Bad Psychic / Diva 93 / Sara Century / Syko Friend 4-way split
11.10.15 by Scott Scholz

Chicago label Hairy Spider Legs must throw great parties, if their new “Party Music” double cassette is any indication. A four-way split release uniting artists from Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Bloomington, Indiana, “Party Music” takes you on a sonic soiree from the beat-oriented fun of the early evening to blankets of guitar feedback perfect for keeping you warm on the couch overnight.

Each artist takes a side of this split, and we launch with Bad Psychic, whose opening tune starts with a relaxed sort of vibe that takes on a driving double-time feel when the drums take over. The assertive basses of “See Me No More” vibe nicely with sweeping synths and hard-hitting chorus vocals, like Gary Numan sitting in with The Contortions. On the B-side, Diva 93 opens with the great “Punish/Abandon/Reward”, which contrasts uneffected tribal-sounding drums with cosmically tweaked vocals. Her other 2 tunes are filled out with pensive synth work and nimble vocals, making the vibe of the first tape an interesting blend of no-wave and new-wave approaches.

Things get weirder on the second cassette:Sara Century turns in four playful tunes with slinky chromatic riffs trapped in lots of reverb and delay. My fave of her jams, “I Wait For No One,” uses a good measure of distortion on a percussion loop that takes on a bit of pitch content in its overdriven fuzziness, with mostly spoken vocals lurking in the shadows. These tunes are all considerably more low-fi than the rest of the album, though, which definitely has its vibe, but I wish the vocals were a little higher in these mixes–there are cool things happening with the lyrics, but I can’t quite make them out.

Syko Friend takes over the last side of the album with a pair of wild pieces that are my favorite kind of Party Music. “Tupelo’s Tell” uses tons of reverb and delay with whispered and moving-liquid sounds. Looped/manipulated sections start to take shape, teasing toward a “tune”, but the piece stays a little nebulous. And “Fly Canyon” turns into an unexpectedly rad out-guitar jam. There’s definitely a song form in the canyon, and vocals periodically reach upward in the mix, but this becomes a great noise guitar workout, with layers of amp-melting textures letting the song peek through and decisively blanketing it again.

Party Music comes in a vinyl 2-cassette album, on a pair of metallic gold and silver tapes. This one won’t last long, but you can still snag it directly from Hairy Spider Legs.