mike

Hear the unreleased Narwhalz (of Sound) tape that’s been fermenting for a decade
1.15.18 by Mike Haley

Unclear if POM REDNECK SNOOPY:A side was in a mason jar, maturing like a fucked up Kombucha goblin or not. Maybe it was stashed at the last known Blockbuster behind a copy of Bee Movie, which was released in 2007 when “Pom Redneck Snoopy” was recorded. I don’t know why it never came out, or where it’s been for a decade, or how it was found. I don’t know how Tiger Woods was convinced to do the intro. I don’t know what the Tetris score was after Narwhalz surfed on that Gameboing something nasty. And I didn’t bother asking Brian Blomerth either. This is what we know from the Soundcloud summary:

A side of Unreleased Narwhalz (of Sound)Tape from 2007. Two gameboys straight to DAT in the Pom Hole, Richmond, VA.

Cover depicts my favorite memories from that era. Mainly getting thrown in the trash at the end of a set.

Also…I’m giving the Narwhalz name and gear (two gameboys) to any kid that wants to take up the mantle. They can be Narwhalz from now on. If you want your little sister to have a horrible time in her 20s. Tell her to be Narwhalz. All you have to do is send me a message but she’s gotta drink my favorite drink with me. (Listerine and Four Loko)

Damn. Listen to this shit before Soundcloud isn’t a thing anymore, then become Narwhalz! Damn.

Lee Noble shares the track “Sanyo Loop” from his forthcoming Japanese tour tape
1.14.18 by Mike Haley

The monumental amount of shitholeness going down right now makes it vital that the US dispatches its best and brightest throughout the world as goodwill ambassadors. Some trips need to get canned while the urgency of others have skyrocketed. On that note, Lee Noble will be embarking on a Japanese tour in late February. The boss of all things No Kings probably thought he was gonna be pouring over breathtaking sights, eating amazing food, and playing seven fun gigs. Nope! Never before has the dealing of waxy synths, tape loops, and flexible grips of guitar/vocal putty been so important to a nation’s face saving. Lee, I’m speaking directly to you here. Lee, this is a very serious mission. Don’t fuck it up. You’ll have a guitar, therefore the ability to BURST into Cat Scratch Fever at any moment. The next thing you know we’re all watching the “Lee Noble’s mens rights rant” video on Pitchfork. Sure, it would be nice to get some of that smokin’ Pfork coverage, but please!! Only do good while abroad. I know you’ll make us proud.

Muzan Editions will be releasing a tour cassette by Noble called “Ashenden.” Listen to a track from it called Sanyo Loop right here.

 

Tokyo Feb 17
Ochiai SOUP

Tokyo Feb 17
Bullet’s (midnight show)

Tokyo Feb 18
Uchi (house show)

Matsumoto Feb 20
Give Me Little More

Kyoto Feb 21
Urban Guild

Kobe Feb 23
Space Eauuu

Nara Feb 24
Sonihouse

ASPS – double cassette
1.12.18 by Mike Haley

What a cretin, this ASPS double cassette. The nerve of it, thinking it can plop down anywhere it pleases and unload it’s grease traps. I’m talking coffers of slushy, pit-stained patterns. And the smell! Awww, it’s so oddly tart. Since when does audio have a smell? The dog wont even eat this up, and that beast has eaten it’s own vomit, puked it up, then ate it’s own puke. But this ASPS double cassette? Half way through one of the four 10-12 minutes sides and all of a sudden this mutt thinks it’s Special Times Just Right.

Maybe the pooch has a point. This ASPS double cassette is gross. Not gross in the intentional way, like some bozo playing with himself through a chain of Danelectro® Burnt Toast™ distortion pedals (though there may be some of that in the artwork). This ASPS double cassette is gross because it isn’t self aware. It’s socially awkward, forever a boogie on the brink of breaching it’s nostril. While that may be a death sentence for a fourth grader, it works wonders for magnetic tape daubed by bubbly-skinned mutant music.

Okay, roll it back. I need to give this ASPS double cassette more credit than I am, because I don’t want anyone to get the impression that this ASPS double cassette is bad. It’s not! This ASPS double cassette is gross, sure, but it’s super alive with interesting rhythms and loops that sound like they are coming out of steam cleaners and Soda Streams. And steam cleaners clean things, so maybe it’s not gross? Damn, I am so confused, and I blame this ASPS double cassette (note to self: find out if ASPS is pronounced “Ass Piss”).

I’m doing it again, aren’t I? I’m talking about this ASPS double cassette in the same breath as asses and pisses. Well, I don’t know what to say! Maybe by the time you power through the 45 minutes of this ASPS double cassette you’ll have the same sort of film on your skin that I do. Maybe your dog (and mine is a rescue btw, yr welcome) will look at you differently. Maybe it will be because ASPS gazed into the noise-techno abyss and when the abyss gazed back, ASPS farted on it then sampled the fart on this ASPS double cassette in a very captivating way. Captivating, but still damp with all the charm of stranger’s basement. Which is gross. Ideas slosh into each other through the crowded halls of four side-long tracks with varying degrees of self control. Drones plot along like Velcro, damaged by jarring interruptions. I don’t know? Maybe you’ll dig this ASPS double cassette because you are weird.

Buy it from Nostorca then get back to me, ya filthy animal.

Sample Quiet Evenings and more from upcoming Adversary batch
1.12.18 by Mike Haley

For the last couple of years Adversary has been a low key clearing house for all things Rachel and Grant Evans, who previously ran the labels Hooker Vision and VAALD. Exclusively releasing their own music as Motion Sickness of Time Travel (Rachel), Grant Evans (uh, Grant), and Quiet Evenings (both of em), the label has put out about a dozen and a half cassettes and CDrs, including “Diaries & Documents,” a double tape collection of Motion Sickness tracks from 2006 – 2010.

They’ve announced an upcoming batch of three tapes that touch all bases – A thawing dose of desperation noise on “Ergot Dogs” by Grant Evans, all leaky with wind-hacked field recordings and unboxed gloom. The vibe is a single, dangling lightbulb swinging, rows of amber-stained mason jars that have seem some shit, and horsehair insulating the walls. “Love Sick” from Motion Sickness of Time Travels’ “The Circuit” C24 may as well be from another planet. Rachel Evans’ synthesizers are animated with Day-Glo. If you spun them they would turn into cotton candy. Through that is a slide show of vocals running on an old carousel projector that every so often malfunctions and grinds. Quiet Evenings locks things up. The 5 minutes from what will eventually b a C30 are like tone therapy.  “Espions” will be one of those absurd-through-headphones tapes I bet, where each note pierces you like a hot finishing nail surrounded by drone.

Each tape is “coming soon.” Take that as you will. Tune into Adversary on Tumblr and listen/purchase on Bandcamp. You know the deal.

Ren Schofield steps into Plastic Bags
1.10.18 by Mike Haley

I Just Live Here was a flagship label for a scene that I’m not sure had a name, but definitely raged a strong existence. They weren’t really bound by sound, because their sounds were usually in mid-transformation, morphing off into all kinds of crazy shapes and sizes. It was more like a forward-looking crew whose mind vibrations throbbed on the exact same frequency. As if stick and poke tattoos and background characters from Thunderdome forced themselves into reality then tried to blend in. Along with kinsfolk like Ekhein and Arbor, I Just Live Here went hard from about 2005 – 2010, fizzling out over the net few years. In that time they released close to 100 albums, mostly on cassette with on point silk screening. You knew a tape had an IJLH screen job when the ink coated the cover like cake frosting. A+

Occupants of that post-nihilist bouncy house of jammers included Work/Death, Copper Glove, Lazy Magnet, Leslie Keffer, Privy Seals, Unicorn Hard-On, and on and on and on into a swirling vortex of pizza and broken gear. Plus projects by or including Ren Schofield. Oh shit, I don’t think I even mentioned it yet – Ren Schofield is the hu-man that was calling the I Just Live Here shots. He also made sounds as God Willing and with the tape hacking trio Form A Log, who released “Air Circus” in 2009 as a C30 on the imprint.

In 2013 I Just Live Here went *poof* and naturally sublimated into a gas. ” I sort of just got discouraged by and disinterested in music for a while and didn’t care about having a label.” said Schofield. Focus was shifted to his Container project, which big-timed a run of LPs on Spectrum Spools, and life went on.

Fast forward to 2018. PLASTIC BAGS! Plastic Bags? Yes! Plastic Bags! Getting out of bed with a slightly different haircut, but basically the same complexion, I Just Live Here is up and about, but with the new name Plastic Bags. Maybe it’s a witness protection thing? “It probably barely will be [different from I Just Live Here] to be honest” Schofield described the old/new operation. “Except I’m planning on all the releases to be a lot less limited, because I like the idea of having a large back catalog of things that are in stock as opposed to getting rid of everything immediately, and I want to pay a lot more attention to the quality this time in terms of everything, music, design, production, etc.”

Wilted Woman, a project currently based out of Berlin by Lizzie Davis, has the first release on Plastic Bags with “Trapezoid Tappers” C52. “She’s super prolific with the project, has tons of releases out, all pretty different from each other, but still retaining a signature sound. Not afraid to try out totally new things or go into uncharted realms. A true ‘experimental’ artist I’d have to say. One of my favorite underground weirdo jammers of the last several years.”

Releases on the label will be infrequent, but “Trapezoid Tappers” is available now through the 2005 – 2010 method of straight Paypal with no website.

US: $10 – CAN/MEX: $15 – WORLD: $20 paypal to gentledefect@gmail.com