9.17.21 by Matty McPherson
In a move that sent ripples across several dozens of people’s email inboxes, Unifactor announced a repressing of Batch 15. This is, of course, quite an act of generosity. Unifactor Batch #15 scratches a pretty strange kind of itch that I wasn’t expecting. Earlier this year, Beyond Beyond is Beyond announced they were closing up shop. While they were never a huge tape label, a good check in on what tapes they did champion reveals a deft idea of psychedelic guitar ditties whose reverberations will be missed throughout the American underground. Unifactor’s Batch #15 could seem like a stealth tribute to the label; these three releases moonlights as ambient, drifting guitar psychedelia that’s fit for the hinterlands or meditative zones BBIB entangled themselves within.
Pasquarosa / Gerycz – II
For years, Jason Gerycz-heads across the nation have been debating which of his many bands — Baldi/Gercyz duo, Powers/Rolins/Gercyz trio, the punk act signed to Carpark — would be the first to land that sweet Unifactor tape release. But could anyone have anticipated “string instrument illuminator Anthony Pasquarosa” and Gercyz (on percussives, of course!) once again teaming up on a loose tape of free-wheeling interplay would be the result? The 2019 session between the two is a euphoric delight. Enclosed inside swirling labyrinths of fuzzy guitar jam riffs alongside backwoods barnyard banjo bashes (with bows & bowls). Warbly without any of the nausea of a turl-a-whurl, It flows with the power of a fall wind storm. In the process one could say it practically uncurls its own folk traditions in the process. Although really, it’s just joyous to hear two pals go crazy-go-nuts finding tones that crack open serotonin rushes in my brain.
Rosali – Chokeweed
Rosali’s time between Spinster and Scissor Tail Records have imparted us with fantastic range of guitar pop (not even counting her contributions to “barfuzz” guitar stylings of Long Hots’ 2019 single and 2018 Monday Night Raw collectors tape). Now though, Chokeweed is much more a sketch tape akin to the meanderings and ambient guitar pedal power of those aforementioned labels. Recorded after No Medium, Chokeweed parallels to David Nance’s most expansive licks and Prana Crafter’s deep headspaces. It’s a simple set-up, as Rosali’s self-recorded tracks see the interplay between two guitars looping and that lo-fi reverb sizzle. The results radiate a “back-of-the-dive-bar” warmth in the dead of a fall cold spurt at their most anthemic. Yet, the ease and wandering in and out of these tracks on the tape, track a ghostly, timeless beauty to the tracks’ most hermitudious.
Jon Collin – The Fiddle Now Steps To The Road
You may have caught Jon Collin back in the early days of Garden Portal or when he was running Winebox Press. Either way, the guitarist has never slowed his output nor has the melodies and vastness ever been more suited to a time like summer into fall. The Fiddler Now Steps to the Road is a C30 tape comprised of “Sketches for ‘The Song of Stockholm’”. It drifts patiently, building a tantalizing, high-flying drone out of the aching tones that make up the opening of Parts A and B. It’s in the back half of each side’s track that Collin weaves a gracious harmony that floats far above you, not with judgement or admonishment but ambivalence. Like the other tapes in this batch, its listening setting of choice is made for a lake walk or park garden excursion at sunset.
All Three Currently Available at Unifactor Tapes’ Bandcamp Page!
Related Links
