Belarisk – Greys, Escaped
10.6.16 by Mike Haley

Only seconds into “Greys, Escaped” I had a very vivid image in my head. As the tape went on that image naturally expanded into a scenario which was reinforced with each blop, zap, surge, scratch, whist, and tickle Belarisk dispatched. Aspects of the artwork gave credence to this micro story my brain had fashioned. Everything was lining up. My imagination was being a good little boy and deserved a treat in the form of repeat listens. Those repeat listens put even more fat on on the bone of my now rather formulated story. It got deep. Deep to the point of being embarrassing, quite frankly. Instead of going deep here, into a hole we may not escape, I’ll paint with a broad brush my Belarisk vision.

It’s 1992. Windows 3.1 has just been released. It’s an exciting time. Most people don’t even know what happens when you win Solitaire yet. Before going to bed, Bill Gates tells his wife Melinda – who he wasn’t married to at the time, but I didn’t know that – that he needs to do some work on RAM calculations or .dll bugs or whatever. He goes down to his office, locking the door behind him. Unbuttoning his shirt with one hand and fingering through floppy discs with the other, he chooses a specific one. The label on it is all white with a single black, pixelated musical note. He pops it in the drive of his avocado colored desktop (only one in existence btw)  and removes his button down shirt, revealing a CRISP T-shirt with the Windows logo on it, tucked in. Tucked in hard. In his top drawer, sunglasses. Are holograms of the Windows logo on each lens? You’re God damn right there are. Bill eases into his leather office chair while the program loads. The one program he couldn’t complete: MusicMan.

Bill toiled for hours, working on algorithms and keystrokes trying to get MusicMan to function properly. And sometimes he felt like it would. Bill would guide MusicMan’s code through pockets of harmony and beauty. Pockets of sensational structures. At it’s best it was like he was floating on a cloud. But then the viruses would kick in. Blue screens and hard reboots were always the night’s defeat. “No! No! Not again!” he would vociferate as smoke came out of the monitor and Paintbrush tools corrupted. There would be no escape from the dense buffering.

Okay, I said I wouldn’t go too deep, but I think I’m starting to go too deep. I’ll stop before Gates is in his boxers and Bill Clinton is sleeping off a peyote experience on the sofa. But take from that what you will and transplant it into this Belarisk tape. But please, stay away from notions of vaporwave or chiptune you may have conjured up from my wee tale. It’s all child’s play in comparison. Be prepared for a heavy audio defrag with “Greys, Escaped”. Belarisk, while at times elegantly grazes on screen savers, gets gravely in the trash bin. Lee Edward Tindall gives power to pixels. He chews on the cud of confusion and shits out an electronic maze of fuss and passion. A very powerful specimen indeed.

“Greys, Escaped” is available from Moss Archive in an edition of 80 copies. I HIGHLY recommend that you grab a copy now!  Come graduation time for the DIY weirdo cassette class of 2016, this is going to be a contender for valedictorian for sure.

Khaki Blazer – Gelatinous Ground
9.28.16 by Mike Haley

Eventually someone needs to take a hammer to Khaki Blazer’s head so we can all see what flows out of it. I’d imagine the results would be similar to that scene in Ghostbusters when the EPA dick shuts down the high voltage laser containment system and lets loose hordes of goblins and gizmos on NYC.

Khaki Blazer is the solo project of Moth Cock‘s Pat Modugno. And no, I don’t actually want to break open his skull. I was just being silly. But honestly, I most definitely want to bottle and distribute the ecto-kombucha brewing inside that cranium. Khaki has squirted obscure sonicisms on Hausu Mountain, Alien Passengers, and others in the past. His latest plasmic gladiator comes from the brand spanking new Cleveland outfit Unifactor.

“Gelatinous Ground” raids the sugar packet and unlabeled medication caches, nervously blending cocktails and idiosyncrasies. Velvety vocal manipulations mush into eccentric weirdouts. Bubbles pop and thick gels spill. When rapid haphazardness isn’t tugging at your amygdala, Pat cleaves hip hop chunks and kneads em like he’s trying to activate their gluten. At times you almost feel concerned. Is he okay? Why is he doing that with his mouth? Then synthesizer magic swoops in with grace and charm, and you feel even more concerned. Extremely crisp, collected, fist clenching coldness stretches from seconds to minutes. What’s going on now? What happened to the seizure paced, heart burn music? What. Are. You. Trying. To. Hide!?

I don’t know what Khaki Blazer is trying to hide. I love all too much what he is showing. “Gelatinous Ground” was made in an edition of 100 copies and should be purchased by you. While you are at it, pick up the new Sam Goldberg and Bending Spirit tapes. They all sounds dope as h*ck and the artwork is top notch.

New Batch – Oxen
9.23.16 by Mike Haley

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I don’t know if this actually happens in real life, but you know in movies when someone robs a bank and the money explodes? They open up the duffel bag in the car, it’s full of cash in bricks, and then BLAMO! Red paint is everywhere.  Take that situation, but replace the duffel bag with Norelco cases, the bricks of cash with three cassette tapes, and the red paint with disgustingly intrusive, dynamic harsh noise. That is the new batch from Oxen.

 

The positive thinking of Kiran Arora‘s “The Good Times Are Over For Good” C30 sets the pace. Utilizing guitar, organ, tapes, and the drumming of Zach Fogle, none of which escape the processing department alive, frequencies are created that can be felt on the roof of your mouth. Sounds that are so raw and capable they could probably mess up your WiFi signal. They aren’t walls, more like electric fences holding back some type of esoteric destruction pressed against the chainlink. SO legit.

Anime Love Hotel, the project of Alexis Cash from Texas, brutally mushes sonic tape manipulations and potent, rigid convolution and her “Mami” C20. Both sides stay in a constant flux of crude levels, like rapidly switching from watching a child’s surgery in real life to at home on VHS. It’s a mentally damaging process with micocassette whiz that blasts through noise dregs like a knife. Again, SO legit.

“Upside Down” from Tokyo’s scum (aka: Sou Inomoto) finishes everything out. It’s a C20 of accelerated cut up onslaughts. Of machine gun buffering and regurgitation. Rusted Cycles of force with short-lived moments to recharge, then back to the force feeding. Such a crunch. SO legit.

All are available now from Oxen, but probably not for long.

C. Reider – Sophist I & II
8.30.16 by Mike Haley

As a general rule of thumb humans find it wise to sidestep assurances of dilemma. For health and safety reasons we tend to avoid life’s cliffs and quicksands. But every rule has an exception. The view at the top of the mountain can reek of beauty to the point where we ignore the unstable ground. A shift of a single rock and PLOP! You’re a puddle of supper for scavengers. The hypnosis of nature can lull the imagination into idleness. The perpetual drip… drip… drip of a melting icicle. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. What distance will your imagination trek watching that sucker thaw before noticing your own frostbite?

Those are the audacious terms of C. Reider’s noise therapy on “Sophist I” (the blue tape) and “Sophist II” (the red tape). His tinkering with sound can be magnetic and calming, but risk is right behind the curtain. In the most casual ways, C. Reider knots sequences of inescapable coils. He creates filmy, and sometimes almost muted atmospheres, then proceeds to nudge them into shared spaces with corrupted noise to the point of vertigo. 9-volt beats, voices rising through distortion, asterisks of glimmering hope all helix into web-like patterns. Those patterns spiral in halcyon carousel cycles until all focus in cemented on them. Loop. Loop Loop. Loop. Meanwhile, disintegration kicks in. Rotten, resin walls coerce the spell. Through the highs and lows of “Sophist” I & II is a challenge to the balancing of senses. A blurred focus of yin and yang.

Listen with the lights on. Or off. I don’t care. But listen DEEP. Deep listening of these tapes will sink you into the earth. They are self released in absurdly stupid-small editions of 20 and 22 (The extra 2 copies really bugs me tbh). Get them now!

Fletcher Pratt – Dub Sessions Vol. 3
8.18.16 by Mike Haley

We have yet to go full Terminator, but for all intents and purposes, the machines have taken over. They build our wares, ring up our groceries, and order us more Gummy Worms from Amazon. They now appear to be dipping a metal toe (part# 795d9) into the creation our dub music summer sessions. At least that’s the way the zone leans on Fletcher Pratt’s engagement with the genre.

Pratt, a Canadian we allow to live within our borders until Trump kicks him out, started his sweltering dub journey in 2011 on Dub Ditch Picnic. Five years later the third chapter of his “Dub Sessions”, released by Crash Symbols in an edition of 100 copies, continues the heat and humidity of it all. The music has a spooky mechanical nature, but is still sweltering. Sizzling. Sultry. One wonders if Fletcher Pratt relaxed pool side while Dubbot-5Px maintained the phantom flow of swank and style. “Dub Sessions Vol. 3” being flush, teeth to toes, with such.

The initial midi-Seinfeld-slap-a-dap bass burst and robotic whine of a mushy goblin (see: News Dub) are doors opening coolly. Through the doors: An outrageous campaign of deep, red-eye zones. Synths corkscrewing through hazes of divine (see: Rainy Dub). Echoey progress reports from the Malware program scanning Dubbot’s mainframe are submitted (see: Trippy Dub). Looking for bugs I suppose. Ain’t gonna find any, mate. These tracks are pure DEET. Or, wait… I think I was talking about computer bugs. That metaphor got away from me. Don’t let this tape get away from you. Grip it so hard and enjoy what is left of the summer and your life.

Wires Crossed – Ephem Aural vs Auralgami
7.19.16 by Mike Haley

There is a legion of labels and weirdo jammers releasing cassette, with new names popping up every single day. With those staggering numbers it can be easy to mix em up, get confused, or form loose associations. Wires Crossed will take those Corey Haim/Corey Feldman and Oprah/Uma situations and figure out just how similar they are.

For the second Wires Crossed I talked with people behind the labels Ephem Aural and Auralgami about tapes, robots, tapes, and Bill Murray.

Aural means “of or relating to the ear or the sense of hearing.” So what is the meaning of your label’s name?

Ephem Aural: The label name was my attempt at a pun. When you say it fast, it comes out “ephemeral,” which I think is an endearing part of cassette culture. You have all these people spending their time and money releasing these really thought-out tapes in editions of 30 or 50, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. I think there is something really beautiful in that.

Auralgami: A cross between ‘AURAL’ and ‘ORIGAMI’ / crafting shapes out of sound. I came up with the name years ago mixing music in my dad’s basement. My little brother was and still is obsessed with origami. He’d bring me a crane or a hummingbird or some insane dragon and kinda hang around and listen to the sounds I was making. We chose ‘SOUNDS’ instead of ‘RECORDS’ or ‘TAPES’ simply because it was broad, and we weren’t entirely sure which kinds of media we’d be releasing.

Where are you located?

Ephem Aural: New York City

Auralgami: I [JC Denison] live in Louisville, KY, and Matt is located right across the river in New Albany, IN. So far all of our artists have been based out of Louisville, although we are starting to branch out.

Without checking where do you think Auralgami/Ephem Aural is located?

Ephem Aural: Auralgami reminds me of origami, which I feel like would be a big thing in Seattle. Because it’s so rainy and people need solid indoor activities.

Auralgami: Somewhere floating in the ether, filling in the cracks, patching the holes, tickling ears all over.

Ephem Aural has released tapes by Spaghetti Blacc. Auralgami has released a tape by Cereal Glyphs. So, which is better? Spaghetti or cereal?

Ephem Aural: Cereal.

Auralgami: I definitely eat way more cereal than spaghetti. Andy from Cereal Glyphs makes ice cream from cereal at the restaurant where we both work, so it’s very versatile. But goddamn I love spaghetti! They both invoke a lot of nostalgia, don’t they?

How much control do you like to have over the artwork for your tapes?

Ephem Aural: Early on I was pretty lenient with the designs, but now I’m following a stricter template because I like the continuity that offers. These days I have the musicians send over the picture for the front cover, and maybe images for an insert. Sometimes I do everything myself. The main design I’ve been using for the last 4 or 5 releases actually came from Jake Rowland, a guitarist and visual artist I produced a release with last year. He did the entire design for his album himself, and I liked it so much I asked him if I could use it for future releases.

Auralgami: We typically leave that up to the artist unless it becomes an issue of releasing art that is lacking in quality/definition. I’m constantly amazed and inspired, though, by labels like Umor-Rex and Orange Milk who take a much more hands-on approach in designing some fucking elegant and exquisite packaging. We wanna get to that spot for sure, at least in the sense that we want to be able to fix problems and suggest visual ideas that we can actually execute ourselves. But for now we’ve, I think, put out some really cool looking releases designed by a very talented handful of visual artists.

What is the best thing about running a label?

Ephem Aural: The whole “arts and crafts” aspect of it. Except for the imprinting, I basically do everything from home. I’m surrounded by computers all day at work, so it’s kind of nice to spend the evenings dubbing tapes and putting J-cards into cases.

Auralgami: Listening to all the music we get sent.

What is the worst thing about running a label?

Ephem Aural: Finding space in my apartment for unsold tapes.

Auralgami: Listening to all the music we get sent.

If you had to pick one current cassette label that really stands out to you, who would it be and why?

Ephem Aural: That’s a super hard question because there are so many good ones. At the moment I would say Constellation Tatsu because I recently got their spring batch and it kicks ass.

Auralgami: So many good ones right now that I am way into following including Umor-Rex, Spring Break, NNA, Patient Sounds. Damn so many fine cassettes coming out daily!!! But I think Matt and I can collectively agree that Orange Milk is ruling the fucking school right now. We’re both into dance music and warped electronic shit and insane MIDI stuff and they are killing it with all that.  That Giant Claw/ Guerrilla Toss record is one of my favorites to come out all year, in any genre. And Keith’s artwork and aesthetic are truly marvelous.

Coffee or Tea?

Ephem Aural: Coffee

Auralgami: Coffee

First words that comes to mind when you hear the following

Ephem Aural:
Hiss: EQ
Bandcamp: Convenient
C10: Not a fan.
Norelco: Mori
Dolby: Surround

Auralgami:
Hiss: Snake
Bandcamp: Downloads
C10: Short but sweet
Norelco: Clear but black is nice but clear but black but… My electric razor???
Dolby: Thomas

Generally speaking, how many copies of a cassette do you make?

Ephem Aural: Always 50

Auralgami: 100. But we did just do a 2nd edition of Insect Policy’s “Wolf Brick River Dirt Train Moon” in an edition of 50.

Who was your favorite band in 8th grade?

Ephem Aural: White Zombie. I still like them.

Auralgami: The Offspring. Or maybe Guilt (from Louisville). I guarantee you Matt’s answer would be way cooler.

If you had to compare your label to one of the planets in our solar system, which would it be?

Ephem Aural: I’ve always been into Neptune.

Auralgami: Pluto I think. Is that still a planet?

How many releases are you currently up to?

Ephem Aural: 15

Auralgami: Around 20. The first 5 or 6 releases were by a project I started called A7A and it’s a little foggy as to how many there were. Rob Collier’s “Ten Simple Pieces for Piano” was AS020, so… We are about to release our 12th cassette, ‘FIELDS’ by Psychic Skin.

How many of your releases are not tapes?

Ephem Aural: 1 CDR release, though another one should be coming.

Auralgami: Not counting several CDr’s and downloads I released as A7A, we have 2 proper CD releases, “The Golden Autumn and the Afternoon” by Another7Astronauts AND s/t by Curio Key Club, as well as one vinyl release so far, “Sand in Your Mind” by Softcheque. So 3.

Releases from your catalogs that jump out at me are the Synth Bard and Bodycocktail tapes. Can you give a little backstory of them?

Ephem Aural: Truth be told, I’m Synth Bard. The music on that album originally came from the old “Gold Box” PC games I used to play as a kid. I figured out the intro music to each game and based the synth jams around them. It was a lot of fun, and I’ve been really flattered with the response. For the next release I’m going to jump ahead a few years and use some early 90s digital samplers I have. It will still have a strong retro-fantasy element, but with all original music this time around. So more Synth Bard to come!

Auralgami: I love the Bodycocktail tape. Zan Hoffman is sort of a mythic figure in the cassette collecting/cassette label world. I’d always seen him from a distance at bars here in Louisville (he doesn’t drink, just dances). We got to know each other and struck up a friendship and I started hanging at his house once or twice a week while we slowly began culling material from his 200+ CD’s he’d released as Bodycocktail between 1996 and 2015. I thought it would be a hell of thing to treat cassette folks and younger folks in Louisville to a best-of collection by an incredibly prolific artist. Together we picked all the songs. He sequenced Side A, which has some more obscure, older tracks; I sequenced Side B, which contains some newer stuff, a lot of which is pretty dance oriented. Watching Zan perform live as Bodycocktail is a fucking treat and I hope we captured some of that energy in this collection. It jumps out for me too!

Do you have any “fuck, that wasn’t supposed to turn out that way” stories with the label?

Ephem Aural: Yeah, embarrassingly for the first two releases I designed the titles on the spine the wrong way. I could fix one release, but the other was sent to a printer, so I was stuck with it. A total rookie mistake.

Auralgami: In a way, that is kind of the story of the label. We had planned to start very gradually and be quite casual with it. But things picked up quickly, at least locally; once we started putting out things by Cher Von and ATOMO, similarly-minded artists quickly started knocking on our doors. Matt and I both work full-time jobs; also I play in several bands and he has a family, so we’re never able to dedicate as much time to the label as we’d like or as much as it needs. So in short we’re way busier with it than we anticipated at the beginning but completely surprised and excited about that very thing.

What is your favorite robot from a TV show or movie?

Ephem Aural: Bender.

Auralgami: Johnny 5. In fact I called into Talk of the Nation several years ago when they were discussing this very subject! I got through and talked to Neal Conen live on-air while I was prepping food at the restaurant where I used to work.

Do more of your releases stem from demo submissions or artists you contact?

Ephem Aural: Actually the “Noise de Figaro” release is the only one that came from a demo submission. The rest of the releases have been from friends I have here in NYC or friends from college. In truth I don’t get many demo submissions, and many that I have received I wanted to produce but they fizzled out for various reasons. Send your demos

Auralgami: About half and half. And just as many stem from our friends here in the Louisville music community through casual dialogue that turns into concrete ideas. We play at or go to a lot of shows. Louisville is a late-night drinking town. This is where a lot of ideas begin.

What is your Monopoly token of choice?

Ephem Aural: The crusty old boot, because it makes me feel like I had humble beginnings.

Auralgami: Car. Was there a cat? I may go with cat at this point in my life.

Do you have any cassette pet peeves?

Ephem Aural: Printing. I think I’m spatially impaired or something, because it seems like half the time I put the j-card template into the printer the wrong way.

Auralgami: I love extras, but I kinda get bummed when I get a tape in the mail and accompanying it is what seems to be just a bunch of trash. Sometimes less is more. With that in mind, I won’t list any more pet peeves.

In five words or less, describe the type of music/sounds you release.

Ephem Aural: Experimental and underground music.

Auralgami: Louisville. Experimental. Electronic. Garage rock. Minimal.

Does your car have a tape player?

Ephem Aural: I don’t have a car. Sometimes I take an old Walkman on the subway though.

Auralgami: Yes. It is a 2003 Honda Pilot, so it was made at a time of flux regarding car audio. It has CD, cassette, and DVD players. BUT, speaking of that Bodycocktail tape, I was driving around listening the test cassette of that album, and when I got home and tried to eject it, it got stuck. Determined to get it out and inside so I could listen to it on my home stereo, I started poking and prying with some tools and broke the whole stereo. Patience is not my strong suit.

What is your favorite Bill Murray movie?

Ephem Aural: Ghostbusters.

Auralgami: Damnit. Gotta be Groundhog Day, right? Yeah, I think so. Honorable mentions to Ghostbusters, Lost in Translation, and Rushmore.

Are you wearing shoes right now?

Ephem Aural: No.

Auralgami: Yes. Socks, too.

Do you play that Pokémon game on your phone? Why or why not?

Ephem Aural: Nope. I only got a smartphone like a month ago, and I already spend too much time on it.

Auralgami: No. I don’t play it for a few reasons, none of which have to do with any sort of disdain or disapproval of the app. Mainly, I never played as a kid and don’t really even understand what the hell is going on with this phenomenon. I went on a short tour with my band, and when we got back to Louisville last week it had completely taken over my neighborhood. All my coworkers were talking about it. I just got out of a band meeting at a pizza place and everyone there was actively playing. It’s insane, but I’m not sure I have the time to even process it.

Do you own more MP3s or tapes?

Ephem Aural: A few years ago I digitized all my CDs, and all of my wife’s, so we could get rid of them. So I have way more MP3s.

Auralgami: MP3s. Matt and I both DJ out around town and at a local FM radio station. We both do a mix of MP3 and vinyl. I like music in any format, and I have a lot of stuff on my laptop that you just can’t get on cassette. I’ve thought about dedicating a chunk of my show, ClifTones, to only playing cassettes, but typically I just play the digital versions of the cassettes I buy for ease and flow during the show.

Paper, Rock, Scissors?

Ephem Aural: Rock. Nothing beats rock!

Auralgami: Paper, of course.

An Interview With Fatt Grabbers
7.14.16 by Mike Haley

Fatt Grabbers. That’s what was written on a sign in a Los Angeles wig shop back in 2010. “It was like a term or something pertaining to wigs. But there wasn’t any info anywhere as to what it was supposed to mean, so it was anybody’s guess. I thought it could be, like, skate slang.” I called a local wig shop to ask them about it and they had no clue what the hell I was talking about. Whatever the meaning, Chris Lazard and Tierra Williams decided it would work for a cassette label name and ran with it.

Fatt Grabbers’ cassettes stick out like shiny quarters in a fountain of pennies, and don’t act like you never thought about jumping in the deep end of a mall fountain to grab those bad boys. Metallic silver Jcards, conspicuous artwork (by Lazard) printed in all black, and tapes with no titles furnish the look. FDM (Flustered Dance Music) and all around paranoid sounds handle the audio. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard about Fatt Grabbers yet. Even though their releases ooze with terminal creativity, Chris and Tierra’s handling of things is super mellow. I’m not good at Google, so I contacted Chris, who with Tierra also does the project Moment Trigger, for more informations about the label.

 

What’s behind the decision to not have any titles for your releases?
I think by not adding any other info, it groups all the singles into a series of releases with a consistent theme. I thought in terms of “like, this is the artist. And here’s a couple tracks.”

Is the plan to stick with the exact look throughout the existence of the label, or do you think you’ll change it up/allow it to evolve?
I’ve made small adjustments to the layout and design. And I’ll probably continue to evolve the design. I like working in black and white and figuring out how it complements the metallic papers I’ve been using. But for now I’m liking the consistency of the design for the singles.

I don’t see anything on your site or Discogs about FG001-006. Does your catalog start with release number 7?
No. But the look and format does start with FG007. FG002-006 ended up being basically, one-off prototypes for the singles I’m putting out now. FG001 is a Moment Trigger / Obstacle Corpse split. Old HDD failed so I cannot retrieve 002-006.

What was the artwork like for the first tape?
Letterpress. Corydon (Obstacle Corpse/Sissy Spacek) had access to a letterpress. Inside cover was an illustration of a skater that he did when he was like 8 or 9 years old.

And how about 2-6?
2-6 6 were color. Printed at Kinkos. The cover art for those was a sphere with different gradients for each release.

What labels (if any) influenced the current state of Fatt Grabbers?
No labels in particular. Costs of getting things printed and my ability to get specialty papers cheap online influence it a bit. Or in a way seeing a few labels all kind of gravitating towards the same design themes informed me to stay away from certain aesthetics.

Let’s say all the silver paper in the world burned tomorrow. What color do you switch to for Jcards?
No biggie. Probably just switch to white. Whatever makes it easy enough to keep pumping out more singles, that look good.

In addition to the sounds and artwork, there are so many tiny details I love about your tapes. Namely the hand numbering in parallelogram on the back and the additional spine folded into the inside of the Jcard. Do you ever nerd out on cassette artwork or packaging?
Yeah, I like checking out all the different tape packaging and design layouts that people are doing. I follow a couple blogs as well that post a lot of different unique tape designs/packaging. I definitely nerd out when figuring out a good, repeatable, design for the FG tapes.

Are all your tapes editions of 24?
Yeah. I do 24 because I can get four different singles out of one box of tapes. With 25 being the master.

Do you handle all of the dubbing and assembling yourselves?
Yeah, we do all the manufacturing ourselves.

How have you gone about choosing what to release so far? Is it mostly people you know personally?
Yeah. We’ve just asked our friends that make weird music so far.

Is there anything that really annoys you about running a cassette label?
Nah, we have fun making the tapes and putting them out. Maybe we’d be annoyed if we had unreal expectations or something like that. Shipping rates to Europe are a little bit annoying.

What tapes are on deck?
We should have a couple of tapes coming out by the beginning of August. A Wade Blazer & Steph Russ split single, and a Moment Trigger single. Anthony Anzalone coming out with the other tapes as well. I’ve been working on a zine that will be out in the beginning of August as well. We have some limited edition shirts and hats that we made too, that we’ve yet to announce.

Ink Jet – Cold Shoulder
7.11.16 by Mike Haley

Forget everything you know about hanging in fancy hotel lobbies, watching montages of very specific teams preparing for a heist, and Blaxploitation fonts. Wait, that’s not right. Remember those things. Remember all of those things at once. Force them into your thoughts until they crash together like matter and antimatter and create pure energy in your skull. Dapper energy with an unhesitating swagger.

The throbs immediately take over. And not just your everyday throbs that you take to the grocery store. You wear these throbs to a wedding when you’re trying to show up the bride. You’re laced with breakbeats and samples and moxie. I’m talking about cassette “Cold Shoulder” by Ink Jet. Like it’s cover, “Cold Shoulder” is a razor cut collage. A stomping ground for slick samples and beats to roll around the rink, house lights down, gel lights in full rage mode. If Jared Arnold wanted to create a time that was a very good time to have then he did it this time. Good times. That is something I support.

I also support the heeeeeella dope (hand?) die cutting of “INK JET” on the cover. A very funky touch to a very funky tape from Gohan Tapes. They only made 20 copies of them, which is something I don’t support. Buy a copy now and maybe they will make more?

Let There Be Crumer – An Interview With Jason Crumer
7.4.16 by Mike Haley

Jason Crumer has been wrecking house since the late 90’s with solo noise and in projects like Reverse Baptism, Aluminum Noise, and many many others. 2015 saw the return/evolution of the infamous No Rent Records. I talked to Jason about all of that shit, plus his teenage mohawk and bird watching.

 

So where and when were you born? And what is your Netflix password?
Hahaha.

Those are serious questions. Answer as many as you’d like.
1978, Belleville IL

How long did you stay there?
Until I was about 16, in Southern Illinois in general. Moved to St. Louis for a few years, then to North Carolina when i was 19.

Is that around the time you played in Facedowninshit?
In NC, yeah.

Was Facedowninshit your first band?
My first band was called The Vagrants. We were the punkers of the mighty Edwardsville High School.

How tall was your mohawk?
Hahaha! The tallest it ever got was maybe 8 inches, actually not kidding.

I think the minimum requirement is about 6″ to be in a band called The Vagrants. Ha.
True! Also was in System Disarmed and some other kind of one off deals before Facedowninshit.

So were you the classic, piece of shit high school kid who was always doing dumb stuff?
Not at all, or maybe? I don’t think I was a piece of shit. Certainly didn’t fit in there, but that was also like 25 years ago

Give me three bands you loved from that time?
Pretty basic. Germs, Vandals, Subhumans.

So you’re in high school. Sporting a killer mohawk, listening to a Vandals tape. Walk me through that Jason Crumer getting dumped into noise.
I ran away, moved to St. Louis. A kid named Blake had Whitehouse records. First recorded noise in 98 with my friend Nate Hobbs in NC. Never stopped.

What did you record with Nate as?
We were called Aluminum Noise.

Did No Rent start before or after that?
No Rent didn’t start until, I wanna say… 2008. It was started by me and Roxann from Relay For Death in Oakland. It really has only been a “real” label for a year. Before that was just kind of, whatever we wanted to do. If you look at the discography it gets pretty obvious when the decision to branch out was made.

Was your “Walk With Me” live tape the first thing that was made under the name?
Yeah

What is the story behind that label? I heard something about releasing stuff so you could actually pay the rent.
Wasn’t rent, was an elctric bill.

Were you able to pay the electric bill?
Haha yes!

Please tell me you kept the actual bill.
No! When we randomly put the tape out then it was literally just to pay the bill, and I even felt kind of bad about it. Wasn’t intended as the beginning of a thing.

Did you ever think that if you didn’t jam and dub all of those tapes, the electric bill would have been lower. And what, if anything, does that make you think about life?
Haha. I don’t think I use that much electricity. I think if I didn’t jam and take tons of time off work, the bill wouldn’t have piled up the way it did.

Are you the kind of person that needs a copy of everything you put out, personally and as a label? Do you have all of the older No Rent stuff?
Not at all. When it’s sold out that means i just don’t have it.

Do you own ANY No Rent releases?
The ones that are in print, obviously. And I have all the masters stored on my computer. Most of the tapes sell around 60 the first day and sit for like a month it seems. So i technically “own” those, but they’re inventory.

It sounds like you move around a bunch? Do you like to travel light?
I can move in one trip generally speaking

So you grew up around Illinois. Lived in North Carolina, Oakland, Philadelphia right now. Where else have you lived, and what would you say is your main reason for ditching a town?
I Left Southern illinois because that’s what you do if you want to make anything and are born there. From NC I moved to Portland for a year to finish a record with a band, moved to Oakland basically for an opportunity to live in Oakland, and back to the east coast to Baltimore at the end of a relationship. I made the short move north to Philly because it’s oddly cheaper than Baltimore. Most of the places I’ve lived have been for 5-8 years.

How do you like Philly?
Its nice enough! Only here since January, so most of my focus has been on label stuff. I miss Baltimore sometimes, hated it there at first but turned out being my favorite place I ever lived. Jury is still out on Philly, but some old friends live here, plus the Heaven’s Gate people, and it’s affordable. I can pay rent by selling noise tapes here. So kind of proudly scraping by.

You said earlier that there is an obvious line when the label started being “real”? Where is that line, and what changed?
The line is Headband’s “The Mask”. I ran a small store for these people in Baltimore for 3+ years and got unemployment when they sold the store. I thought it would be good to actually do something positive with the money, so contacted a lot of people and got No Rent going “for real.”

What did you do different between the Headband tape and, let’s say, your “Let There Be Crumer” tape right before it?The “Let There Be Crumer” tape was kind of thrown together. A learning experience I’ll say. With Headband, I was a lot more finicky because it’s somebody else’s music. Had to establish a standard. Before that, No Rents were packaged in trash.

Did you not care so much about packaging and such because it was your own material for the most part?
No I do care about packaging. I care a lot, just didn’t have real resources and am kind of all or nothing type person. If I can’t make it how I want I tend to say “fuck it”. Its useful in like, maybe making music, and in leaving places. Otherwise a shitty characteristic. Also, “Let There Be Crumer” was truly a test run. Headband was the real start of the label. “Let There Be Crumer” can be considered the last “old No Rent” release, and 8 – 29 are the body of work of the label.

Tell me about Headband.
Its Duncan Moore from Baltimore. Tape music that compares favorably to someone like Joseph Hammer. Fairly insane fidelity because I’m assuming it’s mastering grade tape he’s using to loop and manipulate his sounds.

I saw you play at No Fun Fest in 2007 in American Band. Where does that project fit into your timeline?
American Band was made around the same time as solo albums “Future with No Chance”, “Burning In Hell”, and “Ottoman Black” were recorded. Right before I moved out West. Just met Matt Franco when his van broke down on tour and they [Air Conditioning] stayed at the house a couple extra days. We just kind of decided to do something. My friend Lee Counts is a painter who has lots of tools so we decided to focus entirely on crazy metal abuse and processing of it, but Franco is a pretty unique musician and obviously added his pretty singular touches.

Who else have you collaborated with?
Roxann Spikula of Relay For Death, Ryan Sixes, Aaron Dilloway, Joseph Hammer, Anoushe Shojae-Chaghorvand, Zoe Burke, Cold Electric Fire. Currently woring on a collaboration with Marquis Knox, a young blues artist from St. Louis.

Do you like to record and play live more in duos rather than alone?
I hate playing live basically. I prefer to record alone, but love outside input. I’m a lot more precious with someone else’s sounds than mine and I like how it makes me think differently about the editing process.

What is it about playing live you don’t like?
Crowds. Getting more easily overwhelmed and a deer-in-the-headlights set is often the result. Sometimes I break through it, I don’t know. I liked playing live with American Band. Maybe I like playing live with other people more than solo? There’s less chance of saying “fuck it”, and you have something to focus on with someone else. Allows you to survive the social component more naturally.

I remember watching video of you playing live somewhere, I guess a venue where drinking was not allowed. Someone came and took away your drink and you just stopped playing.
Yeah, that was at The Smell. I get why they have to do that, wasn’t pissed, but didn’t have it in me to sit in front of those people without a drink so had to stop. I should’ve hid it better, or at all.

Did you get your bottle back?
Nah, they dumped it. Again, that was fine. The Smell was a real resource and they could’ve gotten shut down by me boozing.

It still kinda sucks that they dumped it though. Haha.
Well, yeah.

You’ve been involved in the noise scene for almost 20 years now. Who is someone that has vanished you’d like to see recording and playing gigs again?
Easy. Joe Colley. He hasn’t vanished in the real sense, like he responds to emails. Just would like to hear more new Colley.

Have you asked him to do something on No Rent?
Absolutely, and he agreed.

Oh nice. I’m assuming a cassette? When is that happening?
Yeah a tape. That’s up to him. There are longer term projects and shorter term projects, he’s a longer term one.

What are some of the shorter term ones?
There are things that are solidly planned and everything else is in some misty future. Next is Relay For Death, Vanessa Rossetto, Sickness, How I Quit Crack, Howard Stelzer, FFH/Crumer, Purgist, Faster Detail. Re-issuing Zoe’s tape [NRR18: Sapphogeist s/t C28] too, so she can have something on tour in August.

I wanna talk about a tape you just put out that really stuck out for me. The Ama Divers “An Echo In The Sound” C40
Yeah man! Its great

It’s an amazing tape. Definitely sticks out from the usual. Who is Ama Divers and how did that release come about?
Ama Divers is Renee, Brian Mendoza Haran, and a person I don’t know. I’ve known Renee since 98, she was one of the first people in NC who was totally supportive of noise, without any judgement at all. Then, people would be supportive to be nice, but there was always this “not real music” vibe. She didn’t have any of that. Totally love the tape. It’s that rare thing. Great, GREAT, band based ambient “real music”.

Speaking of “real music”, I’ve seen (by way of Facebook) that you’ve been really down on Bruce Springsteen lately. What you got against The Boss, man?
I actually don’t hate him that much, just sort of slightly think he’s corny. I think I can get away with that. I mostly just say anti-Bruce shit to rib Gene Pick.

Which do you think would be better: Springsteen doing a Whitehouse record or Whitehouse doing a Springsteen record?
My god. Is suicide an alternative?

It is not. You either answer that or give me your Netflix password.
Okay, so no way out, Let’s go Whitehouse doing Springsteen.

How have you been deciding what to put out since No Rent became “real”?
Started by asking lots of people if they’d want to do tapes, and as I receive masters figuring out an order. I try to present a kind of flow out of generally four masters at a time. I ask friends what I should put out or at least listen to. Ama Divers was something that totally needed to come out, and it fits with the aesthetic of the label. I pretty much loathe the uniformity of a lot of noise labels, and I know lots of people from lots of different eras, so I get that it may come off random, but over the years a true aesthetic will emerge. It’s just not super up your ass “it’s this, duh, drool” style.

You put out a tape by Christian Mirande not long ago. Did you meet him when you moved to Philly?
I had met him before that, but yeah. He’s a talented guy!

He’s like a pilot or something, right?
Not entirely sure. He works for the Air Force in some way. I think so?

I wonder how the Air Force noise scene is.
Haha, lots of loud noises I’m sure. Which he samples, actually.

That’s so great.
He’s kind of a renaissance man.

Go on.
He just seems to have a lot of ultra specific knowledge. We’re supposedly going fishing and bird watching. We have similar interests, but he’s just better at them.

Are you into bird watching?
I’m a posuer bird watcher, yes. I bought a book on birds, and have actualy went out as an adult something like 5 times. I don’t really care to get too deep into it. I just think it’s nice to be out in nature, no need to nerd it up too bad, but it does feel good knowing what you’re looking at.

Okay, so you’re out in nature and not just staring at pigeons in West Philly?
Haven’t even went in Philly yet. But in Baltimore there’s this filthy, like, hobo jungle behind the Greyhound station that’s a perfect place to bird watch. But if you’re stuck in a place with not enough nature, you can kind of go macro and still get a similar meditational vibe and stay sane.

And if you have a cell phone while you’re out bird watching you can call the noise hotline.
Yes sir! Or a landline

Explain the noise hotline.
It’s an answering machine that anyone can call and hear something on No Rent. 641.715.3900, extension 590622#. On the page there’s updated information about what is actually on it.

Is it some sort of free service or something?
I pay, but there’s a free version. It’s super cheap.

Is it always samples from No Rent stuff?
I’ve put solo material up there but felt weird about it. So I think until further notice, yes.

I know the quality is awful, but ever think of releasing something on there, so people have to call and dub it to tape themselves?
It compresses some things so bad that they’re kind of useless. The Headband tape actually sounded the best on the hotline. No, I hadn’t thought of that. And, yes, it’s a great idea. Thanks.

Last question: How would you describe current noise to 1998 Crumer?
I wouldn’t try. The only difference I made was loud and quiet, and it kind of all grew from there, so any subtelty was lost until at least my 30’s. Ha. No reason to talk to myself in the 90’s.

Various Artists – bblisss
6.23.16 by Mike Haley

Everything from shampoo to chocolate to I’m sure much more (but I’m not about to Google “ways to obtain bliss”) promises the user “bliss”. To the best of my knowledge, there is not an item in the grocery store, or on the internet, offering a dose of “bblisss”. See those extra letters? Those make all of the difference.

“Bliss” can be showy. With all of the super puffy, sunlit clouds and naked baby-angels playing harp music. But “bblisss”, as in the “bblisss” cassette comp, does away with all distractions. Hell, if a poorly written note wasn’t included with the tape I wouldn’t know what it was. No one would. The art is washy and grey. A cropped off image of a plant with leaves resembling some magnetic tape removed from it’s shell on the Jcard. The tape itself is clear with a smudge of white imprinting on the A side. And… Nope, that’s it. No track listing, which is bizarre for a comp, right? No label name or release number. Nada.

That lack of somethingness clears the head. Think of it as a refresher. It clears your head and clears the skies for seven tracks of bliss/bblisss. Unless you want to borrow my poorly written note, you can find the tracklist on Bandcamp. I don’t know how many clicks you have left, so here it is:

Ulla Anona – Moon
Pendant – Des Vieux Temples
DJ Paradise – Ssumo
Billington & Tramposh – Live January 13 2016
Enamel – Quad
DJ Paradise – Mbizi (R)
Naemi – Procel (Original Mix)

There is also little distraction on the audible end of “bblisss”. Everyone decides to remain calm, taking to the recently cleared skies like chem trails rather than sky writing. Rhythmic new age and drone vibrations so stealth and relaxed that some may say they don’t even exist. Maybe they don’t. Maybe the “bblisss” comp is something my brain made up to cope with some heavier shit? You know what, I think this tape feels a lot lighter than most tapes. Is that just in my head? There is a Bandcamp page for it, but for all I  know, I could have made that myself.

I don’t know where or how to get this tape. I’m sorry.