Saturday, May 09, 2009
mossy throats
leaves of the mind c41
[2008, young tapes]
this cassette, put out on peter friel's post-jk tapes imprint, is from one
of several projects involving ferndale, michigan's dan dlugosielski (pictured alongside suzette smith as haunted castle).
leaves of the mind begins with the grotesque murmur of vocals, which are slowed down to an inhuman degree. after a minute of only that, they'll be replaced by a wash of subtly mixed white noise that rolls in like the tide (and continues to do so, projecting a serene oceanic soundscape). immediately following that initial breaker is some beautiful, yet distinctly somber, synth playing, which sounds a little submerged, though that ties in ideally with the watery vibe, and that's joined by occasional wind chimes. all of this is happening, primarily, in the right channel. the tape hiss in my left ear ends up serving as a useful environmental companion to the ebb in the other. an understated humming drone will be added on later, but it'll be displaced by a slightly different variant, shortly thereafter, although the general feel of it, stammering and droney, stays the same. once that's synced up with a higher chirping, which shadows its every quiver, the track increases in amplitude, thankfully, bringing the synth up with it, since it was beginning to lose its definition amidst the other layers. speaking of which, those will quickly fade away, allowing for elongated squeals that will turn into high-pitched drones.
the remaining track on the first side starts off with two and a half more minutes of weirdo vocal manipulations before unexpectedly shifting into a blaring drone. after that passes, it's back to the vocals, but there will be one more noisy interjection. then, when the next piercing drones are added, they'll work in cooperation with the vocals, though they are mixed down pretty low. that will yield to a shrill buzzing that slowly manages to claw its way into the track's forefront (and then precedes to ascend way beyond that). i find that there's somewhat of an unnerving quality produced by the combination of the vocals and that loud drone, but once it seems like it's all going to be too much, the noise fades out for ephemeral heli-sputter. following that, it's back to that buzzing drone, but, in its renewed form, it's more centrally located in correlation with everything else. just before the side ends, the synth from the first track replaces the vocals.
side b opens with continual sweeps of loudly arcing (eerie) synth(?) drone that, after a couple of minutes, subsides to a wavy, droning undercurrent, briefly, before returning, slower and affected. the normal loop will then overlap that, and be treated with delay, so that it rings out endlessly. the echo of that is overdubbed by even more of the same looping layers. even when dan manages to break out of this incestuous cycle, he'll continue to sporadically use that main loop (or at least partial sounds from it) in a mutated manner. as he was transitioning out of that, he introduced a solid droning foundation, out of which surfaces the wavy drone that briefly occurred earlier. awesome. and it's even better once it becomes the focal point. eventually, he'll bring in low-end rumbling and a stuttering, mildly distorted foundation (that randomly emits pops and crackles which make me think the tape's about to disintegrate; intentional or not, it works). unexpectedly, out of the muffled noise arise slow, entrancing synth waves. those will soon transform into the melody from side a, and it's great now having it equally represented in both speakers. i also like that the more sonically intrusive of the two drones has dropped out, since the relationship between the synth and that rad fluctuating drone is excellent and deserves to be heard clearly. the last few minutes will do away with the synth in favor of shrill, drawn out tones, gusty ambiance and low, rhythmically undulating noises, which i believe to be a looped excerpt of the murmuring vocals.
i'm liking the hell out of this tape right now. (sparingly used) melody, noise, repetition, memorable droning, recurring themes... leaves of the mind definitely speaks to me. currently, it looks like there are still copies available at animal psi and dnt records.
Leaves of the Mind A2
Mossy Throats @ The Fact House (Part One); Lexington, KY 2/21/2009
(Part Two)
[2008, young tapes]
this cassette, put out on peter friel's post-jk tapes imprint, is from one
of several projects involving ferndale, michigan's dan dlugosielski (pictured alongside suzette smith as haunted castle).leaves of the mind begins with the grotesque murmur of vocals, which are slowed down to an inhuman degree. after a minute of only that, they'll be replaced by a wash of subtly mixed white noise that rolls in like the tide (and continues to do so, projecting a serene oceanic soundscape). immediately following that initial breaker is some beautiful, yet distinctly somber, synth playing, which sounds a little submerged, though that ties in ideally with the watery vibe, and that's joined by occasional wind chimes. all of this is happening, primarily, in the right channel. the tape hiss in my left ear ends up serving as a useful environmental companion to the ebb in the other. an understated humming drone will be added on later, but it'll be displaced by a slightly different variant, shortly thereafter, although the general feel of it, stammering and droney, stays the same. once that's synced up with a higher chirping, which shadows its every quiver, the track increases in amplitude, thankfully, bringing the synth up with it, since it was beginning to lose its definition amidst the other layers. speaking of which, those will quickly fade away, allowing for elongated squeals that will turn into high-pitched drones.
the remaining track on the first side starts off with two and a half more minutes of weirdo vocal manipulations before unexpectedly shifting into a blaring drone. after that passes, it's back to the vocals, but there will be one more noisy interjection. then, when the next piercing drones are added, they'll work in cooperation with the vocals, though they are mixed down pretty low. that will yield to a shrill buzzing that slowly manages to claw its way into the track's forefront (and then precedes to ascend way beyond that). i find that there's somewhat of an unnerving quality produced by the combination of the vocals and that loud drone, but once it seems like it's all going to be too much, the noise fades out for ephemeral heli-sputter. following that, it's back to that buzzing drone, but, in its renewed form, it's more centrally located in correlation with everything else. just before the side ends, the synth from the first track replaces the vocals.
side b opens with continual sweeps of loudly arcing (eerie) synth(?) drone that, after a couple of minutes, subsides to a wavy, droning undercurrent, briefly, before returning, slower and affected. the normal loop will then overlap that, and be treated with delay, so that it rings out endlessly. the echo of that is overdubbed by even more of the same looping layers. even when dan manages to break out of this incestuous cycle, he'll continue to sporadically use that main loop (or at least partial sounds from it) in a mutated manner. as he was transitioning out of that, he introduced a solid droning foundation, out of which surfaces the wavy drone that briefly occurred earlier. awesome. and it's even better once it becomes the focal point. eventually, he'll bring in low-end rumbling and a stuttering, mildly distorted foundation (that randomly emits pops and crackles which make me think the tape's about to disintegrate; intentional or not, it works). unexpectedly, out of the muffled noise arise slow, entrancing synth waves. those will soon transform into the melody from side a, and it's great now having it equally represented in both speakers. i also like that the more sonically intrusive of the two drones has dropped out, since the relationship between the synth and that rad fluctuating drone is excellent and deserves to be heard clearly. the last few minutes will do away with the synth in favor of shrill, drawn out tones, gusty ambiance and low, rhythmically undulating noises, which i believe to be a looped excerpt of the murmuring vocals.
i'm liking the hell out of this tape right now. (sparingly used) melody, noise, repetition, memorable droning, recurring themes... leaves of the mind definitely speaks to me. currently, it looks like there are still copies available at animal psi and dnt records.Leaves of the Mind A2
(Part Two)
god willing
untitled c20
[2009, i just live here]
this is an interesting tape from ren, not so much because of the sounds (which are great), but because of how little info there is about it. i'm led to believe that it's from this year, since it's not listed under god willing's personal inventory of his releases, which was updated early december of last year. unlike his other stuff on ijlh, there's no catalog number or anything else to be found on this, making it difficult to track down... and to further complicate matters it
appears that i just live here's site no longer exists... hrm. i see this is sold out over at tomentosa, but other than that, i can't find the cassette anywhere. i got it from rrrecords, but it's not there anymore, either.
sound-wise, i'm finding some common ground between this and the last gw tape i reviewed, the split with leslie keffer, as both centered around tonal bliss, but this time ren has a little more time to expand upon that, and he'll make the most of it.
the first side starts out with low and high droning that's joined by a periodic stuttering sound, separate from the main layers, which serves as a rad rhythmic device, and also takes your focus away from the static drones. after a minute or so, schofield adds a new, occasionally undulating loop. a little while later the track becomes increasingly louder, and the rhythm will get somewhat lost amongst the ascending density. it won't disappear completely, but now every instance causes a rippling affect, with its low waves breaking up the drones and steady pulsations. near the midway point, once the distorted noise begins to take over, i can still hear ren's main oscillations and appreciate the low rhythmic throbbing that's clashing with the higher drone, which is trying to free itself from the grip of distortion that's grounding it. with just over a minute left, the track shifts as the thickness of it is replaced by swift-moving shrill noise and feedback, which is thrust upon a calm wave of humming drone (as well as the faint recurrence of the stuttering rhythm), which, pretty much brings the track around full circle, just swap out the other drone for the terrific noise upgrade.
side b opens with low droning and electronic chirps, though the latter will soon devolve into a choked up mess of noisy utterances. the initial drone will also change into muffled rumbling... sounds like the highs are too much so, and same goes for the lows. the strangulated noise will soon recede for deep, tonally fluctuating droning which is aided, in spots, by a bit of distortion. this has a potential for melody, but ren keeps it varied; changing up the pattern, tweaking it a little, but it's still nice to hear the same tones repeating themselves, though just not in the correct order, or with a strict sense of timing. after four minutes the drones will get chopped up and further distorted, ultimately turning into fast-paced stammering, that actually manages to provide a nice rhythm. a few minutes later and everything will have calmed back down to the earlier tonal play, but ren doesn't stop there, continuing to gradually revert until he's reincorporated the strangled squawks and ceiling scraping low-end. the noise that was tacked on to the last part of side a will also close out this side, making for a doubly satisfying conclusion.
sick tape. the more god willing that i'm hearing, the more i'm liking. his guitar tone / drone shit is the most appealing, to me, and this is probably my favorite so far. if i ever get a turntable again, i'll let you know how i feel about the privy seals split...
God Willing - Untitled c20 [2009, I Just Live Here]
God Willing in St. Louis
(noisier than this cassette and killin' it)
[2009, i just live here]
this is an interesting tape from ren, not so much because of the sounds (which are great), but because of how little info there is about it. i'm led to believe that it's from this year, since it's not listed under god willing's personal inventory of his releases, which was updated early december of last year. unlike his other stuff on ijlh, there's no catalog number or anything else to be found on this, making it difficult to track down... and to further complicate matters it
appears that i just live here's site no longer exists... hrm. i see this is sold out over at tomentosa, but other than that, i can't find the cassette anywhere. i got it from rrrecords, but it's not there anymore, either.sound-wise, i'm finding some common ground between this and the last gw tape i reviewed, the split with leslie keffer, as both centered around tonal bliss, but this time ren has a little more time to expand upon that, and he'll make the most of it.
the first side starts out with low and high droning that's joined by a periodic stuttering sound, separate from the main layers, which serves as a rad rhythmic device, and also takes your focus away from the static drones. after a minute or so, schofield adds a new, occasionally undulating loop. a little while later the track becomes increasingly louder, and the rhythm will get somewhat lost amongst the ascending density. it won't disappear completely, but now every instance causes a rippling affect, with its low waves breaking up the drones and steady pulsations. near the midway point, once the distorted noise begins to take over, i can still hear ren's main oscillations and appreciate the low rhythmic throbbing that's clashing with the higher drone, which is trying to free itself from the grip of distortion that's grounding it. with just over a minute left, the track shifts as the thickness of it is replaced by swift-moving shrill noise and feedback, which is thrust upon a calm wave of humming drone (as well as the faint recurrence of the stuttering rhythm), which, pretty much brings the track around full circle, just swap out the other drone for the terrific noise upgrade.
side b opens with low droning and electronic chirps, though the latter will soon devolve into a choked up mess of noisy utterances. the initial drone will also change into muffled rumbling... sounds like the highs are too much so, and same goes for the lows. the strangulated noise will soon recede for deep, tonally fluctuating droning which is aided, in spots, by a bit of distortion. this has a potential for melody, but ren keeps it varied; changing up the pattern, tweaking it a little, but it's still nice to hear the same tones repeating themselves, though just not in the correct order, or with a strict sense of timing. after four minutes the drones will get chopped up and further distorted, ultimately turning into fast-paced stammering, that actually manages to provide a nice rhythm. a few minutes later and everything will have calmed back down to the earlier tonal play, but ren doesn't stop there, continuing to gradually revert until he's reincorporated the strangled squawks and ceiling scraping low-end. the noise that was tacked on to the last part of side a will also close out this side, making for a doubly satisfying conclusion.sick tape. the more god willing that i'm hearing, the more i'm liking. his guitar tone / drone shit is the most appealing, to me, and this is probably my favorite so far. if i ever get a turntable again, i'll let you know how i feel about the privy seals split...
God Willing - Untitled c20 [2009, I Just Live Here]
(noisier than this cassette and killin' it)
dragging an ox through water
the tropics of phenomenon
[2009, freedom to spend]
this disc is the third release on peter swanson's fts label and it follows a pair which i thoroughly enjoyed in bulbs' light ships and yellow swans' drowner, so i was looking forward to checking out (the previously unknown to me) dragging an ox through water (pdx's brian
mumford). swanson's well-written press sheet certainly helped to stoke the fire of my anticipation...
the minute long opener, i would understand, serves as a base introduction to daotw's modus operandi with its blend of acoustic folk coupled with electronic dissonance (in this instance, by way of multiple layers of erratic electric guitar chords). overall, it's a good set-up for tropics of phenomenon's (released last year as a 12" on awesome vistas) imperative organic / inorganic relationship as well as its juxtaposition of noise / experimentation with, what i'd call, indie-folk.
snowbank treatment, which begins with unabated bass drum kicks, is, by leaps and bounds, this disc's highlight. that is to say, its catchiest and most accessible. it also sees his electronic hybrid working together the most congruently. there's a bit of acoustic stringwork that plays a companion role to the simple beat and matching cymbal taps, while the rest of the song is filled out by melodic (and otherwise pleasant) electronic elements. his adventurous leanings are held closely at bay, allowing snowbank to simply exist as a bouncy electronic-folk song without any other trappings.
with the two parter a.) the unbearable dumbness of being (take that milan kundera) b.) earthen airlock, mumford will distance himself from any semblance of structure, beginning the track by manipulating a musical loop and then jumping from that into low droning, joined by a winding distorted buzz, and then eventually rising out of that with low-key field recordings (from an actual field, sounds like) along with minimal electronic additions.
it's back to basics, somewhat, with dice smiles, though the singing now is sedated, and, by extension, less impactful (despite containing the lyric "ya have dreams shit all over your face"). the flute, which comes in between the verses, at least provides a little melodic oasis amidst the song's barren landscape.
following five seconds of silence (pause), comes, arguably, phenomenon's most ambitious offering, predictions. for the first time we get legitimate noise in addition to the folky vocals. unfortunately, all this does for me, is shine a bright light on how unnecessary brian's singing is in this kind of setting. if you're into noise, the vocals will most likely detract from that. if you dig folk, the discord is surely not going to do you any favors. i might not be saying the same thing if there was a hook, or something particularly striking about the vocals... but i'm just not hearing it.
dragging an ox through water is more successful when he's not so far-reaching, such as with the more conventional songs like snowbank treatment, and this seventh track, houses and homonculi, though this one does have a noisy edge to its airy strumming in the form of high, pitch-shifting tones serving as the bridge. this time that addition feels natural, clearly more so than on predictions; however, you should take into account the fact that its occurrence is briefer and carefully mixed in, all of which alludes to a harsher sound without actually being forceful enough to scare off the faint of ear.
the concise lilacs sprang from these apes' brains (shut down all u.s. torture facilities) pretty much exists just so brian would be able to utter that entire line while being accompanied by music. he'll follow that up by striking an evener balance between uptempo acoustic guitar and experimental electronics with devil's prayer, but, again, the bulk of the experimental part of that will be relegated to a stopgap in between the verses.
not harping on powers serves as a callback to predictions in not only its integration of noisier aspects, but also in the addition of (male) backing vocals, which only pop up on these two tracks. powers isn't as abrasive as its companion piece, a good deal of the noise sounds like it's produced by affected electric guitar, so, here, the divide between the noise and brian's singer-songwriter styling isn't quite as disjunct.
honestly, based on the praise for this that i've seen in a couple of different places, i might be the only one who doesn't think that this is a gift sent down from the heavens... which astounds me because i like noise, pop and folk more than most people, i think. there's definitely parts of this that are appealing: mumford's got a great voice that seems tailor-made for music of an americana / folk vein, he's shown that he has a head for rhythm and melody as well as noise... but the sum of what he's doing just doesn't add up for me. as much as i like the sound of his voice, with scant memorability in the lyrical department (and melody-wise, he's either hit or indifference) his whole noise / folk amalgamation comes of like high-concept kitsch. i can see why people are diggin' this, but there's already someone who has mixed (better) catchy folk with (better) noise, more sincerely, and his name is kites (or christopher forgues, if you want to be precise). so, i'll just stick with peace trials, but, hey, that's just me.
Not Harping on Powers
Predictions, by DAOTW @ PDX Pop Now!; Portland, OR 2008
[2009, freedom to spend]
this disc is the third release on peter swanson's fts label and it follows a pair which i thoroughly enjoyed in bulbs' light ships and yellow swans' drowner, so i was looking forward to checking out (the previously unknown to me) dragging an ox through water (pdx's brian
mumford). swanson's well-written press sheet certainly helped to stoke the fire of my anticipation...the minute long opener, i would understand, serves as a base introduction to daotw's modus operandi with its blend of acoustic folk coupled with electronic dissonance (in this instance, by way of multiple layers of erratic electric guitar chords). overall, it's a good set-up for tropics of phenomenon's (released last year as a 12" on awesome vistas) imperative organic / inorganic relationship as well as its juxtaposition of noise / experimentation with, what i'd call, indie-folk.
snowbank treatment, which begins with unabated bass drum kicks, is, by leaps and bounds, this disc's highlight. that is to say, its catchiest and most accessible. it also sees his electronic hybrid working together the most congruently. there's a bit of acoustic stringwork that plays a companion role to the simple beat and matching cymbal taps, while the rest of the song is filled out by melodic (and otherwise pleasant) electronic elements. his adventurous leanings are held closely at bay, allowing snowbank to simply exist as a bouncy electronic-folk song without any other trappings.
with the two parter a.) the unbearable dumbness of being (take that milan kundera) b.) earthen airlock, mumford will distance himself from any semblance of structure, beginning the track by manipulating a musical loop and then jumping from that into low droning, joined by a winding distorted buzz, and then eventually rising out of that with low-key field recordings (from an actual field, sounds like) along with minimal electronic additions.
it's back to basics, somewhat, with dice smiles, though the singing now is sedated, and, by extension, less impactful (despite containing the lyric "ya have dreams shit all over your face"). the flute, which comes in between the verses, at least provides a little melodic oasis amidst the song's barren landscape.
following five seconds of silence (pause), comes, arguably, phenomenon's most ambitious offering, predictions. for the first time we get legitimate noise in addition to the folky vocals. unfortunately, all this does for me, is shine a bright light on how unnecessary brian's singing is in this kind of setting. if you're into noise, the vocals will most likely detract from that. if you dig folk, the discord is surely not going to do you any favors. i might not be saying the same thing if there was a hook, or something particularly striking about the vocals... but i'm just not hearing it.
dragging an ox through water is more successful when he's not so far-reaching, such as with the more conventional songs like snowbank treatment, and this seventh track, houses and homonculi, though this one does have a noisy edge to its airy strumming in the form of high, pitch-shifting tones serving as the bridge. this time that addition feels natural, clearly more so than on predictions; however, you should take into account the fact that its occurrence is briefer and carefully mixed in, all of which alludes to a harsher sound without actually being forceful enough to scare off the faint of ear.the concise lilacs sprang from these apes' brains (shut down all u.s. torture facilities) pretty much exists just so brian would be able to utter that entire line while being accompanied by music. he'll follow that up by striking an evener balance between uptempo acoustic guitar and experimental electronics with devil's prayer, but, again, the bulk of the experimental part of that will be relegated to a stopgap in between the verses.
not harping on powers serves as a callback to predictions in not only its integration of noisier aspects, but also in the addition of (male) backing vocals, which only pop up on these two tracks. powers isn't as abrasive as its companion piece, a good deal of the noise sounds like it's produced by affected electric guitar, so, here, the divide between the noise and brian's singer-songwriter styling isn't quite as disjunct.
honestly, based on the praise for this that i've seen in a couple of different places, i might be the only one who doesn't think that this is a gift sent down from the heavens... which astounds me because i like noise, pop and folk more than most people, i think. there's definitely parts of this that are appealing: mumford's got a great voice that seems tailor-made for music of an americana / folk vein, he's shown that he has a head for rhythm and melody as well as noise... but the sum of what he's doing just doesn't add up for me. as much as i like the sound of his voice, with scant memorability in the lyrical department (and melody-wise, he's either hit or indifference) his whole noise / folk amalgamation comes of like high-concept kitsch. i can see why people are diggin' this, but there's already someone who has mixed (better) catchy folk with (better) noise, more sincerely, and his name is kites (or christopher forgues, if you want to be precise). so, i'll just stick with peace trials, but, hey, that's just me.Not Harping on Powers
Monday, May 04, 2009
hunting rituals
brooding forest c20
[2008, myiasis tapes]
on the last (housecraft) hunting rituals cassette, i mentioned that i wasn't so sure that it was just scott by himself, well, this time i know it's not just him as brooding forest sees jeremy buchan included in the fold. now, if you're keeping score at home, that means that hunting rituals, at least in this instance, are more fossils (with two former members out of three total) than fossils. david payne keeps on keepin' on, though.
brooding forest opens with ringing metallic sounds, rhythmic stomping in the forefront along with slowly wavering high-pitched whines, though, that will all change after a couple of minutes. from there, this duo take a turn towards shrill screeching and howling, with occasional moments of instrumental quasi-clarity (i think i heard guitar strings in there)... one thing's for certain though, whatever they're using, they sure as hell aren't playing as was originally intended since this is awash with harsh tones that seem to cry out from all angles. it's even more assaultive considering that this is essentially the sum of what they're doing (though, there's also some lower moaning which is sporadically interspersed). there won't be too much around to divert your attention away from the noise for a few more minutes, but when they do get to that point, they kindly provide us with a foundation consisting of, what's tantamount to, a distorted muffle in the tape, occurring in periodic intervals. i find that this creates a great, albeit vague and off-kilter, rhythmic quality. hunting rituals also balance out the stridence with an emphasis on layers of quivering, faintly undulating, and noisy, droning.
i'm greatly appreciative for the listing of their instrumentation on the insert, because, when i have to guess, i'm fairly certain that i'm wrong 99% of the time... and yet, that doesn't stop me from doing it. in addition to them spelling out what they were doing, there's also a pervasive calmness in the onset of the second side, which makes the instruments easier to recognize, in this case, that would be easy mannered horn blows along with jeremy's clarinet. when johnson's wonderful melody drops off, shortly after three minutes, the clarinet reverts back to the wild squealing that permeated most of side a. that will be joined solely, for the most part, by a loop of slow, rumbling clamor. when buchan's dissonance passes, the horns will make their return, though their tone isn't quite as welcoming as it was, more like warning; however, what they were making us look out for, turns out to be a dramatic shift, right after seven minutes... all of a sudden brooding forest becomes the scene of a psychedelic tribal jam (super brief, as far as jams go), replete with an upbeat, though simplistic, drum beat, as well as slowed down vocal chanting and intoning. it's too upbeat to be evil, but too fucking weird to not be. i dunno, man, for some reason this reminds me of an (experimental) musical tribute to the peyote scene from young guns. i think it's because of the sound of the vocals. anyway, rad shit, for sure.
like i've said previously, and will continue to do until i come across something that isn't good, i haven't heard anything from hunting rituals that i wouldn't recommend. that being said, i've enjoyed the last couple of tapes most of all; the memorable melodic aspects and the unexpected twists have been fantastic, and keep me looking forward to what scott's going to do next, which is refreshing, to say the least.
only thirty copies of this were released, so i doubt that there's many more left. all gone, but....
update (5/6): apparently i'm not the only one to take notice of how awesome this tape is as it's getting a second life as a ten inch on ecstatic peace! i'm inclined to think that it's fairly uncommon for a tape to get reissued on vinyl and especially rare when said cassette was put out in such an intimate run, so that's interesting news. i believe that this is impending, with no concrete release date as of yet.
Brooding Forest Side A excerpt (from 0:00 to 4:27)
[2008, myiasis tapes]
on the last (housecraft) hunting rituals cassette, i mentioned that i wasn't so sure that it was just scott by himself, well, this time i know it's not just him as brooding forest sees jeremy buchan included in the fold. now, if you're keeping score at home, that means that hunting rituals, at least in this instance, are more fossils (with two former members out of three total) than fossils. david payne keeps on keepin' on, though.
brooding forest opens with ringing metallic sounds, rhythmic stomping in the forefront along with slowly wavering high-pitched whines, though, that will all change after a couple of minutes. from there, this duo take a turn towards shrill screeching and howling, with occasional moments of instrumental quasi-clarity (i think i heard guitar strings in there)... one thing's for certain though, whatever they're using, they sure as hell aren't playing as was originally intended since this is awash with harsh tones that seem to cry out from all angles. it's even more assaultive considering that this is essentially the sum of what they're doing (though, there's also some lower moaning which is sporadically interspersed). there won't be too much around to divert your attention away from the noise for a few more minutes, but when they do get to that point, they kindly provide us with a foundation consisting of, what's tantamount to, a distorted muffle in the tape, occurring in periodic intervals. i find that this creates a great, albeit vague and off-kilter, rhythmic quality. hunting rituals also balance out the stridence with an emphasis on layers of quivering, faintly undulating, and noisy, droning.
i'm greatly appreciative for the listing of their instrumentation on the insert, because, when i have to guess, i'm fairly certain that i'm wrong 99% of the time... and yet, that doesn't stop me from doing it. in addition to them spelling out what they were doing, there's also a pervasive calmness in the onset of the second side, which makes the instruments easier to recognize, in this case, that would be easy mannered horn blows along with jeremy's clarinet. when johnson's wonderful melody drops off, shortly after three minutes, the clarinet reverts back to the wild squealing that permeated most of side a. that will be joined solely, for the most part, by a loop of slow, rumbling clamor. when buchan's dissonance passes, the horns will make their return, though their tone isn't quite as welcoming as it was, more like warning; however, what they were making us look out for, turns out to be a dramatic shift, right after seven minutes... all of a sudden brooding forest becomes the scene of a psychedelic tribal jam (super brief, as far as jams go), replete with an upbeat, though simplistic, drum beat, as well as slowed down vocal chanting and intoning. it's too upbeat to be evil, but too fucking weird to not be. i dunno, man, for some reason this reminds me of an (experimental) musical tribute to the peyote scene from young guns. i think it's because of the sound of the vocals. anyway, rad shit, for sure.like i've said previously, and will continue to do until i come across something that isn't good, i haven't heard anything from hunting rituals that i wouldn't recommend. that being said, i've enjoyed the last couple of tapes most of all; the memorable melodic aspects and the unexpected twists have been fantastic, and keep me looking forward to what scott's going to do next, which is refreshing, to say the least.
update (5/6): apparently i'm not the only one to take notice of how awesome this tape is as it's getting a second life as a ten inch on ecstatic peace! i'm inclined to think that it's fairly uncommon for a tape to get reissued on vinyl and especially rare when said cassette was put out in such an intimate run, so that's interesting news. i believe that this is impending, with no concrete release date as of yet.
Brooding Forest Side A excerpt (from 0:00 to 4:27)
Sunday, May 03, 2009
telecult powers
kiss the viper's fang c30
[2008, obsolete units]
uh oh, here's another mystery duo who (mostly) play with homemade synthesizers. weird. their monikers are witchbeam jones and mister matthews, hey, at least there's last names this
time. there's also a location, brooklyn (by way of cleveland) as well as photographic evidence of their existence (girl sold separately). additionally, they run the label temple of pei, which seems strictly limited to their own efforts / collaborations.
bubbling synth tones usher in side a's kissed by a gygaxian prism (fun fact: gygaxian is a real word!). following closely behind that is a faint distorted flutter along with a drifting drone. out of these emerges a layer of bouncy pulsations, with other vibrating synth tones left to slowly maneuver their way through and around them. once this paradigm is established, jones and matthews then begin to alter it. some of these alterations are minute; increasing the amplitude of the distorted staccato, weaving the rhythmic pulses in and out of range. others bear a more significant impact; speeding up the rate of the rhythm and then eventually turning that into a near seamless throb. during prism's second half telecult powers introduce a nice pendulum-like wave. when the rhythm momentarily disappears, that gentle swinging sound will be replaced with a quicker see-sawing tone (it'll also stick around once that rhythmic layer comes back). the final couple of minutes are spent on deconstructing, as previously key aspects are rendered lost to the tiers of looser synth drones / fuckery.
side b's strange news from a distant star sees telecult powers maximizing minimalism as their approach here is rather scaled back... even though side a's effort wasn't all that involved (but, rather (d)evolved). it starts out with a catchy synth equivalent of a bass-line along with a meandering stutter (which occasionally sound like the sputtering of cars from the jetsons). after a minute, both of those will be joined by a faint distorted drone off in the distance. these two latter elements will float in and out of prominence. as strange news plays out, they'll retain the feel of certain things, but tweak them ever so slightly. the primary drone for instance; it'll undergo a few different shifts in its pattern, but i can always trace it back to its original form because the tone is still there. to a lesser degree, the same can be said for the vibrating drones. it's their seemingly insignificant adjustments to, what they've come to establish as, central layers which keep this track feeling new, without forsaking what was most appealing about these elements to begin with. even after ten minutes, when the changes to the track become the most glaring, there's still that slight semblance of what once was that holds strange news together. i think that this is something that the first track (slightly) suffered from by not having, because, when it degraded during its final minutes, there was nothing all that solid left to grasp ahold of.
i'm diggin' kiss the viper's fang, in particular, the b side, though, most of the first side was rad, too. the ending was somewhat of a letdown, but only because i liked what came before it so much. equally as great as the finer moments of this cassette is its cover art. this has to be one of the best 80s homages that i've seen in a long time. genius, and outside of the kitsch value, it actually serves as a decent representation of the music, too... something that seems to be turning into a lost art.
Strange News from a Distant Star excerpt (from 0:00 to 5:59)
Telecult Powers @ Vanishing Point; Brooklyn, NY 11/13/08
[2008, obsolete units]
uh oh, here's another mystery duo who (mostly) play with homemade synthesizers. weird. their monikers are witchbeam jones and mister matthews, hey, at least there's last names this
time. there's also a location, brooklyn (by way of cleveland) as well as photographic evidence of their existence (girl sold separately). additionally, they run the label temple of pei, which seems strictly limited to their own efforts / collaborations.bubbling synth tones usher in side a's kissed by a gygaxian prism (fun fact: gygaxian is a real word!). following closely behind that is a faint distorted flutter along with a drifting drone. out of these emerges a layer of bouncy pulsations, with other vibrating synth tones left to slowly maneuver their way through and around them. once this paradigm is established, jones and matthews then begin to alter it. some of these alterations are minute; increasing the amplitude of the distorted staccato, weaving the rhythmic pulses in and out of range. others bear a more significant impact; speeding up the rate of the rhythm and then eventually turning that into a near seamless throb. during prism's second half telecult powers introduce a nice pendulum-like wave. when the rhythm momentarily disappears, that gentle swinging sound will be replaced with a quicker see-sawing tone (it'll also stick around once that rhythmic layer comes back). the final couple of minutes are spent on deconstructing, as previously key aspects are rendered lost to the tiers of looser synth drones / fuckery.
side b's strange news from a distant star sees telecult powers maximizing minimalism as their approach here is rather scaled back... even though side a's effort wasn't all that involved (but, rather (d)evolved). it starts out with a catchy synth equivalent of a bass-line along with a meandering stutter (which occasionally sound like the sputtering of cars from the jetsons). after a minute, both of those will be joined by a faint distorted drone off in the distance. these two latter elements will float in and out of prominence. as strange news plays out, they'll retain the feel of certain things, but tweak them ever so slightly. the primary drone for instance; it'll undergo a few different shifts in its pattern, but i can always trace it back to its original form because the tone is still there. to a lesser degree, the same can be said for the vibrating drones. it's their seemingly insignificant adjustments to, what they've come to establish as, central layers which keep this track feeling new, without forsaking what was most appealing about these elements to begin with. even after ten minutes, when the changes to the track become the most glaring, there's still that slight semblance of what once was that holds strange news together. i think that this is something that the first track (slightly) suffered from by not having, because, when it degraded during its final minutes, there was nothing all that solid left to grasp ahold of.
i'm diggin' kiss the viper's fang, in particular, the b side, though, most of the first side was rad, too. the ending was somewhat of a letdown, but only because i liked what came before it so much. equally as great as the finer moments of this cassette is its cover art. this has to be one of the best 80s homages that i've seen in a long time. genius, and outside of the kitsch value, it actually serves as a decent representation of the music, too... something that seems to be turning into a lost art.Strange News from a Distant Star excerpt (from 0:00 to 5:59)
clerics
a little heads up, i'm back to working full-time hours at my real job, so expect reviews to happen mainly during the weekend... because i have no life.
born in a lake c30
[2009, 905 tapes]
clerics (not to be confused with the clerics) is the meeting of prominent label runners sal giorgi (peasant magik) and 905 tapes' own mike haley (wether, big china & little trouble, blown doors, deerstalker). after becoming well acquainted with peasant magik, this is the first musical project that i've gotten to check out from sal himself, though he does have a few other things kicking around out there, too: gleam, belegost, pillars of heaven and the vellum kid.
these guys waste precious little time in letting us know that born in a lake is going to center around drones as they introduce multiple layers of them. the primary of those is a great monotone humming, under which reside two (related) layers that would drone, had they not been manipulated into constantly shuffling waves. just before two minutes, clerics provide us with, in my mind, the cassette's most shining highlight: a fantastic call and response between a dark, vibrating drone and a short, pleasant tonal loop. the random flourishes that are added are fine enough touches, but ultimately auxiliary in comparison to the sloshing base and that tone / drone relationship. when that finally tapers off, after six minutes or so, more drones will be added to the mix. i appreciate how, despite the track's flux, they'll retain that shuffling foundation. it's nice to have that feeling of familiarity, especially once they do away with the terrific melody. once things start to settle down, in the latter minutes, i find myself really drawn to the whirling background drones, particularly the conflicting speed of their flutters. clerics will build off of this dynamic with a heavier constant buzzing as well as marginally playful synth tones. they'll also manage to conjure up one last memorable drone, before closing out the side with unaccompanied clamor.
the other track will appear to carry over a few elements from its predecessor, chiefly, the thin fluctuations and distorted buzz, though they'll take a bit of care towards various manipulations of the latter in the early going. they'll also pepper the piece with unexpected shrill outbursts, which provide a nice offset to their lulling backdrop. eventually the noise will clear out for a skipping foundation that i'd liken to a record being played backwards. this will then be paired with a submerged synth line that gradually becomes clearer, and sounds angelic amidst the distorted rustling and light howling tones. just as things had reached a wonderful groove, there's a sudden shift into minimal watery ambiance, with a complimentary humming drone. shortly thereafter they'll add a couple of piercing whines (somewhat buried, as to not be too harsh); one continually trembling, the other occurring in drawn out waves. the interaction between these tones is brilliant. more drones will come to join the fray, as well as a melodic synth pattern, every so often. initially, it all feels pretty anti-climactic, considering what preceded it, but the more that i listen to it, the more endeared i am to its subtleties, as well as the overall tranquil sway, which culminates with a beautiful seventeen second conclusion.
taking into account who's involved in this, i had no doubt that born in a lake would be anything other than good, but, turns out it's a hell of a lot better than merely good. killer tape. this is the follow up to 2006's orange blue sky ep, which giorgi released, and i hope, for the benefit of my ears, that there's more to come.
Born in a Lake Side B excerpt (from 0:00 to 5:00)
born in a lake c30
[2009, 905 tapes]
clerics (not to be confused with the clerics) is the meeting of prominent label runners sal giorgi (peasant magik) and 905 tapes' own mike haley (wether, big china & little trouble, blown doors, deerstalker). after becoming well acquainted with peasant magik, this is the first musical project that i've gotten to check out from sal himself, though he does have a few other things kicking around out there, too: gleam, belegost, pillars of heaven and the vellum kid.
these guys waste precious little time in letting us know that born in a lake is going to center around drones as they introduce multiple layers of them. the primary of those is a great monotone humming, under which reside two (related) layers that would drone, had they not been manipulated into constantly shuffling waves. just before two minutes, clerics provide us with, in my mind, the cassette's most shining highlight: a fantastic call and response between a dark, vibrating drone and a short, pleasant tonal loop. the random flourishes that are added are fine enough touches, but ultimately auxiliary in comparison to the sloshing base and that tone / drone relationship. when that finally tapers off, after six minutes or so, more drones will be added to the mix. i appreciate how, despite the track's flux, they'll retain that shuffling foundation. it's nice to have that feeling of familiarity, especially once they do away with the terrific melody. once things start to settle down, in the latter minutes, i find myself really drawn to the whirling background drones, particularly the conflicting speed of their flutters. clerics will build off of this dynamic with a heavier constant buzzing as well as marginally playful synth tones. they'll also manage to conjure up one last memorable drone, before closing out the side with unaccompanied clamor.
the other track will appear to carry over a few elements from its predecessor, chiefly, the thin fluctuations and distorted buzz, though they'll take a bit of care towards various manipulations of the latter in the early going. they'll also pepper the piece with unexpected shrill outbursts, which provide a nice offset to their lulling backdrop. eventually the noise will clear out for a skipping foundation that i'd liken to a record being played backwards. this will then be paired with a submerged synth line that gradually becomes clearer, and sounds angelic amidst the distorted rustling and light howling tones. just as things had reached a wonderful groove, there's a sudden shift into minimal watery ambiance, with a complimentary humming drone. shortly thereafter they'll add a couple of piercing whines (somewhat buried, as to not be too harsh); one continually trembling, the other occurring in drawn out waves. the interaction between these tones is brilliant. more drones will come to join the fray, as well as a melodic synth pattern, every so often. initially, it all feels pretty anti-climactic, considering what preceded it, but the more that i listen to it, the more endeared i am to its subtleties, as well as the overall tranquil sway, which culminates with a beautiful seventeen second conclusion.taking into account who's involved in this, i had no doubt that born in a lake would be anything other than good, but, turns out it's a hell of a lot better than merely good. killer tape. this is the follow up to 2006's orange blue sky ep, which giorgi released, and i hope, for the benefit of my ears, that there's more to come.
Born in a Lake Side B excerpt (from 0:00 to 5:00)
Monday, April 27, 2009
mudboy
is:is c30
[2008, gods of tundra]
ah, there's a black veil of intrigue surrounding this one. for starters, absolutely no one has talked about this tape. outside of having previously been in a few people's distro lists... not a fucking word. secondly, mudboy (providence's raphael lyon) doesn't list this on the discography section of his website. third, whoever added this tape to discogs didn't add it under raphael's mudboy page (creating an entirely new entity). seeing how there's no info available, this actually makes sense, but i'm fairly certain that it's lyon (two experimental mudboys?! doubtful)... but you never know. anyway, is:is is (is) waaaay too good to have slipped past everyone's collective radar. update! talked with raphael and he confirmed that it's his release (he also fixed the discogs weirdness). so then, that's that.
supposedly, this is part of mudboy's "impossible duets" series (which, appropriately enough, there's no info about), and as such, both tracks feature collaborators whose names should ring familiar to a good deal of you. side a's the martian timeslip has carlos gonzales (russian tsarlag) andrkd (who?) (the writing looks a hell of a lot like rkd, but it's pkd, as in the author.. which would make a lot more sense). it starts off with a phenomenal loop of slow, panning synthetic percussion and beautifully drifting electronic ambiance. after two minutes we get carlos' reading of an excerpt from philip k. dick's the martian time-slip. what i'm most impressed with is how good his vocals sound. russian tsarcasm / tsarlag relies a lot on his odd nasally vocal delivery (and interesting lyrics), but here, that's not the case. it's also worth mentioning how great it is that it's also not as unabashedly lo-fi as his tapes. while that works (great) for what he does, i'm floored by how terrific everything sounds on tms. i really love the panned multi-tracking of his vocals, too... and the deliberate pace of the reading, coupled with the lengthy absences of vocals and, of course, the incredible words of philip dick.. ugh, i could rave about this all day. when carlos gets to "i love mozart... i'll put this tape on" there's an outburst of noisy synth droning "a hideous racket screeches and shrieks issued from the speakers like the convuuuullllsssionsss..." from there his vocals adopt an occasional drawn out characteristic, lingering on certain words to glorious effect. once the track calms back down, the beat remains in a more forceful state than it previously was. i dig that every time gonzales gets to "i love mozart!" there's a surge in noise, "a great raaarrriiittty from the gooooolden age of recordingssss"... this is so fuckin' good. i'm placing the majority of my enthusiasm with carlos's performance, but, truly, the music is every bit as integral as his (inspired) reading is; killer beat, great synth droning, awesome, unexpected noise... pure brilliance all around.
i dunno about impossible, but side b's breakaway religion does, at least, feature an unlikely combination of collaborators in demons' steve kenney (also of hatred, galen, isis & werewolves) and rodger stella (most notably of macronympha and hollow bush). the unlikeliest aspect of this is how sedated it is. i never thought that i'd use the word gorgeous in connection with anything concerning stella, but, i was wrong! this is lovely and revolves around dreamy dynamic synth lines, subtle rhythmic undertones, catchy loops and blissful droning. even at the midway point, when a layer of distortion (which turns into a noisy rumble) briefly comes through, it can't knock religion off of its heavenly perch, though it will signal a change in the track, as it comes to shed all of its layers in favor of low end rhythmic pulses and synthesizer fuckery / wavy droning, with a renewed vigor for looping in the final minutes.
incredible tape. i still get can't over the fact that i'm the only person pointing out how awesome it is... whatever... physical copies of it appear to be long gone, so those who cared to know, clearly knew.
Mudboy - Is:Is c30 [2008, Gods of Tundra]
Demons (Nate Young & Steve Kenney) w/ Rodger Stella @ No Fun Fest; NYC 2008
(crap visuals (of the performers), but perfect audio)
[2008, gods of tundra]
supposedly, this is part of mudboy's "impossible duets" series (which, appropriately enough, there's no info about), and as such, both tracks feature collaborators whose names should ring familiar to a good deal of you. side a's the martian timeslip has carlos gonzales (russian tsarlag) and
i dunno about impossible, but side b's breakaway religion does, at least, feature an unlikely combination of collaborators in demons' steve kenney (also of hatred, galen, isis & werewolves) and rodger stella (most notably of macronympha and hollow bush). the unlikeliest aspect of this is how sedated it is. i never thought that i'd use the word gorgeous in connection with anything concerning stella, but, i was wrong! this is lovely and revolves around dreamy dynamic synth lines, subtle rhythmic undertones, catchy loops and blissful droning. even at the midway point, when a layer of distortion (which turns into a noisy rumble) briefly comes through, it can't knock religion off of its heavenly perch, though it will signal a change in the track, as it comes to shed all of its layers in favor of low end rhythmic pulses and synthesizer fuckery / wavy droning, with a renewed vigor for looping in the final minutes.incredible tape. i still get can't over the fact that i'm the only person pointing out how awesome it is... whatever... physical copies of it appear to be long gone, so those who cared to know, clearly knew.
Mudboy - Is:Is c30 [2008, Gods of Tundra]
(crap visuals (of the performers), but perfect audio)
hollow bonez
blue blazer irregular c25
[2009, 905 tapes]
the perkiest of the perks from doing this blog is getting things that i've never heard of, and having those things fucking rule. hollow bonez are a prime example. there's no backstory on this duo, hailing from parts unknown, not possessing any online way of discovering more about them and further obfuscating matters by using pseudonyms instead of real names: one is a character from the 1984 cult sci-fi flick buckaroo banzai (pinky carruthers) and the other is from seinfeld (whitey fisk).
gotta love the contrast between the origins of their names. the title of the tape is also a reference to banzai, which correlates to pinky's character.. and there's your useless trivia fact for today. beyond that, all i know is that they make their own synthesizers, but that's stated in the tape's liner notes.
8th dim mention starts out with a sick loop of echoing zaps from one synth before an inconsistent rattling drone emanates from the other, a little while later. next comes a layer of lightly distorted shooting tones along with squealing in the background. near the two minute mark, the shots start coming in clusters, giving the layer a bumpy textural droning type of feel. that'll be followed by another staccato layer as well as vague siren tones. then, a hearty rumble and a nice dominant drone, as all of the other layers mesh into one undercurrent of rapidly throbbing synth. to the background, the duo will add more whopping tones along with a swarming drone, at the same time as the foundation begins to lose its shape, transmogrifying into throttled humming while the main drone also shifts, away from its stasis and into a wonderful rhythmic swell. after six minutes, a new layer of slow, muffled, echoing tones (which turn into a rad booming sound as the loop descends) come into play. during the brief respite from that they'll dig up the introductory loops, removing everything else except for the aforementioned echoing loop. to that, they'll throw in occasional chirps. the central loop that they'll finish up with totally reminds me of the score during psycho's shower-stabbing scene, but slowed way the fuck down; very anxiety-inducing.
hollow bonez opt to keep things minimal for the start of side b's cigar store indian, with faint (i thought that my tape was effed up because, as i was ripping this, the audio was barely registering.. just a bolder blue line, over the top of a lighter one) winding drone that will eventually come to be joined by understated rattling and looping squeals in the background, i shouldn't say that, the whole first few minutes of this solely exist in the background. they'll soon form a great pattern, hinging upon the repetition of those squeals, but also consisting of a rhythmic knock, with the still present synth vibrations out in front. another memorable loop of shrieking tonality will be tossed in with the rest of their squeals, and that deadened percussive lurch. a sweeping loop of stammering synth will periodically come over the top of indian's humming foundation. the latter elements will congeal into a rad rhythmic oscillation, accompanied by a new layer of tonally fluctuating droning (which reaches piercing highs and also dips down into dying battery-like valleys). as the tape winds down they'll shy away from the high tones, focusing squarely on the mids and lows, whilst firmly retaining their semblance of rhythm.
these guys had me at homemade synthz, so i'm stoked that the music turned out to be so fantastic. as i assume you've gathered, this is very much loop-based (albeit, with a definite dynamic slant) and more experimental than noise, but if you're a fan of synths, rhythmic qualities and memorable sounds, you absolutely need this. blue blazer irregular will stand as one of my favorite tapes of the year, for sure.
Cigar Store Indian excerpt (from 6:48 to 12:02)
[2009, 905 tapes]
the perkiest of the perks from doing this blog is getting things that i've never heard of, and having those things fucking rule. hollow bonez are a prime example. there's no backstory on this duo, hailing from parts unknown, not possessing any online way of discovering more about them and further obfuscating matters by using pseudonyms instead of real names: one is a character from the 1984 cult sci-fi flick buckaroo banzai (pinky carruthers) and the other is from seinfeld (whitey fisk).
gotta love the contrast between the origins of their names. the title of the tape is also a reference to banzai, which correlates to pinky's character.. and there's your useless trivia fact for today. beyond that, all i know is that they make their own synthesizers, but that's stated in the tape's liner notes.8th dim mention starts out with a sick loop of echoing zaps from one synth before an inconsistent rattling drone emanates from the other, a little while later. next comes a layer of lightly distorted shooting tones along with squealing in the background. near the two minute mark, the shots start coming in clusters, giving the layer a bumpy textural droning type of feel. that'll be followed by another staccato layer as well as vague siren tones. then, a hearty rumble and a nice dominant drone, as all of the other layers mesh into one undercurrent of rapidly throbbing synth. to the background, the duo will add more whopping tones along with a swarming drone, at the same time as the foundation begins to lose its shape, transmogrifying into throttled humming while the main drone also shifts, away from its stasis and into a wonderful rhythmic swell. after six minutes, a new layer of slow, muffled, echoing tones (which turn into a rad booming sound as the loop descends) come into play. during the brief respite from that they'll dig up the introductory loops, removing everything else except for the aforementioned echoing loop. to that, they'll throw in occasional chirps. the central loop that they'll finish up with totally reminds me of the score during psycho's shower-stabbing scene, but slowed way the fuck down; very anxiety-inducing.
hollow bonez opt to keep things minimal for the start of side b's cigar store indian, with faint (i thought that my tape was effed up because, as i was ripping this, the audio was barely registering.. just a bolder blue line, over the top of a lighter one) winding drone that will eventually come to be joined by understated rattling and looping squeals in the background, i shouldn't say that, the whole first few minutes of this solely exist in the background. they'll soon form a great pattern, hinging upon the repetition of those squeals, but also consisting of a rhythmic knock, with the still present synth vibrations out in front. another memorable loop of shrieking tonality will be tossed in with the rest of their squeals, and that deadened percussive lurch. a sweeping loop of stammering synth will periodically come over the top of indian's humming foundation. the latter elements will congeal into a rad rhythmic oscillation, accompanied by a new layer of tonally fluctuating droning (which reaches piercing highs and also dips down into dying battery-like valleys). as the tape winds down they'll shy away from the high tones, focusing squarely on the mids and lows, whilst firmly retaining their semblance of rhythm.
these guys had me at homemade synthz, so i'm stoked that the music turned out to be so fantastic. as i assume you've gathered, this is very much loop-based (albeit, with a definite dynamic slant) and more experimental than noise, but if you're a fan of synths, rhythmic qualities and memorable sounds, you absolutely need this. blue blazer irregular will stand as one of my favorite tapes of the year, for sure.Cigar Store Indian excerpt (from 6:48 to 12:02)
rale
nightside / shadeup c26
[2008, peasant magik]
the first thing that struck me about this tape was.. damn, it looks really monorail trespass-y.. and, sure enough, (mt label head (and good noise-maker)) jon borges supplied the photography
for it. i'm glad that i wasn't just imagining things. the audio was handled by oakland's william hutson (who's also recorded under his given name and as necklacing, a duo with matthew sullivan (earn, privy seals, vague apology, black chastity, deep jew, protein den, genius females). oh, and fun fact: a rale is a short series of rapid loud sounds, most commonly used when referring to abnormalities in the chest cavity, specifically the lungs.
the discord of banged piano keys will set in motion a series of drones which open up nightside. i dig the interplay between these constant, vibrating and undulating layers. william's got his bases covered nicely, here, and the result of that effort is a picture-perfect lull. it gets even more memorable once all of the layers begin to roll over and under each other, crafting beautiful billows of sound. a short while after that, rale will incorporate a light, bottom-dwelling, distorted crunch, but as more time passes, a noisier drone will start to rise up in static-rich swells, amidst the serene lull, which begins to ebb as the distortion gradually gains in strength, washing over everything with its choppy waves. by the time a high-pitched quivering drone joins nightside's maelstrom, the two principle drones will hardly be noticeable anymore.
shadeup starts out with a high, hollow, wavering drone, a thin, persistent crackle of distortion and another hollow drone beneath the other one. there's also some darker drones that will occasionally creep up in amplitude, only to fall back into the shadows. after a few minutes those will spawn continual low vibrations, which provide a counterbalance to the multi-layered howling... though, as the track gains in minutes, there will be less distinction between these layers.
as was the case on side a, a noisy drone will ascend from out of nowhere, this one sounds like the roar of distant jet engines. it's nice that it won't muscle the other layers out of the way; it's focal, but cohabitual. eventually, everything will be stripped away, leaving just the roaring drone and old vinyl-esque crack and pops, but only the latter will come to close out (the final two minutes of) the tape, transforming into odd sputtering noises by the end.
i'm digging this tape quite a bit. it's a quality droner that doesn't rest its weight so much on melodic devices as much as it does on the interaction between these rather standard-fare drones, taking those and turning them into something captivating and worth listening to. ultimately, though, i feel that it was rale's incorporation of noisier elements (which never overbore) that tipped the scales in his favor.
i thought, when i was doing the hater of life review, that there were still copies of this, but, happily, it is oop. well, good for peasant magik (and hutson), bad for procrastinators who didn't act fast enough, but fret not, i've got you covered.
Rale - Nightside / Shadeup c26 [2008, Peasant Magik]
Rale @ Pocket Sandwich; Portland, OR 11/02/08
(special thanks to the people of portland for seemingly videotapping every show and adding it to youtube)
[2008, peasant magik]
the first thing that struck me about this tape was.. damn, it looks really monorail trespass-y.. and, sure enough, (mt label head (and good noise-maker)) jon borges supplied the photography
for it. i'm glad that i wasn't just imagining things. the audio was handled by oakland's william hutson (who's also recorded under his given name and as necklacing, a duo with matthew sullivan (earn, privy seals, vague apology, black chastity, deep jew, protein den, genius females). oh, and fun fact: a rale is a short series of rapid loud sounds, most commonly used when referring to abnormalities in the chest cavity, specifically the lungs.the discord of banged piano keys will set in motion a series of drones which open up nightside. i dig the interplay between these constant, vibrating and undulating layers. william's got his bases covered nicely, here, and the result of that effort is a picture-perfect lull. it gets even more memorable once all of the layers begin to roll over and under each other, crafting beautiful billows of sound. a short while after that, rale will incorporate a light, bottom-dwelling, distorted crunch, but as more time passes, a noisier drone will start to rise up in static-rich swells, amidst the serene lull, which begins to ebb as the distortion gradually gains in strength, washing over everything with its choppy waves. by the time a high-pitched quivering drone joins nightside's maelstrom, the two principle drones will hardly be noticeable anymore.
shadeup starts out with a high, hollow, wavering drone, a thin, persistent crackle of distortion and another hollow drone beneath the other one. there's also some darker drones that will occasionally creep up in amplitude, only to fall back into the shadows. after a few minutes those will spawn continual low vibrations, which provide a counterbalance to the multi-layered howling... though, as the track gains in minutes, there will be less distinction between these layers.
as was the case on side a, a noisy drone will ascend from out of nowhere, this one sounds like the roar of distant jet engines. it's nice that it won't muscle the other layers out of the way; it's focal, but cohabitual. eventually, everything will be stripped away, leaving just the roaring drone and old vinyl-esque crack and pops, but only the latter will come to close out (the final two minutes of) the tape, transforming into odd sputtering noises by the end.
i'm digging this tape quite a bit. it's a quality droner that doesn't rest its weight so much on melodic devices as much as it does on the interaction between these rather standard-fare drones, taking those and turning them into something captivating and worth listening to. ultimately, though, i feel that it was rale's incorporation of noisier elements (which never overbore) that tipped the scales in his favor.
i thought, when i was doing the hater of life review, that there were still copies of this, but, happily, it is oop. well, good for peasant magik (and hutson), bad for procrastinators who didn't act fast enough, but fret not, i've got you covered.Rale - Nightside / Shadeup c26 [2008, Peasant Magik]
(special thanks to the people of portland for seemingly videotapping every show and adding it to youtube)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
basillica
the correct ritual c90
[2009, bells hill]
culling once again from the newcastle area, mckeating's latest cassette offering is the solo
venture of mike vest, from psych-rock groups bong, lobster priest and blue queen (all of which share one or more members).
fun fact: basilicas (proper spelling) are large, ornate cathedrals that have been given special ceremonial rites by the pope. so, super churches then.
side a's opener, invisible tarot, has a rad swaying drone, gently going in and out of audible range. hardly anything else will be added, just unsteady whirling tones, which are tiered nicely in both the (deep) background as well as tucked away just underneath vest's grand pendulum.
the distinguished presence of mike's guitar will take on a secondary role in down on the street, existing only in minimal chords (most of which are transpiring off in the distance) which will get turned into a fairly roundabout, but still welcomed, loop. the most noteworthy element here are competing loops of muddy tones that whirl and quiver, and intertwine.
i really wish that ever changing present was a lot longer than it is (less than three minutes), because i'm absolutely loving the slow, melodic guitar pattern, which will essentially be left to its own devices, save for a few stray drones, buried here and there.
now, mongular trails is as long as the last song should've been (seventeen minutes). bummer. this is good, too, though; firmly on the psychedelic side of the spectrum. the treatment (on top of the wah pedal) that mike applies to his guitar provides this with a dreamlike / underwater state. the bubbly tones of that will form a fantastic partnership with a cleaner guitar melody that's partially obfuscated by the other layers of sporadic guitar. during the first half he'll do his damnedest to keep things interesting by changing up the auxiliary guitar, vacillating between denser layering and scaled back clarity. that's well and good, but as trails reaches the midway point it really starts to take off, as that initial melody gets thrust into the forefront and now that i can hear the loop in its entirety, i'm completely entranced by it. even as it slips back into the track's depths it remains distinct, since all of the excess layers have been laid to rest, highlighting the terrific duo of wobbly wah and that brilliant piece of guitar.
in feel, air transforms to liquid runs rather parallel to mongular trails, retaining that submerged vibe, but it lacks the memorable sound of it (or any of the other tracks so far). i do dig the ambient soundscape that's been assembled, but the faster paced wah-addled soloing isn't really doing it for me, unfortunately.
the ten minutes of queened king will quickly right this ship on the strength of a killer combination of low droning sweeps (i'm liking the subtle shifts) and (somewhat) higher-pitched oscillations which are set against vest's casual guitar playing. that wah pedal is a lot more enjoyable when it's being used to warble his spaced out chords, thankfully, that's most often the case.
the a side will have ended up abruptly, but the opening minutes of the second side will explain why: the song hadn't quite run its course yet, so it'll linger (in the same fashion) for almost a minute and a half. curious. it's also worth mentioning that this side only has about twenty minutes worth of music on it, which is fine by me, an hour and a half can be a bit exhaustive (not to mention time consuming) for one tape.
tailored with eyes is one of the few less obviously guitar based tracks on the cassette, and it's a wonderful change of pace. this is all undulated howls and other electronic waves along with a fuzzy creep of drone. mesmerizing.
taking its sweet time in fading in to a noisily humming drone is the final song, dangamamama.. i think i got that right. it's joined in the early going by low-end vibrations for a bit, but they seem to dip out of audibility once the heavy, purposeful thuds of victor solana's (the din) drumming enters the picture. this will also bring in mike's guitar, though its tones are fighting to be heard through that oppressive droning noise. as solana's drumming gains in speed, a new high flying guitar drone swoops through as the dissonance starts to loosen its vice-like grip over everything. when the percussion drops back down to its previous rate, the guitar playing will become clearer as the noisy layer deteriorates into a fractured lurch. all in all, this played out as sort of an anti-jam jam... which i'm still trying to fully wrap my head around..
rad tape, for sure. what i enjoy the most about it is its damn near total disregard for dynamics. too often with drone or psychedelic music that incorporates melody, there's a tremendous amount of concern for track evolution. granted, that can be a lovely (and / or very necessary thing), but sometimes man, all i want to hear is a great fucking loop over and over without it being messed with all the time. that's pretty much what the theme of this tape is... uh, drug music would be another.
Ever Changing Present
[2009, bells hill]
culling once again from the newcastle area, mckeating's latest cassette offering is the solo
venture of mike vest, from psych-rock groups bong, lobster priest and blue queen (all of which share one or more members).fun fact: basilicas (proper spelling) are large, ornate cathedrals that have been given special ceremonial rites by the pope. so, super churches then.
side a's opener, invisible tarot, has a rad swaying drone, gently going in and out of audible range. hardly anything else will be added, just unsteady whirling tones, which are tiered nicely in both the (deep) background as well as tucked away just underneath vest's grand pendulum.
the distinguished presence of mike's guitar will take on a secondary role in down on the street, existing only in minimal chords (most of which are transpiring off in the distance) which will get turned into a fairly roundabout, but still welcomed, loop. the most noteworthy element here are competing loops of muddy tones that whirl and quiver, and intertwine.
i really wish that ever changing present was a lot longer than it is (less than three minutes), because i'm absolutely loving the slow, melodic guitar pattern, which will essentially be left to its own devices, save for a few stray drones, buried here and there.
now, mongular trails is as long as the last song should've been (seventeen minutes). bummer. this is good, too, though; firmly on the psychedelic side of the spectrum. the treatment (on top of the wah pedal) that mike applies to his guitar provides this with a dreamlike / underwater state. the bubbly tones of that will form a fantastic partnership with a cleaner guitar melody that's partially obfuscated by the other layers of sporadic guitar. during the first half he'll do his damnedest to keep things interesting by changing up the auxiliary guitar, vacillating between denser layering and scaled back clarity. that's well and good, but as trails reaches the midway point it really starts to take off, as that initial melody gets thrust into the forefront and now that i can hear the loop in its entirety, i'm completely entranced by it. even as it slips back into the track's depths it remains distinct, since all of the excess layers have been laid to rest, highlighting the terrific duo of wobbly wah and that brilliant piece of guitar.
in feel, air transforms to liquid runs rather parallel to mongular trails, retaining that submerged vibe, but it lacks the memorable sound of it (or any of the other tracks so far). i do dig the ambient soundscape that's been assembled, but the faster paced wah-addled soloing isn't really doing it for me, unfortunately.the ten minutes of queened king will quickly right this ship on the strength of a killer combination of low droning sweeps (i'm liking the subtle shifts) and (somewhat) higher-pitched oscillations which are set against vest's casual guitar playing. that wah pedal is a lot more enjoyable when it's being used to warble his spaced out chords, thankfully, that's most often the case.
the a side will have ended up abruptly, but the opening minutes of the second side will explain why: the song hadn't quite run its course yet, so it'll linger (in the same fashion) for almost a minute and a half. curious. it's also worth mentioning that this side only has about twenty minutes worth of music on it, which is fine by me, an hour and a half can be a bit exhaustive (not to mention time consuming) for one tape.
tailored with eyes is one of the few less obviously guitar based tracks on the cassette, and it's a wonderful change of pace. this is all undulated howls and other electronic waves along with a fuzzy creep of drone. mesmerizing.
taking its sweet time in fading in to a noisily humming drone is the final song, dangamamama.. i think i got that right. it's joined in the early going by low-end vibrations for a bit, but they seem to dip out of audibility once the heavy, purposeful thuds of victor solana's (the din) drumming enters the picture. this will also bring in mike's guitar, though its tones are fighting to be heard through that oppressive droning noise. as solana's drumming gains in speed, a new high flying guitar drone swoops through as the dissonance starts to loosen its vice-like grip over everything. when the percussion drops back down to its previous rate, the guitar playing will become clearer as the noisy layer deteriorates into a fractured lurch. all in all, this played out as sort of an anti-jam jam... which i'm still trying to fully wrap my head around..rad tape, for sure. what i enjoy the most about it is its damn near total disregard for dynamics. too often with drone or psychedelic music that incorporates melody, there's a tremendous amount of concern for track evolution. granted, that can be a lovely (and / or very necessary thing), but sometimes man, all i want to hear is a great fucking loop over and over without it being messed with all the time. that's pretty much what the theme of this tape is... uh, drug music would be another.
Ever Changing Present
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
hunting rituals
a slow slow death c22
[2008, housecraft]
the introductory minutes of the first side of this cassette feature some intriguing sounds; harsh cries and whines (and general affected vocal noise), assisted by the hr staple, delayed clamor. all of a sudden everything drops off into nothingness. out of that blackness comes.. saxophone? horns? nice... and actually, it is nice. there's a great foundation loop and then slow, beautifully blown notes. eventually, the main loop will wane, as will the melody, and a new pattern of sweeping instrumental moans come in, on top of faint, random vocals. so, that pattern will now get looped, becoming the track's heart, and then, in swings a bit of decidedly less melodic brass sputter, though it's short lived, and once that's gone, everything else will recede with it. that will create room for scott's rustling clatter in the background (sounding like he's attempted to saw metal) paired with swells of haunting drone. when the sax (or, whatever) returns, it will, initially, match the mood established by those distant moans, though it will break away and lazily meander by the end.
side b keeps the brass instrumentation theme going, at least in the onset, by way of brief snippets, turned loops, but those will quickly subside to minimal drawn out noises (and random bangs) that really work well with scott's absence of a backdrop. the soothing sax (ok, now i'm pretty sure it's sax and horn.. there's nothing written on the tape's liner indicating whether this was a solo effort or not, if so, it's all the more impressive) will dreamily float back into the fold, providing memorable glacial melodies. the instrumentation is in a more structured vein on this side, retaining their focus, instead of breaking away every so often like they did earlier, which is good, because they'll act as a ballast for the upcoming surge of creeping ambiance and racket.
the closing minutes will become more involved once the instrumental layers shed their prior melodic tones. that change will usher in a tense, whirling siren loop in the distance, followed closely by a wash of shrill dissonance right up in front.
alright, by now i've given up on trying to neatly typecast hunting rituals' sound. for a dude with, close to, if not more than, twenty different projects under his belt, i'd expect a little consistency in overall sound.. eh, not so much, but i am finding myself pleasantly surprised with each new release that i get to check out, and as long as they're consistently good (which has certainly been the case), that's all i really care about. awesome.
A Slow Slow Death Side A excerpt (from 0:00 to 7:22)
Scott Johnson, Yvan, Josh St. Denis & Rob Michalchuk; Hamilton, ON 6/21/08
[2008, housecraft]
the introductory minutes of the first side of this cassette feature some intriguing sounds; harsh cries and whines (and general affected vocal noise), assisted by the hr staple, delayed clamor. all of a sudden everything drops off into nothingness. out of that blackness comes.. saxophone? horns? nice... and actually, it is nice. there's a great foundation loop and then slow, beautifully blown notes. eventually, the main loop will wane, as will the melody, and a new pattern of sweeping instrumental moans come in, on top of faint, random vocals. so, that pattern will now get looped, becoming the track's heart, and then, in swings a bit of decidedly less melodic brass sputter, though it's short lived, and once that's gone, everything else will recede with it. that will create room for scott's rustling clatter in the background (sounding like he's attempted to saw metal) paired with swells of haunting drone. when the sax (or, whatever) returns, it will, initially, match the mood established by those distant moans, though it will break away and lazily meander by the end.
side b keeps the brass instrumentation theme going, at least in the onset, by way of brief snippets, turned loops, but those will quickly subside to minimal drawn out noises (and random bangs) that really work well with scott's absence of a backdrop. the soothing sax (ok, now i'm pretty sure it's sax and horn.. there's nothing written on the tape's liner indicating whether this was a solo effort or not, if so, it's all the more impressive) will dreamily float back into the fold, providing memorable glacial melodies. the instrumentation is in a more structured vein on this side, retaining their focus, instead of breaking away every so often like they did earlier, which is good, because they'll act as a ballast for the upcoming surge of creeping ambiance and racket.the closing minutes will become more involved once the instrumental layers shed their prior melodic tones. that change will usher in a tense, whirling siren loop in the distance, followed closely by a wash of shrill dissonance right up in front.
alright, by now i've given up on trying to neatly typecast hunting rituals' sound. for a dude with, close to, if not more than, twenty different projects under his belt, i'd expect a little consistency in overall sound.. eh, not so much, but i am finding myself pleasantly surprised with each new release that i get to check out, and as long as they're consistently good (which has certainly been the case), that's all i really care about. awesome.A Slow Slow Death Side A excerpt (from 0:00 to 7:22)
2673
in dreams 3" cd-r
[2009, dokuro]
some years have passed since i last heard anything from new brunswick,
nj's kevin winter (asps, penis in vagina, thee black one, dogo & crackerjacks), but seeing how the last entry on 2673's discogs page is from 2006, i might not be alone in that.
taking the cd's title with a grain of salt, i was preparing myself for twenty minutes of dense noise, but lo, instead i find the disc drifting in on pleasant monotone droning with a persistent stuttering hum underneath it. it won't take very long for the drone to begin switching up its tones a bit, nothing major, but it gives it some depth. a little later, a faint layer of bouncy rhythm will sneak into the mix. the choppy feel of that coincides with the humming layer quite nicely as kevin continues his irregular pattern of tonal shifting interspersed with static droning. when he puts a bit of space in between these two aspects it makes the changes that finally occur, feel significant, which i like a lot.
just shy of five minutes in, the slight rhythm will begin to dip out of range, as a new layer of thin white noise takes its place. not too long after that a subtle ringing drone will weave in and out of the mix, at first getting lost amidst the other one, its waves will eventually become more prominent. that's especially true once the main drone changes up its tone and style (different than before); not so listless, now it soars and slowly twists above the other sounds. the low-end vibrations of the base layer will also gradually break out of their monotony as they start to rise and fall in amplitude.
towards the midsection 2673 swaps out the static for the rhythm as in dreams reaches a great high built around layers of contrasting, yet hypnotic undulating drone. a few minutes later the rhythm will get a bit distorted as a noisier layer gets introduced. it's not too distracting, or jarring, something along the lines of stormy clamor, though the main drones will be lost to the commotion.
as things begin to settle down, a little while later, i can once again pick up on the humming foundation, but that, and the rhythm (which has, by now, broken down into a droney distorted buzz) are the only original aspects left, and the noisy layer will have transformed into a soothing (due to its repetitive nature), but blustery wind-like sound. not much will be added to this paradigm outside of periodic occurrences of drawn out distortion, residing deep enough below everything else as to be rendered harmless.
once the track heads towards finality, everything will start to rise in volume, and a high-pitched drone begins to scream out... but everything will end briskly, before making good on what seemed like a threat.
if this is, indeed, the most recent thing that kevin's recorded in awhile (as google also seems to suggest), this is a mighty fine comeback. regardless, it currently stands as one of my favorite releases under his 2673 moniker.
In Dreams excerpt (from 0:00 to 7:00)
[2009, dokuro]
some years have passed since i last heard anything from new brunswick,
nj's kevin winter (asps, penis in vagina, thee black one, dogo & crackerjacks), but seeing how the last entry on 2673's discogs page is from 2006, i might not be alone in that.taking the cd's title with a grain of salt, i was preparing myself for twenty minutes of dense noise, but lo, instead i find the disc drifting in on pleasant monotone droning with a persistent stuttering hum underneath it. it won't take very long for the drone to begin switching up its tones a bit, nothing major, but it gives it some depth. a little later, a faint layer of bouncy rhythm will sneak into the mix. the choppy feel of that coincides with the humming layer quite nicely as kevin continues his irregular pattern of tonal shifting interspersed with static droning. when he puts a bit of space in between these two aspects it makes the changes that finally occur, feel significant, which i like a lot.
just shy of five minutes in, the slight rhythm will begin to dip out of range, as a new layer of thin white noise takes its place. not too long after that a subtle ringing drone will weave in and out of the mix, at first getting lost amidst the other one, its waves will eventually become more prominent. that's especially true once the main drone changes up its tone and style (different than before); not so listless, now it soars and slowly twists above the other sounds. the low-end vibrations of the base layer will also gradually break out of their monotony as they start to rise and fall in amplitude.
towards the midsection 2673 swaps out the static for the rhythm as in dreams reaches a great high built around layers of contrasting, yet hypnotic undulating drone. a few minutes later the rhythm will get a bit distorted as a noisier layer gets introduced. it's not too distracting, or jarring, something along the lines of stormy clamor, though the main drones will be lost to the commotion.
as things begin to settle down, a little while later, i can once again pick up on the humming foundation, but that, and the rhythm (which has, by now, broken down into a droney distorted buzz) are the only original aspects left, and the noisy layer will have transformed into a soothing (due to its repetitive nature), but blustery wind-like sound. not much will be added to this paradigm outside of periodic occurrences of drawn out distortion, residing deep enough below everything else as to be rendered harmless.once the track heads towards finality, everything will start to rise in volume, and a high-pitched drone begins to scream out... but everything will end briskly, before making good on what seemed like a threat.
if this is, indeed, the most recent thing that kevin's recorded in awhile (as google also seems to suggest), this is a mighty fine comeback. regardless, it currently stands as one of my favorite releases under his 2673 moniker.
In Dreams excerpt (from 0:00 to 7:00)
Monday, April 20, 2009
millions
static and distance 3" cd-r
[2008, obsolete units]
millions is nyc's david suss.. beyond that, i can't find too much. it says here that "certain elements" of this track are from a collaboration between suss and mike magill that was recorded onto... a cell phone, of all things... i didn't notice a decline in quality anywhere, so that's good... i wonder what kind of phone they used... mine is crap.
static and distance's twenty-one minutes begin with the grounding combination of a low, somewhat dark, drone and lighter ambient ones. added to that are a few seconds of a hissing sound, that will come through in measured sweeps. just before two minutes, suss brings in a gorgeous droning synth layer in the left channel. that's paired with another higher-pitched loop in the right, though it will be offset from its mate by a few seconds. those will make for a fantastic one-two punch for a sizable chunk of time. a minute later will see the inclusion of a dominant high-pitched whirl, then, not too long after that, a buzzing drone will rise up to the surface to change the tone of the track's base. at this point, the earlier layers won't have faded out of memory, just yielded to these newer elements. soon enough, the foundation will change guard once again, out of that electric buzz into a quickly undulating hum. i'm pleasantly overwhelmed by the sum of all of the contrasting layers: the dark undertones, steady hypnotic droning, gorgeously swaying synthesizer; the amalgamation is wonderful, despite there being so much distinction within each individual aspect.
as the track plays out, david's most memorable aspects (the panned drones) will begin a slow decline in the sharpness of their sound, though you can still get the gist of their tone for a little while longer until they will have completely dissipated early in the disc's second half. in this stretch he'll continue to keep the bulk of his dynamic shifts understated. they come primarily by way of his seemingly cyclical mixing of certain layers higher than others (those which comprise the foundation being the most shining examples of this), but he'll also introduce some brand new layers which blend into the background atmosphere harmoniously. eventually, a couple of these latecomers will start to make an impression, specifically the panned, vaguely siren-esque beeps, as well as a whirling central drone. the last three minutes will bring in a brief, but frequently recurring (and memorable) loop of scrambled tones. these, in a highly affected state, will be the sole closing elements, finishing things up with rad oscillating wooshes.
this is the first release that i've heard from millions (though, i also have a peasant magik tape still to come) and it's a damn good one. there was a great balance between the persistent droning and superb melodies (that i wouldn't have minded listening to, uninterrupted, for twenty-one minutes, but oh well) with plenty of nuanced changes with kept static and distance progressing, without ever stepping out of its established character.
Static and Distance excerpt (from 0:00 to 7:00)
[2008, obsolete units]
millions is nyc's david suss.. beyond that, i can't find too much. it says here that "certain elements" of this track are from a collaboration between suss and mike magill that was recorded onto... a cell phone, of all things... i didn't notice a decline in quality anywhere, so that's good... i wonder what kind of phone they used... mine is crap.
static and distance's twenty-one minutes begin with the grounding combination of a low, somewhat dark, drone and lighter ambient ones. added to that are a few seconds of a hissing sound, that will come through in measured sweeps. just before two minutes, suss brings in a gorgeous droning synth layer in the left channel. that's paired with another higher-pitched loop in the right, though it will be offset from its mate by a few seconds. those will make for a fantastic one-two punch for a sizable chunk of time. a minute later will see the inclusion of a dominant high-pitched whirl, then, not too long after that, a buzzing drone will rise up to the surface to change the tone of the track's base. at this point, the earlier layers won't have faded out of memory, just yielded to these newer elements. soon enough, the foundation will change guard once again, out of that electric buzz into a quickly undulating hum. i'm pleasantly overwhelmed by the sum of all of the contrasting layers: the dark undertones, steady hypnotic droning, gorgeously swaying synthesizer; the amalgamation is wonderful, despite there being so much distinction within each individual aspect.
as the track plays out, david's most memorable aspects (the panned drones) will begin a slow decline in the sharpness of their sound, though you can still get the gist of their tone for a little while longer until they will have completely dissipated early in the disc's second half. in this stretch he'll continue to keep the bulk of his dynamic shifts understated. they come primarily by way of his seemingly cyclical mixing of certain layers higher than others (those which comprise the foundation being the most shining examples of this), but he'll also introduce some brand new layers which blend into the background atmosphere harmoniously. eventually, a couple of these latecomers will start to make an impression, specifically the panned, vaguely siren-esque beeps, as well as a whirling central drone. the last three minutes will bring in a brief, but frequently recurring (and memorable) loop of scrambled tones. these, in a highly affected state, will be the sole closing elements, finishing things up with rad oscillating wooshes.this is the first release that i've heard from millions (though, i also have a peasant magik tape still to come) and it's a damn good one. there was a great balance between the persistent droning and superb melodies (that i wouldn't have minded listening to, uninterrupted, for twenty-one minutes, but oh well) with plenty of nuanced changes with kept static and distance progressing, without ever stepping out of its established character.
Static and Distance excerpt (from 0:00 to 7:00)
matt hill
acidape c25
[2009, 905 tapes]
continuing my apparent, and strangely coincidental, recent theme of reviewing stuff by dudes who are either justin wright or are musically associated with him, here's a tape from fellow
kansas city droner matt hill (not to be confused with a slew of other music-making matt hills), who lent his guitar talents to expo '70's black ohms disc. i think the only logical thing to do now is dust off my living science foundation cd, if i can find it, and review that, too...
side a's infinite slope will fade into a drone and won't really relent from that, afterward. hill does pair it with a ringing drone, like an old, non-digital alarm clock, but the loud guitar drone will remain the most prevalent aspect. closing in on two minutes, he'll layer it with an additional drone, briefly, though the primary one will descend, just as this ascends; the ringing will also decrease more and more from its steadiness, to a slower sparseness, as an additional, auxiliary drone joins the fray. despite the fact that what matt's doing is firmly rooted in drone, he refuses to rest on those, continually swapping out one droning layer for another, and he's also not densely layering four different things together, one or two main drones seems to suffice for him, and i agree with his methodology. with the continual exchange every minute or couple of minutes, he doesn't need to pile on additional shit to captivate us as listeners. just to be on the safe side, though, he'll throw in a repetitious loop (a bouncy tone, recurring every few seconds) around four minutes in, which gives slope a nice center.
furnace is on the minimal side of things, with a bit of a more somber tone to these drones, which initially come in slow, delayed waves, joined in the introductory minutes by an occasional sweep of low-end vibrations (when those become an afterthought, they'll be replaced with a constant layer of (very) understated clamor). i like that there's some variation to the sound of the waves, not only that, but also how matt doesn't just continually loop them, but adjust their regularity as well as extend them out, allowing them to gently fade away, rather than repetitively layering. the drones will continue to lose their earlier form as furnace draws nearer to its midpoint. once there they'll be dropped altogether as three new elements are adopted: an echoed rhythmic throb, faint sputtering (which dies off after two minutes) and sparse, delayed metallic clamor in the background. by the time that the tape's getting ready to end, it flashes back to the minimal drones before running out of time.
i got to one point, maybe two months ago, where everything i was reviewing had something droning to it, and then when i wasn't listening to music, i would start to become acutely aware of all the droning sounds that i was hearing just in normal, everyday life, that i started thinking i was losing my fucking mind... so i can appreciate the seemingly deliberate steps that matt hill has taken towards crafting drone that belies its definition of monotonous by actually being rather dynamic. this is the first thing that i've heard from hill and i'm definitely impressed.
Infinite Slope excerpt (from 0:00 to 6:00)
[2009, 905 tapes]
continuing my apparent, and strangely coincidental, recent theme of reviewing stuff by dudes who are either justin wright or are musically associated with him, here's a tape from fellow
kansas city droner matt hill (not to be confused with a slew of other music-making matt hills), who lent his guitar talents to expo '70's black ohms disc. i think the only logical thing to do now is dust off my living science foundation cd, if i can find it, and review that, too...side a's infinite slope will fade into a drone and won't really relent from that, afterward. hill does pair it with a ringing drone, like an old, non-digital alarm clock, but the loud guitar drone will remain the most prevalent aspect. closing in on two minutes, he'll layer it with an additional drone, briefly, though the primary one will descend, just as this ascends; the ringing will also decrease more and more from its steadiness, to a slower sparseness, as an additional, auxiliary drone joins the fray. despite the fact that what matt's doing is firmly rooted in drone, he refuses to rest on those, continually swapping out one droning layer for another, and he's also not densely layering four different things together, one or two main drones seems to suffice for him, and i agree with his methodology. with the continual exchange every minute or couple of minutes, he doesn't need to pile on additional shit to captivate us as listeners. just to be on the safe side, though, he'll throw in a repetitious loop (a bouncy tone, recurring every few seconds) around four minutes in, which gives slope a nice center.
furnace is on the minimal side of things, with a bit of a more somber tone to these drones, which initially come in slow, delayed waves, joined in the introductory minutes by an occasional sweep of low-end vibrations (when those become an afterthought, they'll be replaced with a constant layer of (very) understated clamor). i like that there's some variation to the sound of the waves, not only that, but also how matt doesn't just continually loop them, but adjust their regularity as well as extend them out, allowing them to gently fade away, rather than repetitively layering. the drones will continue to lose their earlier form as furnace draws nearer to its midpoint. once there they'll be dropped altogether as three new elements are adopted: an echoed rhythmic throb, faint sputtering (which dies off after two minutes) and sparse, delayed metallic clamor in the background. by the time that the tape's getting ready to end, it flashes back to the minimal drones before running out of time.
i got to one point, maybe two months ago, where everything i was reviewing had something droning to it, and then when i wasn't listening to music, i would start to become acutely aware of all the droning sounds that i was hearing just in normal, everyday life, that i started thinking i was losing my fucking mind... so i can appreciate the seemingly deliberate steps that matt hill has taken towards crafting drone that belies its definition of monotonous by actually being rather dynamic. this is the first thing that i've heard from hill and i'm definitely impressed.Infinite Slope excerpt (from 0:00 to 6:00)