HASUFEL “Winter on the Hill Cumorah” (Chondritic Sound)

Hasufel’s Dylan Ettinger is back to haunt us with yet another tape of dark drones and unsettling synth compositions, this time taking on a truly scary and formidable entity: organized religion! Ettinger grew up in the Mormon tradition, so who better to take us on a disconcerting ride through history and personal experience? No one! Not even me, although I, too, grew up amongst the religiously organized. No LDS in my background though.

Winter on Cumorah Hill traces it all the way back, back to the very beginning – the very beginning of the Latter Day Saints church, anyway. Cumorah is a “drumlin” in Manchester, New York, the hill upon which Mormon founder Joseph Smith discovered the Golden Plates that “he translated into English and published as the Book of Mormon.” (All citations from the lovely Wikipedia, naturally.) Cumorah is alternately referred to as “Mormon Hill,” “Gold Bible Hill,” and “Inspiration Point.” Cumorah is a revered location in LDS custom.

But we all know what happened to Joseph Smith, right? Killed by a mob in 1844 in Carthage, Illinois. From there the church headed west and relocated to Utah, where it is still headquartered today. But there are some heavy customs that Mormons go through as they grow up, and Ettinger applies some equally heavy hymnody to illustrate the precariousness and insidiousness of mass indoctrination. Taking the themes of the church and filtering them through a pagan lens, Ettinger calls forth from his own mind the spectral beings of opposition, directing them to subvert all that he’s experienced with all that he’s learned. The spiritual battle is great, but Ettinger and his instant séances masquerading as plodding goth metal are up to the challenge.

Like Peter Murphy leading a satanic cult, Ettinger as Hasufel warps the perception of “the greater good,” thereby shaping it in his own image, an image of freedom from convention and control. Only through the scourge of dark, midwinter fires can lasting change occur.

https://hasufel.bandcamp.com/

https://chondriticsound.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

ENEMA SYRINGE “Flapper” (Chondritic Sound)

Enema syringes are pretty useful if you don’t like the taste of tequila but still wanna get drunk and have fun with your friends at the rave over in the industrial side of town. ENEMA SYRINGE boasts of this fact with lightly distorted pulsings and repetitious beats that mimic the slow-churn heartbeat of a factory worker. This is especially true on track two which is nothing less than a phonograph needle grinding away on a scuffed up piece of musicless wax for about two minutes. A feat no doubt ahead of its time being that it was created in 1986 while I was busy gestating and finally emerging from the womb of my biological mother who took me promptly to the orphanage where I spent some rather lulled and torpid years with the other orphans before being adopted by young Christians at the age of three. But this review isn’t about me, it’s about ENEMA SYRINGE’s “FLAPPER”, which, after having listened to for three days straight even while I slept, I have nursed a real affinity for. It speaks to me and to my soul and perhaps it will speak to you and yours as well if you procure it and let the wonderful sounds fill your bedroom through the blown-out speakers of an expensive Montgomery Ward boombox.

-- Ricky Lemonseed

German Army - "Youtan Poluo" (Chondritic Sound)

German Army's Youtan Poluo is a dark, twisted, and deranged listening experience. The label accurately does the describing for me, "strange noise loops, intricate rhythms smashed with a hammer, forgotten guitar and bass riffs, otherworldly samples and vocals," exactimundo! Is it any good? Well, yes...if this madness is your bag, then it is quite good. GA is a duo and from what I have heard this past year, they are prolific and always making music. Of the tapes of their's I've heard, this is one of the better examples. My only (tiny) complaint is its a bit mono-tone..."samey," from start to finish. Then again, it moves nicely along so...if you're a fan of GA dig in, if not...experiment a little.

Buy and Listen HERE.

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Jason Lescalleet - How To Not Do It (Chondritic Sound)

    While I was on tour I swung through Vacation Vinyl in LA and picked up some tapes put out by LA based label “Chondritic Sound”. The tape that stood out to me the most was Jason Lescalleet’s “How To Not Do It”. Lescalleet isn’t your typical noise guy. I would say he is in an elite class of sound manipulators. The way he works stereo and his ability to operate tape machines and analog synthesizers to create luscious and vivid soundscapes is unlike anything else I have heard before. On this tape you are walked through conversations panning back and fourth between multiple people. Quiet eerie breathing looms over the setting of what seems to be some sort of aquatic wasteland. This tape is scary but if you dive into absolute meditation it is mind bending. You can see the tungsten lit poolside grass and see the Spanish women discussing personal matters while ghosts of the lost loom beside them. A man then gives a monologue about the cost of his rent, and the dreamscape continues until you are soaked and completely involved in this one! 

    Needless to say, this tape is haunting, and creates visions that even the most talented of visual artists cannot create. Hell, the tape is even physically beautiful; it’s burnt sienna with blue speckled paint and has a really nice gold card stock with green print j card. It’s a must have for any tape collector. If you are into experimental music or not you have to get this piece of art!

Listen and Buy