New Batch – Unifactor
11.13.18 by Ryan Masteller

I guess by this point you couldn’t pin down Cleveland label Unifactor if you tried. Long a bastion for outsider oddities – warped electronica (Moltar, Prostitutes), friggin noise (Skin Graft, Sick Llama), celestial kraut (Brett Naucke, Dominic Coppola), ghastly performance art (Headlights, Marcia Custer), whatever it is Mukqs does, and that tape where Liz Roberts and Henry Ross destroyed a car – Unifactor takes a decided turn here on batch 8 toward the “non-weird.” However, in doing so, they end up dodging any sort of easy definition one might try to stick to them. Unifactor is one slippery fish!

Batch 8 is filled to overflowing with guitar music, from the new hard folk of New Hard Folk to the nocturnal explorations of High Aura’d to the shimmering sunbeams of Shells. These kindred spirits, at least in instrumentation, steer their compositions down paths completely distinct from one another. Although the guitar is the common denominator on these releases, it’s treated so differently that the tapes themselves are mini-batches within the larger batch 8. And although that doesn’t really make any sense, I implore you to go along with it.

New Hard Folk – s/t
This is something else. New Hard Folk is a duo composed of Rob Frye (CAVE, Bitchin Bajas, Flux Bikes Sueñolas) and Matt Schneider (Moon Bros.), and haha, the only synthesizer piece on here is called “Moon Bikes,” presumably giving Frye and Schneider fits of giggles. OK, it’s not that funny, but it is a little weird because these guys are acoustic guitar maestros with an ear for their American primitive forbears. I don’t think John Fahey ever played a synthesizer. All beside the point, though! The New Hard Folkers conjure superior mesmerisms with their expansive playing, transifying you and opening up the vistas and scenery of our great nation within your mind. This is the romantic notion of early America, full of promise and beauty, all waiting to be tamed. The land, that is, not the indigenous peoples. Let’s all remember the indigenous Americans when we sit down in the near future to our Thanksgiving dinners. We accepted the kindness of Tisquantum and Massasoit and brutally steamrolled the legacy of their people, and all the people to the west. So, yeah – New Hard Folk has a bit of melancholy in their DNA, too, if not for these exact reasons, then at least the spirit of them.

High Aura’d – If I’m Walking in the Dark, I’m Whispering
The A-side, “If I’m Walking in the Dark,” opens with a mysterious drone for a few minutes before John Kolodij’s guitar appears in obvious timbre, setting the scene for the two-part exploration. The name of the game here is space, as in the absence of physical in a location, through which you can wander and contemplate and lose yourself in thought. Kolodij, aka High Aura’d, doesn’t meander, though – instead, he builds on his droning instrument and allows it to crest to heady climax, the sound filling the space with crisp chords and patterns, blazing a nocturnal nature trail to a distinct destination. The path peters out in a clearing, and you can lie there on your back and watch, unimpeded by light pollution, the movement of the galaxy. The B-side, “I’m Whispering,” breathes through ten minutes of piano before the guitar returns, wistful, clean, clear, understood. A clarity of purpose, of direction? A certainty of identity of self-actualization? Maybe – I sent a gif of Tobias Fünke wearing cutoffs to my brother just now, but that’s only because he interrupted my train of thought. Does that count?

Shells – Another Time
Shelley Salant (Shells! I get it) has performed with bands such as Tyvek, Saturday Looks Good to Me, and Swimsuit, and she also appears here with two explorative guitar tracks split over two cassette sides. Shelley plugs her guitar into some excellent effects pedals here, though, preferring lots of reverb and delay, a little bit of distortion, and lots of skyward smiles in sunshine. That’s right, you feel REAL GOOD listening to “Another Time,” a delicious solo guitar adventure through your favorite Peavey practice amp. What makes “Another Time” so compelling is the personality injected into the playing – Shells strums and bends, twists and tucks through a litany of adventurous progressions, barely pausing to catch her breath. In the end, you feel like you’ve scampered through fields on a cloudless day, breathless, warm, smelling of earth and grass. What a great way to end the day (and this batch!).