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

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

PANOPTICON EYELIDS "Glitter Vomit" (Abandon Ship)

I confess: I was a bit worried when I saw that the B side of this CS was titled "Goodbye Booze/Hello'weed Night," because joke/jokey music is a really jagged pill for me to swallow happily most of the time (there's exceptions, but they're rare). Fortunately, my hesitation was totally unwarranted: this tape/band rules. Panopticon Eyelids are a Montreal posse of weirdos who play really deranged psychedelic rock in a totally unique and unhinged way. The guitar/bass/drums does the classic long-form jam-based freak-out thing, sticking together in a united blobby bobbing mess of motion that seems secretly way more focused and precise than the vibe it gives off. But then they've got someone puking all this stretchy-sounding taffy electronics over the top that sounds kinda hilarious and loony in a cartoon acid trip sorta way. It's hard to describe but it really works for me. It also doesn't hurt things that the A side track is called "Electron Headbanging," because 1) that's awesome, and 2) it's accurate. The "Booze/Weed" B side is basically more of the same, but it's great too, muddy goon squad rock pogo-marching into fields of aluminum foil and poppies. The opening line of their self-penned Myspace bio sums up the dumb/rad path they tread: "Panopticon Eyelids was born in 2002 just before the city of Montreal was taken over by the Ethiopium Biker Rock gang." Sign my ass up for more, please.

SAINTS "Umbanda" (Abandon Ship)

First heard a demo tape from this Goleta dude/duo a while back that sounded like a single mic left on in a room while someone took turns clattering out rickety rhythms on various random surfaces. Very empty, small energies, no real agenda. Intrigued me, but didn't really catch fire. For this CS on Abandon Ship they've clearly been doing some jam-homework, ironing out arrangements and aesthetics, it sounds like a totally different band. Now things are heavily in-the-red, with blown-out percussion played slo-mo style, distorted moaning, lots of repressed feedback, discomfort. Whatever coastal loner experimental hippie vibe they used to kick around is gone, replaced with a heavy noise, proto-industrial vibe, pissed off but lazy, lolling around in a stew of bile. Umbanda is a fringe Afro-Brazilian religion founded by a medium in the early 20th century, and every "song" on this C-whatever is named after a different esoteric tenet of this faith, but I can't discern even the remotest relationship between subject matter and sound. Not that there needs to be, of course. Would prefer things not be so angry-sounding, but perhaps they've got an axe to grind with the Umbandan belief system?

SLASHER RISK “Vole” (Abandon Ship Records)

AWESOME. I love when I throw on a tape and in the first 5 seconds can already tell I love it. Never heard this band before but obviously they have a sweet name and fortunately the audio doesn’t disappoint. Their style seems to bury a low, thudding drum machine rhythm (or, if it ain’t a machine, it sure sounds like it) deep in the mix and then let loose roiling, driving briar patches of blazing lo-fi feedback on top of it. The subliminal beat keeps the chaos in motion and makes things feel like they’re building to some grand finale (which they sort of aren’t, but whatever). The second of the two A siders totally kills, garage kraut cruising into a black-and-red wasteland of electricity and good times. Shit gets heavily blown out in parts, but the speaker-fry is definitely a key ingredient in Slasher Risk’s crash-n-burn cauldron. Interestingly, the B track totally deviates from the fury of the A, rumbling through a ten-miles-wide cavernous warehouse of resonant metal and evocative emptiness. If the whole tape sounded like this I’d probably get sleepy/bored, but as a cleanser to the first side I’m alright with it. Overall though: give this dude/dude crew a B+ or something, I wanna hear more.

HUMAN ADULT BAND “Impotent & Filthy” (Abandon Ship Records)

You know those bands with band names where it sounds like they got so tired of trying to think of good names that they ended up picking something bizarrely literal and boring? Like Average White Band and American Music Club and The Music? Well it’s cool that the underground sludge-noise community has a representative of that school of thought with Human Adult Band. I heard a previous tape by them on Bone Tooth Horn a long time ago and it didn’t stick out in my mind at all and I can’t say that this does much either. It’s basically a mild-sounding live set of theirs recorded at a place in Philadelphia called “Th’ Big Pink” that treads from plodding sleepy murk-marches to noisier chant rock exercises. The audio gives the impression the show was basically empty (there’s not much applause between songs, though they do inexplicably bother announcing the title of every song they play) and things never seem to rev up to a higher intensity level, nor do they zone-out into repetitive trance territory. It’s kinda just a mid-energy road to nowhere. I dunno. Live shows are a headache to document properly, maybe that’s the culprit here. Either way I doubt this is the place to start if you want to get into these dudes’ discography.

LAISSEZ FAIRE "Asylum" (Abandon Ship Records)

Peter Friel's most recent offering on the Abandon Ship label makes up his sole output of last year, which is interesting considering the steady torrent of releases from his own JK Tapes imprint. Then again, the amount of time the man must spend painting his product (he's one of the most committed devotees of spraypaint as a commercial medium, in my opinion) has to account for many a missed recording opportunity. "Asylum" is full of the same psychedelic and chilly gutter resonance that would entice any ears particular to Mike Pollard's Arbor label. Appropriately too, since Friel and Pollard have previously collaborated in Widening Horizon (an earlier review of which can be found here). As with Pollard's recent Treetops cassette "When I Was Younger," "Asylum" deals with oncoming winter with a meditative but somehow ominous outlook. The first of four tracks, "Afgan" drops with an icy thud into percolating ambient loops and blurry melodic distortion which is most likely from a guitar or synthesizer but mashed beyond faintest recognition. Most of the album sticks to the same formula, but during the most frantic moments of "Platypus" and "Pomegranate" the churning scrapes and drones take on a unique animal-like tone. The dynamics range from lulling bass swells to harsh grainy obliteration, and although the sound is heavily layered it retains a live feel. One could gripe about the single sided c40 format, but it's a minor (and arguable) objection to an otherwise solid album. Nice iceberg motif on the full-color insert as well.

Abandon Ship: http://www.abandonshiprecords.com/

CENTURY PLANTS "Without Mercury" (Abandon Ship Records)

Century Plants is a duo of Eric Hardiman and Ray Hare who hail from Albany, NY. Judging solely from pictures on their Myspace page, this looks to be a predominantly guitar-based project. There's kind of an underwater psychedelic ambience permeating the twenty minute long "Floating Elemental," which starts off minimal with chopped and screwed cat mews before shifting to more discernable repeating guitar lines and controlled feedback loops. It might linger too long for some ears, but if you're in the right mood it's a nice meditative backdrop. "Photosynthesis" is heavier, and there's a nice texture created with the juxtaposition of bass-heavy drone and blurred vocal recordings. It can be difficult for a group like Century Plants to find a unique sound in a scene saturated with guitar-heavy psych, but "Without Mercury" isn't lacking redeeming moments, such as an unexpectedly ecstatic harmony appearing in the tail end froth of "Photosynthesis." Plus there's an opaque yellow tape involved that screams "educational." How can that possibly be a bad thing?

Abandon Ship Records: http://www.abandonshiprecords.com/

DAVID NEWLYN "A Nervous State of Mind" (Abandon Ship Records)

Not knowing much about the relatively new Abandon Ship label, I was thrown off guard by this one by David Newlyn, an artist from Durham, England. "A Nervous State of Mind" is a somewhat misleading title for this collection of decidedly easygoing ambient compositions. Ambient, as in the tradition of Brian Eno's multilayered soundscapes, rather than today's effects laden drones, although the glitches and pops of 1990s-era IDM are present as well. Of the variety of instruments employed throughout the album's nine tracks, guitar, synthesizers and miscellaneous software provide the main structure. However, the compositions flow so seamlessly and share so many similarities that it's difficult to distinguish where one ends and the next begins. Occasionally there are sharper high-pitched tones which cut briefly into the lulling keyboard patterns, less commonly an atonal guitar chord, but this material is focused on traditional harmony and seldom leaves that path. Fans of darker territories might overdose on Newlyn's blatantly optimistic sound, but amateurism isn't one of his faults, as the intricate constructions and flow of every track easily prove. Altogether an interesting release from a promising young label, this c32 comes with a full-color insert. Numbered edition of 100.

CJA / SMOKEHOUSE “Whisky & Freedom” (Abandon Ship)

Another entry in prolific NZ strangeling Clayton Noone’s bottomless lexicon of side projects and sideways psych glances, this time from his CJA alias. Confessional guitar ballads, dead space, and gravedigger rock and roll minimalism collide in a slow-burn fashion that feels deceptively traditional until you allow it to seep in for a spell and work its odd charms on yr bones/brain. Basically he strums a couple chords over and over and louder and louder and weirder until you realize there’s sometimes even lyrics being mumbled in the din and so you look at the song title at it says “Let Her Go” and you go, “Whoa.” Serious shit. But then you look at another song title and it says “Vegemite Eggs on Toast” and you go, “Oh, what a Men At Work down under jokester!” The truth lies somewhere between the two. Pick your own path through this stuff. There’s a picture of a rusted truck on the cover if that helps explain anything.

STONEBURNER “Abydos” (Abandon Ship)

Smoky collab project between Grant Capes (of VxPxC, Thousands, Phantom Limb Recordings, etc), Brad Rose (of 9 billion things, plus Digitalis Industries), and Nathan Young (of Ajilvsga). Don’t know if this is a one-off or just a “whenever we’re in the same city” kinda thing, but this Tulsa, OK meeting seems to have gone down pretty smooth. The A jam, “Boxgrove Inferno,” finds tonal organ notes laying out on the dirt for jangly guitar and electronic farting oscillator noises to somersault on top of. Random and rambly. On the flip, Brad (one assumes) riffs some picky/strummy acoustic guitar for the opener, then the trio close the C38 with a…bleak banjo dirge? Or something like that. Dead country blues for sure. Gotta say though, the ASR cover art is pretty outta-left-field to my eyes: a cuddly seal’s head emerging from water? A bit more SeaWorldburner than Stone, but oh well.

THOUSANDS “Skinless/Boneless” (Abandon Ship Records)

Another bottomless chicken bowl of fried psych-outs from this restless Glassell Park posse. As usual, a Guitar Center’s worth of instruments tag-team in and out of the spotlight – SK1 warbling, reverb bummer guitar, slow horns, more melodica than a lotta dub records, jazz bass strutting, mouth breathing, wood blocks, etc. With such a melting pot of ingredients, the plated recipe is naturally stuffed to the bursting point with radically varying vibes and flavors. A good chunk of the A side is heavy on the groovy/jazzy tip, with the rest of the skin hanging loose off the bass. But much of the B trip has a lonely post-indie guitar reverie atmosphere. Then there’s a long finale section laden with clanging bells, swaying organ, flutes/whistling/panpipes (??), and a prominent keyboard “waltz” drum setting. Welcome to All Over The Place. For better/worse, the cover art opts for a highly literal interpretation of the title (a “skinless” cow skull next to a “boneless” jellyfish). A photograph of a rotisserie chicken stand would have worked pretty well too.

NONHORSE “Xol Mic” (Abandon Ship)

Holy shit. Mr. GL Crane is back in the solo saddle, and this time he’s got something to SAY. After Rigor Lore’s exploratory symbioses and Drone Moral’s mellow light brigade, Xol Mic feels like some full-on OPUS shit. Overt tape-ripping, yearning female voices, bright buzzing clouds of smokescreen noise-dream…this is a long, strange trip. 90 non-stop minutes of Non-Horseplay might be a bit too much for frailer-eared souls to ingest, but Abandon Ship chose to crank out 300 of these monsters for planetary consumption, so it might end up being his most widely-heard release. Which would be rad actually, as this is definitely the weirdest, vastest, and most tangled labyrinth he’s ever carved on to cassette. Every musical instrument and sound effect ever invented stops by at some point for a cameo appearance. It’s like We Are The World or one of those guest star-stuffed orgy TV specials. Nothing and no one is excluded. This tape is a universe.