March 2012
19 posts
Watchrubbercitynoise:
This is a web-news-video-article thing about “noise” music and a recent show that we (Dodecazurvan) played at the unfortunately soon-closing Bela Dubby along w/ the legendary Robert Turman and police-stunted-yet-still-formidable Fat Worm of Error. While the article is well put together, the editing is nice, and it generally communicates some of what is going on—there is...
5 tags
Review: Wes Imel - Rickshaw Driver (32nd Notes,...
In my dealings with numerous CDs and CD-Rs containing music I’ve bought or received over the years, I’ve noticed two interesting things regarding albums with cardboard sleeves:
There is some strange correlation between ambient/drone music and recycled paper/cardboard sleeves - nearly every CD with this type of packaging I have contains ambient (or ambient-related) music.
The music...
8 tags
Review: Ypotryll - Solar Tongues (Sangoplasmo,...
The description of the cassette released by Polish tape label Sangoplasmo Records bears a somewhat cryptic, brief, yet interesting explanation on the name “Ypotryll”:
Ypotryll is the name of a beautiful legendary creature with the tusked head of a boar, the body of a camel, feet of a goat, the tail of a serpent and a huge penis. However, Ypotryll is also a meditative experimental...
9 tags
Review: Andy C. Jenkins - Matsubara Conical...
It is not just mere coincidence that for a cover of his cassette, released by up-and-coming ambient Floridian label Sunshine Ltd. the American sound experimentalist Andy C. Jenkins used a photo of an installation of Japanese visual artist Shinya Aota. Just like Aota places ordinary, everyday objects (a bottle of detergent, a piece of pipe, a mosquito coil) in surprising configurations leading to...
8 tags
Review: Mother Ganga - Pineal Soup (Instructional...
Glasgow’s Lewis Cook might be more known as a part of a heavy stoner/psych rock ensemble The Cosmic Dead, where he plays noodling, labirynthine synthesizer passages. Under his Mother Ganga moniker he reveals a much softer, pop-oriented side of electronic psychedelia, offering a twisted, chillwavey take on 80’s synth pop music, complete with deformed vocals and infectious hooks.Pineal...
9 tags
Review: Soundings / Shapers / Verma - Split...
This entirely Chicago-based split cassette by the fresh, yet ass kicking label Paramita Recordings, finds three weirdo bunches sharing and comparing their penchant for psychedelia filtered through three different prisms: be it the chugging stoner-kraut of Verma, noisy post-hardcore of Soundings and the cold electronic abandon of Shapers.
Chicagoan psychedelic rockers from Verma are already...
8 tags
Bitter Fictions - Percolator Glitch
Bitter Fictions is the solo project of Calgary-based music journalist, record store clerk and radio host Devin Friesen. HisPercolator GlitchEP is a series of electric guitar improvisations processed through Max/MSP. While some people, when thinking about “Max/MSP + guitar” association might come up with the polished soundscapes of Christian Fennesz, Bitter Fictions’ sound is...
8 tags
Eagle Chalice - Infinite Altitude
More bedroom drifting synth goodness straight outta “backyard time portal”, as Mr Eagle Chalice himself states on his Bandcamp page. Walking the fine line between the more serious, inner-gazing moments and the more tongue-in-cheek electronics (the term “glue age” is a good indication), with titles like “Dolphins On the Dancefloor”. Slow beats and spacey...
7 tags
On ripping cassettes - continuity vs. separate...
The original version of this post (which was much shorter and much more vulgar) related to my problem with the nature of cassettes and making digital copies of them. I’ve received some interesting views in the comments - some people arguing that cassettes should be listened to as a continuous work, criticizing my approach for separation of tracks as “nit-picking”. But the...
8 tags
Transmuteo - Cymaglyphs
Ultra-soothing transmissions from the crystal dome by the mysterious New Orleans based Atlantean being. Pure, beautiful and raw - THE New Age. Originally released on Rotifer cassettes, so you know you’re in for a journey of self-discovery. Recommended!
Transmuteo - Cymaglyphs
8 tags
Review: Magdalena Solis - Hesperia (Dying For Bad...
The cover of Magdalena Solis’ Hesperia shows a naked woman in a state of ecstasy, most likely orgasming. But this picture of pure pleasure and bliss is somewhat blurry, covered with all sorts of distortions and graphic effects obscuring the full image. This is what the album sounds like - what might appear as bliss and peaceful psychedelic jamming on the surface is just a cover for...
11 tags
Review: Seabat - Mountains of Palawan (Goldtimers...
I am torn. I am torn between writing a review right now and waiting a little more. Because Mountains of Palawan, the newest cassette offering from Seabat, the duo of Brooklyn-based John Also Bennett & Forest Christenson is like an ever-expanding archive of sonic nuances and hooks which keep popping up with each listening. What is more, Mountains of Palawan is a true goldmine of different...
4 tags
11 tags
Review: Cane Swords / Griefhound - Split (Rubber...
It is easy to get lost in this monstrous split from the Akron, OH based label Rubber City Noise between the restless synth benders from Cane Swords and the droning, burning guitar sludgebient of Griefhound. Stretched over 30 minutes on each side, both projects offer a disorienting, mapless take on their respective genres, each using different mediums, both ending up comparatively heavy.
Side A...
8 tags
Jeremy Bible - The Journey of Enoch
Remastered cassette reissue (from Rubber City Noise) of an original ultra-limited CD-R issued in 2004 by underground legend and Experimedia founder Jeremy Bible. Recorded between 1998 and 2000,The Journey of Enoch prophesied the rise of lo-fi, minimal drone underground which first reared its analog head in mid 2000’s. Jeremy Bible’s release is a haunting, stretched-out affair of...
8 tags
Review: Buchikamashi - Super Mind (SicSic, 2012)
Almost immediately since he started created music, Japenese New Ager Shin Buchikami, going by the name Buchikamashi was picking up fame while releasing a steady number of ultra-limited cassette releases. Super Mind, released on German imprint SicSic Tapes, shows a slow, yet gradual change in Buchikamashi’s style - even though the only other album by him I’ve heard was 2010’s...
9 tags
Review: Bear Bones, Lay Low / Hellvete - Split...
This split between the members of legendary funeral folk collective Sylvester Anfang II is a mesmerizing, hazy and often disorientic ritual mixture which will fill you with smoke of unknown plants and lead you to the unexplored mind jungles. Both sides are somewhat lo-fi in recording, leaving some of their music in the tape fog, to murk things up even further.
Side A, by Bear Bones, Lay Low,...
7 tags
Amour & Discipline
Just a little less than a week from today, what I hope will be a major revolution in music sharing/donation will launch. On March 8, 2012, the collective webzine and a non-profit donation platform AMOUR & DISCIPLINE will be officially launched.
The main goal of A&D is to turn music profits back to musicians themselves, so that they get all the cut instead of the companies...
7 tags
Review: Zac Nelson - Improv(e) (Goldtimers Tapes,...
Chicago tape label Goldtimers Tapes have released their biggest batch to date in February 2012, taking up EIGHT cassette releases at once, many of which ranged well over the “standard” 30-minute format. After listening to all eight releases I can tell you (without belittling all the other releases which are really good, too) that two tapes out of this batch are truly exceptional and...
