small biter reviews

Boar : year of the bison

2009-10-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

Dubuque Iowa's Boar aka alex nowacki's
third release on felt cat records,
the biggest longest and most concise release to date,
alex added a second member earlier this year
patirck G, the new two man noise spazzout sounds
bigger than ever,

the album has a more industrial feel then
the older lo fi efforts from mr nowacki,
there are still blankets of harsh static
feedback, but underneath is a repeating
hum of melody, a spooky synthesizer pulse
below the first level of noise,
a melodic cacophony,

track three has some nice mixer feedback and
screamed vocal mash ups, plus lots of that
heavy static and more melodic
backdrops from outer space,

track four is a electronic nervous wreck
almost danceable in its lo fi stress loop,
it repeats for a while and leads into
more mixer squeals,

track five takes a more peaceful turn
with an echoing keyboard resonance,
and more feed back,

the album ends with more bison noises
and the sounds of water or rain sloshing around
under the bison's feet maybe,

this seems to be a bit of a differant
direction for the Iowa wonder,
i have enjoyed all his other releases
and i enjoy this one as well,
weather or not this direction is
better that the last, it does sound bigger and clearer
than ever before, and that can only bring more attention
to an already great project,

ReiRea : mallow dents

2009-08-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

mallow dents by ReiRea starts off with "hume soup"
it sounds like a busy and bustling subway station,
with lots of humans milling around, but in an abstract
way it doesn't sound like a field recording, it could also
remind one of water and the ocean especially when the
moaning delay whales sounds come in,

track two goes in a whole different direction
beginning with a screeching feedback yelp,
that sounds human, like a screaming witch,
it continues on with one note amplified and
distorted sailing over a underlying bass pulse,

track three is more of the same one sustained note,
think E-bow and delay,
track four "Impale" is quieter and has a nice repeating
loop that keeps skipping back abruptly & keeping your attention,

the album is docile and maybe simplistic,
and im not sure how many times i will
end up spinning it after this review,
but its a solid release, it has a passive and
industrial vibe like falling asleep out side a factory,

the art and liner are gorgeous aswell,

Tien seward : Stars On Browser

2009-06-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

I got this tape a half a year ago, and never got the chance
to review it for many a splendid reason, but i constantly listened
to it, it quickly became one of my favorite tapes,

the most basic why i would define this work,
would be as a audio collage, which is simple the
same way you would explain any field recording
tape, or any broader explanation of the genre itself,
but this is one of the first to have resonated
with me this strongly,

its a mix of telephones, answering machine
messages, supermarket banter, and poems
read through a text to speech maker,
plus a beautiful guitar loop that makes an
appearance on both sides of the tape,

the tape he mailed me
was accompanied by a zine put out
by die kung fu hund i believe tien is invloved
with the zine but not sure ?
www.myspace.com/diekungfuhund
the blog is down so not sure how active the zine is anymore?

get in touch send him trades send him money
www.myspace.com/stopsilentradio

Fair Conditioner :Meth

2009-06-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

i received this project from Jonathan loja when it was entitled
Faith/lightspeed, he is now known as Fair Conditioner,

when i popped the cdr release into my
computer i first noticed it had seventeen tracks,
but only 7 where listed, the first track started out sounding
kind of jazzy with a repeating bassline and tambourine loop,
it gets noisier as it progresses with a mumble shouting vocal track,

track two starts out as a folk noise piece,
with arrhythmic drumming and a mellow
acoustic guitar riff, transitioning
to loops and hip hop samples and random noises,

track 7 (noons,newns,nooeunes,nunes)
sounds like a silent horror film
played in a suburban basement while
someone is cleaning up,

the whole album was created on a laptop
as an experiment and learning curve,
it is sporadic and laid out in bits
and fragments, leaving not much distinction
between tracks, but creating a greater whole,
than its individual parts and scraps,

the album feels like playing craps
while taking acid, just throwing the
dice and seeing what happens,
parts of it are great other parts I've heard
done better,

hit him up for a copy here >>>>
www.myspace.com/faithlightspeed
virb.com/fairconditioner

Abstract Distractions : Bipolar bear &Talbot Tagora 10"

2009-04-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

bipolar bear and Talbot Tagora serve
up a nine track pop rock split vinyl 10" Abstract Distractions,
on Los Angeles noisepop label olFactory Records.
the first side features LA's own Bipolar Bear,
a boisterous noisey rock outfit equipped with
fuzzy guitar riffs, prominent 80s influenced bass
lines and rambunctious megaphone vocals,

acording to there myspace

"Paul Knee sings and plays guitar.
Thadius plays guitar too, but not as good. Birk plays bass.
Kirchhammer beats the drums into a sleeperhold.
Marc sleepers into a drumhold. Nat sings some backs"

they exude the same sensibilities as a band
like times new viking, its happy music but with
no apparent reason why, its not sappy or drawn out,

the first and second songs both start with a
strong catchy bass line, Algiers the second track,
opens with a riff copped right from the band interpol,
although most likely totally unintentional,
its a dirty anthem with undecipherable lyrical content,
something about "gather up the masses, make another species"

another track Library starts with a fast heavy
guitar riff that you could hear in a motorhead song,
it also has a lovely chorus/refrain "all is bearing down on me"
sung in a falsetto gang vocal,

talbot tagora started out with Ani Ricci and Mark Greshowak,
they added Chris Ando, both Mark and Chris play guitar
usually neither of them playing bass,

they create a abe vigoda style four piece rock attack
equal parts pop melody's, and harsh distortion,
although Talbots a little more noisy akin to bands like wavves,

the stand out track on talbots side is the weather man,
its an energetic snappy angular dance song complete with full stops,
imagine a lot of jumping when this song is played live,
black diamond is probably my personal favorite, once again
i think of times new viking, with the clamorous building
male/female vocal and simple guitar progression,

both sides are a delight to listen to,
you couldn't have asked for two more cohesive
bands to make a great release showcasing
the LA noisepop scene, which is currently
exploding with long standing los angeles venue The Smell,
and groups like no age signing to sup pop,
no telling where these dudes will be in no time,

support both bands by buying shit
here >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

talbot myspace
http://www.myspace.com/talbottagora

bipolar myspace
http://www.myspace.com/bipolarbear

olFactory records
http://www.thesmell.org/olfactory.html

Monks of the balhill/ a man and a guitar :beyond the map

2009-03-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

the second release from french
psych-folk duo of Vincents,
(Vincent Caylet and Vincent Fribault)
gives an overwhelming focus to the guitar,
with little noticeable looping or sampling
that appears in there later work,

its out on Denmark experimental folk
label a beard of snails, who release
a fare amount of easily digestible
psych-noise, some of it fairly disposable
monks on the other hand are far from disposable
all though this is not there best effort
its a good place to start, it lays the ground
work for there melodic cathedral sized sound,

to illustrate my point about the focus on guitar
listen to track 4 skouo, its a simple four chord Melodie
played over again for two and a half minuets,
there is nothing spectacular about it and i miss
any point it has to the rest of the album,
it seems out of place and transparent,

track two is probably the most in depth
of every thing the release has to offer,
its a layered melodic seven and a half long
musing of repeating guitar gentle wind instruments,
and bells, the one track on the album that makes
the most sense taking its time to round out,

track three is also a nice blending of sporadic
ambiance and mild and nostalgic repeating guitar,

the release has an untouchable familiarity,
maybe its intentional, the album is dedicated
to old movies and directors of classic films,
its a good effort and it works on different levels
its meant to stir up old memories, i cant quite
get into it though maybe the memories aren't from my past,

check out there new stuff here >>
http://www.myspace.com/monksofthebalhill

their housecraft release is beautiful grab a copy,

Boar : seeing and loving what you are seeing

2008-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

IS THERE SOMEONE ALIVE IN THERE...
..ARE YOU OK..ARE YOU OK......
IM GONNA GET YOU OUT OF THERE....
says the panicked female voice in distress,
its a sample from some movie,
no googling brought up the right
script so i don't know what its from,
but its how the first felt cat records
released Boar album starts,

track two is a two and a half minuet
static hysteria jam, with a whooping
siren and microphone feedback,
i don't know if he actually used a
microphone but its that kind of sharp
and swooning feedback you get from a speaker,

track three slows things down considerably
with stars of the lid or Windy and Carl
type vibes, soft and floaty, a constant
and repeating melody washed out and bassy
with cymbals,

track four is like a battleship game in a bathtub
its bubbly and splashing attack noise,
it turns into squealing screams like that thing
you can do with a balloon by stretching
the neck and making it wail and squawk,

boar is alex nowacki from Dubuque Iowa,
i have reviewed his work before and he
always produces something different and exciting
ranging from harsh attack noise too soft ambient
guitar and drum musings,

this album is no exception,
its a mix of plunderphonics and original
noise destruction and drum punkouts,

it comes in a folded brown paper bag
sealed with wax with a piece of label
runner devin darts jeans on the front
with boar written in marker, its a charming
DIY aesthetic of recycled materials and homemade
love,

felt cat 08
http://www.myspace.com/feltcat
http://www.myspace.com/boarnoise

Ghost bees :Tasseomancy

2008-12-08T01:14:00.000-08:00

Ghost bees is a twosome from Halifax, nova scotia,
comprised of twins Romy and Sari Lightman,
they started as a bigger band back in 2005
with others accompanying them on drum bass and violin etc..

they left the bigger collective sound behind
for a more delicate and elementary style,
giving more room to exercise
there lyrical fortitude,

they have a formidable ability
to make your heart swoon and your stomach
churn all at the same time, the marriage
of there beautiful harmony's and the seriousness
of there gruesome tales of wedding vampires and
elf kings stealing peoples children, is like drinking
absinthe in pineapple juice,

they have released a beautiful debut on
youth club records filled with fairytale imagery
and simple and eloquent mandolin and guitar
melodies,

most of these songs where available
on a previously released 6 track demo,
Sinai and Tasseomancy where new to this edition
but one of the tracks i was hoping to hear
rerecorded "haunting intervals" was missing
but after listening to the whole album
i found it as a bonus track at the end
of goldfish and metermaids,which was a nice
surprise, this was probably documented
on the youth club website and every thing
but i was happy to be surprised,

i cant say that one track stands out from the others
it kind of all fits together as one mouthful,
like a book or a film, not that its a concept album
or anything like that but track to track it dose
flow like a family tree of story's, these two girls
deliver songs about other peoples history as if they
had lived it themselves, they do delve into
there own history in the song tasseomancy,
which tells the tale of there great great grandmother
who practiced the art of tea leaf reading ,

i have seen ghost bees compared to joanna newsom
so many times i have even made a poster for a
ghost bees show where i was told to write
"for fans of Joanna Newsome" on it,
if anyone wants to explain this to me id love it,
it seems people like to compare female vocalist
with any other women who are doing anything offbeat,
maybe i just don't hear it though who knows,

i cant say enough good thing about these
two, this cd is a must have for any fans
of the rising folkpunk/gothfolk genera that's building
with bands like timber timbre, Laura Barrett
and bruce-peninsula,

here is some video footage i captured last year, check it

Kevin Greenspon : Del Tecate

2008-12-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

12 tracks of pure pop punk,
not your supermarket sk8ter pop,
but unadulterated angular influenced
pop melodys played in a sloppy analog
sound,

its a concept album about the
effects of alcohol on a group of young kids
in a small valley town in southern California,
which obviously leads to binge drinking
unprotected sex, crack babies, posting your one night stands
diary on the internet and all that fun stuff,

the album plays around with feelings
of isolation and going nowhere in life,
but still finding those moments when you
wouldn't want to be any where else than
where you are,

Greenspon released this album on his
own wierdpunk and popfolk label Bridgetown Records,
on cdr, it was also released on cassette limited to 20 on
scotch tapes, who put out all recycled material really limited
cool shit,

its a good release but i would like to
hear these songs with drum and bass added,
just to spread it out a bit

buy all the goodshit here
http://www.bridgetownrecords.tk/

Datashock : acidulle

2008-11-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

datashock is a psychedelic noise folk
collective from Saarlouis, Germany,
they have a rotating group of performers
making up the group at any one time,
including Pascal Hector, marcel türkowsky, ulf schütte,
ronnie oliveras, jan werner, martina ripplinger
and ruth maria adam to name some,

here we have a nice little four song release
called Acidulle out on Chocolate Monk,

Track one "Fruhling im mumintal"
was recorded in fall of 2006, it begins quietly,
a small plucking is introduced and the sound
of wind or air escaping from some where is
slowly released, the sound of chimes
or some rustling noises culminate at the finish,

track two "orangina rouge and vodka" is very
camouflaged and open feeling, its bare and white washed,
docile tones and quiet flute sounds can be
made out from the melodically gaping canvas of sound,
it is a hushed but large and engaging song,
this one was recorded in the winter of 2007,

this is an enjoyable collection of recordings
all the tracks where recorded at different times
and seasons through out 2006-2007, but it
doesn't make it unorganized or jumbled,
it does kinda play like a teaser or sampler,
its short and not as expansive as
some of there other releases,

the drawings where created by musician/artist
and datashocker Ruth-Maria Adam,

You can download this album and others at
www.meudiademorte.de

Crest Fear Blur : Lutheran

2008-11-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

track one Bouncy Tits stars us off with a
three second sample of what seems to be
a whimsical bluegrass bands plucking away,
it turns right into computer glitch noise,
that sounds like a busy office, like the
sound track too 9to5 if dolly parton was a robot,

the overall sound and direction of the album
has a focus on the harsh Merzbow influenced
music as terrorism ideal, at the same time
track two takes us in another direction and
has a much softer and engaging texture,
it features folk noise looping ambient
background sounds and more delicate layers,
track three takes us back into glitchy heaven,
but track four follows the softer theme and is a gentle
exploration of quiet blips and strings,

i find it hard to get fully involved with this release,
i just personally cant feel it as much as some other
computer noise outings, overall though its done well,
and i cant give any critical observations, nothing useful,
the art throws me off a bit though too, i got it as a zip file
and the art was a badly resized blurry picture of a trading card,
and the other insert was a traced computer drawing of shrek and donkey,
i feel uninspired and disconnected from the aesthetic,

this is out on a online label called proc records
www.proc-records.net

http://www.myspace.com/ontherimofthewheelanail

Wisdom tooth : Poco

2008-11-27T00:54:00.000-08:00

John Andrews serves up a five song
ep he recorded alone in Mexico,
the Trenton New Jersey songwriter
blends ukulele tones and other instruments
to put together his wide open sound,

john's brew of styles encompasses
the innocence of 1930s and 20s cartoons,
and the moor modern sounds of the outsider
folk music of Peter Grudzien and jandek,

track one is a charming introduction,
that runs the length of its 12 seconds
and than begins again for another
12 seconds like an outro to the intro,
it sets up the kind of flippant and cheeky
nature of the album,

track two "girls will be girls"
with its repeating lines
"girls will be girls and get drunk on the ocean"
is probably my favorite,
it highlights his impeccable knack
for fragmentary melodies,
melodies that cant be called faultless,
but still you wouldn't have them any other way,
its pure pop, but yet its esoteric and
and creative,

track four "no beso" stars off with
some ambient sounds, it brings the game of
curling to mind, the sounds of clacking and sliding
it turns into a ukulele and vocal track
which only last for a minuet and a half,

the only thing wrong with this
album is that its too short,

it was a free download from
wisdom tooths myspace,
but you can also order his full lenght
cassette on Minneapolis label Room tapes,

it comes with a bunch of nice photos
from his travels in mexico that you can
check out with the download!

Aosuke : Monotone Spirits

2008-11-20T23:54:00.000-08:00

Ulf Schütte is responsible for half the good
music that comes out of Hamburg Germany, along
side his friend and Datashock collaborator
Pascal Hector who runs Meudiademorte records,
releasing delicious sound explorations
on his tape label Tape Tektoniks,
putting out stuff ranging from Datashock, James Fella
Pulse Emitter and even Hamilton Ontario's Fossils,
he and pascal have been supporting
each other sense Ulf contacted Meudiademorte to put out
a project that would soon turn into Aosuke, leading to
the birth of Tape Tektoniks for more Aosuke and friends
releases,

while Ulf is not busy with his solo effort
Shivers, he and Tobert Knopp produce beautiful
guitar oriented ambient sound scapes,
the progression of sound is not unlike a gentle
Animal collective or Panda Bear release
but with out any mania or drums, in fact there are
no beats on this album at all, but with a rang of ticks
chirps and clacks covering the tracks,
you don't miss any kind of drum section,
on the contrary it would take the sound in a more
electronica direction, which i think would spoil
the kind of ambient folk aspects of the recording,

track one "at the shore" starts with little
electric chirrup's and a cymbal flourish,
a repeating guitar phrase dominates the track,
its clear and comforting like a string of words,
an agitated vocal of "oh oh ho ah ah ah" takes
attention away from the chirps and guitar
at the half point, its this kind of blending
and overlapping that makes the album stand out,
its is perfectly mixed with out any part or section
in particular getting the snub,

song three the title track "monotone spirits"
is a beautiful mix of bug songs and guitar tone,
plus a debilitated and haunting vocal,
coming off as almost a sample or guest spot,

the last song on the four track LP
"ant architecture" is more angled
toward noise like the quiet perspectives of
glitchy grindcore stuff, the lenient sounds right
before it gets chaotic,

this is the same fundamental ambient bliss
made popular by Black dice, heavy tapes,
animal collective projects and the like....

i highly recommend this release to anyone who
likes music basically, it was released on vinyl
on Meudiademorte and sub released on audiolith
on CD,

http://www.myspace.com/aosuke
http://www.myspace.com/meudiademorte
http://www.myspace.com/tapetektoniks

related projects to check out

http://www.myspace.com/urshivering
http://www.myspace.com/tobertknopp
http://www.myspace.com/conescones
http://www.myspace.com/datashock
http://www.myspace.com/turbostaat

Arrington De Dionyso : I See Beyond the Black Sun

2008-11-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

this wasn't quite what i expected from the short
pants clad boisterous front man of RELIJUN,
its a vary calming and relaxing span of throaty nose rock
made with home made effects and instruments,

this seems like a kind of rough draft,
like an unfinished book, not that it doesn't
stand on its own or entertain, but it comes
off as less of a side project and more of a
meditation or wandering, and in so is more
self important than the including and anarchistic
nature of his other work,

track three features a snare drum being played
simple by the vibrations of the singer,
like a snake tamer enticing and playing with
danger, maybe this is a story as well,
some kind of pied piper tale of an oncoming disaster,
its an undirected tribal opus that plays out like
a silent film with out subtitles,

the whole album feels like sessions and the flow is very
natural, with background noises from the studio and such,
the force and vigor of the horn/throat singing style,
is one to be admired, many vocalist and artist like to
play around with these types of Indian and raga influenced
nose and throat chants, and the actual sound you get,
its hard to diversify with it being a specific sound,
but he some how rises above the trappings of the contrived,

the last track one the album (an 18 minuet meanderthal)
almost sound like a remix,
it features a chorus of night bugs and creatures,
singing softly, and the horn singing is less
in your face and more modulated,

the 10 tracks all feature the same horn/throat singing and
all follow the same themes directly or indirectly,
it is an enjoyable study, and perfectly atmospheric,
not a party album but something worth checking out,

its available now for pre-order and will
be released December 9th,

this is out on the legendary K records,
support em and get your pre-orders in now

the album features some of Arrington's original art,
an abstract expression of the female form,
like a gender version of the scatter brush in photoshop
scattering the simplistic yet capturing woman's form repeating
over the water colored canvas,

Boy+Girl : Cavity, Orbit, Sword!

2008-11-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

Jacksonville Florida based Boy + Girl
is the sound formation of the man that is A G Davis,
it serves as a audio outlet for the overall mission and art of
all his work, his albums play out similarly
to his progressive writing style, his works read as
sporadic word association that remains coherent and exciting,
the music could work as a companion to his words, going
in and out on tangents and returning to the same manic themes,

when i examined the packaging for this and other
B+G releases, i was put off by the instrument list
(drum machine, synth, samplers etc) and i figured i had
yet another poor and unimaginative electronica release,
but i was mistaken, Davis builds such a gigantic
wall of unbridled sound textures, that its neither
here nor there what tools are used, the samples
add the same sarcastic and sardonic atmosphere
that Tlasila offer up, that same brief and repeating
blueprint like a cd being fast forwarded,

the album has 12 tracks which weave in and out of each other,
the whole album is best played as one continuing piece,
track one features a section of glitched drum machine destruction and
skipping vocal screams, this section is repeated
through out the cd and ties the whole album together,

the album sounds and looks fabulous,
it was released on Belgium label Smeraldina-Rima,
they do beautiful cd-r releases with
packaging made to look like vinyl 45s,

this is fucking grinding glitchy hardcore noise
that is still intuitive and melodic,
akin to Sissy Spacek and others,
a great release!

the packaging is like i said, a piece of
cardboard the size of a 45 sleeve,
it has a gorgeous drawing by wouter vanhaelemeesch,
http://www.myspace.com/utopianethiopian

S-R003
CDR (ltd 60)

Reveurs/Sunken Landscapes split 3"

2008-10-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

OK so we have a split between Reveurs and sunken landscapes,
its five tracks divided in three and two, reveurs takes three and sunken takes two,
there is nothing good i can say about the way this split opens,
the first track hurts to listen to,
the only way to explain it is if you ever had a room mate
who was always playing Metallica riffs badly on his ibanez,
well run him and the whole room through a reverb pedal and you have reveurs,
i wont go into the rest of reveurs side of the split
cause im not interested in hating on them/him/her????
but i have nothing constructive to say about it either,

sunken landscapes on the other hand saves the release
with his two tracks lake of bones and smoke signals,
i love pretty much everything sunken landscapes touches,
sunken landscapes is Andy summers from long beach California,

lake of bones begins with haunting pre neck
guitar harmonics and a quiet layer of ambient delay,
it later introduces a guitar loop that makes
the guitar sound more like a computer or a keyboard,
with its fast ending and quick in succession notes,
its beautiful and well rounded,
the perfect mix of guitar tones
and scratchy tape or pedal malfunctions,

smoke signals
is a noisy barrage of plane engine static
with a continuing guitar loop reminiscent
of the progression from lake of bones,
it also features a voice looping behind the noise
its hard to make out but it sounds like some kind of speech,

i strongly suggest getting your hands on any releases Andy has available,
he releases shit almost exclusively with Nihil underground,
and all his shit is dope!

the art included with this release
is the normal Nihil one fold xerox,
its simple but works,

you can get ahold of sunken landscapes releases here
http://www.myspace.com/sunkenlandscapes
and here
http://www.myspace.com/nihilunderground

Reveurs is over and Holden is now working on this project,
http://www.myspace.com/globocide1
don't know if he has any releases out yet,
hit him up with a note,

NU015
3"cdr
limited to 37
SOLDOUT

Boar : Keeping in touch with the bridge bombers

2008-10-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

boar serves up a great big full length heaping of facemelting harsh tones,
but with a honest helping of restraint,track one (bugs feed)
demonstrates the dynamics of the record nicely, it starts
with an earblistering attack of layered noise Static
which leads to 3 minuets of silence followed by gentle sonic waves
which surface at the four minuet mark,
the rest of the album seem to be all connected in a way,
you could listen to the whole record as one long piece
or several individual pieces, number seven is intitled Reborn
and sounds like some one is pouring water on a pit of snakes,
pissed off, wet and hissing,
the album closes with "the longhorn" it ends the opus
with a more or less gentle mixer tone,
skipping and tripping over static-y humming
it finises just as it starts to get layered leaving you wondering about the next release,
like a teaser or something,

all sounds where made by Alex Nowacki from dubuque iowa, he has been recording under the name boar for the last two years i think?, and started playing live
shows at the begining of 2008, dubuque is mostly known for its manufacturing industry so its great to hear Alex deconstructing sound like this in iowa,
for the most part boar is a cornucopia of tones and structures,
he does a great job of applying different levels
of volume and sound, for contrast and depth,
the great thing is this might not even be what he sound like next,
if you hit him up for some releases it might be something totally different,
his sound seem to be evolving even as the record progresses,
which is a good thing,

the art is horrible, ignore it, don't judge this book by the cover the work deserves listening,
the album slip looks like the 1990's videogame nation
throw up its undigested food all over a piece of glossy printer paper,
but than you might like this kind of thing who knows,
it just looks like channel flipping to me,
ill stress that it doesn't change how the record sounds though, and the record sounds good,

the inside insert is sweet though, it features Bela Lugosi's original
Count Dracula with the Boar name and myspace addresses,

this was released on California cdr label Nihil underground,
check them and boar out for new releases .........>>>
http://www.myspace.com/boarnoise
http://www.myspace.com/nihilunderground

NU016 CD-R, limited to 40

Battery : Selfish

2008-10-28T01:17:00.000-07:00

the track titles suggest a primitive minimalism (arcane, crushed, spectrate, and article are the four songs included)
so i was surprised to here a verity of styles and textures to this recording, the 3" cd-r opens with crackling and fuzzy 40 second glimpse, its a hodgepodge of sounds
some with cartoon deja vu,it peters out just in the right place,
it gets you in the right mood for the second track which focuses primarily on mixer feedback crunk but with sparser trial offs, track three
is more or less the same as track two more wild feedback with lots of mixer highs and lows,
it sounds good and the tracks range from a minuet to a minuet and a half, leaving lots of room and never tries your patience,

track four introduces some scarpy vocals that turn back and fourth from sweet and mumble-y into dinosaur roars and growls,

there is a wealth of sounds and fun textures involved here,
i don't know who this recording is really, battery has no website or myspace but they are connected/released by the neat California DIY cdr label
Nihil Underground who release unboring simple noise rock,

the art is a simple one fold printout, it has a foggy image of mosaic and broken glass, with what seems to be like eastern statues and shapes,
good stuff!

NU 010
3" cd-r
limited to 40
http://www.myspace.com/nihilunderground

Forest Friends : self titled DBL release

2008-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Seattle noise whimsy mayhem makers Forest Friends have released their first album with debacle records,
the duo consists of garrison and chad although they sometimes team up with Todd Dickerson (soup purse,space hawk,smegma,)
the trio can be heard on track three which is a spastic open room recording of bells and angry duck quacks emitting from some mixer loop or synth set up,
the song turns into a haunting sing along with a gentle repeating xylophone tone (maybe a home made instrument or something electric not sure)

the improvisational record is for the most part chad and garrison feeding off eachother for brief spacey freefolk psychedel-noise pop tracks,
and its one of the best records i have heard in a while, it comes across as six perfectly crafted pop songs memorably intelligent yet deliciously minimal,
the opening track takes you right into the fore mentioned forest and starts with whistling birds and rustling leaves and a whole myriad of forest voices, mumbling monkeys and chanting shamans, track two throws us into an Indian market place with the echos of Rabab's and sitar's and a distant la la da lala chant,
the market place seem to than be taken over by robots beeping and chirping and wandering around, the song fades into slow hand clapping and ends,

the album ends with a ten minuet track that could play as a prayer session, gentle folk instruments and and a repeating voices saying "Whug wug wugwug" the track ends with quiet
UFO sounds and the album is finished,

this was my first time in the forest, the duo have been making music together for the last 13 years in one form or another,
this is as i said the first forest friends release and a accomplished effort, they formed two years ago and have already opened for TLASILA
and in my opinion could easily be picked up by Paw Tracks or fat cat or some other label soon,

over all a great effort and i cant wait for the next release,

CD-r
DBL015
2008
http://www.myspace.com/debaclerecords
http://www.myspace.com/forrestfriends

.cut & Maggot Breeder : la voie sacree

2008-09-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

so here we have a collaboration between .cut & maggot breeder, .cut started as AlBéRiCk's solo experimental project in Quebec back in 1992,
and he has been paying his dues in the Montreal industrial scene for the last sixteen years, he joined forces with french experimental guitarist
Gibet in 2003, the duo have drawn comparisons to Montreal GSYBE and industrial hero's Psychic TV,

more recently AlBéRiCk joined forces with the godfather of Montreal noise/experimental rock Reuel Ordonez,
they have released three albums together which is a good sign for any collaborative effort in a environment that houses
so many projects and efforts that put out one album and than fold,

the three inch cd-r from walnut+locust records starts off with that high tone melodic white noise that maggot breeder has become famous for,
if a blank white canvas had a volume control and you cranked it as far as it would go it would sound as vast as this track,
the sound scape builds with the high pitch screams of locust or cicadas to a comfortable level and stays that way for about the first ten minuets,
through out those ten minuets you can hear
a distant string instrument twanging discordantly set to the roar of a jet engine, as the track progresses you start to pick out the sound of more and more
horrible machines and air raid sirens, crushing wheels and thunder,
the mayhem dies down at the fifteenth minuet mark and an empty desolation spills out,
the song leaves us with a chanting monk choir and electric buzzing wires,

if im being honest i enjoy .cut and maggot breeder separate more than together, the simplicity and distinction of their solo work is more coherent
than this collaboration in my opinion, in ways it sounds like a .cut song and a maggot breeder song played at the same time,
with that said the talent and experience of the two artist comes through by the end of the twenty minuet track,

maggot breeder .cut are doing a great favor to industrial music in Canada, with the last twenty years industrial music has been under attack from
drum machine ravers, but its bands like .cut&maggot breeder that keep the dream alive,

the art for this album is a simple plastic sheath with a color print out two page pamphlet and a walnut locust catalog page,

.cut & Maggot Breeder : la voie sacree

wl013
3" cdr
2008

Wyatt Howland & Andrew Kirschner - Torture

2008-09-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

first off the casing reminds me of a middle james co or cuthands release, its a simple one image
B&W xerox, with a 1"x1" insert explaining whats going down!

whats going down is a co op of Wyatt Howland (SkinGraft) and Andrew Kirschner (tooth, relentless corpse, Mistake label owner,)

ok so i would love to see a live set of these two, cause the recording does no justice,
there are a lot of peaks and you tend to lose all the highs,
side a starts with a claustrophobic muddle of sounds that lead you to believe you are being
buried alive in a pit of snakes, you can hear distant noise from outside the hole and the hiss
of snakes and a constant dropping and muffling tone with ever shovel of dirt,
the entire recording stays pretty quiet and staticy with the occasional helicopter noise,
there seems to be some maaa-ing and baaa-ing at the mid point,
which is followed by the sounding of an alarm, its kind of like a sheep factory melt down,
it teeters out into digital clipping&skipping, in come some moans and groans and the tape stops,

side b starts of with storm static,
a metal banging and clanging comes in like an old hermit looking for provisions in his shed,
the stereo is fun on this side, with the different sound sources in different ears,
static in one side and the metal banging loop in the other,
this side also has the peaking issues, but its not that big a deal,
overall they create a great atmosphere but the recording could have been a bit better,

mistake by the lake tapes (from Cleveland Ohio obviously)
run by Andrew and Zach troxell,
have recently secured connections with tomentosa and Hanson,
which not only means your doing something right,
but it also means it will be easy for you to purchase,
no reason not to grab one up,

contact and order here aswell...
http://www.myspace.com/mistakebythelake
http://www.polarenvy.com/

c40
MSL012
limited to 50

Sean Gadoury : Astronaut ice cream ep

2008-08-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

the album starts off with "Dehydrated peas" which is fitting cause the first thing you notice is the back to basics sound and approach the entire album has, its simple layered guitar looping for a
lazy afternoon, there are very little delay and echo effects, no beats or drum machines, just sparse and distant ambient noise and both acoustic and electric guitar looping,

the album plays like a side projects side project, its not gonna make you start a revolution,
with that said there is lots of room for works that don't blow your mind, but take you somewhere for the time being even if you never visit that world again,
four songs isnt a lot to map out an entire sound but i feel like maybe the point wasn't put across as well as maybe it could have been, i've gotten more out of three song chat blanc releases,

the layered guitars and ambient hums are
a departure from sean's other work like that on the diction ark release,
which features a more conventional guitar, drum machines, keyboards approach to indie prog rock, think king crimson on drag city records, ...which strangely is what Weird war sound like but thats beside the point, its interesting to see that this is another side to a multi facaded artist,

freeze dried French fries is the stand out track,
it starts off with a slightly discordant overlapping of high and bass repeating notes,
there is something just not exactly right about it, and that makes it endearing,
it leads to a perky trilling chorus section which sound like the words "lets get up and go!"
its a happy and contrasting piece that kind of solidifies the rest of the album,

seans attention to detail and ear for trills and gentle guitar tones make this effort
a success,

you can download the entire album and the front insert for free at the dusty trails website,
http://sean.dukmedia.com/

sean gadoury : ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM (EP)

dtltdt-A03
Artwork by Sean Gadoury
Dusty Trails Ltd

http://www.myspace.com/dustytrailsltd
http://www.myspace.com/seangadoury

Sing Leaf : wandering

2008-08-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

toronto band Sing Leaf release their second ep this Oct. 18th
the four track album opens with North, its chill and a little trance-y,
a soothing chirping rhythm and flutes fill out the song with a continuing bass blurp in the background,
it last for a minuet and 51 seconds, and goes straight into yavanna the second track more trance-y chirps and flowing energy,
this track introduces vocalist David Como (musician, band leader) who floats over the tracks like a possessed angel,
or a less happy Robert Schneider,

the album ends with golden yellow oak, which comes off like their older material,
it falls somewhere in between the subversive church folk of jeff mangum and Reg Vermue,
but with a much older feel, the whole album has an oldsoul feel even at times it gives off Celtic vibes with the dreamy flutes,

unlike some ambient electronic artists, repeating melodies sometime take a back seat for the sake of sound effects,
sing leaf find a way to bleed the waves of laptop chirps and catchy deja vu melodies together into a poppy serenade,

the electro half of the electrocustic banner they have been branded with is the predominate half on this album,
unlike some of their older work (like the sing leaf ep) which was more aligned to the the acoustic side and a little more lo fi,
and in my opinion was better and more focused than this effort, it does feel as though they are happy with this sound,
it comes across a more confident sounding release, but the trance beats and electro washed tones take away something from the sincerity of the band,

http://www.myspace.com/singleaf

Dead Embers : elbow deep in dawsons creek

2008-08-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

ok so its the dynamic duo,
Darcy Atkinson (Autoerotic asphyxiation, twin scales, rocket pony*rip*,) and Josh st Denis (goatfooted, ghostbitch, ghostfood,)
ripping through an hour of music,

side a (christ on a bike) starts us off with some rhythmic delay taping, like throat chirping and rock banging,
it picks up and dies down and picks up and dies down again,
leading to some mild zlerps and slurps of a malfunctioning raygun,
it soon quites down into electric static with the occasional raygun appearances,
we than detour into stereo overdrive bassy ups and downs with interspersed high frequency
radio burps and broken hospital machine fluctuations,

its lots of fun to listen to, you can taste the energy that the duo are feeding off of,
the whole thing is quite and controlled but it never becomes annoying,

side b (yes, james ready drank coffee porter) features the abrupt dueling distortion flatulence, with pops of staticy chirps,
it builds to a nice wall of dueling static delay,
much more messy and dirty than side a.

the casing is a simple piece of chalky black paper with DEAD EMBERS stenciled on,

copies 2-6 featured a kitty cat insert, my copy features a Russian politician insert,

MT008
limited to six copys
myiasis tapes
http://www.myspace.com/myiasistapes

Hunting Rituals : tree route

2008-08-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

hunting rituals is one of the many exciting solo shots from Scott Johnson
(gasoline gathers hands, gathers friends, bottom feeder, thoughts on air, cloud valley records....)

side A plays like a narcoleptic train ride, weaving in and out of sound structures like restless dreams, track one, or the first section of side one starts with the squeak of broken wheels, and passing sounds from an open window, water and voices from the forest below,

the second section could be when diner is served (imagine the sound of cutlery scratching to the back drop of screeching squealing wheels!)

and than the third section brings in the loud cries of the steam whistles discordant at first,
and than more and more rhythmic, the whistles bleed in to a dull wall of dead noise as you pass through a tunnel,

side B is a more consistent meandering of swamp folknoise,
the constant rub of a rock grinder set to the cries of the loon, (a juxtaposition of nature and industry?)

the whole album is made with horns and effects,
this doesn't limit the range of the recording at all, quite the opposite actually,
most of the time you cant define an origin to the sounds,

this album also marks a continued collaboration between cloud valley records Scott Johnson
and housecraft records Jeffry Astin, i cant wait to see what comes next,

the art is simple but beautiful, consists of one insert,

house craft 047
http://www.myspace.com/housecraft
http://www.myspace.com/huntingrituals
http://www.myspace.com/cloudvalleyrecordings

Ryan Jewell : Rooms

2008-08-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

the first song is "I'am sitting in a holocaust room" recorded at the holocaust room in Cincinnati with the wasteland jazz unit,
the track opens with direct and straight forward wailing amp feedback & hooting whistles you can soon make out the crashing and bashing drums
that are leading this cacophony, soon followed by horns and more wailing effects, it continues like this till a brief pause with some yelling and shouting,
if you are familiar with WJU than you have an idea what this track sounds like, the song is excellent and WJU and Jewell are both some of the best experimental jazz artist in the noise scene,
the song last for nine minuets but goes by much faster, (feels like five maybe?)

the second track is "I"am sitting in a dressing room" live in the womens dressing room at artsplace Lexington,
this track could be mistaken for some one fixing a bike down by the running washing machine in the basement, or a duck masturbating, it last for seventeen minutes,
the sound of a cappuccino machine or someone blowing water with a straw comes in at the 2:00 minuet mark, you can really get lost in this track in a good way,
it makes for great background noise for what ever activity's you may be up to in the middle of the day,

the two tracks work well back to back the first track being a insane barrage of sound to melt your ears and the second track brings you back from the brink,

i got my copy from ryan and im not sure its the finished art but it looks fantastic either way,

its a simple piece of woodgrain paper maybe a type of wall or decorating paper,
with the text writen on the back in pen,

Mabus : Great creator comet

2008-08-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

now defunct crump project, like disguises is very raw right from the git'go
it has that open air room sound, you can hear a television in the background in a few tracks,
track three starts with Alice cooper's schools out, which quickly switches to dialog from
a sitcom and building microphone feedback, the resulting wall of sound consists of twilight zone delay whoops and jet engine roars,
the rawness of the recording in no way takes away from the dynamics of the record, the tracks keep your attention till the very end,
the packaging is simple and crude but memorable,
MABUS spray painted in red with a piece of tinfoil stuck inside the plastic sleeve,
the inside insert is a piece of black cardboard with black ink printed on it, the black on black makes the insert look very smart, but is hard to read at first glance,

all and all this is a great record and one i come back to often,

cover

one side of the gorgeous insert

2006
3 tracks
limited to 50 copys
Wintage records & tapes WRT005

http://www.myspace.com/disguisesx