JJAAXXNN “Space Case” (Translingustic Other)

JJAAXXNN is really annoying to type, and originally I planned on griping about how tricky spellings and all-caps hijinks separate artists from the boots-on-ground, blood-in-teeth real world. But then I listened to the tape and realized that JJAAXXNN (still, sigh) isn't interested in the real world at all. The solo work of Josh Bruner, formerly of Californian hypno-psych desert-wanderers Magic Leaves, Space Case is a breezy collection of mellow-yellow synth pop that wafts around freely like a plastic bag in the wind, tethered tangentially to a group of voices that sing with all the slit-eyed conviction of a slacker sex/death cult. There's a shoulder-shrugging chintz to the sound on this tape, like Bruner lifted his gear from a low-rent wedding band, but figures you'll be too entranced by his washes of reverb-y haze-pop to notice the '89 Casio stock drum beats. And mostly you are. By the time you hit the B-side – all dubs, all the time – you'll be floating effortlessly in the dirty bathwater of your soul. And for $7.00 a pop, that's a  much cheaper ride than a weekend-long  Xanax jag.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/translinguistic-other/jjaaxxnn-3-dreams-deep

- Ken McIntyre

MIDDAY VEIL "The Current" (Translinguistic Other)

Cowabunga. Weirdos unite through the transcendent power of "Midday Veil", a six piece psychedelic rock band who recorded this cassette, "the Current", in Seattle. I would definitely agree this cassette is very current sounding. Fans from the whole spectrum of exotic sound ranging from 80s synth horror movie soundtrack enthusiasts, Swedish hippie commune members with a love for Harvester (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZAxzdB94jw), Blue Velvet lounge ballad jazz cats, and anyone you could generally describe as a pretty cool dude/dudette can get behind this cassette and feel like they have just listened to something better than one hell of a flying carpet themed pinball game.

First, this cassette stands out because it is so full. A spectrum of tones, moods and genres melt together at hypnotic dance pulses. The Midday Veil has six members who can travel just about any speed and tackle any theme effortlessly and as a unit. With six songs, 3 on each side, this is just about perfect in your 1988 Honda Accord cassette deck while driving by the beach late at night on Halloween. The production value on the tape is stellar and on par with early seventies rock and roll studio whizzes. The doubled female vocals balance the horror synth with strong, sultry disco harmonies. GNARLY Fuzz Bass lines throughout.

The overall magic glue of The Midday Veil's cassette is that this is dance music at its core. It is demanded by the band's emphasis on percussion, drumming and modular synth. Even the ambient parts oscillate and are presenting in pulsating melodic sequence. Emily Pothast gets straight up Aretha Franklin ballad sounding and the baritone guitar even gets close to Black Sabbath territory, but these would sound best live in the center of a roller rink while everyone was busting a move.


This is really a full spectrum dance cassette. Keep your cassette player in the repeat position and play it at your next costume party.

High honors!

Also available on LP/CD/Download: http://middayveil.bandcamp.com/album/the-current

--Jack Turnbull

Midday Veil "Integratron" (Translinguistic Other)

The name of this cassette is taken from the wooden dome built out in the Mojave Desert where Midday Veil recorded this release in. “An acoustic tabernacle and architectural energy machine”, the Integratron was said to be built with extra terrestrial guidance. Believe what you will, but the results of this tape confirm that Midday Veil was channeling something otherworldly within this “acoustically perfect sound chamber” on the day it was recorded. Like communal psych rock movers of yore, Midday Veil’s improvisations seem to unfold according to their own sense of rhythm and time. Slinky and slow motion, they are in no hurry to get where they are going; they know that, in the end, space is the place. It’s tom and cymbal brushes, synth and electronic gurgles, bass and baritone guitar, and wordless vocals that, at times, has a wandering blues feel to it, while others a more animated and explosive rock edge. It’s refreshing to hear synthesizers being used in this context and outside of what has become an over-populated genre (i.e. synth-based music) unto itself. For the opponents of the cassette’s sound fidelity: yes, you can quite clearly hear the ‘room sound’ within these recordings. Bathe in it . . .

Listen and buy HERE

Guest Review part 2: Will Griscom from Berkeley, CA reviews The Cat's Orchestra and others...

hey Nick!

I got some tapes in the mail yesterday, and included with one of them was the following note. (I'll leave it up to you to decide) - ed.

Nxxx
how's it going?
in mxxxx
i am going to see if there is snow
on the mountain here before work
i regrettably wn't be seeing you
at these fxxxx shows... my work
schedule has me by the turtleneck
if youknowhat I mean.
cxxx bxxxx forever. yes
let me know howweverything
is with you and what.
YOUR FRIEND
Zxxxxx Mxxxxxxxxx

Also, here are my reviews of the two tapes:

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Geist & the Sacred Ensemble -- "In Search of Fabled Lands"
Label: Translinguistic Other
BUY

This is some dark weird folk rock that ventures way out into territory I don't hear much these days -- there's a lot of drone and dissonance and throat-singing and shouting and weird drums, and a whole lot of tambourine. Cool sounds. The production is pretty clean overall, with none of the obligatory FX pedal abuse that would put this over the line into modern "psych" territory, but that doesn't keep them from getting noisy when they want to. Some parts definitely made me feel like I was listening to Devendra Banhart doing acoustic covers of Flipper. The lyrics seem to mostly be about death and dying, but my favorite songs are the instrumental jams, which really open up the sonic space they've created to explore some more melodic material. Overall, not bad!

Giant Claw / The Cat's Orchestra
(Split)
Label: Cae-Sur-A
BUY

Two sides of hardcore arpeggio abuse from kids who like to hang out at the deeeeeeeep end of the pool. Heavy Claw takes the a-side with some live recorded ambient-synth-noise that starts out a little shaky in terms of wonky tape compression artifacts but rapidly gets things sorted out and proceeds to move smoothly through a number stunningly beautiful of segments, each consisting of multiple layers of looping synth that gradually fade into the next section. Lots of different elements that are constantly moving around, with stacked arpeggios that would be reminiscent of certain classical minimalist composers if it weren't for the consistently smokey analog synth vibe. The one-sheet mentions Terry Riley as a reference point, which is not totally off the mark, but you have to imagine it as filtered through Tangerine Dream and early 1990s Sega Genesis soundtracks. This kind of ambient synth music can really easily fall into the trap of "chill" cliches and boring sounds, but Giant Claw manages to avoid most of that and delivers a really rewarding, involving listen.

Side B comes from Russian loner dude The Cat's Orchestra, who I last heard from several years ago playing acoustic ethno-folk on homemade instruments. Apparently he's jumped on the analog synth bandwagon as well, although I can't say I really understand what's going on here -- there's a single-chord synth arpeggio that repeats throughout the entire side, and a one-bar drum machine loop, and some whooshing sounds… and that's about it. Sometimes another riff will come in that sounds like it's in a different key, or the main riff will drop out for a couple of bars and it sounds like something new is going to happen, but then it just fades back in again. Definitely a confusing listen -- maybe that's a good thing? The Cat's Orchestra uses the all the same basic elements as Heavy Claw (analog synth, looping, arpeggios) but the end result is distinctly different, way more minimal, agitated and disconcerting.

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that's all! let me know if you need anything else.

-will

Midday Veil “Subterranean Ritual II” & Fungal Abyss “Bardo Abgrund Temple” (Translinguistic Other Recordings)

Here are a couple of newish releases from TranslinguisticOther Recordings, a relatively fresh Seattle-based imprint started by Midday Veil members Emily Pothast and David Golightly. In terms of packaging and overall presentation, these folks don’t cut any corners: sleek professionally printed j-cards, digital download cards, editions of 250, and even color-printed promotional one-sheets. This may not sound earth shattering by any means, but it’s also not what you typically encounter within cassette culture. The music contained on both of these releases sounds pretty impressive as well.    

The “improvised sound rituals” featured on Midday Veil’s “Subterranean Ritual II” shimmer and sway in a slow motion psychedelic breeze. With droning analog synth, reverberant baritone guitar, and gentle tom strokes leading the way, Emily Pothast’s treated wordless vocals fill in the spaces between, creating a spectral ambience that recedes and crests to the group’s own highly attuned sense of time and (s)pace. Even at the most outright rockist moments (the end of “Moon Temple”), the sound is more ‘ceremonial’ than ‘space’ rock. But you can call it whatever you want, group catharsis seems to be the main objective here.

Fungal Abyss, an alter ego of the bizzaro metal outfit Lesbian, operate along similar long form improvisational lines. This quartet, however, plays within a more classic psychedelic rock set-up: guitars, bass, drums. That’s not to say that “Bardo Abgrund Temple” sounds dated or re-hashed in any way, quite the contrary in fact. At roughly 70 minutes in length, Fungal Abyss head out on a truely psychedelic journey. I say that both because it was noted that the group recorded these improvisations under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms (as if the group name didn’t tip us off to their interests) and because the music itself moves in and out of various passages, from peaceful, droning drift to epic, gurgling guitar shred, pushing towards something grand and unknown. This is first-rate modern psych rock by a group that knows how to walk the walk.