Erasurehead -Yauhtli
11.30.16 by Ryan Durfee

A. Cooper Reid, recording here as Erasurehead, makes the kind of woozy~hazy bedroom pop that has a really special place in my heart. I’m immediately transported back to the summer of ’09, discovering Dayvan Zombear, Chocolate Bobka, and downloading shitty, 128 bit rate rips of Rangers and Grippers Nother Onesers. It was a treasure trove of weird guys held up in their bedrooms with a Tascam, making beautifully gnarly, in-the-red, lo-fi hypnagogic pop. “Yauhtli”, released in an edition of 80 copies by Plume Records, continues in that fine tradition laid down by Not Not Fun & Underwater Peoples.

“Yauhtli” is named after an Aztec incense made from the Mexican marigold, which was blown into the faces of those about to be sacrificed, or used in combination with peyote or other hallucinogens to induce clearer visions. Someone was kind enough to include marigold seeds, along with directions on how to plant and take care of them, with the tape. You will definitely hear some Ariel Pink, early Ducktails, Sam Mering, and Elephant 6 throughout “Yaugtli.” The whole album is a really solid listen the entire way through, my favorite jammer being Ceremony Of Friendship, all soft smeared synths and languid, reverbed out guitar on top of garbage can snares. My only real complaint is that it’s so short. When this guy gets signed by Captured Tracks and is played on Gorilla vs Bear (that’s still a thing right?), I hope he doesn’t lose his lo-fi aesthetic. I think when all of those people started getting budgets, they began to lose some of the magic and made really bright, overly produced albums that didn’t have the same ramshackle warmth about them. Anyway, I’m rooting for A. Cooper Reid a million percent and looking forward to hearing his next album! I’ve also gotta say that his website is a delightful mindfuck that totally channels that mind gunk OESB was peddling back then. And his videos, especially Rainy Day Thoughts (which is a pop masterpiece), are just something you need to see.

Pick up a copy of this tape, while you still can, from Plume.