6.25.13: Tape Of The Month – June 2013
TAPEofthemonth_JuneARTIST: Tether

TITLE: Guest Bed

LABEL: Dokuro

LENGTH: C44

DUBBED: Pro

EDITION: 50

 

 

 

 

Jack, the Tabs Out mailman who wears killer bandanas and always advices me to “have a groovy day”, has been on point lately. I know he doesn’t get to pick what he delivers, but he still drops it all off and for that deserves some credit. Since the May Tape Of The Month old Jackie-boy has come through with some tremendous magnetic tape rations, some of the highlights being a new Tranquility Tapes batch (The Rainbow Body, Xanthocephalus, Parashi, and Mr.Matthews), some recent Animal Disguise offerings (Ma Turner, Rake Rash, and a Mammal reissue), an effervescent joyride on Further Records from PLKZFX, and some ludicrously fascinating and off the wall zones from the ever-brilliant Orange Milk (Cream juice, Maharadja Sweets, Pajama, Christopher Merritt, and Phork). The noise that is keepin’ my eggs frying, and June’s Tape Of The Month, is “Guest Bed” by Tether.

Italian imprint Dokuro, owned and operated by Michele Scariot, have been active since 2007 when Mic dropped a 7″ for his project NoDolby. Since then 40 other releases have donned the Dokuro name with Tether being the most recent (DK041). But WHO is Tether, you ask? Well, Tether is the fresh moniker of Lauren Pakradooni who’s known throughout the land as PAK and “Guest Bed” is her debut under said moniker. Gnarly electronics and chapped tape loops mangle the surface of each track with vocals buried just beneath the crust, recorded in coverQatar and various locales in the US of A. The opener “Well Lit Void” churns through dual spirals of sound that have been given the low-grit sandpaper treatment while Pakradooni (I’m saying that name with a hella-stereotypical Italian-American accent by the way. My hands are all over the place. I don’t know if “Pakradooni” is an Italian name. In fact, my research would indicate that it is not and I don’t have access to Lauren’s Ancestry.com‎ account. So here I am left to my own devices. My wife said that in light of the whole Paula Deen thing I should just scrap this entire section, but then I put on a fake mustache and plumber suit and jumped on her head.) in a moody, glum diligence. The loops and vocals are ground down to dust as things progress into the second track “Exorcising”. A slow-moving cringer with 6-bit rhythmic patterns that dive deep into a tin can before the wet gallop of “Broken Mirage” slides in. One thing I really dig about “Guest Bed” is how all the tracks work together as if they are a complete idea, but obviously have their own identities. Shit, I may be totally failing at calling the start / finish of tracks, but I’m 99% sure I got it. Two final cuts, including the titular oozer keep the muck rough before the flip where the party is just as coarse. It’s a tough task to figure out if Tether is attempting to construct songs or “songs” on “Guest Bed”. There is a part at the end of “Decide” (first on the B-side) that I almost want to call a solo, but then other parts that are jagged messes bullying the ears. Either way, it’s all fucking dope as hell.

Now you wanna talk about colors? Cause I’m in the mood to talk about colors. I’m about 9 seconds from poppin’ this tape straight into my pie-hole. The shell is an incredible looking minty green (so yummy) with nothing but the Dokuro logo stamped on. It’s screwless as well, which is something I like now. I’m not trying to dissect my life to figure out which events led me to be a person who derives joy from something as incidental as screwless cassette tapes, I’m just gonna go with it. Feels good. The Jcard is also minty green with some bubblegum pink worked in (extra yummy, ya’ll). The title “Guest Bed” is writ large across on the bottom underneath a (topless?) gal on a four wheeler. The streak of pink above her looks like someone used the magic wand in Photoshop, clicked the image, it just gripped a small section, and changed it to pink. This thing looks like it should glow in the dark. You may have to crack it in half and shake it like those glow sticks from the roller rink. I’m not trying that with my copy, but feel free to do it with yours.

shell

And you can pick up your copy from Dokuro for 5€ (or $6.61) plus shipping. I may have to do that after the genius idea of doing an in-the-pool photo shoot with my copy (duh). While you are there be sure to check the still available catalog, cause you’ll most definitely come across some other essentials (ie: CALDERA LAKES, HEX BREAKER QUARTET, PAX TITANIA, Tabs Out’s own VALES, and more!)

 

posted by mike haley