8.24.13: Tape Of The Month – August 2013
ARTIST: C.Reider

TITLE: Hold Music

LABEL: Vuzh Music

LENGTH: C60

DUBBED: Home

EDITION: Open Edition

 

 

 

August has been a stupid-busy month. My wife is headed back to work, leaving me to fend for myself in house with a toddler and an infant that I’m sure are both out to ruin me. While preparing for the exhausting task of keeping both of them alive and making sure they don’t completely despise me as a person, I’ve still managed to jam plenty of cassettes, and I’ve been presented with an analog smörgåsbord of pleasant surprises. A brand new San Francisco imprint Tumeric Magnitudes delivered some new names to my ear holes, as did the Already Dead label. I also FINALLY (way overdue) got my tangible Beer On The Rug introduction with Prism Corp Virtual Enterprises’ “Home™” cassette, who’s midi delights gave me the motivation to hook up my Sega Genesis and rack up a few rounds of Side Pocket. The tape that really stood out in the stack of new found August sweetness was the C.Reider “Hold Music” C60 on Vuzh Music.

C.Reider was releasing cassettes as far back as 1995. It was around that time that I got a Plow United / NOFX mix tape stuck in the deck of my first car, an ’88 Buick Regal, so needless to say I wasn’t aware of his noiserings at the time. Previous to “Hold Music”, his last cassette came out in 1999 (also on the Vuzh operation he runs) before opting to switch over to the world of CDRs and MP3s . Despite his vast and long haul of a career my first experience with his sonic jams was this month. What was supposed to be background sounds while anchoring a dresser to a wall (A fucking 120 year old plaster wall with crumbling bricks behind it, so you fucking can’t anchor shit to them without grinding it all to dust, but don’t get me started on that shit. Serenity now!) turned into repeat plays, the safety of my child put on the back burner while Reider burned it out.

“Hold Music” is an even 10 tracks of serious mood music, mostly improvised pieces, with a couple of field recordings. The opener, The Old Way, is a deep-meditation of guttural oscillations and buzzing high-end clocking in at a fairly short four and a half minutes before the first field recording, Band at Fickel Park. Being that Reider is from Colorado, I assume this recording is from the Fickel Park in Berthoud, CO located at 620 Mountain Avenue. The Berthoud Parks & Recs website says they got a newly refurbished tennis court with lights, so be sure to check that out if you’re in the area. The field recording grips the sounds of birds, some wind chimes, and ongoings in the distance. There doesn’t appear to be any manipulations done, just a pure recording of nature, and a nice transition piece from The Old Way to Print Room. Not a field recording of a park, but Print Room keeps my brain in that zone with some breezy vocal drones and the staccato pestering of a woodpecker made using the app NodeBeat, a fancy looking sequencer for your iPad, Kindle Fire, and the like. I don’t usually like when artists list the equipment they use on recordings, mainly because it feels like they are stroking their gear boners, but I dig it here. Maybe it’s because C.Reider notes the use of a wide variety of objects and instruments on each track, and uses them well. It doesn’t come across as snobbish “look what vintage synth I snagged on eBay” blah-blahing. From The Gristleizer and Casper Electronics Novadrone on The Old Way to the tape loops (two to be exact) on the aptly named fourth track, Oily Residue, to the field recordings and Bach samples Reider pans his items and tactics on a dope scale. The track Bottle Reduction lists his paraphernalia as “Bottles, reduction”. Not sure what the bottles were filled with, but judging by the minimal feeps and rumbles, it tasted like what the cover of 2001 on laserdisc looks like. Seven and a half minutes of crystallized drone melt away the A side.

After a quick flip, The B side wastes no time diving into weird territory. An Orange One is a squiggly two minutes and where the previously mentioned Bach sample is used. Good thing that was noted on the Jcard, because I never would have guessed it. Johann Sebastian’s jamming being heavily altered into vivid fantasy dip. The second of two field recordings is Apple Store. Now, I’ve never been in an Apple Store before, so someone fill me in. Is it a fucking party in that place or what?! There’s a chorus of, like, 100 people probably all saying “this isn’t working” and “I need the new version of this” and “the new version of this isn’t working”. I gotta check that place out. Do they serve coffee? Silenus’ Advice is the longest cut on “Hold Music”, taking up 1/4 of the 60 minutes, and a solid ending to a solid tape. A thick delivery of tactile waves blast and bubble, and they are long enough to get lost inside of.

The artwork isn’t anything to write home about, but after spending an hour navigating the diverse aural universe C.Reider created I’m not about to complain. The brown, almost construction paper, with black printing is pretty nice and I’m into all the liner notes on the second panel. I should mention, as he did, that tracks 3,4,5,7,& 8 were made for the Disquiet Junto and track 9 appeared version on the No-R-Mal II compilation. The black cassette shell has black and white labels on both sides, with a little notch cut out of the lower left hand corner where you can see a white stamp that says Vuzh Music. Makes me wonder what else was stamped under this label??? I’m assuming these tapes were originally used for something else and dubbed over. Not sweating it though, cause they are solid home dubs.

You can purchase “Hold Music” for $6.00 from Vuzh Music but, as it’s stated several times in several places, C.Reider prefers trades. So be quick and barter up! So much is going down on this tape. You’re gonna wanna get involved with it for sure!

 

 

 

 

 

7.31.13: Hal McGee Presents The Museum Of Microcassette Art
Veteran noise weirdo, and overseer at Hal Tapes, Hal McGee is no stranger to the microcassettes. Over the years he has released solo cassettes of field recordings from the little guys and has done several microcassette compilations, complete with itty-bitty jcards.

His latest project is The Museum of Microcassette Art. Getting involved is as easy as this. You email Hal, he sends you two 30 minute micorcassettes. You record anything your little heart desires, decorate the tape and case, and then send it back to him. That’s it. The extra micro is yours to do with as you wish. Make another, bury it, eat it. Your call.

Hal will archive all of the tapes online and display them in his home, which will become a makeshift Museum Of Microcassette Art. I’d reckon it will be the largest museum dedicated to the smallest audio format, possibly in the universe. Or at least Florida. And just think, when he’s dead museums around the world can fight over ownership of our shitty, lowest-fi possible recordings! It’s a dream come true.

To get started, email Mr. McGee at haltapes@gmail.com.

7.30.13: Video Preview Of “Duets II” Compilation + Win A Copy
Last year Tranquility Tapes released not just one of the best cassette compilations, but in our humble opinion, one of the best cassettes of the year. The 100 minute collection, “Duets”, boasted an insane lineup (of all duets, obviously – Telecult Powers, Grasshopper, Century Plants, Super Minerals, Afterlife, Quiet Evenings, Imperial Topaz, Sundrips, and more), plush artwork, and as the label’s description says it was a damn fine “tribute to collaboration and camaraderie through sound”. So we were more than thrilled to learn they were going for round two.

The due date for “Duets II” is late August and will be an edition of 150 copies. The roster may not be as familiar, but the sounds definitely live up to it’s older siblings jams. Here’s the rundown of the ten happy couples involved:

DOZENS (Francesco De Gallo & Ryan Connolly, Montreal)
GLASS HOUSE (Ian Collier & Eric Brannon, Brooklyn & Philadelphia)
CREAM JUICE (Seth Graham & Keith Rankin, New York & Ohio)
ROPED OFF (Dave Doyen & Mike Haley, Delaware)
PERSPECTIVES (Kyle Conklin & Josh Tippery, Florida)
NITE LITE (Myste & Phil French, Portland)
PENDULUMS (Adam Meyer & Robert Thompson, Indiana & North Carolina)
URKAS (Russ Alderson & Mike Griffin, New York)
COYOTE IMAGE REVISITED (Grant & Rachel Evans, Georgia)
MORAE (Kyle Iman & Matthew Kennall, Washington)

Why a comps of duos? Head honcho over at Tranquility HQ, Franklin Teagle, laid it out like this…

“I wanted to put together a compilation for Tranquility Tapes, but I wanted it to have a unifying theme. Partly because that’s more interesting to me than just a regular compilation, but also because it would help to narrow down the people I asked to contribute. I’d been playing music with Ryan as Afterlife for a few years at that point and knew quite a few additional duos orbiting around the label who would make great additions. The results were better than I expected and, in my mind, it came together as a real testament to the beauty of creation through collaboration.”

Here’s a video preview of “Duets II” put together by Moduli TV (aka Francesco De Gallo & Jane L. Kasowicz):

 

WIN A COPY OF “DUETS II”!
Tranquility Tapes is giving away two copies of “Duets II” to two lucky people. A duet, if you will. Get it? All you have to do is comment on this Tabs Out Facebook post and let us know your all time favorite duo, of any kind. From any category you’d like. Salt & Pepper, Siegfried & Roy, shock and awe… Whatever you’re into and we’ll pick our two favorites. Please, one submission per person.

7.22.13: Tape Of The Month – July 2013
ARTIST: Fairhorns

TITLE: Satan Replicant

LABEL: Deathbomb Arc

LENGTH: C60 – material repeats on b-side

DUBBED: Pro

EDITION: 50

 

 

 

Einstein hypothesized that for a one-sided tape to truly be great the A side must consist of particles who’s mass and velocity are equal to, or greater than, the mass and velocity of particles contained by a tape where the A side and B side both differ and equal awesome. G = A ≤ (A+B = ☺). The Fairhorns “Satan Replicant” cassette on Deathbomb Arc definitely meets Albert’s requirements. I am no fan of single sided cassettes, and I lump tapes with same material on both sides (like this one) into that category. But Fairhorns dazzle my brain enough with these four tracks that I’m not only willing to put that hatred aside, but make this July’s Tape Of The Month.

“Satan Replicant” is the 122nd released in DBA’s jam packed catalog which dates back to 2001, and the cassette version of a 12″ put out by Kinda Rad earlier in the year. Or that was the vinyl version of this cassette, depending on your belief system, but that is none of my business. Fairhorns is the solo project of Matt Loveridge who has proved that he can play well with others with the projects Beak> (along with Geoff Barrow of Portishead) and Deathbomb house band Foot Village. At the core of his loner cuts here are percussive K-holes. Savage, abrasive rhythms, either sampled or played repetitively (in a good good GOOD way), that lay the groundwork while shards of commotion (chaotic and collected) spill out. Phased beams, lo-fi organ-like piping, distortion, and soaring vocals. The vocals, which are more like wailing than words, sort of remind me of when heavy bands like Isis started to chill out a bit and do what I guess was referred to as post-metal. They’re a pleasant, uncommon touch added to these sort of abrasive textures and vibes. Each of the four tracks have their own unique personalities. The cassette’s opener is Regen Thrumm. A seven and a half minute slow-tempo melter with a consistent thump – thump that is (sue me) oddly emotional? The single (or “Buzz Clip” if you’re approaching middle-age) is Nodens. Oh shit, man. It’s a beast of a jam. Loveridge uses the template of a rock song but replaces all of the standard elements with slices and splices of electronics that jump and dive, gutter drums, and nails it for almost five minutes. So tight. Alamut is the longest player on “Satan Replicant” at 8:47. She’s a heavy builder-uper, with shrill notes and oil drum beats playing the stacking game. Too chunky to be hypnotic, but somehow still puts ya under a spell. It all climaxes with the witching hour grease-burner Pinecone. All of these suckers have mad amounts of stuck-in-headability.

The cassette shells are black with “Fairhorns” and “Satan Replicant” imprinted on either side in gold. Those words are scrawled out in the same style on the Jcard, where those colors are reversed. Black printing on thin gold paper with two panels, one with what looks like the writings of a dude who ain’t all that right in the noggin and possibly about to wear a second dude’s skin, one with obelisks sticking out of scribbly muck. The spine and back flap are pretty dope. “Fairhorns” is written large enough to wrap around, dishing out a nice detail that I’m sure most people wont really notice, but whatever. It’s gonna look sick on the shelves, but probably wont spend much time there.

It’s a goddamn 21st century mystery how this one, limited to just 50 copies, is still available. But it is, and will cost you a $7 bill here. DBA definitely has a deep catalog to dig through, so bring a shovel and your PayPal account with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Tweets About Cassette Store Day
7.15.13 by Mike Haley

I’m sure by now most people have heard about Cassette Store Day which will take place this coming September. Personally, I think its fucking stupid on multiple levels. But a day to celebrate cassette stores (whatever those are?) or cassettes in general is obviously nothing to get bent out of shape about, right? In fact, when I brought up my beyond First World grievance about it to Dave at Tabs Out his exact response, and I’m quoting him here, was “WHOCARE”. So I’ll spare you my diatribe. Even though I live for getting into irrational frenzies over inconsequential bullshittery, my oddly shaped frame boiling over with toddler-like fussiness akin to Francis Buxton from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. I’ll refrain. I wont poo-poo about good labels that actually LIKE cassettes having their projects pushed aside so At The Drive-In and The Flaming Lips can have some novelty knickknacks made. Hell, NAC’s turnaround is almost TOO FAST as it is, so this may be a good thing. I wont bring up anything about the lameness of manufactured rarities (though I would highly recommend reading The Wire’s Collateral Damage: Numero Group on the vinyl bubble article from last month). Dude, I wont even bring up how much I hate the whole “cassettes are fun, kooky, and retro! Look at my iPhone. The case makes it look like a cassette!!!” crew. Nope, none of that Gloomy Gus style from me. Instead, here are my ten favorite tweets from today about Cassette Store Day.

1

Shark, jumped. http://t.co/cFZQllPBpo

— Lars Gotrich 🍷🌊 (@totalvibration) July 15, 2013

2

Pardon my language but every fucking day is Cassette Store Day – don't believe the hype

— Field Hymns Records (@fieldhymns) July 15, 2013

3

I can't believe Cassette Store Day is a real thing and not a prank with that half-assed TUMBLR as an official website.

— Radio Shock (@radioshock) July 15, 2013

4

Will be at my cassette store. Wherever that utopia is.

— Chloe Harris / RAICA (@djchloeharris) July 15, 2013

5
https://twitter.com/dogdazetapes/status/356868235741757440

6
https://twitter.com/billmartin/status/356920194452570112

7
https://twitter.com/frenchbloke/status/356873335331753984

8

I’m all for encouraging people to buy music but Cassette Store Day? Really? #thesoundofabarrelbeingscraped

— Echoes And Dust (@echoesanddust) July 15, 2013

9
https://twitter.com/RanoRanoRano_/status/356814847041748994

10
https://twitter.com/Marcissist/status/356879839866798081

and a self serving bonus

So far the only good thing about Cassette Store Day is that I discovered @tabsout – podcast of cassette noise/experimental music

— Music of the Commons (@dpnem) July 15, 2013

 

There will be tons of releases and worldwide events for CSD. You can check out their site for info.

 

update (7/16): Oh, and just for the record, Volcanic Tongue invented Cassette Store Day.

Regarding the upcoming Cassette Store Day, no hard feelings, we're used to people stealing our moves! 😉 http://t.co/xr0bdBGNUg

— Volcanic Tongue (@volcanictongue) July 16, 2013

7.15.13: Hausu Mountain’s “Mugen Series” Preview

I’m a big fan of a good series. I grew up getting Sub Pop Singles Club records in the mail, and even though there was A LOT of clunkers in the bunch, something about the idea of a complete collection intrigued me and I kept signing up for another year. By the time Not Not Fun issued their “Bored Fortress” series a handful of years back, I didn’t even really like 7″s anymore, but I still signed up for that, too (with much better results I should add). It’s especially appealing to my senses when a series goes that extra mile and places certain rules, regulations, and/or themes on the artists involved. It can range from the extremely simple, like region (ie: the “New England”, “Michigan”, “California” etc… box sets from RRR and friends), to something a bit more involved. In the early 2000’s a label called Chrome Peeler issued a set of compilations called “You’ve Got Your Orders” where song titles were assigned to musicians who then had to write and record a song with said title (only two were released, so I’m not sure if that constitutes a series, but…). And of course you got your classics like Star Wars, and who isn’t a Jar Jar fanatic, am i right??? Moving on…

On July 22nd Chicago-based label Hausu Mountain will begin releasing the “Mugen Series”. Split cassettes featuring solo performances, recorded in single takes with absolutely no overdubs or edits, of loop-based improv on the noise/drone spectrum. Each artists tackles the task in their own way, with the instruments and non-instruments of their choosing.

The first gripful of Mugens will play out like this:

Volume 1 will feature Hausu Mountain label-heads Max Allison and Doug Kaplan under their monikers Mukqs and MrDougDoug. Both sampled and manipulated audio formats, cassettes and vinyl respectively, to start the series off.

Volume 2 will highlight the ambient looping of TALsounds (Natalie Chami) and Greyghost (Brian Griffith) who debuted his project on Constellation Tatsu earlier this year.

Volume 3 has the caustic laptop processing of Mike Sugarman on the A side and Aeron Small (aka: Ron Tubman) working the guitar and modular synths on the B.

Volume 4 sees the Grasshopper duo splitting up, with Jesse DeRosa performing as Shingles and Josh Millrod, who does solo work under the name Dads Against Vietnam, appearing here under the name his moms gave him. Both doing ungodly things with a trumpet.

Hausu Mountain plans to keep the series open indefinitely adding a tape to it every couple of months. Splits with Plankton Wat, Steven Hess from Locrian, and others are already planned after the initial roll out of the first four.

The artwork for the Jcards is eye shattering. They sort of look like covers for 90’s RPGs, and that’s not by coincidence. Most of the images are screenshots of the game EarthBound knit together in Photoshop. My favorite part is definitely the characters on each cover that represent the jammers on the tape. Lanky, boxy depictions made by Dannielle Del Rosario who was given Chrono Trigger and Sword & Sworcery screenshots as touchstones. She did some excellent work. Tight side note: Coincidentally, there was a MS-DOS/Linux based 2D fighting game called M.U.G.E.N.

These Mugen mugs are $7ppd (US) / $8ppd (CAN) / $10ppd (WORLD) or you can grab the first four together for $21/$26/$33. This can be done right now, preorder style, by clicking here.

Check out a sample of some of the material:

posted by Mike Haley

7.8.13: Replicant, A DIY Space Fundraiser
Normally I hate to hear that a record label is doing a Kickstarter or some sort of online fundraising thingie, but this actually pretty awesome. Instead of raising cash for a record that should just probably not be released, Purr Tapes is opening a DIY Space that will act as a tape store, recording studio, art/show space, and general hangoutery in SE Portland, OR. Replicant’s the name and 20 grand is the game. A hefty sum indeed but at this moment they still have 19 days left. So head on over to their Indiegogo page and fork over some green. And you know how these things work. You get stuff in return.

They are offering up everything from drawings and stickers to recording sessions with Presley Perez (the most awesome Hollywood name ever. So tight) to getting a night to use the space however you’d like (The Elite Hustlah, as they call it). And of course jams from Purr Tapes.

Here is a video of their pitch to check out:

posted by Mike Haley

7.7.13: Find Buddy, Win A Jump Rope Tape!
Later this month we will be sending out copies of Tabs Out #2, a C38 collaboration between Grasshopper & Roped Off under the name JUMP ROPE, to everyone who has made chrome donations to Tabs Out. We are also giving away one copy for free. And here is how you can grip it…

There is a little Easter Egg somewhere on this site that will lead you to a picture of Buddy Lee (shown to the left) with a code to email contact@s935781125.onlinehome.us. The first to find Buddy and email us the code wins a copy of the tape. It’s that simple! Good luck!

 

 

UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations to Franklin Teagle for finding Buddy and gripping a copy of the Jump Rope tape! The only way to get it now is to become a chrome donator to Tabs Out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to a clip of the tape:

7.3.13: Persistence Of Vision
As far as inaugural releases go, this one is pretty tight. A brand new label named Difficult Interactions is kicking things off with a VHS release called “Persistence Of Vision” from SECAM Kino. The video is 44 minutes of visuals meant to be played along with the audio of your choosing. So pop it in the VCR, grab some sounds off of your shelves, and mix it up until you find a particularly pleasing (or unpleasing) zone. Sounds like a good time.

“POV” is an edition of 50 copies on red VHS tapes. The first 25 come along with a companion SECAM Kino C90 called “Possible Soundtracks Volume One”. It will set ya back a cool eight bones here.

Check out a sample of the sights, and sounds from the “Possible Soundtracks”. Or you could mute it and test it out with something else.

 

 

 

posted by Mike Haley