Front & Centre
1.3.15 by Mike Haley

Okay, I guess I’ve been sleeping blindfolded under a rock or some shit, because I’ve been completely unaware of Centre. Ladies and gentlemen, I am awake now. My eyes are open. I’m… On top of rocks? What I’m trying to say is that Centre, an imprint operated by Sam Goldberg that apparently dropped (among a few others gems) a cassette version of the s/t Forma album four years ago, is now on my radar thanks to the release of new tapes by Radio People, Brett Naucke, and Colored Mushroom & The Medicine Rocks. Each release is pro-dubbed and limited to 100 copies.

For those even more ignorant than I, Radio People is the smooth-sailing synth project of Mr. Goldberg, now a duo with Adam Miller who (maybe?) ran (runs?) the absurdly crucial Cylindrical Habitat Modules. You may be wondering “If you don’t know that Miller ran that label for sure, why mention it at all”? Well, I got a hunch and always follow my hunches. That’s why. Brett Naucke (pronounced like the dumpling I am told) is the Catholic Tapes guru with an arsenal of unreal sounds at his disposal. And last, but not least, is the ex-Emerald named Elliott, along with cohorts Charles Szerzen and Sandra Serio, with a flash flood of skin-melting prog reverie.

Straight from the Centre’s mouth:

Centre 05 – Radio People “Fall on Mars” Cassette
“Fall on Mars” was completed by Samuel Goldberg and Adam Miller in the Fall of 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio at his home studio. The title-track serves well as a reintroduction to the project since last year’s “Night Club” on Treasure. It begins as a slow release of scattery synthesizer bop that builds to spill out echoes of fluorescent pads and minimal sequences. From there, the tape continues to loosen up and casts off into rich zones of rhythms and field recordings. Like many Radio People releases, present are the blankets of neon sound and emotive progressions of organ and synthesizer. “Fall on Mars” points outwardly to the planets while remaining in the real and present of a Midwest autumn. The Mars One team will be reaching their destination in 2025, enjoy a preview to what fall on Mars could feel like.

Centre 06 – Brett Naucke “Pitch Documents” Cassette
Brett Naucke is an electronic musician living in Chicago, Illinois. His past works, such as “The Visitor” on NIHILIST and “Seed” on Spectrum Spools introduced many listeners to his unique scope. He brings humanistic qualities and a keen sense of minimalism to a synthesizer system with infinite sounds. These tracks are documents of a constantly tinkering musician at his home studio; exploring music to share it with listeners, but more importantly to move forward in a deeply personal journey. Dig in to his beautifully arching modular synthesizers compositions and join him. These works stretch with elasticity and are somehow also tightly wound. The pieces are fluid and glued with rhythms and pulses that propel and take rests beautifully and naturally. His work here presents itself like a sea of galaxies loosely simplified and then neatly folded onto the head of a pin.

Centre 07 – Colored Mushroom & The Medicine Rocks – ” TheGold Manor Eclipse” Cassette
Colored Mushroom & The Medicine Rocks are an electronic music group which is currently producing music and living in Cleveland, Ohio. These works were created in Cleveland and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Listen closely and perhaps you can hear the two different atmospheres’ reflections in the sound. “The Gold Manor Eclipse” is a concise release made up of treasure-like progressions and clouds of breathtaking mellotron. Colored Mushroom present a unique take on synthesizer prog that glows with glossy hi-hat snaps and deep drum patterns. The locked in drum machines are balanced by synthesizers and electronics that never agree to go straight down the middle. Similar to (the ensemble’s maestro) John Elliott’s work as Outer Space and Imaginary Softwoods, the songs move forward but remain hardly predictable. The songs are packed with charging movements and space to breathe. Breathe to them, move to them, and let them move you.

Perhaps some of my facts are fuzzy, but who gives a shit. Just listen to these baller sound clips then grip up these joints for $8.50 a pop, $22.50 for the gang from Centre. Baby, baby!

2014 Cassette Snapshots
1.1.15 by Mike Haley

So that’s it. 2014 is kaput. Like last year, I made an open call for labels to send over photos of all the cassette they graced us with over the past 365 days. Enjoy a small sampling of cassette life, 2014.

 

5CM Recordings

2:00AM Tapes

905 Tapes

Adhesive Sounds

Arachnidiscs Recordings

Baba Vanga

Baked Tapes

Bonding Tapes

The Centipede Farm

Constellation Tatsu

Crash Symbols

Deserted Village

DumpsterScore Home Recordings

Feathered Coyote

Field Hymns

Fort Evil Fruit

Geology Records

Gleauxing Records

Green Records And Tapes

Hacktivism Records

Hare Akedod

Hausu Mountain

Hornbuckle Records

Insufferable Sounds

Invisible City Records

Kerchow! Records

La Cohu

Lillerne Tapes

Lily Tapes & Discs

Live God Collective

Magnetic Purely

Moss Archive

No Visible Scars

Obsolete Units

Old Bicycle Records

Orange Milk

Otherworldly Mystics

Oxtail Recordings

Passive Aggressive Tapes

Patient Sounds

Phinery

Popnihil

Power Moves Label

Reckno

Shaking Box Music

SicSic Tapes

Spring Break Tapes!

Suite 309

Tape Drift

Track And Field

Tranquility Tapes

Umor Rex

Unit Structure Sound Recordings

Vwyrd Wurd

Wood Between Worlds

Wounded Knife Records

Merry TuscoMas!
12.25.14 by Mike Haley

Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s that time of the year, ya’ll. The annual War on Chirstmas™, complete with thick nog, racist relatives, and the latest Tusco/Embassy’s Christmas compilation cassette! All available today! The lineup for these suckers are always sick, and this year is no exception. Darksmith, Outer Space, Headboggle, Relay For Death, David Russell Snake, Greg Gorlan, Collin McKelvey, Horaflora, and a maniac crowd of others all stuffing your stocking on this one, packaged with a silver screened Jcard in one of those triple tall norelco cases. Hop on Santa’s lap and pony up $16.50 for this one now now now now now! Only 50 copies!

This is where I’ll put any sound clipage, if I find any. Until then, Merry TuscoMas!

Black Horizons For Bergman
12.22.14 by Ian Franklin

The holiday season can be a joyous time of year. But for all the Clark Griswold’s out there who’ve had quite enough merriment and are ready to settle into the long winter road ahead, San Francisco based label Black Horizons delivered a 3xC40 compilation of dark and bleak zones to accompany some of the classic films of Ingmar Bergman. “Frozen in Time II: Music To Accompany the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (a follow up to last year’s first volume) groups tracks from a nice range of artists including German Army, Micromelancolie + Sindre Bjerga, L’Acephale, Head Dress, Spettro Family, and Night Worship. The tracks are set to and compliment films including Passion of Anna, Seventh Seal, and with two tracks appearing for Cries and Whispers and Hour of The Wolf each, playing off this compilation’s predecessor Frozen In Time I which included soundtracks to the films Persona, Face to Face, Wild Strawberries, From the Life of the Marionettes, The Serpent’s Egg, and Summer with Monika.

December 13th saw a release party at Vacation Vinyl in L.A. with viewings of Cries and Whispers and Seventh Seal with clips of the comp and a live performance from Head Dress.

This 3CS black monolith comes in an edition of 200 on black tapes with silver labels laced with a 4-panel j card of silver offset printing on black linen paper with beautiful detail and art panels. Pick up a copy of Frozen in Time II from Black Horizons website ($23 in the US/more elsewhere), rent some Bergman flicks on the interweb, draw the blinds closed, and dip your toes in to the wadding pool of existential anxiety.

Serenity Now From Fort Evil Fruit
11.28.14 by Mike Haley

“Serenity Now”. Thus spoke Costanza, though it did nothing to help him maintain a healthy blood pressure. Maybe, just maybe, he should have used one of those personal computers he and Lloyd Braun were trying to sell and surfed on over to Fort Evil Fruit to check out their new batch. There, old Frank would have been greeted by four cassettes, yielding 144 minutes of superlative serenity. The placid ambient sway from Claudio Cisterna’s Chiodata project slithering through eight tracks on “Dymensu”. A C38 recorded from 2012 – 2013 in Santiago, Chile. Ondness’ gallery of nebulous electronic warmth, moving snaillike over the “Surf e Performance” C36, as to not alarm poor Frank in his fragile state. He would surely have been delighted by the “Fractura de Miramientos” C22 by Rastrejo, a zoner that I believe Elaine would most definitely want to grip. The curious and colorful dance energy would have her shaking a leg in no time. “Who’s dancin’? Come on! Who’s dancin’!?” Maybe The Restless Dead & Bird People “Meet The Dervishes Of Khartoum In A Confluence-Of-The-Nile” would do the trick. Get Mr. Constanzo super chill. A C48 with a rather interesting story, summed up here by Chris Joynes:

“The source recordings for this project come from around 3 hours of field recordings made in November 2004 at the weekly Sufi Dervish ‘conference’ that takes place every Sunday in the centre of the main cemetery in Khartoum, Sudan, which rests near the point of confluence between the White Nile and Blue Nile. 

Trip Metal Alert! Spykes Ahead!
12.12.14 by Mike Haley

I was awoken in the wee hours of the night by a blasting tone and a cautioning voice blaring “Warning! Warning! Warning!”. It was my trusty Trip Metal Alarm. I made it a few months back with the parts of less important smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to warn me if Trip Metal levels get too high. The spewing of aggressively high TM fumes were due to the release of American Tapes #998: The Spykes “Winter Wonder” C90. And it wasn’t just one The Spykes “Winter Wonder” C90, not just two The Spykes “Winter Wonder” C90, but five versions of this Olson solo basement bologna banger, each limited to 30 copies. And it looks like it’s gonna be an ongoing series, lasting all winter, so be sure to collect ’em all for maximum inzanity. They promise a “Classic SPYKES sound spread” and rep hand drawn covers, which are basically some scribblin’, but would you have it any other way? These mugs are eight beans a pop, all available from AT’s Big Cartel, where the only info you’ll find is as follows…

“Its winter…long nights: can only skate three times a week with the crew: what are you going to do? DRAW AND RECORD. EVERYNIGHT. Here are the results. This is going to a long series, cause WINTER is LLOOOONG. Classic SPYKES sound spread out of marathon minutes and all sorts of instruments entanglements. Numbered edition of 30 with hand drawn covers.”

No samples are up from any of these marathon sessions, but here’s a live clip to get ya in the crude mood.

Top 200 Tapes Of 2014
12.8.14 by Tabs Out

Ahhhhh, so here we are again, the end of another year. No one knows exactly how long a “year” is or when one will end. We humans just feel it happening, it’s in our DNA. As the year lurches toward eradication our primal urges kick in and we do what nature has always intended us to do. We make lists. The only true way to know who did a good job over the past year. Exactly who should be proud of themselves and who should just crawl into a dark corner and perish in embarrassment. Your good pals at Tabs Out have you covered with a list of THE BEST cassettes of 2014. Numbered 1 through 200, letting you know to the number how good something was. It’s all extremely scientific: For example #54 is EXACTLY 3 better than #57.  We’ve crunched the numbers, so don’t try to disprove anything you see here.

Like last year’s definitive list of what was best, we only listed tapes that we (Mike, Dave, Joe B, Ian, and John Pyle) physically own. Stuff that was sent to us, or that we bought/traded for. Which, for 2014, is just shy of 1,000 tapes. And, like every other list out there, we did not include any tapes that we released on our own labels (905, 2:00AM, Beyond The Ruins) or by any of our projects.

We wrote about a lot of these gems on our site and our Who Has Tapes Anymore? feature on Adhoc. We also included label links for you to check out, and if possible, buy these tapes. Which you should!

Okay, let’s go!

1. Charles Barabé “Dates & Confessions” (Tranquility) Dates & Confessions is probably the strongest effort from Charles Barabé, a dude who seems to up the ante of his sonic experimentation with each release. The ten tracks on this Tranquility tape (4 “dates” and 6 “confessions”) are sizable in scope and momentum, a contemplative sculpting of dazzling electronics, gyratory spasms of tones, and intriguing field recordings, found sounds, and/or synthesized voices. All of those elements spiral together, handily bringing the listener in and out of distinct moods. If you give Dates & Confessions a listen in a hyper-focused state– similar to the one Barabé was most definitely in while creating it– you’ll easily be able to envision the sounds as an anatomical cross section: complex and divergent material working together. Thick & Thin. Wet & Dry. Bone & Meat. Veins & Nerves. Dates & Confessions.

2. German Army “Tassili Plateau” (Field Hymns)

3. Social Junk “Give Up” (Ascetic House)

4. Ryan Emmett “Portrait Of A Dog” (Orange Milk)

5. Angel Olsen “Burn Your Fire For No Witness” (Bathetic)

6. Ant’lrd / Gardener split (Digitalis)

7. Grandma Lo-Fi “The Basement Tapes Of Sigríður Níelsdóttir” (Hornbuckle)

8. Tlaotlon / Střed Světa split (Baba Vanga)

9. Matthew Akers “A History Of Arson” (Out Of Body)

10. Diode s/t (Crash Symbols)

11. The Electric Amygdala “Lion On The Beach” (Happy Puppy)

12. V/A “Ohio Volume One” (A Soundesign Recording/SKSK)

13. G.S. Sultan “AG_GREATESTHIT” (Umor Rex)

14. A.P. Vague “Uhura” (Bluebird Recordings)

15. Ben Varian “Real Domestic Scene” (Patient Sounds)

16. Doberman “CB004” (Castle Bravo)

17. Jeremy Bible “Collisions” (False)

18. Sewer Election & Puce Mary “Masks Are Aids” (Total Black)

19. Jeremiah Fisher “Martyrboys” (Tonal Shit)

20. Black Thread “Contemplation/Incompleteness” (Turmeric Magnitudes)

21. Unguent / Mincemeat Or Tenspeed split (Refulgent Sepulchre)

22. Karl Fousek “Relative Position Of Figures” (Phinery)

23. Looks Realistic “VA/A” (Beer On The Rug)

24. Watchword “Rose And Cross” (Arable)

25. Tredici Bacci “The Thirteen Kisses Cassetta” (NNA)

26. Q///Q “N Sa Bwa” (Skrot Up)

27. V/A “Haord’s Buncha” (Haord)

28. Motion Sickness of Time Travel “Ballades” (Hooker Vision)

29. Charlatan “Dead Drop” (Umor Rex)

30. Bromp Treb “Abuse Abandon Abort” (Yeay! Plastics)

31. Czern “Mind In Transit” (Castle Bravo)

32. Andreas Brandal “Hidden Rooms” (Tranquility)

33. Yom San “Playa Piano” (Crash Symbols)

34. Derek Rogers “Visual Echos” (Umor Rex)

35. Anthony Janas “Funny And Pretty” (Catholic)

36. Moltar “Oval Enounters” (Mistake By The Lake)

37. Ray Phaze Tropics “Motello Fish” (Rotifer)

38. Quicksails / Headboggle split (Hausu Mountain)

39. Wrong Signals “However, The Joke Became Serious” (Third Kind)

40. Knit Prism “Pace” (Scissor Tail Editions)

41. Yves Malone “Three Movies” (Field Hymns)

42. Long Distance Poison “Mirror Totality” (Moss Archives)

43. Severed + Said “Crying In Dreams” (Popnihil)

44. Good Willsmith “14 Years Of Desperate Research” (Umor Rex)

45. Karl Fousek “Codicil” (Adhesive Sounds)

46. Charles Barabé / Black Givre split (La Cohu)

47. Watchword / Stopped Clock split (A Soundesign Recording)

48. Radio Shock “Romanse Is The Death Of Intellect” (Suite 309)

49. Ryan Harris “Endless Shadows” (Wood Between Worlds)

50. Maurizio Bianchi / Roadside Picnic split (USSR)

51. Dane Patterson “Ghosting” (Fabrica)

52. Witchbeam / Mister Matthews split (Hausu Mountain)

53. Portopia ’81 “Stardust Memory” (Field Hymns)

54. Many Mansions “Night Sesh” (MJMJ)

55. Sleep Museum “The Vitrine Of Blindness” (Golden Cloud)

56. Astral Social Club “Meadow Mechanicals” (Fort Evil Fruit)

57. Sam Gas Can “I Sat Around” (Crash Symbols)

58. Japanese Treats “*E 468” (Adhesive Sounds)

59. V/A “The Two Benji’s Remix” (Refulgent Sepulchre)

60. HRRR “Adwa” (self released)

61. 夕方の犬 (Dog in the evening) “mb_s_4_ch” (Patient Sounds)

62. Micromelancolié “Surface Shift” (La Cohu)

63. Sound Sleep “Shape” (Exitab)

64. Jung An Tagen “Vielheiten” (Feathered Coyote)

65. G.S. Sultan “intermediate mv. (demonstration)” (Nada)

66. Giant Claw “22M Never Felt So Alone” (Suite 309)

67. Dominic Republics “Black Blizzard” (Auralgami Sounds)

68. Hunted Creatures “Mogollon Rim” (Dynamo Sound Collective)

69. Josh Millrod “Seeking the Millenary Kingdom” (Solid  Melts)

70. Hakobune / Oliwa / Former Selves / Panabrite “Oceanic Triangulation” (Inner Islands)

71. Mukqs “どうか Please Can You Keep My Secret” (Patient Sounds)

72. Jerry Paper / Andy Boay split (Hausu Mountain)

73. Seeami “Health & Safety” (Adhesive Sounds)

74. Homogenized Terrestrials / Nigel Samways / Arma & Refusenik / Gushing Cloud “Noosphertilizer II” (Aubjects)

75. En Nihil / Filth split (Out Of Body)

76. Andy Loebs “The Shell & Spectacle’d” (RTA Art Collective)

77. Marreck “Mechanism” (Telsa)

78. Solvent “C for Comfort” (Suction)

79. Xunholm “Asleep In The Shattered Mirror” (Skrot Up)

80. Maar “Ceto” (Umor Rex)

81. Moulttrigger “Gamme Majeur” (The Centipede Farm)

82. Terror’ish / Textbook Punk split (self released)

83. Friesen / Waters Duo s/t (Shaking Box Music)

84. Half High s/t (Eiderdown)

85. DJ DJ Tanner “Townie” (Warm Gospel)

86. Foodman “Drum Desu” (Noumenal Loom)

87. Wes Tirey / Andrew Weathers split (Scissor Tail Editions)

88. Dreamcrusher “Suicide Deluxe” (Hausu Mountain)

89. wzrdryAV “Medicinal Circuits” (Digitalis)

90. Lost Trail “Without Streetlights” (Rano)

91. Lake Mary “There Are Always Second Chances in the Mountains” (Planted)

92. Rick Weaver “The Perfect Man” (Bezoar Formations)

93. Matthew Akers “Bayern” (self released)

94. Jason Soliday “Phase Transitions” (Alien Passengers)

95. Juice Machine “Spiritual Nutrition” (Dumpsterscore)

96. White Resin “dektol” (VAALD)

97. (( Husband Material )) “Go Ahead and Start the Family Without Me” (Patient Sounds)

98. Drut PD / Larry Wish / Elegance / CH Rom “Orange Milk Split Series Vol. 1” (Orange Milk)

99. Arnvs “Peltre” (Vwyrd Wurd)

100. Zaïmph & Yek Koo “L’interieur De La Vue” (Obsolete Units)

101. Cane Swords “Temple Swords” (Field Hymns)

102. (D)(B)(H) “Beyond Antiobiotics” (Human Conduct)

103. Âmes Sanglantes “Defects Of A Crystal Lattice” (Los Discos Enfantasmes)

104. Spiricom s/t (Wood Between Worlds)

105. Henderson/Metler/Foisy/Lachance “Built Like A Brick Shithouse” (Small Scale Music)

106. Micromelancolié “Ensemble Faux Pas” (A Giant Fern)

107. Seth Kasselman “Mmediate Rolls” (UR Sounds)

108. Sarah Davachi “August Harp” (Cassauna)

109. Bean Snack “II” (Personal Archives)

110. Mark Dicker “Livestock” (Econore)

111. KILT “She’s Got The Evil In Her Ear” (Fabrica)

112. Invertabit / August Traeger split (Bicephalic)

113. Nigro “Meeker” (Oxtail)

114. The Volume Settings Folder & Tanner Garza “Sprintgtime Return” (Bookend Recordings)

115. Roofer’s Nest “De-escalate” (Power Moves Label)

116. X.Y.R. “Arktika” (Constellation Tatsu)

117. Dark Half “Moon Through Dark Trees” (Third Kind)

118. Susan Balmar “Signum” (Beer On The Rug)

119. Ak’chamel “Fucking With Spirits” (The Centipede Farm)

120. Little Spoon “Girlfriend Forever” (MJMJ)

121. dugoutcanoe / Juxwl split (Warm Gospel)

122. Gay Shapes s/t (Moss Archives)

123. Hollowfonts “XLVIII” (Phinery)

124. Icepick “Hexane” (Astral Spirits)

125. V/A “Quality Time Vol.1” (Bonding)

126. Layne Garrett “Assemblages” (Individual Lines)

127. Feels / Death Club split (Limited Interest)

128. Big Waves Of Pretty “It Is A Sight He Never Forgets” (Bridgetown)

129. Sungod s/t (Holodeck)

130. SEEZUREFACE “Moon Moan Hymnal” (Warm Gospel)

131. Ruairi O’Baoighill “The Faceless One” (Feathered Coyote)

132. Control Unit “Burn” (Fort Evil Fruit)

133. Savage Cross “Nothingness” (Spirit Throne)

134. Rosemary Arp “Sakura” (Ascetic House)

135. Rachel Thomasin “Outlines” (Otherworldy Mystics)

136. The Last Sound “Outer Raidio” (Fort Evil Fruit)

137. Matt Boettke “Richmond Tape Club Volume Eight” (Richmond Tape Club)

138. Larry Wish “Free Willy Style” (Orange Milk)

139. Gora Sou “Living XXL” (Noumenal Loom)

140. Pauwel De Buck “Tape Your Skin” (Smeltkop)

141. Cliffsides “Headspace” (Tranquility)

142. William Selman “Equatorial Night” (Hausu Mountain)

143. Conrad Wedde “Spaceworld” (Field Hymns)

144. Mads Emil Nielsen s/t (Plant Migration)

145. Carey “VI” (Crash Symbols)

146. LXV “Superimposed & Hunted” (self released)

147. Atop / Ryan Harris split (Wood Between Worlds)

148. Rake Kash “Old Masters” (Unread)

149. DJM “Foreground Music” (Patient Sounds)

150. Topdown Dialectic “/​\​\​02” (Aught)

151. Andrew Anderson “The Red Dream” (Misanthropic Smile)

152. German Army “Socotra Scripture” (Horror Fiction)

153. Nodolby “Pulse Paralysis” (Ghetto Naturalist Series)

154. Head Dress “Warren” (Phinery)

155. William Selman “Chaîne Opératoire” (Digitalis)

156. Sunroom / Deep Catalogue split (Cosmic Winnetou)

157. Disguised As Birds “We Buy Gold” (Geology)

158. Dismal Light “Mindswap” (Auasca)

159. ADSW “Fixtures” (The Centipede Farm)

160. this is esophagus “Mellotron Quartet: ends no ends” (Amok Recordings)

161. Los Condenados s/t (YDLMIER)

162. Softest “Music for Rain Volume 1” (Inner Islands)

163. Q///Q “Jardim” (Self-Help)

164. Yankee Yankee “Segments” (USSR)

165. Lindsay Dobbin “Arrival” (Phinery)

166. Hiro Kone “Fallen Angels” (Geographic North)

167. Glou Glou “Hymn Her Hum” (Full Spectrum)

168. Drophead vs. Silent Land Time Machine “From Ashes Comes the Day” (Holodeck)

169. V/A “Eden In Reeds: Collected Misanthropic Sounds” (Bleak Environment)

170. Seth Graham “Goop” (Noumenal Loom)

171. Cask s/t (Tranquility)

172. Curative Measures “England Wears A Mask” (Strange Rules)

173. Andrew Weathers & Seth Chrisman “Louella” (Full Spectrum)

174. Bob Bellerue “Cure The Antidote” (Los Discos Enfantasmes)

175. 156 “A Life Lived As If In Hell” (Out of Body)

176. Body Morph “Ogre” (Moon Myst)

177. Allegory Chapel Ltd. “Resurrection” (Chondritic Sound)

178. Oven “III” (Mongoloid Production / Legion Blotan)

179. Smokey Emery “Soundtracks for Invisibility Vol. III: Qui Mal y Pense” (Holodeck)

180. Yantis / McLaughlin / Mason / Houpert “Alice Sketches” (Digitalis)

181. Form “Trips” (Adhesive Sounds)

182. Roan Linden “Residential Services” (Golden Cloud)

183. Ou Où “Ou Ng” (self released)

184. Banana Pill “Weave” (Cosmic Winnetou)

185. Ki Oni “Autumn, In Real Time” (Inner Islands)

186. Reactive Identity “Angelfolc (Strange Rules)

187. Benjamin Finger “Mood Chaser” (Digitalis)

188. Mutwawa “Richmond Tape Club Seven” (Richmond Tape Club)

189. Strategy “Cerebral Hut AKA Off The Grid” (Field Hymns)

190. Elizabethan Collar “/​\​\​01” (Aught)

191. Axnaar “Shite Inside Death” (Legion Blotan)

192. Height with Friends “10​,​000 Devastating Watts” (Illuminated Paths)

193. Ashtray Navigations “Aero Infinite” (Tape Drift)

194. Death’s Dynamic Shroud.wmv “世界大戦OLYMPICS” (Orange Milk)

195. Bus Gas “Snake Hymns” (Spring Break)

196. Tashi Dorji and Frank Meadows “Number Six Is Sacred” (Cabin Floor Esoterica)

197. Joshua Dumas “Rough Matinals” (Horror Fiction)

198. Poet Named Revolver “Meets Gruesome” (No Kings)

199. øjeRum “There Is A Flaw In My Iris” (A Giant Fern)

200. Kenny Basil Sound System “Dick Picks Vol.1” (self released)Kenny Basil Sound System @ about 2 hours in

Serenity Now From Fort Evil Fruit
11.28.14 by Mike Haley

“Serenity Now”. Thus spoke Costanza, though it did nothing to help him maintain a healthy blood pressure. Maybe, just maybe, he should have used one of those personal computers he and Lloyd Braun were trying to sell and surfed on over to Fort Evil Fruit to check out their new batch. There, old Frank would have been greeted by four cassettes, yielding 144 minutes of superlative serenity. The placid ambient sway from Claudio Cisterna’s Chiodata project slithering through eight tracks on “Dymensu”. A C38 recorded from 2012 – 2013 in Santiago, Chile. Ondness’ gallery of nebulous electronic warmth, moving snaillike over the “Surf e Performance” C36, as to not alarm poor Frank in his fragile state. He would surely have been delighted by the “Fractura de Miramientos” C22 by Rastrejo, a zoner that I believe Elaine would most definitely want to grip. The curious and colorful dance energy would have her shaking a leg in no time. “Who’s dancin’? Come on! Who’s dancin’!?” Maybe The Restless Dead & Bird People “Meet The Dervishes Of Khartoum In A Confluence-Of-The-Nile” would do the trick. Get Mr. Constanzo super chill. A C48 with a rather interesting story, summed up here by Chris Joynes:

“The source recordings for this project come from around 3 hours of field recordings made in November 2004 at the weekly Sufi Dervish ‘conference’ that takes place every Sunday in the centre of the main cemetery in Khartoum, Sudan, which rests near the point of confluence between the White Nile and Blue Nile. 

The Complete Hala Strana
11.17.14 by Mike Haley

Maybe you’ve heard Hala Strana. Maybe you haven’t. Maybe you’ve picked up one, or two, or a handful of his releases that came out over the years between 2003 and 2010. Maybe you didn’t. It doesn’t much matter where on that spectrum you land, because you’re gonna find something for yourself in this box set of Hala Strana’s complete catalog, released by the tangibly striking Cabin Floor Esoterica.

Multi-instrumentalist Steven R. Smith recorded under the name Hala Strana, devising structurally lavish music that took cues from traditional Middle Eastern and Eastern European sounds, folk, and psych rock to name a few influences. Smith’s execution of his music as Hala Strana spills out of speakers very naturally, very nonchalant. His quivering rhythms and use of homemade instruments makes it all feel extremely personal and puts the listener at ease in the thicket of his soaring and/or humble moments. In short hand, it can be like an all hobbit Godspeed You! Black Emperor. His songs were spread across CDs, an LP, and a 7″ lathe released by labels like Soft Abuse, Jewelled Antler, and Music Fellowship. Now, Cabin Floor Esoterica, the Columbus, OH imprint who package tapes in small kraft boxes along with tidbits that add to each release’s narrative, collected all Hana Strana output for a five cassette collection. It takes a C64, C81, C44, and a couple of C42s to gather it all together. Throw in a twelve page booklet, some inserts on handmade paper, vintage European postage stamps, a risograph print, and some wood shavings and that brings us this handsome little piece of work.

The box is limited to 50 copies, and rapidly approaching extinction. Head on over to the CFE’s available releases section to pick it up for $42.50 (plus shipping outside the US) while you still can. Don’t be afraid to explore other titles as well. Stream excerpts below.

Interview – Wood Between Worlds
11.10.14 by Mike Haley

Wood Between Worlds is a pretty fantastic new label out of Austin Texas, run by Joshua Bradshaw. After receiving WBW’s first five releases in the mail, and jamming them multiple times, I decided to get in touch with Mr. Bradshaw for a quick conversation about the label. We “spoke” on an internet social media site called Facebook. Here it is.

 

Thanks for sending the tapes over.

Glad they arrived. I say this because I had a really morbid experience with a guy who ordered a tape a few months ago – it never arrived because his postman sucked. So I followed up to see if he wanted another copy or a refund. Months went by, so I sent another email a week or two ago and his sister emailed me back that he had died in a motorcycle accident and not to worry about the issue. It was fucked.

Jesus. That’s intense. What tapes did he order?

That was the ATOP/Ryan Harris split.

I don’t know why I asked that.

Why not?

So that was released for the Austin Cassette Fest, right? How did that go?

The fest was a lot of fun, Randall put together a pretty cool event. I didn’t exactly sell tapes like hot cakes but I sold a few, traded a few, met a bunch of local tape labels – Fleeting Youth, Red River Family (great local black metal label), Accrue, Monofonus Press, Ritual Tapes. Turnout was great too.

Are ATOP and Ryan Harris both from the Austin area?

Ryan Harris is from Austin, I think Tyler specifically, but he moved to Florida right before that. I actually never got to meet him IRL.

What about ATOP?

ATOP is from Dallas, I know him from a forum I frequent called watmm.com

Did the split come together specifically for the fest, or is the label something you’ve been planning on doing for a while?

Actually that’s a good question, I had only put out one tape at that point from my friend’s band, Play By Numbers, and I was like – I think I could do a split for the fest. At that point Ryan Harris wanted to put out a tape for my then planned label. Atop had a bunch of music he’d throw up on Bandcamp and even internet archive years ago. Musically they both had some similar vibes, and Ryan had told me he was sitting on like, 400 tracks. So I was like, shit, well, lets do a C30. I had 20 something of those C30 tapes laying around so we came up with that. I think it was less than a month before the fest. It was all via email too. I still haven’t met Cody (ATOP) IRL either. I know Jason (Rorqual) from watmm as well. He’s from Louisiana. I met Anthony (Spiricom) briefly at the festival, I’m going to see him sometime next week.

So Play By Numbers was the first release? I was a bit confused because the ATOP/Harris split doesn’t have a WBW release number.

Yes that’s correct, I put “ACF” for Austin Cassette Fest. If it keeps going on I plan to do a split tape every year.

Well, let’s back track a bit to release number one then. Tell me a bit about Play By Numbers.

Play By Numbers is a band from Austin, TX. The main dude behind it, Carter Francis, is a really close friend of mine. Before I even thought of the label I floated the idea of doing a cassette for them, which he and the other guys were very down with. They otherwise just throw their music up online, maybe some CD-Rs. By the time I got the mastered tracks Austin Cassette Fest was coming up so I decided to debut the cassette release there. It’s kind of hard to pin down jammy electronic space rock stuff but I dig it. we all liked the way it sounded on tape, so I decided to make it the first release on the label. In hindsight, it’ll easily be the poppiest release on Wood Between Worlds.

It definitely has a different look and vibe from your other releases. You think WBW is going to focus on more darker/haunting material going on, or just whatever tickles your fancy?

It is the oddball of the bunch. The darker look and vibe so far was a bit of a coincidence which is why I put it out this autumn, right after Halloween. At first I was like “alright, I guess I just became a Tri Angle Records/witch house label” but I’m not too worried about it. My main goal is to put out experimental and instrumental music – ambient, drone, and synth-heavy stuff. Artwork for the next batch is the big unknown at the moment. If there’s one goal I have in the future, it will be trying to recruit local artists. I winged it with the artwork for the releases so far. Except Play By Numbers, they sent me those graphics.

So are you going to release mainly Texas based stuff?

Not strictly, no. It will probably be that way for awhile. For now I’m drawn to anyone who is putting out good music that’s either been unreleased or self-released stuff that’s just kind of floating around online. That said, I think all of the releases I have in the works are TX based guys.

What’s behind the interest of releasing tapes by people who have little to nothing out?

I suppose I have this odd desire to have them put something out in a tangible format. I’m down with putting out a tape for an established artist, I just think it’s something for the future. Starting off I found the idea of putting out “new” artists appealing. It’s a mutual thing too – Ryan and ATOP were stoked to have a split tape out there.

Was the split one of the first actual releases for them?

It’s the first for ATOP

I noticed on the WBW Bandcamp that it says those splits were “hand duplicated at 1x speed from type II high bias (CrO2) master tape”. Do you home dub all of your stuff in real time, and plan on keeping it that way?

Yes. In fact to catch up a bit I just bought a 8-way A/V splitter box and some more decks. So far I’ve been using a Realistic tape control center coupled with 3 Sony dual decks. This most recent batch was dubbed from the digital masters, but, yeah, both the C30 split and the PBN release were dubbed from actual master tapes. I don’t think I’ll ever use NAC [National Audio Company]. Nothing personal, I just like doing these myself. It’s fun getting the levels right and hearing the decks click when they’re done.

Is the DIY aspect important to you?

It is, yeah. In fact my interest in tape labels and cassettes was a gradual thing but I also had this weird crisis as a music fan and listener where I just kind of found myself tired of all of the hyped, PR-heavy new music I was passively listening to. As I started listening to and buying tapes I felt an urge to try this myself. As for making the tapes themselves, I want a certain level of quality to them. I’ve avoided duplicator machines for that reason.

Are there any tape labels that you got inspiration or ideas from for WBW? Someone you looked at and thought “I want to do something like that”?

Yes. Ctatsu and SicSic early on. Their music primarily. I had planned to do more collage-y stuff as artwork like Ctatsu. I might return to that when I put out anything that gels with that. I’ve been very impressed by Holodeck as well. I want to step up my artwork on the shells as well, I Had An Accident does some cool stuff. Ritual Tapes, which unfortunately has gone on hiatus, did some cool tapes with clear Jcard with laser ink. Randall of Graveyard Orbit has been putting some tapes out like that. He does his stuff in real time as well.  In fact, he recommended the A/V splitter box to me. (Feel free to edit some of those “as well” endings. LOL.)

It’s fine. You’re doing a great job. Just don’t fall off your motorcycle.

LOL. I shouldn’t LOL, but I LOL’d. I’m a dark humor kind of person.

Like the Batman with Michael Keaton?

Yeah, totally had Batman swag as kid.

Who is your favorite Batman?

Keaton. There’s a YouTube video comparing him to Bale saying the same line: “Shut up you’re going to jail” or something.

I’m an Adam West man.

Hahahaha.

I’m leaving all of this in. In fact, we can just talk about Batman instead of the label if you want.

Well, my label is called Batcave duplication. *frantically changes social media information*

What does Wood Between Worlds mean?

It’s a reference to the Narnia series, The Magician’s Nephew specifically. It’s a linking room in the book, a forest that connects all of these worlds/universes. I always liked that concept. There’s an Adventure Time episode with a room like that, too. The name came to me though when I was in New Mexico. There’s a cabin my wife and I visit in the summer in a town called Cloudcroft. Cloudcroft sits in the Lincoln Forest in SE N.M. and it’s sandwiched the Tularosa Basin to the west and drier badlands to the east. When you drive down to the Tularosa Basin you see White Sands and in 15 minutes you go from an alpine forest at 8,000+ feet to high desert. We actually toyed with the idea of moving out there and I thought it would be cool to have the label reflect the location. Well, alas, we’re still in Austin, TX but the name stuck with me. I like the idea of all of the tapes I put out being little sonic worlds. In a literal cheesy visual, the idea of these musical worlds being in a wooden tape holder sealed the deal for me. “Wood Between Worlds.” Lastly, the venn diagram visual came to me. It’s a pretty flexible logo, I plan to tweak it with each batch, or at least every season. The three elements – outer space and ocean waves with a forest in the middle will stay the same.

That’s really going to throw off the Batman direction I was going to take this interview in.

You could say the Batmobile lost a wheel, as far as this interview has gone.

Haha. I was going to ask about the new batch you just released, and to compare each tape to a Batman villain. But instead I’ll just say: Tell me about the new batch you just released.

Ryan Harris is Baby Doll…

Spiricom is the hardest for me to describe, in a good way. It’s got a hypnotic vibe to it, reminds me of Gatekeeper or Demdike Stare in that way. There’s a sense of epic scale to the way it sounds. Like dub techno meeting drone ambient. I heard Rorqual awhile back, we were discussing chopped and screwed on watmm and he posted a track he recorded inspired by the genre. It’s a drone ambient release but with these snippets and subtle samples of chopped and screwed music in there. It’s nice and deep, and I had a oceanic association with it personally. After all Houston, where this music is from, sits on the Gulf. Ryan Harris is straight up darkwave and horror synth. He recorded those tracks in 2010. He had two albums prepped but felt more inspired to put that one out after seeing the artwork I was doing.

Give me the raw details on these three new ones. Titles, lengths…

Spiricom – s/t C47
Rorqual – sei/ci C32
Ryan Harris – Endless Shadows C47

Need track titles as well? I can copy and paste those if you want from Bandcamp.

You giving me shit? Because I can cut your mic.

Well I’LL JUST YELL THEN!

In a calm, clear voice, tell me this. What kind of editions did you do for these?

Run of 50 for each, digitally unlimited. They’re hand-numbered on type I Kingdom tapes. I bought those from a Baptist church who then asked if I wanted to go to their Sunday service. They’re loaded with TDK tape though, so I was happy at how they sounded.

Did you go to their service?

No.

Maybe they’ll let you set up a merch table.

Yeah, they’d love ATOP’s stuff. “Hey, what’s ATOP stand for?” ‘Akkad the Orphic Priest’ “Oh…How, uh, nice”. I went to their website, in fact I’m pretty sure it’s a “the earth is 6,000 years old” church. Kids were dressed like it was a bad Pioneer Day event. It was one of those Baptist Churches. But hey, they had tapes on Craigslist and I was in the market.

A short term relationship.

Another day in America.

So, what’s coming up on the label?

ATOP sent me his next album, “777,” and I’m really excited for it. It’ll be a C45. Three tracks total. It’s quite cosmic in scope, exactly the kind of music I imagined putting out when I came up with the label. That’s the most readied one. I have some artwork already in mind for it. In fact it was intended for this recent batch but I didn’t want to rush it. Spiricom has another album prepped. It’s a lot more ambient and musique concrete oriented, akin to the Caretaker project by Leyland Kirby. It’s called “Out Hands Were Tied.” Ryan Harris has another album ready and there’s another artist I have in mind to add who knows Cody (ATOP) who goes by Fond Phantom. So as you can see, for now I’m sticking with the same artists. I’m focusing on promoting this batch for now but I’m going to say the next batch would be late December/early January. A winter batch essentially. That one will be a C77 as well, type II. Not sure on the lengths of the other ones, but I imagine C45 or C60.