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UEFTBH / TPHOAAW – Split
2.14.15 by Mike Haley

With the maximum number of words legally allowed on the spine of a Jcard, and 26 minutes of lavish experimentation, Adhesive Sounds has produced quite the formidable split cassette between Underwater Escape From The Black Hole and The Petrified Heart Of An Air Whale. Two project who apparently have no troubles maneuvering through syrupy, abstract territories.

With creamy, looped vocal clips and water-colored ambience, UEFTBH devises Zolpidem zones of flowing waves and focused calmness. Mellow synth chords swim through the first track, “All The Little Cares Fixed”, emitting a complete and total feeling of relaxation. A constant thump – – thump – – thump backbones Mathias Timmerman’s super chill ebb and flow for six and a half minutes. “Stable”, his second and final track on the split, is a collage of processed spoken word and simmering synthesizer beauty that shimmies up the spine for nearly seven minutes. Two keepers.

TPHOAAW bangs out four doses on the flip side. The immediate impression is also a flip in atmosphere. Echoed blows and tweaks of noise rumble atop a lurching, distorted melody for a two minute stretch. A very moist jam, like a dog outside in a thunderstorm. Sam Hatzaras, the big boss man  behind this Toronto-based project, speeds things up considerably with “Kwantum Jool”, the 4:43 piece that follows. The situation is still clammy, but more birds in a rain forest rather than the dog in your shitty neighbors yard. Dude devised a pretty compelling beat to wrangle around a bundle of tropical jams. The tape comes to an end with two tracks of skittish sound wrangling that, while not as cohesive as the bulk of the tape, is still a fun listen. No doubt about it.

Adhesive Sounds has figuratively been on fire so far this year with a grip of nice ass tapes. And it’s only February, mang. Pretty, pretty, preeeetty excited for the A/S 2015 drop. Get yourself going with everything they have available, starting with this humdinger of a split. BUY IT HERE.

New Batch – Moss Archive
2.11.15 by Mike Haley

I always pluralize Moss Archive. Moss Archives just seems right to me. But I think label head Joe Bastardo is mega-OCD, so let me triple check that I got it right above…..

Okay, looks good. So Moss Archives just did the world a favor and put out two new cassettes by Adderall Canyonly and Blostma. Both blackened nugs of crisp, dank energy. Both home dubbed editions of 50 copies with artwork that looks like invitations to a funeral. Both necessary cassettes, or “cassettessary™”. Here is the situation.

MOSS 15 finds Adderall Canyonly in first-rate form on “Beneath The Crystal Canyon A Spark Remains”, an eight track C32. AC (not to be confused with Animal Collective, Alice Coltrane, or Anal Cunt) has been quite the prolific artisan over the past few years, with stellar output on Tranquility Tapes, Jehu & Chinaman (now J&C Tapes — Thanks, Obama), and Field Hymns to name a few. The signature radiation bursts and shimmering pinches are present in classic form, readily available to hypnotize and/or char the senses, as Canyonly delivers operatic kosmische music. But that isn’t the be-all and end-all on the trip. Infused through this hour hour grandiose jammer is some earthy space music with synths, guitar, and tambourine (??) providing some low-key, multi-planetary spaghetti western soundtrack music. It’s a hell of a drug. See for yourself.

MOSS 16 is a self titled C38 from Blostma. A new name to me, and you wont hear any complaints about this inaugural experience. Menacing vocals, occasionally with a putrid gargle, and distorted guitar shredding given the tin can treatment. Blostma incorporates elements of black metal, dark ambient, and punk to compose six fairly beast songs. It’s like someone took teenage angst and shook it up in a Pepsi Kona can down by the old train tracks. And I mean that in a good way. I think one can only mean that in a good way??? Blostma a pretty sweet surprise / departure for the label, and that sort of thing is always welcomed. Have at it.

Both tapes are currently available from Mosses Archive for a five dollar bill each, plus shipping & handling. Check the archives while you’re there. Archives. ChiveSSSS.

Ratkiller – Comfortably Declined
2.10.15 by Mike Haley

I don’t know much about Estonia, other than it’s where Skype was created and it’s rather small population. One of it’s 1,315,819 residents is Mihkel Kleis, who can be found sailing from cluster to cluster of plasmic soundholes as Ratkiller. Kleis has a sprinkling of cassette releases, including a handful on the most excellent Rotifer, but “Comfortably Declined” is the first effort I have had the pleasure of hearing. Many high fives to Baba Vanga for pushing it out of their birth canal.

Ratkiller gets the ball rolling with a muggy confab of Casio’d squirts. Simple keyboard drum patterns and miscellaneous notes that are less ‘dance party’ and more ‘eating-a-spaghetti-sandwich’ vibed. A motif that quickly changes as the spools spin. Zappy synth filters and bouncing about the house beats are introduced, along with a sort of mutated Shaft soundtrack philosophy. Is this cat Ratkiller a bad mother? Shut your mouth and you’ll find out. Copious zones are explored on this overflowing cassette, from polished 80’s prom pop to exploratory sampled hip hop, sometimes in the same track. And always wonderful.

Fantastic artwork brings the whole thing together. Sit back, grab a spaghetti sandwich, and funnel Ratkiller into your ears. Purchase a copy here before you are unable to do so.

Three Legged Race – Rope Commercial Vol. 2
2.6.15 by Mike Haley

Not so much the sounds from inside a genie’s lamp as the sounds from inside the head of the genie inside a genie’s lamp, “Rope Commercial Vol. 2” by Three Legged Race controls it’s anxiety and crafted jitters with undeterred aplomb. Most could only imagine the thousand-year thoughts of a blue-skinned wish granter, sealed up with nothing but a whole mess of time, waiting for someone to finally give his brass residence a rub down. Robert Beatty (see also: Hair Police) converts them to electronic form then flushes it out the pipes for 20 of the gnarliest minutes you will experience for a while.

Side A starts by Beatty building up a feeling of restlessness by layering insistent loops with squirmy and soaked fidgets of sound that will have you guessing which way is up, but not getting lost in blitz. That time the genie realized it was his birthday, but completely forgot which one. That time those two stoners found his lamp, but instead of rubbing it and setting him free, they just smoked weed out of it. The mosquito outbreak of 1332. All the memories are mapped out over “Ex-Locksmith”, “Oporagen”, and “Equipment”, the three tracks before the flip. “Blossom Oroduct” is just as juicy. Just as loopy. Bassy notes repeat like clockwork, as do a ding-dong doorbell, behind a swelling mist of gurgle. A casual toe-dip into the memory-water before taking the full plunge. The final two tracks on “Rope Commercial Vol. 2” are sort of fucking perfect for the tape. “Empty Timeline” [listen below] has an exhaust of urging electronics and a simple snare while the phrase “Too early, too late. Too volatile to wait” repeats as if that poor ol’ genie has been torturing himself with the phrase since Romanticism. That sad fuck. I just noticed he doesn’t even have a name. Anyway, the tape closes with an ultra-clammy crawl through the bottom of the bottle with “Ill-Use Vocal Score”. Years of mildew polluting the old gleam. Nice.

When all is said and done it’s sorta difficult to believe only 20 minutes have passed, which is a damn good sign. The layout stands out to me as well. The cover comes across as a letterpress design and is super clean, but not clean at all. Does that make a lick of sense? Extra points for putting the length of the cassette on the spine, which I guess is my new favorite thing? I had no clue I even gave a shit either way until seeing this. Bravo, Three Legged Race. Bravo, Vitrine (that’s the label responsible btw). You fuckers killed it.

“Rope Commercial Vol. 2” (which, if you were wondering, is a follow up to “Rope Commercial Vol. 1. A 12″ picture disc available from Underwater Peoples) is limited to 150 hand numbered copies on black cassettes with black and white labels. I can’t actually tell if it’s “out” yet, but it looks like you can grab a copy here, and perhaps soon from TLR’s Bandcamp.

 

New Batch – Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
2.4.15 by Mike Haley

I assume that after it’s dozenish years of curating DIY grey scale greatness, with release numbers in triple digit territory, that most noise denizens are familiar with Dumpsterscore Home Recordings. If not, I would advise a plunge into their back catalog where you’ll find plenty of stalwart turbulence, including much from label head Andrew Quitter’s various projects (under his own name, Regosphere, Suburbia Melting, et al). Go ahead, I’ll wait……. Caught up? Good. Now let’s get to the three latest cassettes.

All part of the ongoing DS C20 series, which I can only assume was birthed by a bulk grip of C20’s out of a church dumpster or something, are tapes by Arjen Schat, Self-Shadowing Prey, and Shift. Each bringing their own brand of chilling sound affairs. I don’t have the tapes in hand, and only excerpts are readily available on the world’s widest web, but I think it’s safe to say that a complete listening to these mugs is sure to please. Arjen Schat’s “CrO2” dons flickering analog synth jaunts and pensive drone canvases. Looks like his two side-long stretchers have no problem floating up into the sky and lingering in the clouds. “Illusion To Illusion” is three tracks from Portland’s A. Brasfield, appearing here as Self-Shadowing Prey. Kindly offered up are cutthroat and clammy oscillations and a thicket of opaque, horror inspired arpeggiated chords. Solid enough to make a clunk under your foot, but slippery enough to get your shoes caught. Rounding out the batch is veteran  power electrician Shift. Expect a severely savage encounter from Martin Willford on “Ruminations”, as resentful vocals slice through throbbing static electronics. Definitely brings the strength others in this style tend to lack. A relentless effort indeed.

Arjen Schat and Self-Shadowing Prey tapes are both editions of 50 copies, while Shift gets the 100 treatment. All are available for $7.00 (ppd in the US) or as part of a combo deal from Dumpsterscore. Sample excerpts from all of them here —>