Thursday, December 30, 2010

Friday, November 26, 2010

DNT
Caboladies - s/t LP - DNT
Caboladies - s/t LP - DNT
Big thank you to DNT for bringing this record into the world. What we have here is a beautiful -- in sound and appearance -- LP that collects five excellent tracks from five different limited run Caboladies releases from 2007-8. What really stands out about this record is how good the pieces sound a few years down the road, given that they come from the tape and CDR underground which tends toward quick and sometimes disposable. They are remarkable as a group for the very reason that these tracks still sound good now -- while their sound fits in with the drone and fringe scenes generally, they are very much going down their own path. The hazy, ecstatic feel of their music is familiar to a lot of groups right now but they build theirs up from more not less, with layer upon layer of tumultuous movement buoying up the wall of sound. It makes for a deep record that rewards repeated listening(believe me, this LP has not strayed far from the turntable in the last few months). Excellent collection that makes it clear that these guys belong in the upper tier. Hope more labels start doing this kind of thing. $11
DRAFT TAPES
I'm so behind here at Eggy HQ that this news is no longer new -- Gift Tapes main-man Jason Anderson has started a sister label called Draft as a haven for artists to go beyond their accustomed sound and try new things. Batch number two is already a reality, so be sure to scope those at the Draft site.
Frak - Tournament City/Dry Vanadis - Draft Tapes
Frak - Dry Vanadis/Tournament City - Draft Tapes
If I'm not mistaken, Frak is the flagship band of the Swedish Borft label, which I've been curious about for quite a while now, but that curiosity running up against international shipping rates and sheer ignorance about where to start with the label. So already I was eager to listen to this tape before I even set the reels in motion. And my instincts were not wrong -- Dry Vanadis/Tournament City has been in heavy rotation since Jason sent along a pre-release Draft care package many moons ago. Frak are a Swedish trio playing synthesizer and drum-machine instrumental(for the most part) pop that perfectly sates a yen I didn't even know I had. The charm of this music is ultimately its simplicity -- the songs here were all recorded to 4-track using a huge pile of analog gear -- and it's freshness -- the snappy, linear drum-machine beats and choppy sequencer lines light up a whole web of early synth-pop/electro associations, from Yellow Magic Orchestra to the Normal, but Frak take such a lively, wide-eyed approach to their sound that it never feels dated or overly referential. Sides A and B are each EPs in themselves, one recorded in 2010, the other 2007-8, not sure if they've ever been released before, but it makes for a nice, full tape. Recommended! $7
A. Diller - Still Live - Draft Tapes
A. Diller - Still Life - Draft Tapes
"Still Life" belongs to a genre of music that exists mostly in my head at this point but that includes the music that Justin Meyers is doing right now, and to a lesser extend Graham Lambkin's recent work, all of which is very exciting stuff to me. The two elements coming together here are collaged field recordings and gentle synthesizer work, each making the other more interesting by its presence. Not a whole lot more I want to say about it, it's really a very interesting and dynamic tape that mostly speaks for itself. Another one that I can whole-heartedly recommend, very happy to have it in stock. $7

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Monday, November 22, 2010


It's Yeti Ten!
If it weren't enough that this issue comes with FIVE tracks from Robert Scott projects(including the Clean and, if it's the track I'm thinking of, a very nice song by the Weeds), there are two Eggy-family tracks, one from the Golden Hours and one from Orca Team. And like every Yeti, tons of other stimulating material.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Hey New York!

I'm very excited to let you know that Kim's Video is now carrying Eggy tapes, as well tapes from other nice labels, so stop by and check them out, if you needed another reason to spend an afternoon in Kim's.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Some nice news around here is that Jeff Witscher/Rene Hell has been living in town for the last month or two(just a few blocks from Eggy HQ, actually). Getting to catch a live Rene Hell set was a treat, and I was also able to grab a handful of copies of some otherwise out-of-print Agents of Chaos titles for the distro:
Flowerman/Rene Hell - split - Agents of Chaos
Flowerman/Rene Hell - split - Agents of Chaos
I can't decide how much I like the Flowerman half of the tape but it's certainly a surprise and not what usually comes my way via cassette -- clean, open, chirping electronics, a lot like the Audiodregs releases I was into as a teenager. It does get a little "weird" for the last track but still quite reserved. It's nice stuff for sure, and I do enjoy listening to it. The Rene Hell side is divided up between the sparse, stark, deep-space electronics like on the Porcelain Opera LP on Type, and the more traditional analog synthesizer sound heard on his split with Pete Swanson. Solid all around. $7
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Live Generators (1.5) - Agents of Chaos
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Live Generators (1.5) - Agents of Chaos
For the last few years, it seems, Keith Fullerton Whitman has been exploring "automated synth music," which as far as I understand, means the use of some kind of environmental or non-musical input to direct the parameters(pitch, panning, tempo, etc.) of the audio being created. If you are worried that these pieces would be interesting without being very enjoyable, you need not be. The music here is rich, strange and dynamic, and fairly briskly paced given the 20-minute lengths of the two pieces here. At the core of these recordings is the rhythmic burble of synthesized tones, which sometimes drift in pulsing equanimity and other times swerve and de-tune into more evil territories. All in all, a nice antidote to the current overabundance of "nice" synthesizer music, as can be attested to by the audience member who closes out side A with his refrain of "Fuck that! Fuck that! Bullshit! Fuck that!" $7
Any Given Sunday - Take Me To Your Dealer - Agents of Chaos
Any Given Sunday - Take Me To Your Dealer - Agents of Chaos
This is, I believe, the debut release of Any Given Sunday, a duo consisting of Keith Fullerton Whitman and Geoff Mullen. As readers of this blog might already know, I am a big fan of both of them, and have been since my days as a student in Providence. Quite unlike either of their solo projects, this collaboration finds the duo rolling first with a molasses-slow Cluster beat, slowly layering on, then peeling back, all manner of synthesizer swoops and squawks, then on the flip leaving only the pulse to anchor their electronic explorations. I mentioned Cluster, but these tracks are refreshingly non-referential(to these ears, anyway), and they float in a sparse, zero-gravity zone that is immersive without being "blissed-out" or cloying. These early explorations point toward an interesting future, and I hope the releases keep coming from this collaboration. $7
Brand new label in town, Brian Mumford's Musical Impressions imprint. Release number one is Much Of The Nuance Is Lost by Deeds:
Deeds - Much Of the Nuance Is Lost - Musical Impressions
Deeds - Much Of The Nuance Is Lost - Musical Impressions
Head-cleaning thrash of pummeling drums, guitar skronk and weird electronics delivered in short, loud, improvised bursts. But as blasted as these tracks are, the sense of communication and interplay between players(Mumford and drummer John Niekrasz) is never lost. The questions is not how far out either of the two can get, but how far out they can get together. The primitive electronics Mumford brings to the table are a nice and mysterious addition. I also dig the sense of space these pieces create, very open somehow and dangling above the void. $6
Picked up copies of the second release on Wiseblood Media, the label run by Aaron Davis(Acre); "Ruins" by the Slaves. Really killer art and design for this tape, a fold-up card stock sleeve with printing on just about every surface, just beautiful as an object.
The Slaves - Ruins - Wiseblood Media
The Slaves - Ruins - Wiseblood Media
To be honest, my encounters with the Slaves as a live band have been iffy at best -- it always seems like something very interesting is about to happen, and maybe it does for a minute or two, but it never quite holds together. So it was really a very nice surprise to hear how spot on this tape is, start to finish. Unlike their shows(maybe this not the case any more, it's been a while since I've seen them), Ruins consists not of "songs" but two side-long drones. This stuff is very much in the vein of early, pre-song Grouper -- bleak, slow-moving, and the voice a specter pulled along in the wash of sound. Underneath it all -- and one of my favorite aspects of the Slaves -- the impossibly rich tones of a Roland Juno synthesizer move in dour procession, those slow chords perhaps the very heart of the band. $6
Huge backlog of tapes to write about, going to keep things brief...
Really happy to have stumbled across Alex Twomey's(Mirror to Mirror) Jugular Forest label. These tapes are a nice companion to Matt Sullivan's Ekhein label -- a lot of the same artists being represented and overall a similar vibe, that being the current wave of shimmering, sometimes loop-based drones and synthesizer music.
Harpoon Pole Vault - Outside This Area - Jugular Forest
Harpoon Pole Vault - Outside This Area - Jugular Forest
Harpoon Pole Vault is the solo work of Jason Anderson(Brother Raven, Gift Tapes, Draft Tapes). As the past releases of his own work and by his labels can attest, the man has high standards, so while not as fully realized as your typical Brother Raven outing, this Harpoon Pole Vault tape is nothing to gloss over. Perhaps it's the strange creature staring up from the tape's cover, but all in all there's more menace and mystery here than the cosmic sounds you might be expecting. The synthesizers are are dialed into sturdy, substantial tones that ground the sound nicely. $7
Earn - In a Year - Jugular Forest
Earn - In A Year - Jugular Forest
A collection of shorter and more sonically diverse pieces than I was expecting(early work, perhaps?) from Ekhein main-man and former Privvy Seal Matt Sullivan. Still of a piece with his recent discreet music, the work here from time to time breaks from the usual serene calm -- sometimes insistent, sometimes brooding. $7
Mirror to Mirror - The Door With a Lock - Jugular Forest
Mirror To Mirror - The Door With A Lock - Jugular Forest
Hazy, shimmering drone work from Alex Twomey. This is the first Mirror To Mirror release to come my way -- it's all shifting layers and buried melancholy. I haven't really kept up with the Kompakt label but this reminds of their early "Pop Ambient" comps. $7
Cloaked Light - Drapery
Cloaked Light - Drapery - Jugular Forest
Stoic, monolithic work compared to the relatively spacious and upfront sounds of Cloaked Light(Pete Friel, of young tapes, I believe. JK tapes, too? I can't remember) Arbor tape of last year. More straight ahead drone work, dark in sound, focusing on the lower end of the sonic spectrum. $7
Pale Blue Sky - Souvenir - Jugular Forest
Pale Blue Sky - Souvenir - Jugular Forest
Pale Blue Sky is Mike Pollard who runs Arbor(I'm just realizing that is seems like everybody on Jugular Forest runs a label...). Souvenir is a tape of light-hearted disco pop with lyrics on the general theme of the loneliness of the dance floor. Er. Souvenir is a tape of placid, tune-out drones for lying on the couch with the lights off and drifting away to. The gentle murmur of overtones sometimes suggests ur-melody, and on the whole the tape is executed with the deliberateness and posture of Minimalism. You've heard this kind of drone music before, it's not going to blow you mind, but it's always nice when something of this quality comes your way and fills your room with its calm for a half hour. $7

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Friday, November 12, 2010


















Skything are a Indiana-based duo who released a tape on Friends and Relatives this year or last, which they were kind enough to send me. They make long, hypnotic, drone-y songs but it's largely percussion based, which I thought was particularly swell. Long story short, they are working on a tape for Eggy, which is very exciting. In the meantime, you should pick up that Friends and Relatives tape, and take a listen to this live recording from their tour with Justin Clifford Rhody a few months back:
Sky Thing Live from Kevin & Jason's house YPSILANTI MI by Pro You

Friday, November 5, 2010

Radio and "radio" things:

Jovontaes play live on WRFL Wednesday Nov. 17th at 9pm.

KZSU program Flashbang Radio will be doing an Eggy spotlight next Sunday, Nov. 7th.

And Foxy Digitalis writer David Perron dropped me a line about his Free Form Freakout webcasts of songs culled mostly from cassette and 7" releases, should see some Eggy jams entering into rotation in the near future, so check it out.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

D R A G G I N G A N O X T H R O U G H W A T E R
" T H E T R O P I C S O F P H E N O M E N O N - S W E E T D R E A M S E D I T I O N "

Tomorrow will see the release of a greatly expanded version of Dragging An Ox Through Water's excellent 2008 LP "The Tropics of Phenomenon" by the Tokyo imprint Sweet Dreams. This thing is bigger and better in every direction; more paintings by Dana Dart-McLean, more original songs from Dragging An Ox, remixes and reworkings by pillars of the Portland music scene (Tara Jane O'Neil, Grouper, Thicket, E*Rock & Yoni Kifle, and yours truly) and an essay by Patricia No. It's really nice to see such care being taken with an album that I feel like a lot of people slept on the first time around, hopefully it will reach many new ears with this edition. It looks awesome in the photos, can't wait to see it for real.

Saturday, October 23, 2010






































This Sunday! At Valentine's! Free!
Pete Swanson
Litanic Mask
The Polyps

Pete has been killing lately, topping a string of excellent tapes with the excellent Feelings In America LP that came out on Root Strata the other month. Litanic Mask is Mark from Silentist's new band with a lady singer doing epic electro-goth, should be awesome. Me and Josh Kermiet are being the Polyps, doing the moon circle textile instrument thing again. All in all, a kaleidoscopic evening of sound. Don't miss it!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

P R A I R I E F I R E T A P E S
Gremlynz/Ajilvsga split - Prairie Fire
Gremlynz/Ajilvsga - split
Just in time for Halloween, got a few copies of the this all-start split between Gremlynz (the fellow from Pink Priest) and Ajilvsga (Brad Rose and Nathan Young). The Gremlynz side is in-line with the last Pink Priest tape on Night-People but even more subdued. Slow and low, like early morning fog moving across an empty field. Suitably haunted to not feel new age-y. All in all, a good set-up for the flip, which is a real head-cleaner of square-wave and feedback assault. Bracing and refreshing like jumping in an ice-cold lake. Nice match-up of sounds, though opposites in mood and tone, both are long-form drone-noise and oddly compliment each other. I'd kind of like to play them both at once. $6
M U S I C A L I M P R E S S I O N S




































For more or less the entirety of my adult life, Brian Mumford has been a friend, collaborator and constant source of inspiration. I am very pleased to point you in the direction of his latest venture, a tape label called Musical Impressions. Many of you had shown interested in the Grandfather Claws tape listed for many months in the "future releases" section of this blog -- that tape will see the light of day very soon as one of the first two tapes on the Musical Impressions imprint, the other being a tape by Deeds (Mumford and John Niekrasz). Future releases will include tapes by Thicket, Sun Foot, Dim Holys. Can't wait! In the meantime, check out the audio up on the site.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Dear Up a Hill LP - self-released
Grouper - Dragging A Dead Dear Up A Hill LP
I have just a few copies of this LP, the third pressing of Grouper's masterpiece record from 2008, pressed by Liz Harris herself (not Type). For those unfamiliar with Grouper's work, her music started out in the form of stark, textural pieces made from distortion, delay and voice then very slowly, release by release, incorporated elements of melody and song structure. The DDD LP is probably the farthest she's leaned into the realm of song-craft, and it's also the first release that really opened up her sound texturally. It's a stunning record, the songs are incredibly good and deeply affecting, they really give you chills. I have listened to this record many many times. $16

I also have copies of Wide
Grouper - Wide - Weird Forest/Untitled
Grouper - Wide LP - Weird Forest $15

Friday, October 15, 2010

Foxy Digitalis gave some love to the Jovontaes tape, you can read the review here.

Also, listed the new Goaty tapes but it got buried a few posts down.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

N I G H T P E O P L E
Dirty Beaches - Night City - Night-People
Dirty Beaches - Night City
Dirty Beaches records are about travel. His last tape on Night-People evoked highways and open roads and the hypnotic rhythm of the dotted yellow line. Night City turns instead to the eternal flicker of neon signs, to long, winding florecent tunnels, to the dreamlike energy of the 24-hour city. Instead of countless miles coast to coast, the travel is within the labyrinth of the metropolis, and instead of the dry twang of highway guitar, the melodies are carried on the opaque shimmer of plastic synthesizer. Where before the rhythms came from the lulling infinity of the endless road, here their cut-time pieces move together and apart with precision. And instead of Alex's lost crooner baritone, only a pair of relective sunglasses float diembodied on the cover. $6
Broken Water - s/t - Night-People
Broken Water - s/t
Olympia group with a dark sound, heavy nods to Sonic Youth and the dissonant 90s. "Boyfriend Hole" leads the tape off, makes sense they made a 7" out of it, too, total ripper. They've got their sound locked down, make heady work of the six songs here. As solid as anything out there. $6
Dunebuggy - Live: White Paint/High Jinx and the Perfume Tuxedo - Night People
Dunebuggy - Live White Paint/"High Jinx and the Perfume Tuxedo"
Live murk from everyone's favorite Iowa City weirdo-duo. Gotta say, this might be a fans only outing. The 'Buggy seems to be in great form, thrashing on the thrashers and slow burning on the slow burners, but the whole affair sounds to be a little much for the walkman charged with recording the goings-on. That said there's a gem on the b-side -- a mellow, echo-y guitar and drums number that is in a more gentle mode than I've heard from Dunebuggy. This show sounds like it was a blast, hope they take it outside of Iowa so we can hear for ourselves. $6
Rene Hell - Baroque Arcade - Night-People
Rene Hell - Baroque Arcade
Jeff Witscher continues his run of Rene Hell releases with this tape of eerie, outer-space synthesizer work. With all the mining of the Cluster/German scene going on right now, Witscher's releases are instantly recognizable -- there's a definite edge to them, an uneasiness and insistence where others are looking to sooth. Less John Carpenter-y than the Ekhein tape, the pieces here are constantly shifting and dense, yet the sounds remain vivid, defined. Hope he sticks to the Rene Hell name for a while, interesting stuff going on here. $6
The Savage Young Taterbug - Syrupy Evenings - Night-People
The Savage Young Taterbug - Syrupy Evenings
It seems like forever ago that Boys of the Feather dropped with all its naive, sing-a-long energy and dreamy, contact-high sparkle. With every tape since, that mystical, boyish Taterbug has slipped a little bit farther into the haze, always a little bit harder to hear in the nostalgia/nightmare kelaidoscope of audio. Not that this is a bad thing -- the California Son tape is maybe my favorite Charles Free solo work and it's one of his most fractured. On Syrupy Evenings, Taterbug appears like little more than the Chesire Cat -- a strange, fixed, pained grin floating above the warble of gritty keyboard and cheap FX. Weirdest, saddest tape I've heard in a while. $6
Sleep Over - s/t - Night-People
Sleep Over - s/t
Nice little tape of dreamy pop music that sounds like it could be the demos from some long lost 4AD band. Warbly synthesizer, slow drum-machine and lots of reverb give it that hazy MBV feel that really hits home. Nobody's quite doing it like these ladies are right now, super nice to jam this kind of stuff. $6
Pageants - s/t - Night-People
Pageants - s/t
Dark 60s pop from Australia (where else these days!) that leans heavy on reverb and dirty, 12-string electric guitar. No summer of love here, though -- late-night feelings of loss and regret lurk behind every ringing melody. Short, sweet and deeply catchy. Lithe chord-progressions and subtle organ work really seal the deal. For all the rep Night-People has for ruling the fringe scene, their pop-leaning tapes rarely fail to deliver (Terrorbird, Twerps and Dunebuggy tapes all remain in heavy rotation around here). Can't wait to hear more from these guys. $6
Lazer Zeppelin - Pyramid Echo - Night-People
Lazer Zeppelin - Pyramid Echo
Oddball sounds from Olympia, Washington. Hard to know what to say exactly about this tape -- they do a Uke of Space Corners cover and I think that goes a long way to describe the off-kilter, exuberant, shambolic, folk-country, collective-sound psychadelia going on here. The whole thing's been run through an echoplex which gives is a nice, full, swampy feel to it. Upbeat, clattering and weird in an old-school, "let's just act weird" kinda way that feels friendly and goofy. Good tape for late summer full moons. $6
EMA - Little Sketches On Tape
EMA - Little Sketches On Tape
Sketches in a good sense of the word, the little vignettes of song here are fragmented but have that spark of life to them. EMA is Erika from Gowns, and the set up here is incredibly simple but bears some weird, interesting fruit -- sparse guitar or piano and voice and tape speed manipulation. The audio stretches and warbles, adding texture, depth and almost a kind of rhythm. It's awesome that with so few and familiar components, EMA has put something together that sounds like nothing else out there. She's carved out some very fertile creative ground for herself with this stuff. I really hope these little sketches on tape are pointing towards a big album on vinyl. $6

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dear Portland,
You should know about Little Axe Records. Jed and Warren run it out of their garage, 3637 NE 14th. It's open 12-6 on Friday and Saturday. I've started stocking them with tape releases, Night-People, Ekhein, Gift Tapes, Digitalis, etc., so if you're looking for a place to grab that stuff locally, Little Axe is the spot. They've got some great records there, and very reasonable prices.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Handful of new tapes from Goaty...

Silk Ears - Bed Room Water - Goaty Tapes
Silk Ears - Bed Room Water
So I am sitting in front of my stereo with an impossibly large pile of tapes to listen to and the afternoon dwindling and yet I can't help myself from listening to this Silk Ears tape twice all the way through. Sprawling, directionless, We-Don't-Give-A-Fuck, zero-fidelity, bedroom mess of weirdly brilliant songs, if they are songs even. Drums, bass, guitar three piece from Victoria, Australia, playing is primitive at best but I get the sense that these two guys and a gal have got deep record collections. Not that they SOUND like other bands, but that they've got that intuitive sense of what sounds good. The group starts upright, if teetering, moving more-or-less together through the first number but it's not long before all organized momentum dissipates and the music is let loose to drift in hazy, outer zones. Two singers, boy and girl, the girl a dead ringer for Karianne from the Whines, every time she pops up it really hits you in the gut -- distant and immediate, witchy and melancholy. Wait around for Side B when she really lets loose, it sends chills up the spine. Really fucking good tape. OK, as finish typing this the tape is finishing out it's third time through. I move on reluctantly. $6

Baronic Wall - Traditional Appearance - Goaty Tapes
Baronic Wall - Traditional Appearance
Truly, deeply strange new tape from Baronic Wall. The layers of distortion that characterized his last one on Night-People have been pulled away but the new set-up offers little relief to the listener. Like turning on a florescent light in a creepy, dilapidated factory, what's revealed is still a creepy, dilapidated factory but now bathed in bright, cheery light. The mad-man raving is as unsettling as ever, sometimes even more so for the shopping-mall keyboard backing tracks. I think the song title "Shooting From the Sundeck" just about says it all. Like the Night-People release, this is a tape you really have to engage with but it's well worth the commitment. $6

Sohni Chambers - Yaw-Mah-Ha - Goaty Tapes
Sohni Chambers - Yaw-Mah-Ha
Organ and drum workout from Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw and Nick Malkin. All in all a lo-fi affair but the duo keep it interesting, moving from more upbeat pieces into dronier territory. Actually reminds me a lot of the Jovontaes tape that came out on Eggy last year. Straight-forward tape but well done. $6

Banana Head/Rosemary Krust - split - Goaty Tapes
Banana Head/Rosemary Krust - split
Second release (to my knowledge) from Goaty Tapes main-man Zully Adler, more straight-laced affair this time around. Repetitive loner-pop very much in the Russian Tsarlag mode -- minimal, if any, percussion and slack playing and singing.
Rosemary Krust steals the show on the B side, which makes sense considering that she's been roaming the badlands between noise and pop for quite a while now. This release tends towards the abrassive, opening with a fever-dream of sea-sick loops before lurching into the first "song," which reminds me a lot of Eraserhead for whatever reason, maybe the general sense of unease and desolation. By the second track we are given that glimmer of sweetness that is the key to Rosemary Krust's music. A good reference point is probably Fursaxa's poppier moments. Great side from start to finish, this kind of thing is right up my alley. $6

Smegma/Kommisar Hjular and Mama Baer - split - Goaty Tapes

Smegma/Kommisar Hjular and Mama Baer - split

Being from Portland, I'm not sure how much explaining I have to do regarding Smegma. Pretty much the deal is this; these guys have been around forever and they are really, really good at what they do. There's is a very pure kind of noise music, notable for it's almost complete freedom from delay, feedback and distortion. The focus is instead on group play and the interaction of simple, sometimes garrish sounds. Cut-up audio from old records lends a musique conrete vibe, but drums and guitar-like strumming are just as likely to pull things toward more familiar musical references. The pieces scuttle and move organically, passing quickly but deftly from one sound environment to the next. Really wonderful, curious audio from the masters.
The Kommisar Hjular and Mama Baer side is the same track as on the A side of their Feeding Tube LP of last year except with a music box tinkling away in the background the whole time. I was dissappointed for a second until I remembered how much I love this insane and wholly bracing slab of madcap audio, and that I was perfectly happy to be listening to it again (my housemates, however...). What do we call this? A lecture on Concrete Poetry gone totally unhinged? There's a lot of screaming and feedback and references to Mary Ellen Solt. Brilliantly zonked, the work of deeply strange minds. So if you don't have the LP, this is KH and MB at their best, totally essential.
Excellent tape, props to Goaty for the deft pairing. Best $7 you'll spend in a while.
The Woolen Men - The Portland Building - Gnar Tapes
Really happy to announce the release of a new Woolen Men tape on Gnar Tapes, an awesome label who've done tapes with White Fang, the Whines, Meth Teeth, Starving Weirdos, Lucky Dragons, and on and on. Seven songs altogether (six originals and a Go-Betweens cover), pro-dubbed tapes, pro-printed J-cards, link to a digital version. The works. They cost $7.

And to go along with the new tape, here's EGGY MIX NUMBER TWO, this time put together by Lawton Browning of the Woolen Men:

EGGY MIX NUMBER TWO

Harry Nilsson - Cuddly Toy
Volcano Suns - Jak
Scott Walker - Three
Judee Sill - The Kiss
Killing Joke - Requiem
Frank Black - (I Want To Live) On An Abstract Plane
X - The Unheard Music
Destroy All Monsters - Vampire
Talking Heads - Girls Want To Be With Girls
Faust - Jennifer
Ramones - Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
Replacements - Bastards of Young
Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby

Get it

HERE

Friday, October 8, 2010

According to Dusted Magazine, I'm a member of Idea Fire Company.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

The lastest batch from Gift Tapes...

Nathan McLaughlin - Echolocation 3 - Gift Tapes
Nathan McLaughin - Echolocation 3
Heavy duty tape of Deep Listening for the heads. This is the kind of music that completely fills whatever room it's being played in. The sonic textures are great, from low rumbles that sound like they were recorded from inside a glacier to distant bass lines emanating from impossibly deep in the music to sweetly droning tones. There's really a lot here, one of those tapes that takes a few listens just to wrap your head around. Recommended, don't want to miss this one. $7

Mi Or and the Pedestals - Eos - Gift Tapes
Mi Or and the Pedestals - Eos
Not sure I've ever heard a tape quite like this one. It's definitely coming from the Gift Tapes universe being in the mode of long-form synth and electronics exploration but the scope of sound is pretty wild. One pole is gently bubbling new-age/kosmische synthesizer and the other is raw electronics, and the tape swings back and forth between the two, building to loud erruptions of sound then washing back away into placid near silence. The flip is not as ebullient but there's still the pairing of relatively clean, dewey synth-tones and grittier, almost industrial-leaning sounds. $7

Panabrite - Wizard Chimes - Gift Tapes
Panabrite - Wizard Chimes
As the synth craze continues to sweep the underground we're at the point where it doesn't cut it any more to just warm up the oscillators and put echo on the filter sweeps. With Brother Raven's last LP for Digitalis a high water mark of the traditional school of kosmische playing, it makes sense that Anderson's Gift Tapes imprint would be keeping standards high. Panabrite's Wizard Chimes stands out for how wholley composed it sounds. Nary a knob twiddle feels careless. What we have is nine little worlds of mellow, bubbling sequencer and chiming bleeps, each succinct and thought through. $7
Couple of very dreamy 3" CDRs from Hooker Vision. Morning music. The run-size of this label is still painfully small but they are definitely locking into an aesthetic both visually and sonically, which is always cool.
Aerial Jungle - Mosaic 3" CDR - Hooker Vision
Aerial Jungle - Mosaic 3" CDR
Two ten-ish minute jammers from Rachel Evans (of Hooker Vision) and the inimitable Brad Rose (of North Sea, Altar Eagle, Digitalis, one million other projects). First one is quietly propulsive with some melodic nods toward the Moebius-Roedelius school without laying it on too thick, thanks goodness. Second one is all swirls of mist and sparkling synth tones, relaxed without being catatonic. Both do their thing without lingering too long. Nothing earth-shattering but the whole package is great; little CDR, colorful art, really pleasant tracks. $6
Moss Swarm - Seance Horizon 3" CDR - Hooker Vision
Moss Swarm - Seance Horizon 3" CDR
Psych-folk drone-zone work from Grant Evans of Hooker Vision, Nova Scotian Arms. More twining branches and curling smoke than the other, more new age-y stuff of his I had heard, and this is a good thing, adding quite a bit of grit and substance. Again, two tracks, succinct and to the point. Nice variety of sounds and textures, all in all a Jeweled Antler, Last Visible Dog vibe done pleasantly if unassumingly. $6
eggy shirt grey
The last of the Eggy/Half and Half shirts. Half and Half closed and I washed the screen out, so when these are gone that's it. $7 a pop.

SMALL
Blue x 3
Green x 2
Red x 1

MEDIUM
Blue x 3
Green x 2
Red x 1
Yellow x 1

LARGE
Blue x 1

Monday, September 27, 2010

It's been a while since carrying their stuff, but it's really nice to have a few Holy Cheever Church releases to offer again:
Chris Dadge - What Comes After Dust - Holy Cheever Church
Chris Dadge - What Comes After Dust
Chris Dadge -- half of the Bent Spoon Duo, a third of the Bent Spoon Trio, Bug Incision head-honcho, and member of countless other projects from all over the sonic map -- offers up a solo tape of the kind of beguiling-instrumented improv very much in line with his Bent Spoon work. The main difference is in the tone of the work, which is much darker and more insistent than the duo, which has its share of playful and open moments. $6
Gino Robair - NoiseBox - Holy Cheever Church
Gino Robair - NoiseBox (e.11.B)
Solo instrumental work on -- I'm assuming -- the NoiseBox. Not sure if this kind of tape belongs to a genre or scene but I always enjoy these releases when they come my way. A man, a single piece of electronics and no overdubs. The result is a tape of odd sound -- chattering, chirruping, whistles, groans, raspy howls and the sudden, thick worm of noise, shimmering with electricity. And lots of space, little bits of silence always poking though. I think listening to these tapes I dig how simple the relationship is between maker and listener. One on one. Gino might as well be playing through the phone. $6
Pete Fosco - Negative Mind - Holy Cheever Church
Pete Fosco - Negative Mind
Nice tape from Pete Fosco, a distant sonic cousin to Pete Swanson's recent releases, teetering on the line between tone and texture, playing that hard, bright mid-range of saturated audio. Why do these kind of tapes always sound so sad? There's no tracklisting but the second piece on side A is quite arresting -- simple and beautiful. Side B is barely there, just the light of the setting sun on the surface of the water, then a short guitar piece to close the tape out. Really excellent stuff, slow and measured, the sound always shifting in subtle ways. $6