south carolina's steven woodlief sent me the latest seven inch from his daisy cutter records.

...hate this city 7"
[2007, daisy cutter]

altar of flies is mattias gustafsson from mjölby, sweden.
there's no playing speed listed for this seven; when in doubt play it fast! this sounds right. it did sound cool at 33 rpm, though. ...hate this city is a pretty fucking sick piece of wax and features really nice cover art by mattias frisk. soundwise, this is experimental noise in a darker, tormented vein. the a-side's title track starts off with terrific bursts of random noise paired with noise emanating from mattias' affected vocals. it will start to settle a bit into squealing electronics and a grinding noise which kicks open the door for a denser layer of distortion. i really love that fucking grinding sound. eventually, the sound will gel even more as it rides atop a great pulsating tone, pervasive electronic buzz and plenty of teetering distortion.

stuck will begin by being calmer than its predecessor, but features good (repetitious) background layers which will initially draw me in. the noise-work starts out by just being a little screechy, but nothing too forceful as the static-filled foundation hushes it just enough. soon, that base will drop off, and we're left with looping zaps and a sputtering background layer, plus a few noisy electronic screams. once more layers fall off, gustafsson will lay into those screams a lot harder, plus add a whole slew of other crackling, whirling and screeching noises to it. then it's over and bad times* were had by all who listened.

*not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good.

Stuck

antwerp, belgium's lieven martens (awesomely) hooked me up with a slew of cassettes from his dreamtime taped sounds label.

the great hum c60
[2007, dreamtime taped sounds]

whenever i'm in the mood for great droning experimentation, i usually don't have to look much further than tom carter and robert horton. so, it shouldn't be surprising that they collaborate with each other quite a bit. in group form there's: kyrgyz (with christine beopple and loren chasse (jewelled antler collective)), turnstone (with local musician michael shannon) and mudsuckers (with the yellow swans). beyond his projects with tom, he also records solo as egghatcher, hooks up again with shannon in plateau and broken mask and is in imperfect masters and future ears with dan plosney. then there's two projects that i can't seem to find any info about: infinite article and beautiful friend. jeez, lastly, perhaps, he's in eastern fox squirrels with brad (the north sea) and eden rose (wax ghost). i'm not even going to mention all of the bands that the roses are in, i don't have all day.

the great hum is an interesting tape, even before you start to listen to it. there's nine songs which are from as far back as 2003, to this year. four of the tracks are from 2007, the rest are from the '03-'07 gap. there's no chronological order, though. also, two of the tracks are credited as being made by egghatcher. according to a (nice) interview on foxy digitalis, his work with egghatcher is distinguished by the lack of organic instrumentation, focusing more on field recordings and a computer. not that his eponymous recordings are all that different from his egghatcher ones, he still uses a computer, and field recordings on occasion, he just also uses more instruments and found objects. so yeah, hmmm to that.
despite the fact that this tape has material from a five year span, it never comes across as incongruous. the great hum opens up with taproot. while it's a little spread out in the beginning, it will soon become a lot more hurried, with bouncing sine waves, blown bottle sounds and a pan flute. the element that i like the most is a deeper periodic drone in the background. the slow rumble provides a nice centering point for the busyness of the additional layers. the fifteen minute long dance of the mineralist organ grinders places an emphasis on drone above all. there's multiple layers of drone and i found myself most attracted to the undulating one. the last minute will throw in some harmonium playing, for good measure, and i really like that bit; could've gone for some more throughout organ grinders, as it was so drone-centric (and long). pleasant track, regardless. so, following the longest offering, comes the shortest one, climate-ting, just under three minutes long. oh, this is also one of the two egghatcher pieces. it does have more of a computery feel to it than either of the previous tracks; the thing that sticks out the most is the swirling ambient noise.
egghatcher will open up side b, with anarchic sonority, and there's a bit more to like with this track. there's some nice reel to reel warbles amongst random background tinkering and a strong ambient background drone with guitar noise. midnight blue (those fucking birds) scales back to a more minimal sound. multiple droning layers are still in place, but they're less attention-grabbing, having a little bit of coldness to them. midnight blue is about playing up the atmosphere, and he'll do so with field recordings of birds and a rain stick (not heavily employed). what's interesting to me is how you've got these drones, which are sterile and emotionless, offset by the chirping of birds and more organic, warm sounds. i really liked the mbira (essentially a finger piano) towards the end. el niño's one of my favorites. again, there's a distinct coldness to the overall feel, but what i love is the toy music box. in conjunction with the coldness it seems haunting, but in a nuanced kind of way. there are a lot of great things happening within this track's framework which are repetitious enough to keep me attentively tuning in. great job not just here, but the last four songs of the great hum are all terrific. three out of the four are from this year, with the next piece, requiem for padma, being the exception. requiem, coincidentally, is the most reflective piece of music on the tape. there's not much going on with it, there's a high pitched tone being sustained which lightly drifts along throughout, arrhythmic hammering and more chirping field recordings. the saving grace comes by way of the khaen (reed mouth organ; robert must have one impressive array of obscure, or should i say ethnic, instruments) playing. it's a beautiful addition which is pushed so far down in the mix that you can barely make it out, but it's quite lovely. horton will pick up the pace for the acousticy to do nothing at all. the instrument he's actually playing is of his own design, it's called the boot, and it sounds great. this one's a toe tapper, i love the fucking twangyness of it along with the seemingly multi-tracked sound. seemingly. it could very well be that he's producing that sound at the same time that he's plucking away; the instrument's a trip to look at, i have no idea what it's capable of doing. the closer, birthday raga for edward guerriero, is stripped down to just robert and an acoustic guitar, and it's wonderful.

this seemed like a tale of two sides. on the first, there was an abundance of drones and encircling music. the second side had less of a noticeable theme with the sound. there was also a bit more diversity with what robert was giving us, and it had more memorable songs on it. the great hum is enjoyable, on the whole, but side b is what really kept me paying attention.

El Niño

mike pollard sent me a batch of awesome looking jams from his illinois-based arbor cdr label. ironically, none of them of are cdrs. i can live with that, though.

warmth 12"
[2007, arbor]

ok. let me see if i can get this right. during steev (thompson's) brief stay in the windy city he hooked up with branden diven (quilts, knife city, drenches as well as the american grizzly (past) and abhorrent a.d. (current) labels) and they worked together as warmth. i'm pretty sure that branden was also on the death as a young child tape. anyway, since steev split back to michigan (branden left, too, i believe), he's retained the warmth name, in lieu of roxanne jean polise, but it's mostly solo now. i feel like this is pretty accurate. this twelve inch is a reformatting of an older cd-r by these two that was originally released on steev's deceased xdey label.

this record, certainly more so than steev's recent works, concerns itself less with haunting, gorgeous, atmospherics. what we're presented with instead is carefully thought-out drone. it can be a rather subtle affair, but it's one that ultimately rewards keen ears. the payoff for this album will come by way of warmth's dynamics. much like anyone can make noise, anyone can make drone. these guys understand that, so through the use soft and loud texturing, as well as unexpected swells, they're able to stand out from the droney masses.warmth will start off with some beautiful vocals, that are pushed pretty far back, but that fact just seems to make it even more breathtaking. unfortunately, that layer won't stick around for more than a minute or so, then it's slowly onward into drone. it won't come alone though, bringing with it some warm ambiance to try and displace the cold, spatiality of the drones. it doesn't succeed, but i give it an a for effort. once that layer also dies down, another one of drone takes its place, then, out of the blue, one of the supporting drones drastically raises in amplitude, before quickly going back to normal, only to rise up once more, moments later. when the prettier ambient layer makes its reentry, coinciding with great buzzing guitar drone from steev, it's a glorious thing. as they'll make it perfectly clear, they're not going to stick to one sonic theme for very long. there's lots of little bits that i can focus in on and say "oh i like that... this is really good...", but before you can become too accustomed, it's pushed out of mind. what i really appreciate is that there's soo many different spots that grab me, making me want to listen to it repeatedly. which i'm doing. along with that, due to the dynamism, new folds will eventually become clear, the more you listen to it. the middle section of this first side will mellow out a bit, setting up the fantastic final four minutes. alright, there's understated background drones and a more dominant hissing sound. slowly, the volume level will increase as the focus swings to a powerful noisy drone, like fast moving rapids, threatening to drown everything in its wake. then it's gone. call it a flash flood. then there's a high-pitched tone and outstanding vocal drones from both guys. next, it's onto the loudness again, and this time the vocals are far more commanding, howling away through the noise and fleeting feedback. damn.
i was stoked enough on the first side of this record, but side b... jesus christ. the second side fuckin' slays. it'll start off with the calmness that they left us with on the previous track. so far, so mellow, but soon a shriller sound will sweep through, cutting the silence, before they revisit the subtle drones, naturally those will soon get replaced by multiple undulating synth drones. it's very hypnotic, and will lead into one of the best parts of the whole record; a warped, warbling synth, pushed way back. it emits this deeper, bassy sound (despite being mixed so low), and the wobbliness of it, combining with these great drones is really doing it for me. the eight minute mark, here's where it gets even better. they go from a snail's pace drone to a brief gail of distorted rumbles, throw in some barely perceptible vocal drone and then the warbling synth comes into the forefront. once they add some affected yelling, yes yes yes. after continuing to play around with the same formula and quiet / loud dynamics, it settles down, at first with the humming drone of electricity, and then into something even more minimal. once everything has calmed down enough, that great synth sound comes back, but it's less warbled than it seemed like before, equally appealing, however. the last minute of the side ends with an inoffensive, but high-pitch tone, and wind like sounds; a perfect, gentle, exit out of a fantastic record.

admittedly, my initial knee-jerk synopsis was "it's droney", but this lp has grown on me like a gut from too much boozin'. for me, it was something that i really had to absorb, as well as pay close attention to, in order to truly appreciate it, but i came around, oh, did i come around. great record. i hope that branden and steev find a way to collaborate again in the future, because they had a real good thing going.

Warmth Side A

andrew kindly sent me the latest release from hymns not too long ago.

live collection
[2007, hymns]

seth oubliette is from clyo, georgia. he's put out a ridiculous discography so far, and he shows no signs of slowing down. additionally, he runs the obelisk sounds imprint. his hair is awesome; like the sideshow bob of noise.

this cd-r, obviously, captures live performances that seth did from the beginning of last year, up until the beginning of this year. they're all from along the south eastern seaboard: south carolina, georgia and florida.

feedback lovers of the world unite! this is the type of shit that confuses my roommate ("it's feedback and... what?") and puts a big grin on my face. i dig guitar-based noise, and that just happens to be oubliette's strong suit. with the first two tracks on this disc, that's the sum of what you're getting. okay, fine by me. the following performance at st. noise is a little more involved: there are high pitched tones, an electric hum as well as guitar fuckery. it's actually kind of droney, and nice, if you can get past the squeals and screeches. weird (unexpected) rhythmic and arrhythmic hand clapping from the crowd along with a buzzing amp will open up the seventh track, october 13, 2006 at 369, charleston, sc, and this one might be my favorite out of the ten track set. this one is a collaboration with ironing (andrew chadwick). after the clapping, there's some actual guitar playing (i.e. unaffected, though hardly musical) along with distorted noise. his set here, as a whole, is a little more subdued. hmm, maybe subdued isn't the right word. how about slower moving? it's kind of lulling, especially with the rad oscillating feedback in the middle. real nice. whatever calmness was achieved is quickly shoved out of mind when the next track starts. both of the following sets, actually, have a denser base to their sound than any of the other ones. the guitar noise and feedback reaching out through the distortion keep me entertained. these forty-nine minutes end with february 16, 2007 at the international noise conference, churchill's, miami, fl, and its closest sonic companion (on the cd) would probably be at 369. it's another crawler, built around muddled guitar noise. the key addition this time is the use of some power (tool) electronics (i don't know what the hell you call what he's using... a sander.. a grinder?); very idx1274 or lockweldian as he summons up a shrill, grinding noise. too bad it's not louder, as that has a chance to be really grating. in the best possible way, mind you.
while he is using a guitar, don't expect any moments of coherent riffing. he's rigged up for maximum aural assault. this isn't recommended to anyone who thinks that early sonic youth was too abrasive.

all in all, i really liked this cd. there was enough distinction between the performances that i never felt worn down by the same sound. as an added bonus there's four videos from some of the same shows that you'll hear on the audio portion. all of which were recorded by andrew himself.

February 20, 2006 at the Church, Savannah, GA

start stop wisdom
[2007, audiobot]

i've been really interested in hearing from these guys ever since i found out that it was a collaboration between eva van deuren from orphan fairytale and carlo steegen of audiobot records. seeing as how this duo also records under frozen corpse, i was curious as to what differences, if any, their two projects had with each other. it appears as if fellow belgian countryman dennis tyfus (ultra eczema) is involved with hardline elephants as well, but i don't think he was on this release. the inclusion of only two elephants on the cover leads me to that presumption.

frozen corpse, this is not. turns out, i'm not sure how to gauge hardline elephants as this is a quirky, utterly unique offering. it's also not the type of release that has a sound that you could see them working with on a continual basis, à la the noisy drone of their main gig (the youtube clip down below, however, appears to showcase a more normal side of this group. the italics are there for a reason.)
start stop wisdom is pretty high concept, and one of the silliest, and most adorable things that i've heard all year. it's also fantastic. it's only one fifteen minute long track. what we're getting here are essentially one to three seconds of, predominately, vocal sounds from everyone. it seems like they just used a cheap handheld recorder. much like the title suggests, they record their little bit, then stop, then record, and so on. the vocal sounds are all over the fucking place. most of it consists of playful growls, throat noises and then just all around weirdness. there's also some babyish sounds and a little bit of childlike singing from eva. speaking of which, listening to her make all of these growling noises is quite possibly the best fucking thing ever. interspersed throughout the track are a few non-vocal clips; a tiny, tiny bit of noisy distortion, chimes, field recordings, a music box and clips of other music, but the emphasis is clearly on what these two can do with their voices.

i love this disc. everything came together perfectly. there's such range between the vocals; they're not just different from each other, there's also such variation within their individual contributions, keeping it constantly engaging. as if that weren't enough, the addition of musical and field recordings offer up more attention worthy dynamics. this was a stunning collage of sounds.

Start Stop Wisdom

hardline elephants @ gallery 119

bonnie was nice enough to give me this cd to review at the grey daturas show.

signal limitation
[2007, sonic advisor]

aussie bonnie mercer garners the most attention for being a part of the three-piece psych-sludge rockers the grey daturas. outside of that band, it appears that she keeps herself pretty busy with a ton of other projects: breathing shrine, grey skulls, roky's room, must have no magic, slinkee, dead sorority, le brats and the bobbitts. her daturas bandmates are involved in two of the more visible groups out of that bunch: robbie macmanus in (the large collective): roky's room; robert mayson in breathing shrine.
bad news first: this disc is short. really short. fourteen minutes short. the good news is that that's the only bummer concerning signal limitation. given the grey daturas particular brand of rock, i was really intrigued as to what bonnie's solo work might sound like, and she didn't let down my intrigue by merely regurgitating her band's offerings into a more concise version.

there's far less rocking here than your normal daturas release (though they do branch out, occasionally, as evidenced on the spacey aurora australis), and the first piece, also the title track, establishes that from the jump. it sounds like the hum of ampbuzz along with additional tones and a little bit of distortion working back and forth between the two speakers. it sounds terrific and is a nice, albeit brief, bit of noisy experimentation. quite a way to start off the disc. the following track, i wish i might, is the only one that comes anywhere close to her main band's sound. once again, she's doing a fine job with the panning as there's multiple layers of understated guitar noise and drones in each speaker which serve to enhance the slow, repeating, main riff. the whole thing is beautifully hypnotic. musically, it leads you to believe that it's going to eventually build up into some sort of explosive finale, but will instead slowly fade out. when you've got something as serene as i wish i might, there's no need to spoil it with a bunch of noise, simply because you can. i liked the decision to hold back in this case. the last track, visit us under the sea, marks a return to experimental mode. the background features a distant rumble, nothing too powerful; it kind of reminds me of a waterfall. bonnie will pair that with lots of multi-channel tone work. there's high pitched tones, sustained ones and chirps. while tonality abounds, visit us under the sea has a really mellow feel to it, thanks in large part to the white noise in the background.

i was looking forward to checking out this cd, and it was even more interesting than i thought it would be. i've got to admit that i wasn't expecting the experimental noise aspects, at all, but stuff more like i wish i might. expectations aside, i was impressed by all of the facets to signal limitation.
i have a feeling that this is more of a tour only type of release, since it's limited to one hundred copies and googling "bonnie mercer signal limitation" won't net you any results outside of this page. if you're interested in this, your best bet would be to get in contact with her on myspace.

Visit Us Under the Sea

late winter c40
[2007, psychform]

fortyone is from waynesboro, pennsylvania. apparently, he's not too keen on divulging personal info via the internet, but he seems to have an obsession with 9/11. there's your fun fact.
before i get too far into this review, let me just throw this name out there, kid koala. not that i expect that many of you listen to his music, but that's your fault, not mine. i haven't heard all of carpal tunnel syndrome in awhile, but i'm listening to vacation island right now, just to make sure i'm not talking out of my ass, and, surprisingly, i'm not.

don't be fooled by the cassette's title, this oozes warmth. actually, there's even a sample that fortyone uses on your are the universe which says "some may not realize it, but there is energy and warmth here." what a coincidence, as that holds perfectly true. this is turntablism, computerism and collage sample..ism, with an upbeat feel. i like the fact that he uses a lot of loops from older music. the opener, look around (probably the most kid koalaish piece on the tape) features some great loops of music, a plethora of odd vocal samples procured from old records, jingles as well as some singing samples. it's really fun and catchy. i love nothing is the most overtly poppy song on late winter, despite the fact that it's also the longest song, at five minutes. there's very rhythmic percussion and repetitious samples. there's a couple of subtler aspects like the music attached to the samples, less subtle, but equally great, is that killer flute. what i absolutely love about this track is the tempo shift when he switches to the "i love nothing" sample, then back to a faster pace, then back to slow. it's fantastic.
for the most part, that's how the tape plays out: old timey musical loops and samples, which are occasionally paired with more modern percussion. while the formula isn't new, fortyone is really fucking good at it. there are a few deviations on late winter. both of which are on the second side. first is loose hole, which is one minute of him showcasing his scratching abilities. that's immediately followed by short story 17, which pilfers a bunch of different samples, but weaves them together so that they actually tell a story. i thought that was pretty neat.

stan certainly surprised me with this release; it's definitely not something that i'd expect coming from psychform, but it's nice not to get bogged down in a specific sound. i like to think that i have a pretty broad taste in music, so i can appreciate shit like this, but i don't know about everyone else. for the type of music that fortyone's making, he's done an absolutely superb job. my only concern is one of a fanbase. i've got to think that this pairing is weird for both parties involved, and that a great tape might slip through the cracks because the right people aren't going to get their hands on it.

To a Musky Oak