HEY EXIT “Slow Names 2” C50 (Turmeric Magnitudes)

The simple drawing on the cover says it all. Two birds, one perched regally, not a worry in his head, the other, levitating supine, with similar headspace; if not dead, surely making it’s way on out to the other side.

Allow me to read between the powerlines:

Side A

Tetuzi Akiyama’s guardian sparrow has grown pregnant with sorrow, hypnotized by distant church bells, the way full force gale and deluge take turns bending overtones to uneasy warble as they crawl clumsily through the lone, cracked window in their barren apartment. Songbird has given up matching TA’s patient plodding, those slow steel wires taking their sweet, sweet time to die, a new reverberation birthed just in time to see great grandfather’s death rattle shake the driest side of said windowpane. The city outside is drowning chaos, the lone swaying tapered candle within proudly lights a dust-free circle of minimal warmth on the floorboards by TA’s feet.

Side B

Tetuzi Akiyama’s agreement was this; I will feed you and play for you and keep you dry, but if you want to see the world, that sick world out there, the window is always left open just enough to permit exit. In the meantime, do accompany me as you see fit.

Songbird dreams his “escape”, journeys through electrified amplification and processing, makes friends with undesirables, gets a stick-&-poke tattoo that quickly gets infected, narrowly avoids a watery grave more times than he can count, sleeps it off under a park bench and “wakes” to the sound of his ribs cracking under a feral cat’s hunger-weakened jaws.

This recurring nightmare wakes him every night and the tape ends just before he sings and sings and sings.

See: field recordings, Tetuzi Akiyama worship, overtones, destroyed amps, tone v. texture, how many sounds can you get from that guitar?, Not Safe For Sleeping

http://www.heyexit.com/

and/or   

https://turmericmagnitudes.bandcamp.com/album/slow-names-2

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

/h/t/a/ “Stratus” (self-released)

Straddling the thin divide between beat-driven ambient soundscape and instrumental hip hop, and even bordering New Age at points, /h/t/a/ of Columbus, Ohio – a place that I have been to one time but barely made an impression on me – crafts computer soundtrack pieces for moderns. I’m also going to give /h/t/a/ cool points for the logo. I like it! It hovers above a purple-tinted photo of a cloud formation, like a beacon from some otherworldly or extraterrestrial place. It’s a bit ominous, frankly, but in a good way.

Like a mashup between Reservoir Sounds’ A.M. Breakups and someone like Chungking Mansions, /h/t/a/ surely knows his way around a beat and a melody, and they punctuate each other throughout Stratus, his first official release. The tracks don’t last terribly long, and are often sketches of what could be larger pieces. Some, like side-B standout and Tobacco-worshipping “Sweep,” are just begging for a rapper to sling sick verses on top of. “Nicotine” has a similar vibe – for all of its ten seconds when music plays. (Nine seconds of it are silence.)

Some of it plays out like delightfully wispy vaporwave, like “Why Did the Centipede Hurt” or “Stratus,” both of which foreground synthesizers while the latter incorporates a slow jam beat/bassline. These moments are feather light, as if some teenage wizard shouted “Wingardium leviosa” (that’s “levi-O-sa,” not “levio-SA,” jagweed, and only in your best proper English accent) at the songs, and they just hovered there, unsure of their new airborne abilities. I’ll tell you what they do – they relax the sheez out of you, that’s what.

The cassette itself is a deep lilac purple, and comes in an edition of 25. I have lucky number 7. And did you know? /h/t/a/ stands for “hanging tree algorithm.” Now you’re as smart as me!

No you’re not.

http://hangingtreealgorithm.bandcamp.com/album/stratus

--Ryan Masteller

RENTBOY “King of Knives” C59 (Albert’s Basement)

This tape is a just-short-of-an-hour long recording of a guy, his amplified electric guitar, and his thoughts, brought to you by “Albert’s Basement”, out of Melbourne, Australia. The lyrics are printed out on the J-Card. The last song, “The Princess”, has the lyrics “The Princess must die tonight…”, and they, like the previous hour’s like-themed lyrics, are all, also, captured, in carbon, along with this guy, Dan Cross’s amplified electric guitar, and his understated singing. The singing is a little understated, a little lower in the mix, if you will, which is maybe why all the lyrics are, all, printed, on the J-Card, the J-Card, which is included with the tape. Did I mention that this just-short-of-an-hour long tape is from Melbourne, Australia? This guy, Dan Cross, from Australia (Melbourne, exactly) had not officially recorded/released some of these songs for 14 years before releasing them to the public, now. Now, here they are, caught on carbon, ready for you to listen to, to this guy, and his guitar, and his thoughts, from Melbourne, Australia. Between Lawrence English’s Room40 label and Silverchair, I’d definitely say that Rentboy, which is Dan Cross, from/near Melbourne, Australia, is much closer to, but certainly not a carbon copy of, the latter. There is only one song to sample on the link below, but, I assure you, that all words/guitar chord/strummings were from/near Melbourne, Australia.

           

https://albertsbasement.bandcamp.com/album/king-of-knives

and/or

http://www.albertsbasement.net/

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

AARON TROYER “Muscular Heritage” (Self Released)

Lo-fi guitar-based music might never go out of style as far as I’m concerned. Or even if it does, some suggest it already has, that still won’t stop people from making more of it anyways. Thank goodness Aaron Troyer hasn’t been deterred by such ramblings, as Muscular Heritage is a truly fantastic album.

Sparing a fun rendition of The Kinks “The Way Love Used to Be” all the songs were written by Troyer. Last year CMJ referred him as one of their favorite songwriters in Columbus right now. While I don’t know much about his competition after listening to the tape I feel compelled to agree. Almost anyone can have an idea or come up with some sort of story to sing. But it takes a true gift to tie a theme together in a way to convey a message like the nihilistic “Nothing to Live For” does or tell the story of departing from a romantic partner the way “The Screen” lays it out.  

Troyer has what it takes to separate himself from the pack in his lyrics. His guitar skills aren’t too shabby either. They are pretty much front and center through the duration of the tape; receiving assists only from Alex Romstedt on drums for two songs and Sven Kahns on slide guitar for another. 

I couldn’t find the tape for sale anywhere online. Look at Aaron Troyer’s art and check out his other music projects here: http://www.aarontroyer.com/about/

-- Roy Blumenfeld

FUSILLER “Dystopies Versus” C23 (Phase! Records)

When robots take over and make humans their servants, every single trace of this album out there will be hunted down at all costs, as its revolutionary message is far too dangerous: “Humans Are Machines Are Humans Are Machines…” This is what it will sound like when robots awaken to consciousness. This is what it will sound like when humans become one with circuitry. This is an industrially manufactured soul. Revolutionary.

This is a curated collection of perfect balance between heart-wrenching drones and computer death throes. Hertz ranging from 20 to over 12,000 all take mysterious turns running rampant and marching choreographed. Human and robot voices seek (and fucking find!) harmony in unlikely climaxes. I can’t wait to research this artist more! It just figures they’re from France, along with my beloved Calypso Borealis and Natural Snow Buildings…

Go get yourself a tape and prepare to fight the revolution with love and understanding and compassion!

http://fusiller.bandcamp.com/album/dystopies-versus

http://tanzprocesz.free.fr/fusiller.htm

and/or

http://www.phasejunk.com/

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

TAKAHIRO MUKAI “Telly, Washer and Fridge” (Entertainment Systems)

“A collection of 6 signature TAKAHIRO MUKAI musings.” Because that’s what TAKAHIRO MUKAI does, everybody, he muses over his synthesizer. He doesn’t compose, he doesn’t jam, he muses. Meaning, he considers carefully and introspectively how his miniature synthesizer movements will move and flow, penetrate the ears, infiltrate the mind.

The tracks are titled by numbers, because TM has absolutely no interest or time for such trivial matters as actually naming songs. And he doesn’t need to. Tracks like “#176” and “#174” bounce along like a stone skipping on a still pond, its ripple effects the digital EQ readout of each track, because we’re eating our own tail here, ouroboros style. Realities are overlapping, superimposed like ancient Rome over modern-day life, just like in VALIS, and if you haven’t read VALIS, do it. Then listen to Takahiro Mukai. Or vice versa. One does not inform the other.

If there exists a discotheque where TM DJ’s, it would be the weirdest, herky-jerky dancefloor ever. Instead of huge, four-on-the-floor beats, everybody would stumble-bumble to the sickly, warbling, static-heavy bong rips Telly, Washer and Fridge constantly serves. But still, if you’re listening to this – and I know you are, everybody is right now, and I mean everybody – you can totally picture the club, right? The lightshow, the vibe – the music’s just a little off. And that’s why TM’s perfect for being in my head. Because there’s no way in FUCK that I’m ever going to a club.

http://www.entertainment-systems.net/

http://soundcloud.com/takahiro-5

--Ryan Masteller