Tabs Out | Top 200 Tapes of 2018

Top 200 Tapes of 2018
12.17.18 by Tabs Out Crew

“Winter is going to come.”

We’re all familiar with that iconic line from Game of Thrones, when Frank Throne warns all of the princesses, dragons, and Merlins that it is going to be cold soon. A warning from old Frank was needed because reliably with that coldness comes death – Death, and best of lists. Which is worse? No one knows. But Tabs Out is not special (maybe a little special?) so once again here is our completely not ridiculous, categorically decisive, and oddly erotic(?) TOP 200 TAPES OF 2018!!!!!1!!

We took the thousands (literally thousands) of friggin tapes you maniacs sent in over past year and ground them into a fine powder. We then snorted that powder to the dome in the basement of National Audio Company and visualized the list below. The list is not up for debate. It’s actually correct… Like, VERY correct.

Please be careful with it!

 

#1 V/A – Centennial (NNA)

It almost feels like cheating, calling NNA’s monster anniversary smash ‘Centennial’ the best tape of the year. I mean, how can you even stand spool-to-spool with this thing? It really is a Dream Team vs Argentina situation, but would also be cassette malpractice to not give it the top slot. I’m not risking my license over this. Need more information? We did a bonus episode on this one, folks.

#2 Krümel – Gravewave (Discrete Spectrum)
#3 M Sage – Astrolabe (Noumenal Loom)
#4 Bonnie Baxter – Ask Me How Satan Started (Hausu Mountain)
#5 Seth Graham – Gasp (Orange Milk)
#6 V/A – Fire-Toolz Interbeing Remix Vol. 1 (Suite 309)
#7 JPEGMAFIA – Veteran (Deathbomb Arc)
#8 Kupkă – Altered States (Very Deep Records)
#9 Modal Zork – Oba Gooba of Gort Nork (Bumpy)
#10 Matmos – On the Radio at Southend-on-Sea (Timesuck)
#11 Sharon Gel – Delicious Fish (Fractal Meat)
#12 V/A – These Carbon​-​Composite Poles Are Made For Walkin’ (Strategic Tape Reserve)
#13 Yves Malone – The Most Of What You Need Is All You’ll Ever Have (Third Kind Records)
#14 Brett Naucke – The Back Of The Garden (Unifactor)
#15 Quicksails – The Bright (Hausu Mountain)
#16 Itch Princess – Everyone’s A Doctor (Truly Bald)
#17 Marta SmiLga – Lunar Maria, Vol. 1 (Crash Symbols)
#18 poopdood – Dumpsterave (OJC)
#19 Mårble – Diego (Not Not Fun)
#20 Grant Evans – Ephemerals (Park 70)

Evans has produced two sidelong tracks, each a fifteen-minute slab of roiling, tactile noise. “Grave” recalls digging in the night, nefarious work, unholy activity – or maybe just dirty work, without the whole wicked connotation. Who’s to say? [read more]
#21 Crazy Bread – Vocoder Divorce (Astral Spirits)
#22 Budokan Boys – That’s How You Become a Clown (Tymbal Tapes)
#23 Oestergaards – Rötterna (Tape Lamour)
#24 Lee Noble – Ashenden (Muzan Editions)
#25 Adderall Canyonly – The Limits of All Known Ice (Lighten Up Sounds)
#26 German Army – Kowloon Walled City (Null Zone)

creepy, otherworldly electronics, anime rhythms, eerie ambience, and industrial shudders mark this paean to a weird, unnatural place. [read more]
#27 Gateway – The Dawn of the Civil Savage (Castle Bravo)
#28 Max Eilbacher ‎- Electronic Tape Music (self released)
#29 Charles Barabé – De La Fragilité (Astral Spirits)
#30 Soaplands – s/t (No Rent)
#31 Mike Dilloway – May Bale Paws (Alien Passengers)
#32 Fletcher Pratt – Dub Sessions Vol. 4 (Crash Symbols)
#33 MSHR – Phased Trance Constructions (Unifactor)
#34 Nick Hoffman – Baroque Classics (For Electronic Oscillators) (Pilgrim Talk)

One thing I am NOT crappin’ you negative about is this new “Baroque Classics (For Electronic Oscillators),” which is also something you can play your kids to promote healthy brain growth. Or your adults. Anybody, really [read more]
#35 Bending Spirits / Quicksails – split (Solid Melts)
#36 Arian Shafiee – Beauty Tuning (Hausu Mountain)
#37 Terlu – Big Bingo (Not Not Fun)
#38 Somnoroase Păsărele – auro[1] (OTA)
#39 Plastic Weather – s/t (self released)
#40 Meng Qi – Sidrolz (Obsolete Staircases)
#41 Cube – Wet Housing (Anathema Archive)
#42 Uton – Sax On, Sax Off (Eiderdown)
#43 Jardín – Butaca (Freaks)
#44 M Geddes Gengras – Hawaiki Tape (Umor Rex)
#45 Motion Sickness of Time Travel – The Circuit (Adversary)
#46 Giovanni Lami – Hysteresis V (Null Zone)
#47 EQ Why – Life of the Why (Third Kind Records)
#48 Mukqs – Slug Nut (Unifactor)
#49 Bridle – Forward Motion Plus Volume One (Hurt Collection)
#50 Tiger Village – The Argument (Patient Sounds)
#51 Mary Ocher – Faust Studio Sessions and Other Recordings (Related Records)
#52 Aether Jag – The Universal Veil (Hot Releases)
#53 Tadzio – The Complaint (Blight)
#54 Joe & Joe – s/t (Oxen)
#55 Machete USA & Song – s/t (Permanent Nostalgia)
#56 Lifestyle Pornography – Community Control (Hideous Seed)
#57 Southfacing / Ali Wade – split (Frequency Domain)
#58 OverScan – The Marriage of Violence and Desire (Muzan Editions)
#59 African Ghost Valley / Richard Frances – split (Elestial Sound)
#60 Shedding – Plod and Play Vol.2 (Obsolete Staircases)

An errant gravy of small to tall, softly hewed, and slightly rusty bells that make magic *pops* and deeeeep doooooown *plooooooms* with crypto precision. [read more]
#61 Gunther Valentine – Maine Redactions (Anathema Archive)
#62 Nick Hoffman – Salamander (Notice Recordings)
#63 Toon – Cudighi (Cudighi)
#64 Former Selves – Forgiveness Circles (Patient Sounds)
#65 More Eaze – a l4ngu4g3 (Tymbal Tapes)

“a l4ngu4g3” really focuses on words and their meaning, how repetition and alteration change one’s perspective on connotation. Well, at least the sound of words emanating from a human mouth. [read more]
#66 Matthew D. Gantt – Isomorphs (Oxtail)
#67 pal+ – Kinetic Dreams (OTA)
#68 Miho Hatori & Dave Harrington – Mondialite (Commend)
#69 Varsity Voltz – Academic Probation (self released)
#70 Alpha Mound – Dvahla (Tape Lamour)
#71 Carey – The Great Southeastern Dissatisfaction (Null Zone)
#72 Dere Moans – Future Deli (Bad Cake)
#73 Mahesa Almeida – A LT O/P A N (Hasana Editions)
#74 Proven Recordings – Dubs Vol. 1 (self released)
#75 Foolish Belief – Luck (Crippled Sounds)
#76 Nikmis – #17 (Third Kind Records)
#77 Andy Loebs – About Me (Terry Tapes)
#78 Shadows – Bruce Spills the Pills (Polar Envy)
#79 Dinosaur On Fire – Populous Romantique (Ghost Diamond)
#80 Bedroom – Moons (Fluere)
#81 Bill Nace / Twig Harper / John Olson– Live at No Response (No Response)
#82 Long Distance Poison – Knock Magh (Hausu Mountain)
#83 Farwarmth – Immeasurable Heaven (ACR)
#84 Rayphaze – Wobbler (((Cave)) Recordings)
#85 Cool Person – Good-Person (Permanent Nostalgia)
#86 Julian Abraham ‘Togar’ – Acoustic Analog Digitally Composed (Hasana Editions)
#87 Cavatus – The Celestial Extasis (self released)
#88 böhm – Transients (OTA)
#89 Bridges of Königsberg – Mendacity (4 GRE)
#90 Bromp Treb / Fritz Welch – split (Timesuck)
#91 Grant Evans – Vessel (Null Zone)
#92 memorygarden – district (Constellation Tatsu)
#93 Niedowierzanie – Lumière (Lighten Up Sounds)
#94 Riar Rizaldi – I Only Have Visions For You (Hasana Editions)
#95 V/A – Till Bertil Enstoring Vol.1 (Tape Lamour)
#96 Cartoon Forest – s/t (White Reeves Productions)

Dilloway devotees know this zone well — A haunting series of celiac cycles closing in on you. The feeling of wearing a bug’s shell. Cartoon Forest ooze right into those degenerative duties. [read more]
#97 Muyassar Kurdi & Nicholas Jozwiak – Intersections & Variations (Astral Spirits)
#98 August Traeger – The Harbinger (FTAM)
#99 The Fathers – Sound Advice (Tusco Embassy)
#100 Marsha Fisher – Doll Tape (Gay Hippie Vampire)
#101 Persona Black – Through the Black Sky (Ephem Aural)
#102 ML Wah – Big Air (Flower Room)
#103 Mukqs – 起き上がり(Doom Trip)
#104 Cinchel – A Sad Study in Temporal Dissonance (Patient Sounds)
#105 tape000 – chasing windows (OTA)
#106 Suko Pyramid and moduS ponY – Echolalia (Strategic Tape Reserve)
#107 Teuthis Galore – I Smell Voices (Lurker Bias)
#108 Individual Distortion / Bossbattle – split (Tandem)
#109 Seth Chrisman & Nathan McLaughlin – Earth Tones… Metal Show (Full Spectrum)
#110 Hakobune – Parhelion (Constellation Tatsu)
#111 Kyle Landstra – Within / Without (Muzan Editions)
#112 V/A – Compilation 001 (Norelco Mori Limited)
#113 Headlights – The Radio Plays (Unifactor)
#114 QBLA – So Far (Bonding)
#115 RXM Reality – Panic Cycle (Hausu Mountain)
#116 Man Made Hill – Fingertip (Pleasence)
#117 Sam Goldberg – Unto Others (Boudoir)
#118 Talc – Eye Idols (Impermanent)
#119 Ross Khmil – Suburban Lights (Hellscape Recordings)
#120 Energy ☆ – Energy ☆ (Galtta)

To call the music of duo Camilla Padgitt-Coles and Bryce Hackford effortless would be an utter understatement. Each tilde-y wave undulates frictionlessly out toward infinity, and would continue toward it if time constraints and the shortage of Chrome tape stock didn’t put a damper on the party. [read more]
#121 Kohl – Imposed Ethics (Umor Rex)
#122 Toasted Focus – Concrete Bleach (Baked Tapes)
#123 The Triangle Man – Majick (Bad Cake)
#124 Truth Decay – s/t (Castle Bravo)
#125 Sturqen / vÄäristymä – split (Nervu)
#126 Crazy Doberman – 2038 (Obsolete Staircases)
#127 Grant Evans – Ergot Dogs (Adversary)
#128 Emerging Industries of Wuppertal – Traditions from a… (Strategic Tape Reserve)
Emerging Industries of Wuppertal imagines a bleak future whose denizens study the cracks of human folly. There they assemble historical frameworks that they somehow beam back through time to EIOW so that EIOW can write these future events into sonic structures. [read more]
#129 Matthew Atkins – Porous Inner Montage (Minimal Resource Manipulation)
#130 Beast Flower Coiffeuse / Mossy Throats – split (Moon Myst Music)
#131 Dante Augustus Scarlatti – Dimensional Synthesis (Auris Apothecary)
#132 Nicholas Langley – Entropy Soundtracks & Ambients Volume 2 (Third Kind)
#133 Wet Garden – Deep in Earth (Null Zone)
#134 Space-Saver – Save Yrself (HIC)
#135 Sparkling Wide Pressure – Find a Frame (Park 70)
#136 Dotson – De/termination (Already Dead)

Everybody drives in LA, nobody walks, but Dotson’s rhythms skip like compact discs flung across macadam ponds. They jiggle and jut, lurch and bend, all while crisping in the digital fryer. [read more]
#137 Sunmoonstar / Euglossine – split (Moss Archive)
#138 Nature Camp – Dry Food Wet Food ($ucces$)
#139 Shedding – Wave to the Wind (Obsolete Staircases)
#140 Yama-No-Kami – Kakusareta (OTA)
#141 Christian Mirande – Property Line/Plunge Pool (Unifactor)
#142 Dere Moans – Brain Mountain Disciples (Orb Tapes)

Dere Moans whips together a crackling slurry of disparate source material into two sidelong slabs of constantly shifting sonic collage, at times smearing the atmosphere with gross digital brushstrokes while at others pinging breakneck impulses through the ionosphere. [read more]
#143 Noxroy – Protomontage (Kolo)
#144 MAbH – cinjusti (Tymbal Tapes)
#145 Yuto Ohashi – Juvenile – Insubtantial, Re-Present (Cudighi)
#146 Estlerot – Ciseaux (Herhalen)
#147 J. Soliday – Synth Tidings Vol.1 (Baked Tapes)
#148 R.M. Gellin – The Cutest Boy In Town (OJC)
#149 Beast Nest – A History of Sexual Violence (self released)
#150 2 Dads 2 Sons Emoji – Church Emoji (Gay Hippie Vampire)
#151 Erik Levander – Couesnon (Katuktu Collective)
#152 Tender Crust – The Earth’s Axis and Hare (Oxtail Recordings)
#153 Fischerle – Ptylotics (Spring Break Tapes!)
#154 Night Cleaner – Even (Geographic North)
#155 Grave Blankets – s/t (Flag Day)
#156 Ratkiller – Unapologetea​/​Forged Panoply (Cudighi)
#157 Perfect Jack – Gold Chain (OJC)
#158 Substrates – Lethean (self released)
#159 Tiger Village – Tact (Orange Milk)
#160 Peter Kris – Error Into the Sun (Never Anything)
#161 Tereshkova – Addendum: Raindbows (Audio. Visuals. Atmosphere.)
#162 Rambutan – Swerve Throgh Time (Null Zone)
#163 Unsustainable Social Condition – Pleasure Seaking Pacifist (Phage)
#164 Bus Gas / Amulets – split (Spring Break Tapes)

The music on this “companion release” (a great way to describe a split that uses two tapes instead of splitting sides on one) would certainly make two fine independent releases, but Spring Break Tapes knows a good thing when they hear one, and there is an undeniable synergy found in bringing Bus Gas and Amulets together within one double-tall Norelco case. [read more]
#165 Mod Exist – Caught in the Noise (Uncle Bob’s Records)
#166 Eave – s/t (Astral Spirits)
#167 Larry Wish – How More Can You Need? (Field Hymns)
#168 Félicia & Christina – Folded Galaxy (Commend)
#169 Pepper Mill Rondo – E.D.M. (Hausu Mountain)
#170 Saint Hewitt – Oblivescence (self released)
#171 Forest Management – Rotating Angle (Unifactor)
#172 Royallen – Found Tape (Permanent Nostalgia)
#173 Günter Schlienz – Liederbuch (Muzan Editions)

The tracks on “Liederbuch” follow Schlienz’s penchant for unobtrusive and dreamlike, cloud cushions of synthesizer melodies and hushed vocals piled together on the Milky Way, just ready for all the constellations to materialize into their actual forms and recline on the ethereal plane.  [read more]
#174 presidiomodelo / Machinefabriek – split (Tandem)
#175 Marlo Eggplant / Arvo Zylo – split (NO PART OF IT)
#176 Cryptonym – Automated Predation (Castle Bravo)
#177 Vierzig Skizzen – Travels in Public (Lily Tapes and Discs)
#178 CDX – All Night (Suite 309)
#179 I Am Just A Pupil – The White Album (Crash Symbols)
#180 James Fella + Steve Jansen / Tom Tom Thrasher – split (That’s Cool)
#181 The Tuesday Night Machines – Hawaiian Yurt Music (Strategic Tape Reserve)
#182 The Marx Trukker – Ease of the Bough (Magnetic Purely)
#183 Bary Center / Yorihisa Taura / Nicholas Langley / Chemiefaserwerk – Puzzle Time (Third Kind Records)
#184 Attenuated – Ideomotor (Space Slave)
#185 HCMJ – 의미 (Ghost Diamond)
#186 Meme Vivaldi – 420 Deluxe (Ingrown)
#187 Aviary – s/t (self released)
#188 Marcia Custer – Stacey’s Spacey (Unifactor)
#189 Sun.TV – Hyper Portal Terrorism (Shadowtrash Tape Group)
#190 Storyteller – The Stubborn Organic Emblem of… (AD AAD AT)
#191 Bob Bellerue – All In (Anarchymoon)
#192 Bary Center – Betrayal (Always Human)
#193 Sugar Pills Bone – Slack Babbath Plays Peep Durple (Orb)
#194 Celer + Forest Management – Landmarks (Constellation Tatsu)
#195 Wilted Woman – Trapezoid Tappers (Plastic Bags)
#196 Pajjama – Womb (Orange Milk)

 “Womb” is a technical beast, a massive hybrid of band interplay and digital fuckery that shifts as often as… I’m drawing a blank on something that shifts a lot. [read more]
#197 Clear Fluids – Music of the Spheres (Lighten Up Sounds)
#198 Dominic Coppola – Honeymoon Phase (Unifactor)
#199 Christopher Witley – Hecca Autre (Audio. Visuals. Atmosphere.)
#200 Mechanical Facade / Ratkiller – split (Cavern Brew)

Tabs Out | Top 200 Tapes Of 2017

Top 200 Tapes Of 2017
12.11.17 by Tabs Out Crew

TOP200

Okie dokie, It’s time for everyone’s favorite Top 200 Tapes of 2017 list: The OFFICIAL Tabs Out Top 200 Tapes of 2017 list! For the 5th year in a row we’ve tallied up the thousand plus cassettes that have made it over to us and arranged our fav two hundo in perfect order, each assigned a big masonic number. Our methods are scientifically proven and obtainable through a FOIA request, but just trust us. Like previous years we only included tapes that we had physical copies of. Enjoy!

 

 #1: Rob Mazurek – Chimeric Stoned Horn (Astral Spirits)

Rob Mazurek apparently isn’t one to burst through the batwing doors of the saloon and announce to the clientele his arrival or his intentions. Nobody lifts their eyes from their poker hand or their whiskey, nobody stops playing the piano in shock, nobody moves a well-trained hand just slightly closer to their concealed six-shooter. No, Mazurek doesn’t need the element of surprise – he’s one of those confident types, content to precede himself with his own accompaniment, allowing the sound of his passing to serve as his only herald. The clip-clop of his horse’s hooves along the avenue simply adds to the scene he sets. (Just kidding, there’s no horse – I’m just beating this, ahem, dead metaphor further to death.) [read more]

 #2: Kill Alters – No Self Helps (Hausu Mountain)
 #3: Gateway – Integral Formation (Castle Bravo)

To start things off, “Integral Formation,” a C40 from Gateway, is a offering of Doberman member JF (on synth, strings and springs) with horn accompaniment by TG (also of Doberman). It’s a menacing listen, with waves of horn providing an undeserved comfort, crucially baying out through open stained-glass windows, the glass rattling from the low-end, sleazy-motion electronics. Gateway use their instruments like archaic tools, etching gritty patterns of distorted thuds and bone-weary tones into clay. The duo steps right up to a line of unstable chaos, but manages to keep the dog on the leash, making for tracks that are hella jagged but still under control. [read more]

 #4: Cabo Boing – Blob On A Grid (Haord)

If Mark Mothersbaugh had the gumption he would have made “Blob On A Grid” years ago, and it would have soundtracked many a Pee Wee’s Playhouse episodes. Not a single second of it’s eccentric no-wavery antics wouldn’t cozy right up on Chairry’s fluffy cushion. That is fact, not opinion, and in no way open for debate. [read more]

 #5: Giant Claw – Soft Channel (Orange Milk)
 #6: Fletcher Pratt – Selected Works (2015-2016) (Never Anything)
 #7: Jake Acosta – First Corridor (Pretty All Right)
 #8: Fire-Toolz – Drip Mental (Hausu Mountain)
 #9: Samantha Glass – Introducing The Confession (No Rent)
 #10: Shredded Nerve – Trojan Self Image (Chondritic Sound)
 #11: Fkm200 – Sounds Of Corrupted Waters (Æescape Sounds)
 #12: Joe Limbus – Memotos Mori (Orb)
 #13: Nature – Nootropicalia (Shadowtrash Tape Group)
 #14: Unguent – Simulation Of A Bat Engulfed In Acid (Refulgent Sepulchre)
 #15: J Hamilton Issacs – Dugoutcanoe #7 (Ancillary Apotheoses)
 #16: Střed Světa – Rozmístění opakováním (Baba Vanga)
 #17: Arvo Zylo – Sequencer Works Volume Three (Personal Archives)
 #18: Lee Noble – The Hell Of You Come In (No Kings)
 #19: Khaki Blazer – Didn’t Have To Cut (Hausu Mountain)
 #20: Hans Appelqvist – Swimming Pool (Orange Milk)
 #21: HAHA Mart – Family Denim (Noumenal Loom)
 #22: Charles Barabe / Ratkiller split (Crash Symbols)

Barabé snaps into his side, “Avant​-​Garde Avorton Romantique,” like a rat trap, ironically. Channeling the brooding proclivity of dense soundtrack narratives, Chuck reassigns hunks of classical music and it’s kin into beyond epic sagas. As the timpani crashes with anger, reverberating around fever inducing cleaves of sound, you can almost smell gladiators prepping to do something raw and regrettable. [read more]

 #23: Crazy Doberman – Hell Is Within Us (Castle Bravo)
 #24: THÉ DÉLUGE – Forest Structures (Umor Rex)
 #25: RM Francis – Hyperplastic Other (Nada)
 #26: Spykes – Parashi – s/t (Oxtail Recordings)
 #27: Al Lover – Interference Patterns (Crash Symbols)
 #28: Dirt & Space – Ten Million Ways To Die (Dinzu Artefacts)
 #29: Billingtons / Shippy / Wyche – s/t (Astral Spirits)

Somebody scrape me off the wall, because Billington/Shippy/Wyche’s tape blasted out of my speakers and shredded my face. I was unsure what was happening at first – I assumed this release came from renowned British crooner Lord Billington Shippy-Wyche, but I was incorrect in assuming his dulcet voice would emanate from my tape player. Instead we get a guitar-guitar- drums trio, consisting of Mark Shippy (yeah, the U.S. Maple guy), Daniel Wyche, and Ben Baker Billington (yeah, the Quicksails guy). We also get a no-hold’s- barred improvisational set that’s bound to knock your socks (or, ahem, your face) off. [read more]

 #30: Sun.Tv – Spells and Other (ShadowTrash Tape Group)
 #31: Imbue – Ghost Stories (Already Dead)
 #32: Moth Cock – 0-100 At The Speed Of The Present (Hausu Mountain)
 #33: Nikmis – 10 Movements For Large Synthesizer (Third Kind)
 #34: Joe Mygan – Hidden Features (Moon Villain)
 #35: Toiret Status – Nyoi Plunger (Noumenal Loom)
 #36: German Army – Pyura Chilensis (Luce Sia)
 #37: Musa Dwarf ‎– Jäätelöö (Lal Lal Lal)
 #38: Fischkopf Sinfoniker – Music For A Revolution (Orb)
 #39: Don Gero – Wizarding (Crash Symbols)
 #40: Sad Cambodia – First Metheoretical Bulletin (Sincope)
 #41: Andreas Brandal – The Work Of The Spider (Muzan Editions)
 #42: Odd Person – Star Maps From The Flower Temples (Analog Minimum)
 #43: Somnoroase Păsărele – ESSEN (Tymbal)
 #44: TüTH – Transgression (Umor Rex)
 #45: More Eaze – Articulate Ridge #16 (Personal Archives)
 #46: Maharadja Sweets – Slithering Kingdoms (Oxtail Recordings)
 #47: Liz Roberts & Henry Ross – Death Knell (Unifactor)

Liz Roberts and Henry Ross are living the dream. Well, my dream anyway – a dream of getting to dismantle a car, piece by piece, leng t’che via rotary saw and sledgehammer. Total destruction, for fun! And for art. Mostly for fun. Long have I desired to get my hands dirty and just shred whatever vehicle I could get my hands on – there’s just something about the slow carnage of ripping apart an automobile piece by piece that just gets me up in the morning. Is it the allegory to modern life and convenience that the deconstruction of such a symbol represents, the commentary on consumerism and capitalism that invites critical appraisal on such an act? Haha, not for me. For Roberts and Ross, sure. I just like the smashy smashy–ness of it. [read more]

 #48: Nonhorse “Nobody, Never Yeowe” (Five)
 #49: Michael Foster And Ben Bennett – In It (Astral Spirits)
 #50: Sam Gas Can – Plays the OP-1 (HEC)
 #51: Arian Robinson – An Eternal Sleep (Ephem Aural)
 #52: Brett Naucke – Multiple Hallucinations (Hausu Mountain)
 #53: LEOLYXXX – Plastic Inners: Nigerian Boogie Mixtape (Origin Peoples)
 #54: Q///Q – Serene Answer (Baked)
 #55: Mukqs – ダメ人間 (DAME NINGEN) (Umor Rex)
 #56: Matthew Revert – Illness Seminars (No Rent)
 #57: Duncan Malashock – Interiors Vol. 1 (Beer On The Rug)
 #58: Emerging Industries of Wuppertal – Systems for Simulating… (Strategic Tape Reserve)
 #59: MSHR – Emergent Knot Traces (self released)
 #60: Dominic Republic – Hello Island (auralgami SOUNDS)
 #61: Shingles – Guantanamo Patch Bay Vol 5: At Home With Machines (self released)
 #62: Macula Dog – Natural Dog (Haord)
 #63: buta nite – os charnecos (OTA)
 #64: Max Eilbacher – Music For Piano #7 (Unifactor)
#65: Jadapod – Fate 1 (Nextage) (Nextage)

Throw a rock out the window. Go ahead, I wont tell mom. Chances are you just bonked a cassette right in it’s spools. A beat-laced cassette, most likely, one that was minding it’s own business just trying to enjoy the weather. The next thing, KABLOOM! A rock cracks it’s shell. And all because some bozo-joker told you to throw a rock out the window… Shame. Maybe I WILL tell mom. [read more]

 #66: Olson & Billington “Compound Sessions Vol.1” (Robert & Leopold)
 #67: Nikmis – Widdendream (Third Kind)
 #68: Tick Gick – Soleil Noir (Castle Bravo)
 #69: Aviary s/t (self released)
 #70: J Butler – Real And Surreal (self released)
 #71: Pulse Emitter / Brett Naucke – Mugen Vol. 6 split (Hausu Mountain)
 #72: Raising Holy Sparks – Search For The Vanished Heaven (Eiderdown)
 #73: Piss Kills Mold – Sentient Fungus (Ultraviolet Light)
 #74: Matthew Greasley – Railwave (Uncle Bob’s)
 #75: Gerrit Hatcher – Good Weight (Amalgam)
 #76: American Cream Band – Embrace You Millions (Medium Sound)
 #77: Takahiro Mukai / Shoeb Ahmad – split (Tandem)
 #78: Dee Grinksi – Subspace (Tape Lamour)
 #79: Pulse Emitter – Chilling In The Eye Of The Storm (Expansive)
 #80: Okha – Power Cannot Conquer Heaven (No Rent)
 #81: Body Shame – Open Sores (SadoDaMascus)
 #82: German Army – Pacific Plastic (Seagrave)
 #83: Howard Stelzer – Sun Pass (Moss Archive)
 #84: Machine Listener “Nocturnal People” (Hidden Eyes)
 #85: Ivy Meadows – Zodiac (Moon Glyph)
 #86: C. Reider – Chew Cinders (Midnight Circles)

C. Reider’s “Chew Cinders” C26 plays like a dusty reel-to-reel found at an estate sale. Ideas of the original content remain intact, but just barely. As bits of strained words warp into swine-like snorts you can only imagine what was initially recorded on the magnetic tape before time and the elements ate away at them. Those antique distortions, with their airy, chalky bias, are met with the occasional synthy snaps, but this tape feels most at home trapped in mold. [read more]

 #87: System Scattering Period – Oblique Motion (Personal Affair)
 #88: Gunther Valentine – Music For The Anthropocene (No Rent)
 #89: Convivial Cannibal – Have Youth Will Play (Dysgeusia)
 #90: Oil Thief – Stratagem (Chondritic Sound)
 #91: Hainbach – On Endless Beach (Gohan)
 #92: Christian Mirande – Museum Piece (No Rent)
 #93: Venderstrooik “Smetvrees & Kruisbesmetting” (Raketenbasis Haberlandstrasse)
 #94: moduS ponY – Phonogetic Ouch (Strategic Tape Reserve)
 #95: DJ DJ Tanner / Ross Wallace Chait – split (5CM Recordings)
 #96: Michealcushion – Life Escaper Trial Edition (Melty)
 #97: Max Eilbacher – Dual Monologues In Parallel (Mondoj)
 #98: Nakatani​/​Nanna​/​Schoofs​/​Woods – s/t (Full Spectrum)
 #99: Monotrail – Selected Jams (Oggy)
 #100: Ropal Jagnu / Stephen’s Lorikeet / Rigel Magellan / DDM – 4way split (OJC)
 #101: V/A – Lives Through Magic, Volume 1 (Lives Through Magic)
 #102: KFM – \\\fail (self released)

I don’t know much about computers. I’ve never seen the 1995 crime-drama Hackers, and the only thing I remember from The Net is when Sandra Bullock’s character Angela orders a pizza from the site pizza.net. I do have strong memories of playing, very well I might add, a game called Jezzball on Windows 3.11. That, and being reminded by my dad to constantly defrag. We were ALWAYS defragging. Maybe all of that obsessive defragging paid off, because I never had a computer shit out on me. I did manage to spill an entire cup of coffee into the works of my current HP, but technical support somehow managed to de-coffee all of the motherboards and had me surfing sites like pizza.net in no time. [read more]

 #103: Form A Log – At A Festival (Hausu Mountain)
 #104: Former Airline – The Discreet Charm Of The Ghostmodern World (Ephem Aural)
 #105: Floian Von Emeln – Interbellum (Muzan Editions)
 #106: Eaton Flowers – Epəkə (SadoDeMascus)
 #107: Peter J. Woods & Andrew Weathers – A Whole New Alphabet (Flag Day)
 #108: Juice Machine – Sparkling Water (Steady Hand)
 #109: Inner Travels – Sea Of Leaves (Inner Islands)
 #110: Tölva – Manudaga (Blight)
 #111: Ant’lrd – Cherubian (Moss Archive)
 #112: Axebreaker – Virtue Signaling (Jouissance Du Rien)
 #113: Brode/Luczak/Spellman/Spreaders – Blanket Statements (Orb Tapes)
 #114: Sug – Only Hidden Once (Baked)
 #115: MU*MIT – NE T​*​SSÄ (Lal Lal Lal)
#116: OMNIVM – Madmen Playground (Never Anything)
 #117: Birchall / Smal / Webster – Drop Out (Astral Spirits)
 #118: Cop Funeral – Part-Time Pay (1980 Records)
 #119: C. Reider – Listening After The End (Reno Park Press)
 #120: Caldwell/Tester – Two Reels (Medium Sound)
#121: Corsica Annex – Fluid Electric (Ingrown)
 #122: Spore Spawn – Ochitsuitara (Oxen)
 #123: WAZOO – NONZOO (Already Dead)
 #124: More Eaze / A.F. Jones & Steve Flato split (Astral Spirits)
 #125: Llarks – Reflections (Tape Lamour)
 #126: DJ Voilà – Dumbledogs (Noumenal Loom)
 #127: Patrick Shiroishi – Tulean Dispatch (Mondoj)
 #128: Mahjoop – Ravel (((Cave)) Recordings)
 #129: Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie – Essential Anatomies (Elevator Bath)
 #130: Moltar – Eclypse Inside (Unifactor)
 #131: Long Distance Poison – Rheomodes (Oxtail Recordings)
 #132: Korean Jade – Exotics (Plush Organics)

Cloaked in low-res black & white conceptual imagery, with perhaps a small visual nod to “Pulse Demon” by Merzbow, comes “Exotics.” This seven cut C30ish by Korean Jade acts like a medicated liniment. It’s flexible drones and swerving patterns rub on like a lotion, but with enough coarseness to cause friction and heat when applied. I don’t know who is behind the Korean Jade name, but whether they were going for beauty trapped in crud, or crud trapped in beauty, they got there. [read more]

 #133: Huron – The Red Tape (self released)
 #134: Cops – s/t (Field Hymns)
 #135: Aaron Diko – DDCT (Medium Sound)
 #136: Luminous “Diamond Ben” Kudler – Thymme Jones (Unifactor)
 #137: WUMISI – s/t (OJC)

Oh, brother. Looks like my old Hi-Fi is on the fritz again… Maybe the springs are on too tight? Or too loose?? Not being a mechanic I have no clue how stereo systems function, but I do know that something has definitely gone sour, because this WUMISI cassette from OJC is hurdling all over the dang place. Fast forwarding and rewinding on it’s own like a doggone spirit from the ever after has taken it over. Lordy, I hope it’s a spring issue and not a ghost outbreak. Springs are way less scary. While I get a repair tech on the horn, and a Catholic priest in case I need the power of Christ to compel this thing, I’ll listen to WUMISI on Bandcamp I suppose. [read more]

 #138: Andrew Weathers “Under The Tree” (Full Spectrum)
 #139: German Army – Kurgan Hearth (OTA)
 #140: Witches Of Malibu – The Grand Crucifier (Dead Media Recordings)
 #141: Clinical Trials – Empty Infinities (Second Skin)
 #142: List Of Moths – s/t (Turlin)
 #143: Ben Zimmerman “PSYMULCASTER” (Bedlam)
 #144: Staticnosis – s/t (Shadow Trash Tape Group)
 #145: Nmemosyne – Bucket Brigade (Love All Day)
 #146: Evan Zierk – Drifting / Bending (Atlantic Rhythms)
 #147: Finlii “Skyscrapers” (Bedlam)
 #148: Aylu – Groove 4 (Outlines)
 #149: Endurance – s/t (SR)
 #150: Ctrl-Z – s/t (Full Spectrum)
 #151: The Moon Rises In – Maevis (OTA)
 #152: Complainer – Floodplain (Already Dead)
 #153: Atariame – Fear Is The Wrold (Constellation Tatsu)
 #154: Gmackrr – La Dépendance Électrique (Spring Break Tapes)
 #155: Noise Altar – Memory Decornstruction (self released)
 #156: Alex Crispin – Idle Worship (Sounds of the Dawn)
 #157: Monas – Freedom (Astral Spirits)
 #158: Skin Graft – Peripheral (Unifactor)
 #159: Ugliest Man / Eazykill – split (Tandem)
 #160: Ant’lrd / Bastian Void – split (Muzan Editions)
 #161: Himukalt – Vulgar (No Rent)
 #162: Macho Blush – Moodshow (Heavy Mess)
 #163: Mt Accord – In Reverie (Colour8)
 #164: TMRPOE – Keep Sleeping (ACR)
 #165: Nagual – Scraps: Southern Tour (Pidgon)
 #166: Halfbird – Loomings (SadoDaMascus)
 #167: Levels – s/t (Umor Rex)
 #168: Jason E. Anderson – Truth (Draft)
 #169: Gidouille – Eedipal Wrecks (Cruel Nature)
 #170: Crushtrash – Reclamation Yard (Third Kind)
 #171: Charles Barabé – Cicatrices II (Never Anything)
 #172: Curved Light – Vast And Infinite (Field Hymns)
 #173: David Kanaga – Operaism (Orange Milk)
 #174: Haseful – Lord Of Carrion (self released)

Proving that blast beats and shredding guitars do not necessarily black metal make, Hasufel dons the dark robe of the mystic high priest and invites us all along for a gloom-and-doom-filled ride through the mist and the fog toward an unholy meeting place where the veil separating the spirit realm from this mortal coil becomes thin. As the groans from minor keys upon an organ (patch) and the rhythmic dragging of chains menace upon the wind, I have some great news for those who are even remotely interested – as I write, Halloween is almost upon us, and you could do way worse than Hasufel for a guide to navigate you through the “season of the witch.” [read more]

 #175: Hainbach – The Evening Hopefuls (Spring Break Tapes)
 #176: FIN – Ice Pix (Hausu Mountain)
 #177: Friesen/Waters Duo – No.3 (Shaking Box Music)
 #178: Heaven Copy – Final Country (Summer Isle)
 #179: Tinmixer – Wayfarer (House of the Leg)
 #180: Noah Anthony – Home Demos Vol.1 (Vogue Professional)
 #181: Marvisser – Xiakihu (Irrational Tennent)
 #182: Me, Claudius – Reasons For Balloons (Dinzu Artefacts)
 #183: Julia Bloop – Roland Throop (Crash Symbols)
 #184: Scant – Old Dominion (Chondritic Sound)
 #185: Qualchan. – Vera’s Dream (Æescape Sounds)
 #186: Valle de Galgos – El Domo Spitzerwelt (Tymbal)
 #187: SCC – MFAR (Refulgent Sepulchre)
 #188: Power Mystery – Nest Broom (Spring Break Tapes)
 #189: Preyocupado – Characters Of A Calander (Lighten Up Sounds)
 #190: C CC V L T S SS – T R A U M A T A (Castle Bravo)
 #191: Banal Anml – Misantropics (Lake Paradise)
 #192: Eric Pitra – Casette: Film Score (Landscape Tapes)
 #193: 2ndSun – Blue Twenty-Five (Blue)
 #194: Map Collection – Jao Dub (Midori)

Do you remember the episode of Star Trek: TNG when Fletcher Pratt and Curt Brown randomly beamed aboard Enterprise, interrupting the recording of a Captain’s Log? It’s an extremely rare episode titled “Jao Dub” that aired during season 8 or 9… Maybe 10? Known by a superfan (ie: me) as the one where Picard mumbles “oh shit” 11 times, it begins with Starfleet investigating what they foolishly confuse as distress signals from a small Class M planet nearby. After tracking down the curdling cry for help the crew scans the planet’s life signals, when *POOF* Pratt & Brown appear on the bridge, startling poor Picard who spills his tea, Earl Grey, hot all over his uniform. [read more]

 #195: Old Maybe – Piggity Pink (Ramp Local)
 #196: $3.33 – Drill (Noumenal Loom)
 #197: The Ether Staircase – Aether 6 (((Cave)) Recordings)
 #198: Amulets – PlannedObsolescence (Dinzu Artefacts)
 #199: Sarcastalites – Spaces For Strangers (Bullshit Night)
 #200: Splice Girls – Spliceworld (Suite 309)

Tabs Out | Look At These Tapes #13

Look At These Tapes #13
7.18.17 by Tabs Out Crew

look at these tapes

Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.

 

Tabs Out | Look At These Tapes #12

Look At These Tapes #12
6.23.17 by Tabs Out Crew

look at these tapes

Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.

 


Tabs Out | Look At These Tapes #11

Look At These Tapes #11
5.17.16 by Tabs Out Crew

look at these tapes

Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.

 

Tabs Out | Look At These Tape #10

Look At These Tapes #10
4.14.17 by Tabs Out Crew

look at these tapes

Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.

 


Tabs Out | Look At These Tapes #9

Look At These Tapes #9
3.17.17 by Tabs Out Crew

look at these tapes

Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.

 


Tabs Out | Look At These Tapes #8

Look At These Tapes #8
2.8.17 by Tabs Out Crew

look at these tapes

Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.

 


Tabs Out | Look At These Tapes #7

Look At These Tapes #7
1.1.16 by Tabs Out Crew

look at these tapes

Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.

Instead of a normal installment, this is a look back at tapes from 2016. We made an open call for labels to send photos of all their releases from the year. Here is what we got, presented without comment.

 


Tabs Out | Top 200 Tapes Of 2016

Top 200 Tapes Of 2016
12.12.16 by Tabs Out Crew

top2016

Let’s not kid ourselves – 2016 was a fucking disaster. The entire year was like a waiter clearing a table, stacking up far too many plates and glasses in a Jenga-like tower, and the second they step away from the table the restaurant explodes. But tapes? Tapes did just fine in 2016. Actually, I take that back. Tapes had a blast in 2016, with familiar and fresh names both permeating profound vibes on the fringes of weirdo tape culture. Over the last twelve months around 1,000 little spooled suckers made their way over to Tabs Out headquarters, and we listened to every one of them. Some not all the way through of course . Let’s be real, A LOT of them were garbage, but most were fantastic and provided a glimmer of hope during this jerk of a year.

So here they are: Our 200 favorite tapes from the year – IN PERFECT ORDER!!! Please do not tell us what you think should or shouldn’t be on the list. We are literally the smartest people we know and got this very VERY right. Just like previous years [‘13, ‘14, ‘15] we only included tapes that we had a physical copy of.

Enjoy!

 

#1: Jake Tobin “Sorta Upset!” (Haord)
It’s rare but incredibly exhilarating to hear an album that sounds kind of like the weirdness perpetually bouncing around in my own head, and Jake Tobin’s latest opus, “Sorta Upset!,” stokes every synapse in my skull and fires up a few more. While this tape barely clears 15 minutes of running time, it’s a concentrated quarter-hour with a career’s worth of phenomenal ideas. And for as complex and layered as it can get, it’s somehow catchy as hell, too. You will totally find yourself humming along with this music, and humming more acrobatically than ever before. [read more]
#2: Belarisk “Greys, Escaped” (Moss Archive)
Only seconds into “Greys, Escaped” I had a very vivid image in my head. As the tape went on that image naturally expanded into a scenario which was reinforced with each blop, zap, surge, scratch, whist, and tickle Belarisk dispatched. Aspects of the artwork gave credence to this micro story my brain had fashioned. Everything was lining up. My imagination was being a good little boy and deserved a treat in the form of repeat listens. Those repeat listens put even more fat on on the bone of my now rather formulated story. It got deep. Deep to the point of being embarrassing, quite frankly. [read more]
#3: TALsounds “Lifter + Lighter” (Hausu Mountain)
#4: Khaki Blazer “Gelatinous Ground” (Unifactor)
“Gelatinous Ground” raids the sugar packet and unlabeled medication caches, nervously blending cocktails and idiosyncrasies. Velvety vocal manipulations mush into eccentric weirdouts. Bubbles pop and thick gels spill. When rapid haphazardness isn’t tugging at your amygdala, Pat cleaves hip hop chunks and kneads em like he’s trying to activate their gluten. At times you almost feel concerned. Is he okay? Why is he doing that with his mouth? Then synthesizer magic swoops in with grace and charm, and you feel even more concerned. Extremely crisp, collected, fist clenching coldness stretches from seconds to minutes. [read more]
#5: Charles Barabé “Les Dernières Confessions” (Orange Milk)
#6: Ben Bennett “Trap”(Astral Spirits)
#7: 75 Dollar Bill “Wood/Metal/Plastic Pattern/Rhythm/Rock” (Thin Wrist)
#8: Hippies Wearing Muzzles “Animist Pools” (Human Pitch)
#9: Brett Naucke “Executable Dreamtime” (Umor Rex)
#10: Sam Goldberg “Kiss Me While I Excuse The Sky”(Unifactor)
#11: The Spiritual Switchboard “Post-Age Variations” (Baked)
#12: Fletcher Pratt “Dub Sessions Vol.3” (Crash Symbols)
Pratt, a Canadian we allow to live within our borders until Trump kicks him out, started his sweltering dub journey in 2011 on Dub Ditch Picnic. Five years later the third chapter of his “Dub Sessions”, released by Crash Symbols in an edition of 100 copies, continues the heat and humidity of it all. The music has a spooky mechanical nature, but is still sweltering. Sizzling. Sultry. One wonders if Fletcher Pratt relaxed pool side while Dubbot-5Px maintained the phantom flow of swank and style. “Dub Sessions Vol. 3″ being flush, teeth to toes, with such. [read more]
#13: Joseph Bastardo “deCordova” (Phinery)
#14: P.H.O.R.K. “Time Is The Instrument” (Pastel Voids)
#15: German Army “Yanomami” (Sacred Phrases)
#16: Maharadja Sweets “The Caprice Of Young Gods” (Oxtail)
#17: Various Artists “Compilation Two” (Noumenal Loom)
#18: 21st Century Wolf “Ideographic Space” (Sacred Phrases)
#19: M. Geddes Gengras “Two Variations” (Umor Rex)
#20: Max Eilbacher, Alex Moskos, Duncan Moore “SEF III” (Ehse)
The structural layering is so DEEP across the whole release, like one of those yummy 7 Layer Dips that they just bring out in the casserole dish it was made in cause there’s no possible way to transfer it without it falling apart. And you can make out the top couple layers for sure, maybe even a middle layer or two, but you’re gonna want to reach that WHOLE chip in there and scoop up every little piece. Soliloquies on spontaneous clown generation, slowly transitioning into a mechanic relay stream of consciousness. Peppered blasts of frequency modulated nodes. Slippery lilts trigger the resonator squelch. Claustrophobic foot step rhythms. Real tasty stuff. [read more]
#21: Mukqs / DJWWWW split (Phinery)
#22: Energy Star s/t (Perfect Wave)
#23: Bastian Void “Nippon” (Moss Archive)
#24: Doberman “Alley Walkers” (Castle Bravo)
#25: Emerging Industries of Wuppertal “Transformation Cues” (Strategic Tape Reserve)
#26: Shingles “Untitled Jazz Tape” (self released)
#27: Jake Tobin “Accidently On Purpose” (OSR)
#28: M.Sage “Rife W/ Typo” (Orange Milk)
#29: MrDougDoug “SOS Forks AI REM” (Hausu Mountain)
#30: IMF “Harlem Electronics” (Pilgrim Talk)
IMF is all about discombobulated shots of relentless noise. Noise created by, or not created by, Ian M Fraser. I say not created by because the liner notes state that “this program performs with no human interaction whatsoever”, IMF opting for algorithmic, computer rendered compositions. Human interaction or not, this tape gashes into existence with unsettling, wavy coarseness and grating randomization. [read more]
#31: Yves Malone “Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life” (Field Hymns)
#32: TALsounds “Natal Host” (Twin Spring)
#33: Tether “Mirror Finish” (Refulgent Sepulcher)
#34: Trogpite “Wife And Kid” (No Rent)
#35: Bary Center “No Stars” (MJMJ)
#36: LRN GRN “Easy Spirits/Grape Perfume” (Keeled Scales)
#37: Sparkling Wide Pressure “Answerer” (Patient Sounds)
“Answerer” conjures up a sonic realm inhabited by acoustic and electric stringed instruments, synthesizers, organs, and looped up, talking background vocals. The A side, with its shorter, lighter tracks acts as the entrance way into this world Sparkling Wide Pressure have created for us. The opener “Deb’s Song,” with its loose, acoustic picking and muted electronics slowly guiding you in. [read more]
#38: Kyle Landstra/Ross Fish split (Oxtail)
#39: AAA “Fruit” (Elestial Sound)
#40: Network Glass “100 Busy” (No Rent)
#41: Euglossine “Canopy Stories” (Orange Milk)
#42: Charles Barabé “Cicatrices” (Never Anything)
#43: Alexandra Atnif “Fatt Grabbers: 015” (Fatt Grabbers)
#44: Sea Of Dogs “Through The Fog And The Driftwood” (Bedlam)
#45: Mukqs “Walkthrough” (Hausu Mountain)
#46: Semănat “Duobė” (III Arms)At just under eight minutes, Duobė I coats the A side like a lacquer. Bleached-white guitar riffs exist in a panic-free void, uncoiling in an immutable, reliable attack. Hovering in arms reach above a fog of drones, thumps, and injured vocals. It’s with absolute reverence to grey scale scenery and poorly manicure historical battle sites that Semănat pours this poison.
#47: Peter Kris “Labrador” (Never Anything)
#48: Final Machine “Lohaden” (Entertainment Systems)
#49: Hatchers “The Riverside Suite” (Heat Retention)
#50: Plains Druid / Lost Trail / Leaaves / Linden Pomeroy “Outdoor Games” (Third Kind)
#51: William Cody Watson “Patriot” (Lime Lodge)
“Patriot” is like a fairy tale. One of the classic cuts. The dark as fuck German shit where parents are constantly dying. Nothing sugar coated or CGI’d. “Patriot” is actually worse than the Brothers Grimms’ yarns, because “Patriot” starts off with everyone dead. Well, not EVERYONE. The listener is functioning. And maybe a few talking snakes and grey scale mushrooms. Other than that, no life [read more]
#52: Various Artists “Half A Decade Of Chrome” (Field Hymns)
#53: Max Eisenberg / Max Eilbacher split (Ultraviolet Light)
#54: Stellfox / Low Flung split (Tandem)
#55: Various Artists “Stray Dog Volume 2” (Oxen)
#56: Andy Ortmann “Buchla On Tape” (Nihilist)
#57: Howard Stelzer “Normal Bias” (Ballast)
#58: Sodalite “Liquid Earth” (Illuminated Paths)
#59: Yves Malone “Death House 4” (Field Hymns)
#60: Panos Alexiadis “Promnesia” (Thalamos)
#61: Ink Jet “Cold Shoulder” (Gohan)Forget everything you know about hanging in fancy hotel lobbies, watching montages of very specific teams preparing for a heist, and Blaxploitation fonts. Wait, that’s not right. Remember those things. Remember all of those things at once. Force them into your thoughts until they crash together like matter and antimatter and create pure energy in your skull. Dapper energy with an unhesitating swagger. [read more]
#62: M.Sage “Needleworks” (Patient Sounds)
#63: Tralphaz “Vortex” (Ratskin)
#64: German Army “General Survey On Growing Concerns” (Metaphysical Circuits)
#65: Rene Kia / Synaplop split (Lal Lal Lal)
#66: Body Morph “Keep Still And Be Devoured” (Soundholes)
#67: Nigro / Glass Frog split (Crescent)
#68: Talibam! And Alan Wilkinson “It Is Dangerous To Lean Out” (Astral Spirits)
#69: MrDougDoug “These Magical Numbers”  (self released)
MrDougDoug continues his trek into absurd zones. On “These Magical Numbers”, Doug Kaplan crams a stupid amount of sound into a tiny space. The earlier mention of 69 National Anthem renditions was not a joke. On the track “69 Starspangled 420″ there is literally audio from 69 different videos of the The Star-Spangled Banner ground into a fine paste over the course of a half hour. A thick mush of nationalism and anxiety that feels like walking on a soaking wet red, white, and blue shag carpet. You don’t have to be strapped to a chair with the pause button just out of reach to give this a proper listen, but you fucking should be. And it gets darker. MUCH darker. [read more]
#70: Andreas Brandal “Flames and Ether” (Oxtail)
#71: Curved Light “Prismatic / Loomstate” (Gentle Reminder)
#72: Howard Stelzer “Dawn Songs” (No Rent)
#73: Endurance “City Of Signals” (Illuminated Paths)
#74: Kösmonaut “Master Generator” (A Giant Fern)
#75: Mukqs / Constellation Botsu split (Suite 309)
#76: Photography “Letter Phone” (Playing Records)
#77: R. Stevie Moore “Nobody Pays Me Much Mind Until I’m Gone” (Doom Trip)
#78: Black Sand Desert & Unsustainable Social Condition (Oxen)
#79: Gelba / My Cat Is An Alien split (Old Bicycle)
#80: Bang! Bros “Food For Thoth” (Hausu Mountain)
#81: Mot “Rebecca’s Spit” (self released)
This tape has the personality of a clogged sink, but isn’t exactly trying to be the most popular kid at the party anyways. It’s not even sure why it’s at the party. With the agenda to drink cough syrup, explore the basement, and burn family photos, it should have just stayed home. [read more]
#82: rawmean / S/H/A/R/R/P/S & Ragged Lines split (Metaphysical Circuits)
#83: MUFF “Gunk” (FTAM)
#84: Gloga “Material Hangover” (Plush Oragnics)
#85: Rode Grey “Fiasco” (Nostorca)
#86: Christina Schneider “Violence Etcetera” (OSR)
The sound and method might be pure C86, but the complex, unblinking lyrics, full of visceral imagery, feel very timely. Another piece of evidence that OSR has an ear for sounds which might be able to transcend the moment of their creation. [read more]
#87: Nickolas Mohanna “Mantis” (Preservation)
#88: Mike Nigro “Vertical Music” (Oxtail)
#89: Shingles “Guantanamo Patchbay Vol. 4: Drift Studies “ (self released)
#90: Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie Prince Billy “Live – Cafe Oto Residency” (self released)
#91: German Army “Diego Garcia” (Wounded Knife)
#92: Synthetic Juice s/t (self released)
#93: Mudd Corp “Loserlord” (Third Kind)
#94: Gerritt Wittmer “Unknowns” (No Rent)
Near nothingness. A stretch of vacancy occurs. Then, in a Kramer-like jolt, the machines start up. Functioning correctly or not, gears chug along. Stray bolts drops to the floor and roll underneath the onerous mountains of metal and belts and wire. Maybe the machines grind up bones for old, rich people snort and look younger? Maybe they manufacture those tiny plastic taco and sushi toys for kids? It starts up. [read more]
#95: Chefkirk / S27E152 split (Bicephalic)
#96: Ama Divers “An Echo In The Sound” (No Rent)
#97: -otron “Doze On” (self released)
#98: Glass Frog “Hakuna Montuno” (Oxtail)
#99: Max Eilbacher “Schizophrenia As Architecture” (NNA)
#100: UFO Över Lappland s/t (Fluere)
#101: Marshall Art “Gallery” (self released)
#102: Constrain “The Boundary” (Oxen)
#103: Giulio Aldinucci / Moon Ra split (No Problema)
#104: R Magellin “Sleepy TV” (OJC)
#105: Yorishiro “I” (Constellation Tatsu)
#106: ROM “Possible Mountain” (Hausu Mountain)
#107: Die Reihe “Housed” (NNA)
#108: Obligate Surrogate s/t (The Order Of The End Result)
#109: Glou Glou “Fey Flight Founders” (Full Spectrum)Gretchen Jude and Arjun Mendiratta. Those are the humans behind this magnetizing Bay Area two-piece. An open air recording gives their already temperate sounds an even deeper organic glaze on this hour long, single session cassette. Lustering violin and vocal drones shiver, balloon out, and maneuver through wayward zones of knob swiveling. Brief patterns emerge, but the Glou Glou modus operandi is a random and chill one. [read more]
#110: Knives of Spain “Telluric” (Hairy Spider Legs)
#111: Kiran Arora “The Good Times Are Over For Good” (Oxen)
#112: Fenkoff “Slweep Diwrms” (Tingo Tongo)
#113: Ottaven “Sequenze Per Raffigurazioni Mentali #1” (Sincope)
#114: Softest “Six Wishes” (Inner Islands)A kinder gentler iteration of Braeyden Jae, softest gives us six “wishes” over two sides. That’s twice as many wishes as the average genie, folks. And what gorgeous wishes they are—where Channelers often feels oceanic, softest evokes those ozone-heavy moments right after a good spring downpour. These pieces progress carefully, initially feeling a little static but gently evolving as they dry off in the sun. [read more]
#115: Rambutan “Universal Impulses” (These Are Not Records)
#116: Ethereal And The Queer Show “Fairy Super Crystal Blue” (Noumenal Loom)
#117: Dang Olsten Dream Tape “Zonk” (Constellation Tatsu)
#118: Jimmie Packard “Singing Your Requests” (OSR)
#119: Spliff Jacksun “Memory Display” (Haju)
#120: Tata Duende s/t (self released)
#121: Jeweled Snakes “Flesh Lab” (Midori)
#122: Lunaria “All Is Dream” (Sounds Of The Dawn)
#123: Ovis Aurum “Nocturnal Pools” (Fort Evil Fruit)
#124: C. Reider “Sophist I & II” (self released)His tinkering with sound can be magnetic and calming, but risk is right behind the curtain. In the most casual ways, C. Reider knots sequences of inescapable coils. He creates filmy, and sometimes almost muted atmospheres, then proceeds to nudge them into shared spaces with corrupted noise to the point of vertigo. 9-volt beats, voices rising through distortion, asterisks of glimmering hope all helix into web-like patterns. [read more]
#125: Astrokade “Memoryfoam” (Kitchen Dweller)
#126: Ela Orleans “Circles of Upper Hell” (Oma333)
#127: Avery Gabbiano “Oracles & Chambers” (Spring Break)
#128: ARU Meets Black Saturn “Saturated” (Personal Archives)
#129: Giovanni Lami “Opale” (Dinzu Artefacts)
#130: Hillboggle “Up The Country With Hillboggle” (Crash Symbols)
#131: Seabuckthorn “I Could See the Smoke” (Lost Tribe Sound)
#132: Various Artists “Eclectic Sessions Volume 2” (Ramp Local)
#133: Fame Circle “Fail Circle” (Social Harmony)
#134: Bridges of Konigsberg “The Lawrence Tapes” (Phage)
#135: Cob Raw s/t (Gleauxing)
#136: Jay Glass Dubs “New Teeth For An Old Country” (Bokeh Versions)
#137: Various Artists “Death On The Hour” (Geographic North)“Death On The Hour: Aural Apparitions from the Geographic North” is fueled by spectral atmospheres. Focus is averted from the trick-or-treat and pumpkin carving conditions of the holiday and fixated more on the idea of spending the night in the vacant house that Old Man Wallmaker hung himself in on Halloween night 6 years ago. I’m talking classic horror movie patterns, reconstructed as an experimental cassette comp. [read more]
#138: Stress Orphan “Cadaver Politik” (Denver State)
#139: Shapes / Melfi split (Umor Rex)
#140: Max Kuiper & Thorsten Soltau “Animi Sub Volpe Latentes” (Chondritic Sound)
#141: Kösmonaut “Songs For Healing” (These Are Not Records)
#142: Wild Anima “Blue Twenty-Two” (Blue Tapes)Featuring an eclectic group of instruments including violins, Korean flutes, and more, Wild Anima’s Blue Twenty-Two tape is an atmospheric and at times, supernatural, experience. Alex Alexopoulos is at the helm of Wild Anima, with help from friends. [read more]
#143: Miguel A. García / August Traeger split (Bicephalic)
#144: $3.33 “Just A Dip, No Why” (Dzang)
#145: Data Rainbow “Rave Death” (Crippled Sounds)
#146: Maar “Absolute Delay” (Umor Rex)
#147: DJWWWW “Arigato” (Orange Milk)
#148: Sister / Body “Spells” (Baba Vanga)The Prague duo’s ruby red tape features beautiful and mysterious artwork, like a hand holding a fuzzed out crystal ball, with a person’s hand holding what appears to be lotion on the inside, adding to the mystical, about-to-cast-a-spell feel. They open the tape with “Black Jacket Angel,” a fascinating track clocking in at more than seven minutes that puts equal importance on the sound in the song as the silence. [read more]
#149: Rat Killer “Odor Orienting” (Crash Symbols)
#150: A Bleaker Teen Lip “Downgraded Saved Arrow” (FTAM)
#151: V N C F “P L E A S U R E D I S T R I C T” (Bonding)
#152: Christian Mirande “Foxbat” (No Rent)
#153: qualchan. “Smoke Break” (Magical Garage Taste)
#154: Comfort Food “Waffle Frolic” (Already Dead)Chicago’s Comfort Food has been laying down their heavy jazz/rock/tribal/math jams for a few years now, but their latest tape for Already Dead, “Waffle Frolic,” is a whole new party power-up for your ears. Their previous tape, “Dr. Faizan’s Feel-Good Brain Pills,” displayed an admirable kind of gutbucket rock/jazz blend with some serious swagger in tunes like “Dem Grapes,” but look: ain’t no Frolic like a Waffle Frolic, ‘cause a Waffle Frolic don’t stop. [read more]
#155: Reef Frequent “Emperor” (Bedlam)
#156: Tim Gray “Sandstone” (Ethernet)
#157: East Of The Valley Blue s/t (self released)
#158: Kane Pour “Vision Crayon” (Field Hymns)
#159: Map Collection s/t (Midori)
#160: Apple ][プラス ‎”Applesoft” (Poor Little Music)
#161: Sun Hammer “Mahamudra” (Full Spectrum)
#162: Braeyden Jae / Amulets split (Horror Fiction)
#163: Pay The Rent “Soft On Glass” (White Reeves Productions)Pay The Rent’s “Soft On Glass” is a liquefied bliss. A candied concoction of striking synths, lush as h*ck guitar, and drones. Drones that cascade down the pews of a very large, showy church. They move reservedly, like fog. Guitars bellow from the ornate rafters in outstretched waves, their origins cloaked. The stone queue of creepy, blood stained statues that line the walls sorta sway and throb along with the crystal clear keys. [read more]
#164: Bean Snack “Crispy Duct” (Personal Archives)
#165: Flux Bikes / Sueñolas split (Lake Paradise)
#166: The Kendal Mintcake “All​-​Star Erotic Hypnosis” (Big Sleep)
#167: Beast Nest “Taste Of India” (Ratskin)
#168: Tape000 “Dream” (OTA)
#169: Bilhazia / Soy Fan Del Dark split (CountryM)
#170: Anime Love Hotel “Mami” (Oxen)
#171: Ozark “Boombox” (Haju)
#172: Poop Dood / Igor Amokian split (Tingo Tongo)
#173: Hard Bodies s/t (III Arms)
#174: Moon Lagoon “How Do I Get Out Of Here” (5nakefork)The enticement game begins right out of the gate with Moon Lagoon throwing charms into your eyes via a handsomely designed silk screened Jcard, textured stickers on the shell, and the shell itself glitterfied in a way once reserved for homophobic presidential candidates. Thankfully, the audio end of “How Do I Get Out Of Here”, A C50 released on the in-n-out of hibernation imprint 5nakefork, hovers in an equally majestic zone. [read more]
#175: Dino Felipe “PRŌJEKT​!​” (Other Electricities)
#176: Pal+ “Pictorial” (OTA)
#177: Cop Funeral “2Stressed 2B Blessed” (Already Dead)
#178: Myttys “Sloggilukio” (Oma333)
#179: Sir Baar “Never Woke Up” (self released)
#180: SCY1E “Canard” (Speaker Footage)
#181: Used Condo “American Birthstone” (Suite 309)I popped “American Birthstone” by Used Condo, a Larry Wish joint, into the trusty deck knowing nothing about it. Not knowing whether Used Condo was short for used condominium or slang for used condom, I wasn’t even totally sure on the name. Still not I suppose. It was, however, clear by three or four minutes in that this was going to be a frustrating listen. [read more]
#182: Jake Meginsky “Seven Psychotropic Sinewave Palindromes” (NNA)
#183: Lady Shame s/t (Hairy Spider Legs)
#184: Dwayne Rifle s/t (White Reeves Productions)
#185: Church Shuttle “Zone6 Chiller” (Irrational Tentent)
#186: Endless Chasm “Harm Health” (Lurker Bias)
#187: Bastard Noise “Dedicated To Koji Tano” (Kitty Play)
#188: Noel Meek “The Lothian Tapes”(Bunkland)
#189: Future Ape Tapes “1093” (Fall Break)This collection of mostly instrumental, heavily improvised compositions flows together as an organic, psychedelic whole, with occasional, abstract vocals lending to the atmosphere. much of the music is built from drum loops, synth drones and shimmering, echoing guitars, that when combined sound like dub music for a new age LSD spa. [read more]
#190: Jeffry Astin + J.P. Wright “Fragrant Bush” (Housecraft)
#191: Sapphogeist s/t (No Rent)
#192: Shalt “Acheron” (Astral Plane)
#193: Chimess “Growth” (Cave)Listening to “Growth” by Chimess reminds me of sitting on bleachers watching eight, slow roasting innings, unshaded by the heavy embrace of a midsummer’s day heat. Gossamer tones lay a harmonious foundation for low rumblings, faint clicking, analog popping, bubbling, and other echoing, ethereal garnishes. “Growth” is bathed in a series of momentary contemplations, not unlike the somewhat paralyzed feeling of languidly drowning in a fire. [read more]
#194: Chemiefaserwerk “Trajet” (Blue Tapes)
#195: Kate Carr “It Was A Time Of Laboured Metaphors” (The Helen Scarsdale Agency)
#196: BBJR “Pareidolia” (Already Dead)
#197: William Ryan Fritch “Ill Tides” (Lost Tribe Sound)
#198: Inner Travels “Clear Seeing” (Inner Islands)
#199: Chik White “Malform” (self released)
#200: Critterbone s/t (self released)