GRAHAM BALDWIN “Black Book Run-On” (Lighten Up Sounds)

Graham Baldwin, guitar purveyor of the mighty BLOODWALL, conjures walls of leaking blood on this improvisational two-part meditator. Well, the walls aren’t really leaking blood, and Baldwin’s atmospheres are a lot less stressful than walls leaking blood would suggest, but to say that Baldwin crafted these pieces with anything less than his own sweat and blood would be an understatement. So let’s call it, say, “bloodskin” music, or “blood vessel” music or something, because the blood is actually staying under Baldwin’s skin and in his blood vessels and not leaking from the walls or anything.

Back here on planet Earth we dive into “[t]his recording[, which] was made using a micro-cassette recorder to capture musical scenarios with various instruments, radios and electronics, performed on a semi-daily basis over a two-month period in the Summer of 2013.” I’ll tell you what I was doing in the summer of 2013: wrangling a two-year-old. Certainly not crafting space moods with guitars and electronics and strings and whatnot. I probably could have used that sort of Zen space. But I’m good.

The pieces, stitched together, form a unified whole that moves from fragment to fragment and side to side with ease, the transitions left unsmoothed for maximum tactility. We like that kind of stuff here – keep the frayed edges, the process blemishes, the hiss, the fuzz. That’s what I always say. Fortunately I’m writing about music and not building houses or anything – can you imagine if I applied that line of thinking to laying a foundation?! Process blemishes… I’d be fired for sure.

Graham Baldwin’s Bloodwall

Lighten Up Sounds

--Ryan Masteller

JASON MILLARD “Second Based” C32 (Lighten Up Sounds)

So, hypothetically speaking, if you were to tell me that the picture on the front of the above J-Card was, in fact, aside from the transplanted face, lifted from an old baseball card that fetches a pretty penny nowadays, known in many circles as the ‘Bill Ripken- Rick Face’ card, the words ‘RICK’ and ‘FUCK’ looking a helluva lot alike when sharpee’d on the bottom of a baseball bat, I’d probably tell you that I may or may not have it somewhere in my parents’ attic just outside of Dayton, Ohio.

Also, if you were to tell me about how quite a high percentage of blackmetal bands actually take pride in their recordings sounding like shit, and that one renowned drummer went on record as to explicitly request of his sound engineer that their (the blackmetal band’s) album should sound like they were being recorded in a trashcan, well, I’d ask you if that drummer’s Christian name was, in fact, Oscar D. Grouch.

Moreover, if you were to tell me, in earnest, that Jason Millard, notably a pretty all around bad-ass, jack-of-all-trades musician from Minneapolis, Minnesota was somehow inspired to record a concept album, whereby all recorded sounds were painstakingly labored over to simulate a fight-to-the-death sequence (in song form, spanning a half hour plus) between the remaining Sun City Girls gents and all them rascally members ever involved with Harvey Milk (the band, silly)- and that this fight would not be hand-to-hand, but rather sonically, with rhythmic and lead acoustic guitars traded off randomly between these axe-men- and that these fight-sounds would only be recorded (or, really, simulated to be recorded) through chintzy, piezo pick-ups that were, in turn, shoddily soldered onto the four walls and rusted underbelly of an industrial sized dumpster, acting as container/fighting ring for these aforementioned participants, this dumpster, itself, situated in an abandoned, spacious, concrete bunker that has, over the past twelve seasons or so received its own fair share of flooding, rusting, and subsequent mildewing/dead-vermin-soup-gone-dehydrated-relief-sculptures- and that this, get this, that beside this industrial, hypothetical dumpster, situated in this abandoned bunker, there has also perished an ancient reel-to-reel recording mechanism, stitched together by time’s deposition of excrement and detritus, this recording mechanism’s sound output being a hard-won watermark of ingenious novelty, whose ‘property of…’ sticker has scrawled into the blank cream/mold-colored field, in all lower case English print, but with an Aramaic lilt to the descenders, “MOSES”, this built-to-electrocute mechanism was responsible for recording aforementioned sound-event’s faulty EQ fidelity, warble, decibel drop-out, and all around general feeling of “Boy, it’d be impossible for someone in their bedroom to accidentally consistently record so many tracks with such dedication to sounding like baby Jebus hisself were just shitting on the microphone like half the time, well, I’d probably humour you and ask for a hand-written lyric sheet so that I could play this brilliant concept album at peak volume on my shitty stereo speakers and sing along in my most proud falsetto, to display that I, finally, have something more obvious than the Nick Drake discography to play when less heavy handed clues have fallen short in inspiring my dallying guests that, as dawn has far since vanished, it is, indeed, time for them to leave.

http://lightenupsounds.bandcamp.com/album/jason-millard-second-based

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

Bloodwall - "The Smell of Burning Anti-Freeze" (Lighten Up Sounds)

Simple review: AWESOME!

This tape by Bloodwall is frankly one of my favorites this year so far. Lighten Up Sounds is a fantastic label too...Focused guitar lines skillfully performed over wonderfully abstract sound drifts...what more do ya want? Really, just go ahead and buy this jam. Sample a bit of the A-side while ya wait:

Buy HERE.

follow me on twitter: @teflonbeast

Lord Bird - "2012 is Real" c61 & Myrrh - "Hymns" c32

Lighten Up Sounds is serious with a capital S when it comes to releasing damn good "difficult" music. The experimental/noise nature of the releases will not be for everyone, but if you're reading this blog I bet I'm preaching to the converted anyway when it comes to adventurous listening. The two releases I have atop my "TO LISTEN TO SOON OR ELSE!" pile are Pro thru & thru. Lord Bird and Myrrh are two very odd listening experiences. Two very DIFFERENT experiences too. Myrrh is maybe the most interesting and unique tape I've heard this year. At least the trio are TRYING to find new sounds in a world where - yeah, its pretty much been done before. Viola, drums, and lap steel!!! HELL. YEAH. The music on Hymns comes out of a doom tradition maybe...maybe not...I've never heard lap steel played like this before. It's huge and detuned and freaky as shit. Actually, fans of Earth (Sabbath psychedelia too) will LOVE this tape. The riffs and rhythms remind me of that band soooo much. I wonder if Myrrh even care about that slow, heavy sludge? Meh, the group is great in and of itself so I shouldn't worry about it. The voila playing is pizzicato mainly which moves nicely around the drums in a sort of dialog. The real highlight for me is the lap steel playing of Jason Millard. It's refreshing to hear this kind of playing on an instrument (which is still basically just a guitar) not normally associated with heavy music. There are screaming highs and droney lows. BUY this sucka!

Lord Bird's 2012 is Real is noise...NOISE. Good ol' fashioned "this is what I think of when I think of cassettes" noise. Honestly, it is better and more skillfully crafted than a lot of distorted hiss screed flying around today. The idea of "2012" doesn't endear me to this release as a concept, but at least the art/design is cool. I like the music overall, but lost my stuff over the Myrrh tape so I'm all wiped. The structure of the dense and amorphous noise allows the listener to journey along with the composer. Pretty far out.

Buy and Listen HERE.

Know Your History VHS (self releasesd)MOLE HOLE "Wedge" VHS (Lighten Up Sounds)

I'm happier than a pig in shit to be covering not one, but two current VHS releases. I've long hoped that Cassette Gods would begin to review releases on this medium. After all, it is a video cassette, so it totally falls within our purview. But the truth is, no one has ever sent us anything. Until now.


The first tape I received is not exactly a music release, and while I don't want to get in the habit of reviewing people's film films, Know Your History - Butcher Shoppe 2011 Underworld/Happy America Day is too cool (and has enough music related content) to not write about it. It's a two-parter made by Lucy Watson of the Boston band Kid Romance, a group that has been completely different every time I've seen them (from '93 Boredoms to militant anarchopunk to elctrosomethingorother). They've got a great long playing vinyl disc out on Skrot Up, which I suggest you check out. (Edition of 220).

Anyway, we open with a red curtain parting and we're in The Craze. It's a silent horror film with great music that seems to involve a group of sinister ladies who torture this green troll and also keep a naked man chained up in their basement. There is a ritual with some chickens, a bath of green acid, lots of horrifying masks, some spilled milk, bones and more than a touch of burlesque. It reminds me a lot of a Paul McCarthy piece.

The audio throughout the tape is by OMG (aka L.U.C.Y.) and it's really killer: a doom-laden mix of melodramatic strings, spooky jazz, ritual percussion, clinking glass, minimal electronic sounds, slowed down vocals and deep breathing. It runs straight through The Craze into the second part of the tape, which records the events that transpired on one July 4th at The Butcher Shoppe, a former house venue in Boston. The curtain closes and reopens and we're in a basement filled with punks and a band is playing behind the smoke.

We cut back and forth between the inside and the outside of the venue, where the increasingly rowdy attendees are moshing, drinking, smoking, throwing shit and lighting off fire works. This second segment also plays like a horror film, though that's mostly due to the lack of sync sound and the fucked up OMG music going on over the whole thing. We never get to hear the band or the party goers: although Lucy does put in a few scene specific sound effects, this part of the film is silent as well. Nothing really "happens," but the music really keeps the whole thing suspenseful. Watching this makes me think about how much the soundtrack of a movie impacts what you're seeing. Let me say again, the music in Know Your History is really amazing and could completely stand on its own. It ends, as all things must, with the flashing of red and blue lights.

I think these were only given away free to house venues in Boston, but if you want a copy, you could try writing to wlucy953@gmail.com. She also has a new VHS out that you might want to see if you can snag. It's called Puff a Pound. Ha!



The second VHS release in my possession is an audiovisual release by Matt Himes, whose "folk" project Shep & Me should be known to all Cassette Gods readers. Himes has recently been recording instrumental soundscapes under the name Mole Hole. Wedge is a nicely building set of ominous drone made from a bunch of mismatched gear: waveform signal generator, answering machines, tape loops, ride cymbal, a ceramic plate and some pedals. Visually, we get a static shot of three overlaid film projections. All very nice. This, and a lot more, at the Lighten Up Sounds website.

So in conclusion...if you're doing something with music on VHS, please send it our way. Whether it's a film with a focus on music (Know Your History) or a piece of music with visual accompaniment (Wedge), we want to check it out! If you haven't made one yet, well then what are you waiting for? Abandoned VHS tapes can be found everywhere and new ones (including cases) can be purchased from deltamedia.com.

THE HERMETIC TRIO "s/t" c24DAIN DALLER "Tirehouse Tapes Vol.1" c48SAM GAS CAN "Life On Earth..." c24(Lighten Up Sounds)

The Minnesota based Lighten Up Sounds is run by the eminently likable Matt Himes (Shep & Me, Mole Hole) and is one of the spiffiest labels in the Midwest. From fancy lathe cuts, to beautifully designed cassettes, Himes really puts an artist's touch on the full color packaging of everything that the label releases.

The Hermetic Trio plays an occult form of free jazz known only to dwellers of basementdom's sub-sub-spheres. "Recorded beneath Providence, RI on April 25th 2011" as it states on the handsomely designed j-card. The two named members are reed players Bill Doob and Jefferson Zurna and a third "mystery" member who contributes percussion by gently pounding on basement air-ducts. The music is more in the vein of melodic instant composition, than total shriekfest. The clarinet and the zurna weave subtle patterns that recall both the ecstatic forays of the Master Musicians of Jajouka and the complexity of Anthony Braxton's best work while the percussionist lays down a framework of rhythmic echo. All in all, a very engrossing listen. Highly recommended.

Dain Daller, of the Chicago band Tiny Music, now lives in a self-constructed house of automobile tires in the desert of New Mexico (pictured on the artwork). This tape resonates with the unique vision one might expect from someone with such a hermetic existence. "Tirehouse Tapes Vol. 1" is an album length collection of thoughtful musique concrete constructions. Daller employs household objects, skipping or crackling records, snippets of radio and perhaps an instrument here or there to create 7 distinct compositions. A suite that shows the path toward a possible future for music in a post-technology collapse.

The full title of this tape is Sam Gas Can & The Charter Communications Defamation League "Life On Earth Is Pure And Golden, Life On Earth Is Hell On Earth." Our boy Sam has been working hard of late and this is my favorite thing I've heard from him so far. A really good overview of the Gas Can sound: casio jams, hypnagogabop, downer acoustic folk, humor. All in 24 minutes! Love the cover with it's "I'm standing in a corner" self portrait and the funny insert listing the negative characteristics of Pisces. Highly recommended. After 10-15 EPs, I hope I'm not the only one eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first Sam Gas Can LP, whenever that may be. For all things Gas Can, head over to here.

http://lightenupsounds.blogspot.com/

John Zuma St. Pelvyn "Ampex, Stolaroff, Dogwood, Rain" c41 (Lighten Up Sounds)

Incredible debut release from solo guitarist/experimentalist, John Zuma St. Pelvyn (an alias that rolls right off the tongue), that came out a few months back, but is so deserving of more attention. Reportedly recorded while the artist was living in a water tower in Northern California, “Ampex, Stolanoff, Dogwood, Rain” has a highly personal and meditative sound, as though St. Pelvyn was trying to unlock some hidden tone from his minimal set-up of modified acoustic guitar and theremin. His playing over the sidelong “Balboa Spits Towards the Motherload” recalls the ghostly industrial blues that the late John Fahey was exploring at the end of the nineties on his Table of the Elements releases. The Fahey comparison is, of course, one of the more overused references in describing any solo acoustic guitar slinger with experimental leanings, but there are indeed similarities in the overall approach and sound here. While St. Pelvyn’s extended technique draws on similar blues motifs, he also has these interesting quick runs that fill in some of the empty spaces between notes. And on the closing track, “The Wreck of the Pacific Garden Mall”, he shapes squelching theremin sounds around his clanging slow motion acoustic strums, which is the point where you realize that this is an emerging new talent to keep an eye on. The tape comes housed in a fetching oversized package with the curious inclusion of a small baggie of wood shavings. Still available from Lighten Up Sounds.