7.13.17: Puff Boys
PFB003: ‘King Mental s/t C26
7.12.17: MonoLogue – Spazio
Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in SPAZIO. [Check It Out]
Tabs Out | MonoLogue – Spazio
MonoLogue – Spazio
7.12.17 by Ryan Masteller
Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in spazio! That’s Italian for “space,” for all of you whose main interaction with the language comes from perusing restaurant menus (and let’s be fair, that’s pretty much the only Italian I come across on a regular basis, I’m not gonna lie). But for Florence-based musician Marie Rose, aka MonoLogue (also MOON RA), Italian is the language she encounters every day, so we all better get used to it. Don’t worry, it’ll be easy – there aren’t too many languages that reverberate as sonorously as MonoLogue’s native tongue. English sure doesn’t – English sounds like a runaway garbage truck down the side of an erupting volcano in comparison. Chunky. Weird.
(Relevant story: I was in Venice several years ago, and the concierge at our hotel, a wonderfully nice man, had to print some documentation for us, but he was having trouble with the computer. He kept saying “Annulla, annulla,” as he was “canceling” what he was doing. It was the most beautiful sound – I could have listened to him repeat that word all day.)
Anyway, let’s join MonoLogue in spazio, shall we? The “Nomade” (nomadic) space traveler drifts through glistening synthesizer excursions on the eleven-minute opener, fractals and prisms sparkling like quasar pulses through the faceplate of a spacesuit. Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in “Spazio, I repeat, because it’s true, and “Ossessione” (obsession) even goes as far as sounding like the low-key interludey passages of the Spiritualized classic. It’s interesting to hear MonoLogue use traditional instrumentation, and maybe I’m conditioned from all the MOON RA I’ve ingested, particularly the miasmic sound fractures of her half of “Mutus Liber” (with Giulio Aldinucci), but I almost didn’t expect such a relaxed atmosphere. Not to worry in the end – the distance is breathtaking, the space – literal and outer – is managed expertly within the compositions.
I love how the tape doesn’t sit still, either, as it progresses, as “Silenzio” (hush) pretends it wants you to be quiet and listen to the ambience of your surroundings, but instead injects your surroundings with its own soundtrack, the ambience erased into active participation. Speaking of active, “Riva” (shore) approaches, dare I say, synth pop territory with its immediately earwormy hook. Ladies and gentlemen, we have washed upon the riva. Um, what planet is this again?
Hylé Tapes is one of my favorite active experimental tape labels, so you should grip whatever you can from the French imprint, damn the shipping cost! And “Spazio” only comes in an edition of 30 – you better act fast if you want one.
Tabs Out | Scant – At Fault
Scant – At Fault
7.11.17 by Mike Haley
The listening tastes of a newborn are so dang primal. They’re probably the only true noise fans, all smooth and stupid, pre-loaded with all the knowledge of a slightly damp dish towel. They don’t know about time zones, or droughts, or cheese flavors. But they do know primal. Their vision may be on par with that same slightly damp dish towel, but for months they’ve been surrounded by an unevolved womb-sound sloshing about in the only area they know exists like, well, a slightly damp dish towel. It’s a soundtrack that has been on repeat since forever. Rock and roll, jazz, cheesecake – None of these genres have the staying power of noise. Once given the opportunity to join the rest of us, oh with our fancy time zones, and droughts, and various cheeses, tiny almost-people only give a shit about three things: Sleeping. Eating. Noise. I used to play random RRR Recycled tapes to chill my kid out. It was like she just ripped a bong and was going to ask if I was into Merzbow. Honestly a blow dryer would have worked fine, because it’s all about primal. A long, long time ago, I’m talking before we had any cheese flavors at all, it was super important to live near water. At night the water was like side A track 2 on the cassette of all existence. That’s old news though, because in 2017 you can live in literally any time zone and order whatever you want in any cheese flavor. Drones make it all out of salt and immediately bring it to you, basically causing droughts. We aren’t supposed to listen to noise anymore either. Eventually the closest you’re supposed to come is techno I think.
Matt Boetke has always lived comparatively close to water — The Schuylkill in Philadelphia. The East River in New York. The Atlantic Ocean in general. He does the project Scant, which means a small amount of something. Maybe not enough to get through the night. Very primal. Don’t listen to “At Fault” just yet… I want you to try something, and really try this. It sounds like it might be yoga, but don’t worry. It’s not yoga. Go somewhere quiet and close your eyes. Imagine you are a baby, all alone, swaddled in some animal’s skin. Imagine you’re on the beach, at night. Imagine what you hear, but try to filter out everything you know. Time zones, droughts, cheese flavors… Get rid of all of that and listen to existence through your damp dish towel brain.
Now compare that sensation to “At Fault.” At 20 minutes it’s all lethargic and starved. Like a shadow with no body, it’s chronic loneliness simply hovers in the form of gargled, selfish oscillations. A pure bummer? If you seek the comfort of techno to fulfill a fringe voyeuristic itch, sure. (You ever notice how much “techno” sounds like “Costco?” Techno. Costco. Techno. Costco.) But remember, Matt Boetke never really moved away from the water, and something tells me his urges are primal. These clouds of sound formed above moon-lit, speculative beaches are a relief. A reverse cyanide. But most of all, a damp dish towel begging you to join the hive mind.
No more than 100 copies of “At Fault” are available from No Rent Records.
7.10.17: Adam Gnade And Planet B – Life Is The Meatgrinder That Sucks In All Things
by Ryan Durfee
Adam Gnade brings his story telling to cassette on a collab with Planet B. [Check It Out]
Tabs Out | Adam Gnade And Planet B – Life Is The Meatgrinder That Sucks In All Things
Adam Gnade And Planet B – Life Is The Meatgrinder That Sucks In All Things
7.10.17 by Ryan Durfee
“Life Is A Meatgrinder That Sucks In All Things,” a collaboration between prolific author Adam Gnade and Planet B, which consists of Justin Pearson (Struggle, Swing Kids, Crimson Curse, Locust, …) / Gabe Serbian (Cattle Decapitation, Holy Molar, …) / Luke Henshaw (producer extraordinaire), is a prequel to Gnade’s last book, Locust House. It documents a time and place which folks in my age range look back on very fondly; a golden era, pre 9/11, pre internet boom, when life seemed simpler, more primal, more dangerous. Being fed by oil stained hands into the maws of the military industrial complex fueled by late stage capitalism. Adam’s writing exudes a wholesomeness, a lightness of being, a way of cutting through the external bullshit to shed light on who people really are at the core of things.
This tape, in an edition of 100 copies, focuses on Joey from Gnade’s excellent Caveworld book and San Diego at the turn of the century. A time when one could catch The Plot To Blowup The Eiffel Tower playing with Terror at Che Cafe, people watch at Pokez, and go to a house party at the mythic Golden Hill House. He recites the story in a post-apocalyptic tone, reminding me of the best of the beats, while the music backing Adam is skronky, minimal synth jazz, like Delia Derbyshire jamming with Pharoah Sanders. The B side of the tape are songs that Adam recorded on his own with a homemade four string guitar at the Hard Fifty Farm, a small Kansas farm of rescue animals he works along with others at Pioneers Press.
I can’t say enough good things about this tape, how life affirming Adam’s stories are, how they buoy you up during dark times like that 45 you played over and over again during your first major heartbreak. Buy this tape and then go buy everything that Adam Gnade has released. You’ll be thankful that you did.
7.10.17: Czaszka Records
CZSZ014: Új Bála “Breatharian High Society” C36
CZSZ015: Giovanni Lami “Hysteresis II” C20
CZSZ016: lopness “cena holding” C40
7.10.17: analog minimum
am01: Homogenized Terrestrials “Distraction Holograms” c32
am02: Dreyt Nien “Hyperspace Collapse” c32
am03: Odd Person “Star Maps from the Flower Temples” c32
7.10.17: Litho
LT06: Fuchs & Beckett “#fadbdd”