New Batch – Polar Envy
1.3.18 by Mike Haley

I’m sure you’ve chosen some incredible personal goals for the new year – learn another language, get rid of that extra arm, stop sniffing glue, etc… – but put all of that mess on the back burner for the moment because Polar Envy (née A Soundesign Recording) has gots some goodies you should check out first!

Two David Russell related shindigs, Collapsed Arc and The David Russell Snake, have tapes out marking the label’s 101st and 102nd releases. the PE/ASR/DR tribe is very near and dear to our hearts here at Tabs Out, our very first episode kicked off with a track from the Robert Turman / Neon Depth (David Russell & John Elliot) tape on ASR, though things have been quiet on their front for some time (not EXTREMELY quiet considering that monster Ohio compilation from 2014).

Collapsed Arc’s style of exploiting damaged repetitiveness plagues “In Tension.” It’s a cruel scene, a dose expected from a Willy Wonka type, but not someone you trust. To say Collapsed Arc is “difficult” to listen to would be like saying that recovering a misplaced toothpick out of your eyeball isn’t going to be very minty. The loops are silty, mean-spirited, a bunch of bruisers with switchblade combs. The loops are carnival, cotton-like, a bunch of files being converted from PC to Coleco. The loops are whatever the h*ck they wanna be and they spin in circles like that kid in your doctor’s waiting room with the lingering eye contact. A bath is recommended between sides.

After a half hour of Collapsed Arc, I suppose one could call “Takes The Cake” by The David Russell Snake “relief,” but that would be like what André the Giant does before a match: A huge stretch. “The Cake” isn’t hysterical like “In Tension,” but it’s still a dude working through some shit. As Collapsed Arc, Russell ties his tension in knots. Snake unfurls it to reveal a fleshy, industrial wastezone. One with toxic no-go areas where the echoes of echoes of raw pounding shaw the situation. Empty your Collapse Arc tub, fill it back up, get back in.

Editions of 50 available from Polar Envy.