Tabs Out

cassette podcast focusing on noise & experimental sounds
Posted on

Tabs Out | Episode #147

Borokov Borokov – Sampler Platter Vol.1 compilation (Cudighi)
DVD Fair – Sampler Platter Vol.1 compilation (Cudighi)
Bonnie Baxter – Axis (Hausu Mountain)
Knablinz – The Conference compilation (77Rise)
OJ Son – The Conference compilation (77Rise)
Relatively Clean Rivers – s/t (bootleg)
Billy Synth – Music is Forever (bootleg)
Antony Widoff – Disposition (Full Spectrum)
Severino Pfifferling – Musik für Spülmaschine und Synthesizer (Strategic Tape Reserve)
Új Bála – Lobban (Jollies)
Qualchan. – Goodbye To All That (Houdini Mansions)
drrreeems – Bless Vol. 3 compilation (Inner Ocean)
American Ninja – Bless Vol. 3 compilation (Inner Ocean)
Turning – s/t (Fluere Tapes)
Buck Young – Buck II: Where Do You Want It? (No Rent)

Posted on

Tabs Out | Severino Pfifferling – Müsik fur Spülmaschine und Synthesizer

Severino Pfifferling – Müsik fur Spülmaschine und Synthesizer

10.16.19 by Ryan Masteller

Strategic Tape Reserve is definitely one of the most interesting tape labels out there at the moment. They did that tape that sampled Sean Hannity and Avril Levigne, the Norwegian walking compilation, the Welsh “Da Vinci Code” thingy, and quite recently the collection of music for (literally) tiny supermarkets. Talk about forward-thinking vision: whatever nutjob is responsible for curating the label’s releases (and we know who it is, we’re just protecting their identity for … well, no reason really) is certainly not hesitant about going all in on the latest avant-garde oddity. 

Take Severino Pfifferling’s new tape for instance. Unfortunately not a household name (yet), Pfifflerling had the utterly mad idea to use a common household dishwasher (Spülmaschine) as the rhythmic source of his new work, appropriately titled “Müsik fur Spülmaschine und Synthesizer.” (Don’t worry, I can read German – you can trust me that the title is appropriate.) Of course it’s not as simple as all this – Pfifferling ensures that we realize that the modern dishwasher was developed by William Howard Livens, “a British engineer best known for greatly improving the efficiency of chemical weapons used in the First and Second World Wars.” Just in case you wanted to feel bad about something ELSE besides everything in the world, you can now feel bad that your dishwasher was invented by a monster. Mine is a Bosch.

So Pfefferling has composed an entire suite around the Spülmaschine, using it as a jumping-off point to explore the emptiness of modern convenience, focusing on its utilitarian function and juxtaposing it against the phantom necessity of it in our lives, like it’s a thing that we can’t really live without anymore (god forbid we wash our dishes by hand!). And it’s with all this in mind, we can embrace what Pfefferling has in store for us, and it’s a harrowing ride. Rife with existential angst, “Müsik fur Spülmaschine und Synthesizer” is not an easy journey from point A to point B; instead, it bores into your psyche as it goes, the synthesizer puncturing your mind as the swish swish or the clunk clunk or even the random finishing beeps of the Spülmaschine constantly remind you of its presence. 

And yet it melds seamlessly, flawlessly.

Despite the fact that you’re constantly hammered about the noggin that this is a recording of synthesizer and Spülmaschine, it becomes its own entity not long into it. And while you can’t completely forget the source, the result is far more fascinating than simple field recordings of kitchen appliances would be. In fact, it’s downright vexing once you take the whole narrative into consideration.

There are 22 of these available for consumption as of RIGHT NOW. Go forth wisely unto yonder Bandcamp link.

Posted on

Tabs Out | NGC 4414/Thomas Wingate – Five Songs, Cloud Dweller – Apocryphal

NGC 4414/Thomas Wingate – Five Songs,
Cloud Dweller – Apocryphal

10.14.19 by Ryan Masteller

Now why wasn’t anybody doing this in Allentown when I lived there? Granted this was a while ago. We don’t need to go into the details, but I haven’t lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Endangered Species Tapes is headquartered, since I was still in some form of grade school. John Terlesky was a god to us. Still kind of is.

But we didn’t have these tape labels, these incredible purveyors of experimentation, these vendors of vast sound artifacts. We had a void in our lives, and that void can now be filled with … more void? Well, we leap into it anyway, with the soundtracks to that expanse of whatever flowing through our tape decks, our headphones, our PAs, our hold musics. We have Endangered Species Tapes to thank for that, an unusual beacon among the sagging and creaking populace of eastern PA. 

To quote someone much smarter than me: too weird to live, too rare to die. It is there, and it is something to behold.


NGC 4414 / THOMAS WINGATE – FIVE SONGS

So fun fact, my family (not me) moved from Allentown to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which is where “Five Songs” was recorded in April 2019 (although the j-card says April 2009, so – temporal anomaly?). Might be a temporal anomaly. Here me out. Matthew Plunkett plays keyboard, and Thomas Wingate plays guitar and bass, and together they swirl galaxies with their celestial playing, and what’s at the center of a galaxy? Black hole. Boom: temporal anomaly. Seriously, though, Plunkett and Wingate make music that make you feel very, very small in relation to the unfathomable size and distance of the entire universe. Do we know if the universe has expanded enough that there’s also a ton out there we can’t even see, like light is too far away for it to even reach us anymore? I’m going to have to look that up, but “Five Songs” – a mere five songs! – has me dropping all pretense of what “number” even means and letting my body and mind exist in some space in some fragment of existence while matter churns around me for light years in all directions. “Five Songs” or infinite songs? Put it on repeat and find out.


CLOUD DWELLER – Apocryphal

Hey, why does it have to be “cultural divisiveness” all the time, huh? Cloud Dweller asks the same question, as ice melts and peepers peep. I’m pretty tired of it. I like the idea of a “peaceful New England winter” myself, thanks for bringing it to my attention. There’s nothing quite like the utter solitude of rural Massachusetts in the dead of winter – sure, it’s cold and dry and desolate, but it’s also invigorating, and it’s something that everyone can agree on that they’re all in together. Cloud Dweller merges field recordings and synthesizers in a mournful wail toward the frigid north, harnessing the sharp spikes of low temperatures and longing for common understanding. By the time “Solace” rolls around to end the tape, you’re there, you feel it, whether it’s the vacancy its left now that it no longer exists within you or the final moments of toil and turmoil that turn into the genuine article. Regardless, the peace is deep – let’s hope it’s not fleeting.