WM JOHNSON “Crawl” (Holy Page Records)

Modular synth records, from the bone-shattering brutality of Total Life to the cerebral meanderings of Matt Carlson, can sometimes start to sound very much alike after digging deep into the Bandcamp offerings. Some can capture your attention immediately, like Total Life’s amazing set at Debacle Fest 2013, while others can help pass the time at work. For the latter, it’s enjoyable, you never stop the music, but when it’s over you can’t quite recall what stuck out about that one compared to the other finds of the day. Artists within the field can get stuck in the homogenous sounds and only appeal to the heads, while casual listeners (i.e. me) just brush it aside. But there are some that just stick with you, and thankfully I’m here to talk about one of those kinds of releases.

When Crawl, a new tape from Oberlin based composer William Johnson, started playing on my speakers, I thought that it might fit in with the latter group, but oh my was I wrong! I’ll skip ahead and describe the B-side, because I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Johnson really baits you when the side starts out, with a fuzzed out synth that makes you think, Oh, so now it’s gonna be like this, huh? Just as soon as you think you’ve got it figured out, all hell breaks loose. Seriously, a wind storm of sound blows you aside and keeps you has you hooked the whole way. Not to say that the A-side is lacking, but it’s hard to top that last half. I’ve been chasing the high of that previously mentioned Total Life show, which left me in equal parts shock and awe, and now I finally feel like I’ve achieved a similar experience.

http://wmejohnson.bandcamp.com/
http://holypagerecords.bandcamp.com/

-- Jason Cabaniss

ES ASKEW "Looking For Love" CS(Holy Page Records)

What a great idea. You've got to check out this archival release of Ed Askew material that spans the late 1960s to the early 2000s.  For those of you not familiar with Askew, he cut his sublime first record Ask The Unicorn in 1968 for legendary "out" label ESP Disk. His second record, the even better Little Eyes was shelved when the label experienced financial problems, but was finally released by DeStijl in 2005. The only other official release I've heard from this guy is the sparkling Imperfiction, a live set from the 80s that was released by Galactic Zoo Disk/Drag City a few years back.  I suppose his music fits best under the banner of "psych-folk," with it's conjuring of mystical images and all, but I hope that doesn't imply that it isn't directly emotional and moving.  I've heard that Askew never stopped recording, even though he is hampered by carpal tunnel syndrome, and this new limited edition cassette entitled Looking For Love finally sheds some light on what he's been up to in all intervening years.  You can stream the whole thing on bandcamp, but I highly recommend picking up a physical copy.

BUY HERE

Lovebrrd - "JODOCUS" (Holy Page Records)

Dark synth (as tagged by label) is right! Holy shit this is a moody, scary listen. The music on JODOCUS is intense and haunted. Lovebrrd is the project of Patrick McBratney, the dude from the Lava Church label, and this being the second project of his I've ever heard, I'm impressed by the radical differences the two tapes (see my previous LC review). The synth lines and atmosphere's are evocative and keep the listener guessing. Final word: I don't know who or what "Jodocus" is, but the inspired music that came about because of it is damn interesting.

Buy and Listen HERE.

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Porteur - "LKBK" and iji - "World of Gecko" (Holy Page Records)

I the last year I've found myself in the comfortable position of never being at a loss for background music (or noise). Incidental sounds to fill the air while cooking, reading, watching boring ass olympic competitions on mute...Porteur and iji are the kind of listenable background artists I can read a book to. Neither wow me, but I am thankful for their skills at creating vibe. My "office" room no longer creaks with wall movements in a vacuum, but is constantly humming and bopping to tapes from all over the world. The twinkling hazy "bedroom pop" (as described by Holy Page Records - I don't subscribe to the term) of Porteur's LKBK is (I'd call it "Lake Book," but probs wrong on that) without a doubt the sun setting on southern Arizona captured on cassette. The title track's vocals are as ephemeral as the air we breathe. I can't get a beat on it even when the beat enters. I'm floating off towards foreign vistas. Recommended for fans of shimmering dream guitar ringing.

iji recalls an alternate 90s dance scene where pop/rock songwriting co-mingle with beat-centric odd experiments. Not quite dissimilar from the actual 90s, but oddly pleasant enough to be their own jam. Upliftingly light and shimmying, iji have recorded loosely psychedelic beat-pop that gets my body moving. Most of the tape was recorded by one dude named Zach, but there is one live tune at the end which feats sax and bass and this is my favorite cut. Smooth playing, but not at all locked into "jazz," there is a vaguely naive quality to "singing in the shower" feel of the lead vocal. Overall the music carries you along on relaxed grooves and psuedo-world dance percussion fills...worth exploring? 

Buy and Listen HERE.

Good Amount - "Swimmer" and I've Been Franklin - "Potato Sonatas" (Holy Page Records)

(Hyperbole and handwritten notes transcribed for this review conducted after much coffee entered my system...)

My mind is split to splinters...bouncing from genre to genre, popping tape after tape into the stereo...no rest for the analog freak! My clothes are piling up into a mini-mountain of stank - I haven't eaten or a had a drink for days...this is a desperate situation - a desperate time to be alive.  

I've heard electronically manipulated throat singing over banjo licks and I've nodded off to sampled Yoko Ono beatboxing, but now I have to pull my shit together long enough to decide between some know it all garage scum rock band or this pile of keyboard computer music. Guess it's getting close to the witching hour...I need to find some nocturnal tones that will soothe the fire of the day...

Good Amount hail from the peyote deserts of Tempe, AZ and the cassette sent to me is titled Swimmer. Is there a lot of water in the crispy dirt and rock of southern Arizona? Salt River? Does it flow? No time to bother with land survey questions. Five tunes make up this album, all titled with single words: "Health," "Given," "Bare," "Taken," and "Tide." What does this signify? Well, as far as I can tell they hint at purpose. The pieces of music feature rolling waves of static and hiss, minimal midnight electric piano keys (& other synth sounds), vague vocalizing from some downtown warehouse nightmare, which all factor into what is an ambient and highly listenable cassette.

The second tape on my playlist is by the cheekily named I've Been Franklin and the album Potato Sonatas. This isn't quiet as good as Good Amount, but it isn't terrible. Maybe the fun name and potato artwork have me in the state of mind where I can't give this serious attention. It's a Garageband production through and through. The drums sound nice however. Some of the tunes seem like demos to me or maybe these compositions soundtrack a potato themed video game. Overall pleasant stuff without being amazing.  

Buy and Listen HERE.

Angelo Harmsworth - "Playground Barriers" c32 (Holy Page)

Holy Page has been releasing quality cassettes for over a year now, most of which hold some highly addictive properties, so it came as no surprise, that by the end of my second listen of Angelo Harmsworth's latest, I couldn't seem to flip the tape over again quite fast enough.Playground Barriers opened itself up to me almost immediately, with a array of shimmery and vibrational melodies, all weaving in and out of one another with no real end in sight.The deep swells of a dozen chords all blaring out at once had me so entranced, it was almost as if time had stopped for a few minutes.I could feel the low end of this mysterious rumbling deep within my chest, and just as it would fizzle out and disappear, leaving me calm and anxious, another swell would come on even stronger than the last.The phrasing is definitely in there somewhere, but it's well hidden beneath piles of delays and fuzz, leaving you with what seems like one continuous pummeling made from thick layers of good vibes.

Harmsworth's heartfelt drones weren't so easy for me to pick apart, as all of the sounds are combined to make one all consuming sound, but I'm pretty sure it was a heavily treated guitar, coupled with various bass instruments that was making my bones hum.Whatever is in his arsenal, be it analog or digital, there is a fairly deep connection between them here, and it's the kind of strange chemistry that any group of musicians would spend years trying to harness.Playground Barriers hits you like a hundred white floodlights all beaming at once, and just as they start to fade, and your eyes slowly begin to come back into focus, they just blast you again and again, each time in a completely different color.Incredible stuff.Get one from Holy Page.

GOOD AMOUNT "Power" cs (Holy Page)

Okay, before listening to this cassette I had little to no previous knowledge of Good Amount, except for a few random internet blurbs and/or name drops by friends.By the time side B had ended, I was actually upset that nobody had bothered to turn me onto this much earlier.Power is the name of this cassette by Christian Filardo, aka: Good Amount, and it absolutely deserves it's title.From the very start, good vibes are pumped out in large amounts, like some kind of glittery neon elixir made of dolphin tears.A burst of synth chords swells up and withers away instantly.From there, they lay out a canvas so vast and endless, and begin to fill it.An arsenal of found sounds is spread out all over this thing, with random soft synth notes spattered over top.It's got a ton of open spaces, and yet it never seems to completely fade out or lag.The occasional ethereal voice will come into play, and whisper softly under a blanket of delays, followed by a swirling machine hum and percussive bump or two.This is a very warm and inviting batch of drones and loops, and it only gets deeper and more intriguing as it unfolds.I can't wait to hear more from them.Highly recommended for headphone listening, and mandatory listening for fans of Emeralds, OPN and the like.Pick one up for yourself or a friend from Holy Page.Edition of 100.