by Brad Rose

Speaking of epic, want to get in a quick word about the recent Andrew Coltrane "Refuse" box that he self-released on the mighty Hermitage .  This thing is unbelievable and highly HIGHLY recommended.  Now, I was a little scared about it being packed in a pizza box after some ugly incidents with record packages being sent in old pizza boxes that still had cheese remnants & shit on them and ended up smelling like a rotting corpse by the time they got here.  So I was worried I was gonna have to toss it before I even got to consume it.  Bummer time, right?  Well, big props to AC for using UNUSED pizza boxes for it.  RIGHT ON.  Great job on the packaging, too - lots of extra stuff in addition to the 9 tapes.  I've only blasted 5 of them so far, but I'm pretty damn impressed - some of his best stuff so far this year.  The thing I love about AC - you never know what ingredients he's gonna use.  He's constantly changing it up and keeping it fresh and on the stuff here, it's no exception.  Raucous electronics that fry your nerves and melt the cosmos, some junkyard clang and doom, a little synth soothesaying, etcetc.  Get this box  cuz it's super limited, but worth every penny!

So, it's hot today.  H O T.  Just listening to the next Digitalis tapes thinking that life is good.... got Mad Men starting up again in August (FUCK YES), lots of tunes to be made between now & then, and so much good music blowing through my headphones that I dunno when it'll ever stop.  Onward we go...

Fiesta Animal "el Imperio" tape (sPLeeNCoFFiN)
Great band name, great artwork, great sounds... this whole thing is really working for me.  Loads of nofi madness from Uruguay (no shit!) spaced-out like some kind of sci-fi b-movie epic.  Simple basslines creep underneath the disjointed keyboard melodies that feel like they're being dropped like clusterbombs from the skies.  There's something that's slightly naive about these recordings, but in the most awesome way.  Add in some heavily-reverbed, kind of crunch female vocals and fuck, you are ON YOUR WAY.  Really digging this one... a lot.

Kane Pour "Wand in the Beak of the Yellow Bird" tape (Housecraft)
Alright, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but the more I listen to this the more I'm convinced that what I'm about to pose is absolutely, 100% true... is Kane Pour the best thing Housecraft has ever put out?  I'm drifting toward yes.  These hypnobliss atmospherics are delicate and sweet, taking you on a ride through silver clouds and opiate drips without ever leaving the comfy confines of your living room.  I dunno who Kane Pour is, but this tape is immaculately done.  Short & perfect, you are getting twenty of the best minutes of music to come out this year.

The Dawns/Pink Priest split tape (Bathetic)
I love split tapes - I really do.  Especially when you get a dude on one-side whose stuff you are really into (Pink Priest) and someone you've never ever heard on the other side.  Can't beat that, especially for a mere five bones.  Anyway, The Dawns crank out some damaged but melodic drone zones that have me wanting to hear more.  The underlying synth is the perfect foundation to the heady guitar workouts that are processed to oblivion happening at the fore.  It's awesome - the perfect combo of calm electronics and chaotic melodic hell.  Give me more.  Pink Priest, as expected, does not disappoint.  The thing he is doing better than just about anyone is taking these really awesome, almost pretty keyboard riffs and blowing them out to a fucking million.  There's so much distortion cranking here that if you really blast this baby, it'll break your skull into bits.  Really, really into this.... REALLY.

Ashes "Dissolve" tape (After Death)
This one is a brutal headfuck.  It's a churning mass of black debris that never stops, just keeps pounding away at every inch of flesh you've got.  Thick walls of noise drench your ears in suffocating static.  It's relentless, though - you never get a chance to come up for air.  No clue what kind of electronics are being burned here, but the whole thing is an absolute clusterfuck.  Can't beat that.  Nice dark, minimal art/package too.

Field of Dreams "The Ultimate Nullifier" tape (Self-Released )
It's stuff like this that makes me glad I'm writing this column.  Despite some questionable cover art that had me worried, everything else about this tape is ruling.  Two sides of excessive synth workouts - it's hard to get too upset about that.  And in fact, this is actually really great.  There's a lot of synth/electronics-related projects around at the moment, but based on this tape I'd rate Field of Dreams up there with the higher echelons of artists.  Minimal percussion pops up here & there as does some guitar shoved through a pound of tremolo.  It's all vaguely pretty and wholly hypnotic, taking you away to distant lands.  Very good.

Terrors "Inequipoise" tape (Monorail Trespassing)
This one came out of NOWHERE and is easily one of my favorite tapes of the year thusfar.  One of the last things I ever thought I'd hear from Jon Borges' (Emaciator, Pedestrian Deposit, etc) Monorail Trespassing label is a tape of loner bedroom songs.  But if such a thing were to exist, one might ponder, it would probably have a few twists along the way and, as evidenced by Monorail's track record, be something quite incredible.  Well, that's exactly what Terrors is.  An unknown LA songwriter crafts a set of straightforward songs that will haunt you long after the tape stops playing.  It's an absolute gem of a tape that I've been returning to relentlessly since it showed up in the mail.  Highest recommendation.

Leeches "The Distant Land" tape (Hermitage )
Hell yeah - I was worried this project that combines two Detroit mainstays, Andrew Coltrane and Dan Dlugfdsajlkfd;as was only going to be a one-off jam, but with the arrival of "The Distant Land," those fears are put to bed.  Yeah!  Coltrane's Hermitage label has been on fire lately - so much awesome stuff, so little time.  If you're looking for sick and twisted reeds with a heavy dose of screeching electronics, Leeches is your best friend and uncle.  Dan & Andrew are just absolutely wailing on this baby, blowing smoke into the toposphere.  Get this one fast fast fast.

Sean McCann "Haven" tape (Holy Cheever Church )
Chris Riggs' Holy Cheever Church label continues to get better & better and is becoming one of those essential tape labels out there you don't want to miss anything on.  Case in point, this new one from Sean McCann.  Drifting dronescapes that are as fragile as they are beautiful... McCann's one of the most underrated guys around and considering how great his past few releases are, you know this is one to seek out when I tell you it's arguably the best of all.  And it's a c71 to boot!  Loads of music here.  I haven't taken it all in during one sitting, but it basically works as an epic double album for my ears, and a fucking stellar one at that.


Some quick hits:

Dream Safari's "Buried Mics" on Excitebike  is a total dreambomb. ExBx is on an unbelievable roll lately (honorable mention to Body Collector's "Acidic Maze"). Finally managed to get more Child Bride in the form of "Strange in a Stranger Land" on Heavy Psych . Very solid tape with repetitive tape squelch, blown out electronics and buried-in-mud vocals. She never fails to impress me. Existential Cloth  is a label I'd never heard of until the dude asked me to do a tape (and he did an amazing job on it). Best part of that was that he included a handful of other tapes on the label when he sent my artist copies. All of it is wonderfully packaged, very original. My favorite right now is Pine Smoke Lodge. It has this underlying sinister feeling that I love. Dark drones with plenty of high-pitched terror to go along. Nice (it's apparently available as a free download now. Killer). Another random find was "Brightness Studies" from Quincy Quartz. This one showed up a month or two ago in the PO Box and the simple yet great cover art had me curious from the get go. Great great tape with weird instrumentation and lots of beats... total one-man band style. It's like a weird, experimental music carnival ride that you never wanna get off. Fucken awesome.. self-released  I think? Last but not least, Yellow Crystal Star's "Blood of Seering Earth" on the increasingly great Jugular Forest . Great mix of tape loops and soaring guitars/electronics... best thing I've heard by this band yet.