, or ambient, or post-rock, or any other style you can think of really, so long as it’s carried out in a roughly improvisational manner, you need to check out RAIC. Samuel Goff, Abdul Hakim-Bilal, Erik Schroeder, Zoe Olivia-Kinney and Laura Marina are all extremely talented musicians, as are the folks in Ceremonial Scissors (which Laura is also a part of, along with Brendan Ginsburg and Zoe Brzezinski). True masters of their craft, these are artists who can really transport the listener/audience in ways I have seldom seen before. And all without overt gimmicks or political/social messages. They revel in sound and are adept at using it as a tool.

https://lurkerbias.bandcamp.com/album/symbiosis-vol-1

https://raic.bandcamp.com

--James Searfoss

C.I.A. DEBUTANTE"We Will Play For Spirits” 2xC45(SDZ Records/Crudités Tapes)

Part modular ambient/industrial/noise-loops soundtrack, part spoken-word socio-political critique, part esoteric conspiratorial psycho-drama, “We Will Play For Spirits” delivers like an abandoned warehouse filled to the brim with the very same greasy, hollow orbs one might find in a drainage ditch just outside a McDonald’s; i.e. it is a fucking mess. But, when taken in, in the right mindset, it is revelatory. And messy. Really, really fucking messy.

Imagine McGuyver deftly crafting a transistor radio out of two Ouija boards, a demonically possessed Teddy Ruxpin (who just so happens to be excessively invested in e-stalking* Dwayne Goettel), three stolen 9V batteries, and a rather rusty bouquet of contact mics. The very same experimental mood could conceivably be achieved from this FrankenBeaRadio, but CIA Debutante’s arrangements here are nothing short of premeditated and calculated, boasting an obvious labor of love over the expert tailoring of vocals-and-noise interplay that feed and amplify and feed, loop, feed, and amplify off one another, over and over again, this all creating an ever-evolving beast of a tale to blurrily chase.

So. What might this relatively sound like that has been done before? Not fucking much. Maybe think early Skinny Puppy’s synth-heavy instrumental vignettes, but with vocals added by a fuzzy/static/blown out, forced-baritone vocal-fry’d robot proposing some pretty-party-poetic far-the-fuck-out-there shit. &when there aren’t words meandering about, there’s an equally chaotic texture of modular synth and/or doctor’d guitar freakoutery snaking its way through this constantly shifting in-and-out-in-and-out-of-key confusion.

With or without headphones, these tapes just keeps getting better &better with each listen. Too bad the physical release is already sold out. Look for more CIAD in the future and/or download from bandcamp!

*as in e-ternally

https://sdzrecords.bandcamp.com/album/we-will-play-for-spirits
https://soundcloud.com/ciadebutante
and/or
http://sdzrecords.free.fr/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

MOLD // SHOTO "Split” C18 (Already Dead)

This is a pretty rad split. Both bands are/were from Kalamazoo, MI and absolute fucking shred on their instruments. Both are exemplary genre-benders, but not so outside the box that I can’t help but wonder why the fuck they aren’t more well known. Is Kalamazoo really THAT far off the beaten path?

Mold’s side of this painfully too short split is one behemoth, nine minute sprawl of heavy, bluesy prog-rock, with w/ flamenco & noise flourishes throughout, to keep the listener on their ears’ toes. Seriously, without being derivative at all, this track sounds like the heaviest of heavy moments in a Jeff Buckley live recording, but, like, pretty much all the goddamn time. Also, they have song titles like “Drunk Cowboy Can’t Help That He’s So Good at Shooting Guns”, and “I’m So Hot in This Goddamn Leather Jacket”, so you really can’t help but smile and hope that, since their internet presence seems to have stopped a few years back, they’re either just on a long haitus or have gone off grid to conjure up another masterpiece in some abandoned factory up there along the outskirts of Kalamazoo.

Shoto’s side is even heavier, veering into swampy stoner rock territory (a la Iron Monkey), with some breakneck grind riffage thrown in for greater rhythmic dynamism; and all of this atop some novel, engaging guitar and bass tone pairing. Both these songs are creative, masterful, and worthy of serious, LOUD listening!

https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad213-mold-shoto-split
https://moldkalamazoo.bandcamp.com/
and/or
https://shotoband.bandcamp.com/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

BABY BONES“The Curse of the Crystal Teeth” C17(Gubbey Records)

Coastal California, early ‘90s.
Surfy skate-punk & tamer thrash
a ubiquity throughout A-circle’d
mixtape collections.

Louisville, KY, right fucking now.
Three young lads standing along the
Ohio River, rabidly flossing their chompers
with the magnetic strips of these mixtapes,
ingesting* through bloody gums
just miles and miles of
Kyuss, Dead Kennedys,
Offspring & the likes.

https://babybonesband.bandcamp.com/releases
and/or
http://gubbeyrecords.net/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

* Which is to say that this hefty, full-on sprint of a six song EP plays must like a pretty sweet skater’s compilation album, with modestly varying punk/metal guitar disciplines mastered & meshing together, & with such a diverse array of vocal styles varying from song to song that there doesn’t seem to be a specific “voice” to the overall outfit, aside from passionate and energetic.

KING GBEE “Paradism” C45 (Cuchabata Records)

if dancing is really all you
wanna do, all day, for
ever,

here is a bedroom-discotheque-
of-ONE, self-recorded,
RAW as any fledgling
Scandinavian Second-
Wave Black Metal outfit
Ever done did.

&You will dance!
The Dark Lord
commands it!

https://cuchabatarecords.bandcamp.com/album/cuch-118-paradism-2017
and/or
https://kinggbee.bandcamp.com/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

NICK STEVENS "The New Age" (Galtta Media)

Not gonna lie here, I loveeeeeee sophistipop. Be it Scritti or Tears for Fear or Prefab Sprout. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Knight seemingly has a license to print sophisti-pop gold and this new Galtta Media release by Nick Stevens is noooooo exception. Steven's hypnotizingly deep voice lends to the intricate songsmithing and unique arrangements but this is really pressing on something deeper and more realized than much of what I've heard in a while from pop music in general.

Reliablely steering clear of 80s pastiche, there is a unique smoothness, especially in David Lackner's saxophone solos and the crisp drum machine accented by hand percussion. Knight's keyboard playing is unbelievable and hard to define in its uniqueness and the chord changes are jazzy, sweeping, and unpredictable throughout.

"Inviting You (Into My Life)" is a truly remarkable track. At almost seven minutes long, it borders on Steely Dan grooves, Paul McCartney melodies, Beach Boys harmonies, and Yellow Magic Orchestra timbres. There are lots of exciting harmonic jazz jumps in the chord progressions on this album. Every song has finally tuned keyboard and guitar hooks. "(Beyond)The Law" is a smoove grooving instrumental with almost a tinge of the Residents in Alice Cohen's airy background vocals.

"Colors of the Sunset" could draw comparisons to "I'm Your Man"-era Leonard Cohen not only in the baritone vocal delivery but the deep hues of lyrical content. "All Night Messiah" is a serious take on pop with a convincingly deceptive melody and funky bassline. The title track is another standout with its strikingly complex counterpoint and icy synth parts. The final track, "Motorcycle" is almost suitably Abba-esque in its grace and mesmerizing pop-disco drum & bass groove.

All and all, every Galtta Media release I've heard thus far strikes me as fantastic (especially Knight's solo album "On The Prowl Again" and Blue Jazz TV featuring Billy G. Robinson's two releases on the label). If you like pop, old or new, this is for you!!

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-age

--"Jamband" Josh Brown

WOODPAINTING "Self Titled” C28 (Pretty Purgatory)

Before listening to (and researching) this tape, I did not know that “Wood Painting” was the name of a play Ingmar Bergman used for the basis of his masterpiece “The Seventh Seal” & as one might suppose, from track titles like “A Hot Gust of Wind” and “Danse Macabre”, the entirety of lyrical themes are based on, if not d-i-r-e-c-t-l-y quoted from, this cult classic. If you’re an old movie buff, or simply a lover of IB’s films, this half-hour of theatrical indie-folk should be right up your alley. Other notable mentions/enticements include some seriously on-point drumming, a STRONG likeness to Julie Doiron’s guitar-work (and singing, for that matter), as well as some undeniable Silver Jews-ish anti-melody in the lead singer’s vocal delivery.

I’m not sure if the physical tape will ever really see the light of day, due to it being unlikely that Woodpainting (the band, not the play) will be able to afford rights to lift so many direct quotes/themes from such a famous film, but you can certainly have a listen on SoundCloud for free via the link below.

https://soundcloud.com/woodpainting/sets/woodpainting-i
and/or
http://www.prettypurgatory.com/artists/woodpainting

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

TETON "Candy Spelling” C25 (Pretty Purgatory)

Celebrating recording artists who supplant pop-hooks with engaging, academic counterpoint seems to be the MO of Pretty Purgatory (Portland, ME), and PDX’s Teton sure as shit fit the bill. The drummer, for starters, plays in Wei Zhongle, and, though markedly more consistent and restrained here, he still manages to fill in so, so, so many nooks & crannies surrounding the polyrhythmic webs of minimalist synth-phrases and off-time-but-on-fucking-point contralto cast by said honey-voiced e-ivory tickler. &to sweeten the pot, the bass player is incredibly tasteful AND creative in deftly jumping back and forth between lending rhythmic support and carving out powerful, contrapuntal flourishes. The result is a proggy avant-rocker that’ll deliver, over and over, inspiring the spine to tremble in anticipation for these inarticulable syncopations long before the ears & brain can even begin to map them.

https://prettypurgatory.bandcamp.com/album/candy-spelling
and/or
http://www.prettypurgatory.com/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

FRIEND ROULETTE"The Matt Sheffer Songbook, Vol. 1” C40 (Pretty Purgatory)

Friend Roulette is a fairly gorgeous chamber-pop quartet that transforms the outsider-folksongs of Matt Sheffer into ever softer and sweeter numbers that, otherwise, wouldn’t have had much of a chance to see the light of day. Excepting the last track, these songs were crafted around eschewing standard chord progressions and predictable melodies, focusing instead on more classical movement and contrapuntal interplay between instrumentation and vocals. Which is to say, the album isn’t catchy so much as complex and beautiful.

Side A is FR’s take on these songs and Side B is the original singer-songwriter’s solo jams, which bear notable resemblance to some seriously great Rufus Wainwright material.

https://prettypurgatory.bandcamp.com/album/the-matt-sheffer-songbook-vol-1
and/or
http://www.prettypurgatory.com/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

KEVIN AND HELL "Betwixt” C44 (Dark Circles Records)

Kevin and Hell, like any jazz musician/band, has existed in many forms, from solo guitar (& backing tracks) to multi-horned output (or “Zorchestra”, which is how they play live, presently). This recording, however, save some rad drumming and the opening track’s shredding saxomophone duet, is without any instrumentation at all other than K&H’s guitar, sporadic vocals, and oodles & oodles of pitch-shifty synthesizer arrangements, these layers and layers of keyboard licks oft-times mimicking traditional instrumentation, while others utilizing some pretty novel timbres that lend a cosmic vibe to the mix. The singing is kinda punk in its nasally, nonchalant delivery of nonconventional lyrical themes, and, again, the chemistry of the drummer with K&H (or IS he the H?) is seriously dialed in and exemplary.

I’m not a big fan of jazz music in general (I know, I’m an asshole), but I definitely appreciated the richly arranged pass-the-baton synth riffs that break from their counterpoint into a surprising harmony, and then back again, throughout the album. If you like old-timey/swingy jazz, with an extra dose of weird thrown in, this album ought to satisfy you.

https://kevinandhell.bandcamp.com/album/betwixt
and/or
http://darkcirclesrecords.storenvy.com/

 --Jacob An Kittenplan

PRIMADONAHUE “Loosh” (Stucco)

Phil Donahue is THE Primadonahue.

Haha, no, it’s Michael. Michael, Phil, it’s Michael! Why don’t you call?

Minneapolis is cold in the winter Phil. I hope you’re OK in the winter.

I like Devo and They Might Be Giants, and other ones too. Ween I guess. Sure.

Phil, voodoo pickpockets have stolen my penis. I’m serious. Mom needs you, because I can’t be there for her so much anymore. Not after the voodoo pickpockets have stolen my penis. I can’t emphasize that enough.

Seriously, Phil, I do “Make Your Own Kind of Music” so much better than Mama Cass. Desmond on “Lost” should’ve listened to my version.

Stupid TV producers. You know what I’m talking about.


https://primadonahue.bandcamp.com/



--Donahue!

THE ELECTRIC NATURE “The Place of Dead Roads” C30 (\\NULL|ZONE//)

This is how we’re going to do this. 

We’re gonna strap in. We’re gonna get ready. Because The Electric Nature is back, it’s in the air if you can feel it, in that muggy, awful Athens, Georgia, summertime atmosphere. The. Electric. Nature. Lightning shooting through distant clouds. It is moving toward us.

“The Place of Dead Roads” seems formless, a great remote mass. The trio – Michael Pierce, Michael Potter, Thom Strickland – makes an ever-intensifying racket, building to hurricane strength as their performance progresses, live and unaltered. The hair on your arms is sharp as tacks, erect and rigid as the power flows through you.

Believe in the power, in the sheer zen of utter obliteration. It’s so much bigger than anything, this cleansing destruction.

The Electric Nature

NULL|ZONE

--Ryan

PHTEVEN UNIVERSE “おさかなといっしょ” (Choam Charity)

Here’s a list of why Phteven Universe, aka Pilleater, and I are probably best friends.

1. He lives in Philadelphia. I love the Phillies. Plus I’m a former Pennsylvanian.

2. He cut his teeth learning Joy Division tunes in Temple University’s music lab. I’ve met Ronnie Martin and Cloud. Ronnie gave me some gum. Cloud has sent me emails.

3. “おさかなといっしょ” is named after the secret aquarium level on “Super Mario 64.” I’m not well versed in that one, but I did get the Mario 64 suit in “Super Mario Odyssey.” Plus, anything Mario-related rules.

4. He’s made videos using clips from “The Hobbit” animated film. If it is Tolkien-based, I’m all over it.

5. His own record label, Choam Charity, is a “Dune” reference. Nice one.

6. He makes electronic music with synthesizers and drum machines, and he figured out vaporwave before he kind of knew what he was doing. I’m … into that stuff.

7. “おさかなといっしょ” is like a huge hodgepodge of all the styles Pilleater’s experimented with in the past few years. There’s a lot to sift through, and it’s all pretty fun. Have at it.

BFFs for life!


Choam Charity


--Ryan