Friday, June 21, 2013

Jon Collin "The Great Stink" cs

Jon Collin
The Great Stink
Eiderdown Records

Jon Collin is a UK based guitarist who is know for his experimental, minimal guitar pieces, His work in Serfs and his excellent looking releases from Winebox Press. This tape is a recent release from Seattle's excellent label Eiderdown Records, which I believe I have put on that list of labels that you should just buy everything from. The work on this cassette is that type of minimal work I love. Where the music is almost a duet between the guitar notes and the room it's being played in. Really good stuff. Think Jack Rose, James Blackshaw and John Fahey but then ignore all that and just listen to this. It's in it's own little bubble universe and it's great.

All Eiderdown cassettes so far have had awesome textured drawings screenprinted by Andrew Crawshaw and this is another to add to the ever-growing gorgeous pile of magnetic tape filled artwork. 

Do not miss. 

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Cadaver in Drag "Breaking and Entering" cs

Cadaver in Drag
Breaking and Entering
Husk Records

Cadaver in Drag is awesome. A really triply psychedelic noise rock free for all. The first track in this solid little groove that never ever ends and it's great. Later things get a little more minimal and bit more noisy at times. The last track is totally out of left field and I love it. It's actually a little varied and for that I also love it. This is a full length cassette so you are getting a serious chunk of sounds from CiD. This is highly recommended. 

The layout itself is okay. No huge complaint except I would like to see the text aligned on a grid with a clear hierarchy a bit more. It's almost there but not quite. 

Still get this right away. 

Muennich/Esposito/Jupitter-Larsen "The Wraiths of Flying A" cd

The Wraiths of Flying A
Firework Edition

So on that list of amazing releases that I shouldn't have missed until now, is this one. In fact, this is at the top of said list. This cd may actually be a fucking masterpiece and I feel shitty I sat in it for as long as I did. I'm pretty blown away. The sounds I this collaborative release are the definition of restraint. I think I have said that before but this raises the bar. Usually when you get noise acts together for a 3+ person collaboration all of the people jam a bunch of stuff together just to see what comes out. This is the opposite. The tracks on here are quiet distorted drones and loops accompanied by all sorts of sounds. Things like static bursts, destroyed tape manipulations, bells, and maybe the sounds of the sad, forgotten dead trying to sleep in a dark room. The record is haunting to say the least. It's my favorite thing right now. I imagine that if there is an afterlife mine will sound like this, sadly. Imagine David Lynch and Throbbing Gristle decided to illustrate the end. This is what it might sound like. 

The design and typography is impeccable. No complaints other than I wish it was in a different type of case other than a jewel case but whatever... This is essentially flawless. 


Sujo + Sun Hammer "Fistula" cs or cd

Sujo + Sun Hammer
Inam Records

The best way I can explain this album is with a short yet insane description: Imagine every morning you wake up from an unsettling dream only to witness the most beautiful sunrise you have ever seen. It is so uniquely beautiful because on this morning your planet Earth was fatally struck by a large asteroid. The colors and sky is nothing like you have ever seen or will see again. It's almost indescribable. The canopy of colors above is electric with it's blues, greens, pinks and reds. The clouds are scattering like soap twisting around a bathtub drain. Mountains crumble and start to slowly fall upwards. The world around you is uniting with the heavens and all of a sudden you see the stars. Millions of stars as your atmosphere dissolves and you find yourself slowly, and wonderfully drifting up into what was once a sky but now is just your new home. The loving eternity. Then all of a sudden it's morning and you have just woken up from an unsettling dream. You find yourself eye to eye with the most beautiful sunrise you have ever seen…  and it goes like this for 7 tracks. 

Robert Ridley-Shackleton "Splat is Back/Demi-God & Sex U Up" cassettes

Robert Ridley-Shackleton
Splat is Back/Demi-God & Sex U Up
Self Released

RRS is a strange duck. Strange in the way that I always sort of wonder what he might be doing on any given day and I imagine it's similar to an early scene from the Fisher King. This music is crazy. Good crazy but crazy none the less. The sounds range from lo fi noise pop to noisy loops of static and vocals to straight up free noise. The looks of these tapes are equally crazy: a spastic smear of ink or paint with elements of collage and photography. It's a really bizarre and very fun trip into the mind of a unique individual. I wonder what he is up to right now.

Sunken Cheek "unfit" cs

Sunken Cheek
Worthless Tapes

This isn't my first rodeo with Sunken Cheek. This cassette is a bit different than the last I heard though. Super subtle and quiet noise starts this little journey and ends with some piercing feedback waves. Sunken Cheek has some very interesting analog tones going on. I'm guess some synths and tape manipulations. It's solid.

The layout is supped slim but pretty appropriate. Dark textures with cut and paste text. I dig it.