UNEVEN UNIVERSE / VILLA VALLEY “Saint Louis Blues” (Excitebike Tapes)

Yet another pairing of Khris and Dan’s prolific sound worlds (how many does this make? They’re like the Lemmon & Matthau of Ferndale noise!). This one’s called Saint Louis Blues, and it’s either a tribute to the hockey team of the same name or just a couple live recordings that I assume were recorded in said city. The UU side makes me laugh/mosh because, despite being ostensibly created by FX-mangled horns, it really doesn’t in any way for even a fraction of a second resemble the sound of horns! This in itself is obviously a huge achievement. Strangled peals of high-end distortion blare out and twist above the table of mixers and cords. What I dig about it is how long they stretch the tones out, one after the other, warping yr perception until it almost starts sounding weirdly jazzy?! Way different from other recent UU sides, which I appreciate immensely. The Villa Valley set is typically dense and incomprehensible, slogging through numb wormholes and piercing shrieks. I can’t help but wonder what “hi-fi” VV would sound like, as this is about 30th outing I’ve heard by them where I can’t tell what the fuck’s going on due to how ridiculously blown out everything’s recorded. A man can dream, can’t he? In a nice metallic-flecked vellum J-card.

VILLA VALLEY / OUBLIETTE split (Excitebike Tapes)

Part of Dan’s “Catch Up” series of tapes, where he finally gets off his comfortable ass and releases masters he’s been sittin’ on since 2006. Fortunately for EXBX’s rep, no-fi noise misery like these two sides can never age – it was born/recorded rotten so it can’t really get any worse. The VV jam is a ragged trawl through gross blown-out electronics with no light at the end of the tunnel, just another tunnel leading into another tunnel. This is what it sounds like to a mole digging through the dirt beneath a war zone: loud and shitty. Oubliette’s side is even more hostile if you can believe that, total anti-musical feedback flat-lining, a storm of hornets stinging your brain a billion times in a row while you throw yourself in front of an SUV to make the noise please stop. I made the crazy mistake of rocking this CS on headphones. It won’t happen again. (P.S.—Dan must’ve been in a REALLY ironic mood when he collaged “Music To Gladden The Way To Heaven” on the spine of this fucker).

VILLA VALLEY / TREETOPS (Arbor)

This is a weird pairing. VV offer up yet another 20 minute headache of Michigan frequency shrapnel. Sounds like this was recorded in the engine room of a steamship when the hull busted a leak and a dozen sailors started brawling about whose fault it was. Shrieking metal scrapes, numb rumbling, angry voices buried in static. Ugly stuff. Flip the tape and yr in a new world. There’s hushed thumb piano meditations, new age drone loops, reverbed cymbal shimmers, keening whale-song guitar delay, all chopped up into little meandering short stories. One of Treetops’ better outings. Rad “meeting of the minds” cover art too.