Bleak Bliss: December 2014

Demdike Stare & Raime - 4th December 2014

Well, there goes 2014! Personally speaking I won't remember it fondly unless I suddenly gain affection for tidal waves of shit. Anyway, from tomorrow everything will be marvelous (and I'll make damn sure it is).

This will be my soundtrack to exorcise the demons as the bright new dawn approaches. To be honest, I can't think of a better way to see the year out! This was a live broadcast from a few weeks ago by the astonishing Demdike Stare (Sean Canty and Miles Whittaker, who incidentally are from my neck of the woods ish) and the equally astonishing Raime (Londoners Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead) and it is breathtaking in it's scope. All are hooked into the Blackest Ever Black collective and you really should check it all out.

This comes courtesy of the online radio station NTS who I will be spending a lot of 2015 with. You should really check them out ... especially for the NINE hour John Peel sessions tribute that was broadcast on the 10th anniversary of the great man's death.

Anyway ... fuck 2014! The future is always more interesting than the past. Thanks for bothering to stop by here and a massive thanks for the people who comment, get in touch personally, share with us all and contribute in all kinds of ways. Here's to a brighter future.

by the way ... don't try too hard next year because it already belongs to Erin ...

Demdike Stare & Raime - 4th December 2014 by Nts Radio on Mixcloud

Rudolf Eb.er / Dave Phillips ‎- Live Aktions 980214 / 980222 +

Schimpfluch-Gruppe with a twist on this C30 featuring two Live Aktions from Rudolf Eb.er on the A Side. The reverse is a collaboration between Rudolf Eb.er and Dave Phillips with Maso Yamazaki (aka Masonna) along for the ride!

Extremely rare tape released in Japan on Schimpfluch's sister label Chi.Pflug in 1998. I think that there were only four releases on the label (this is the second) and is the only one that I have. If anybody has any of the others, god above we would love to hear them! The fourth is Rudolf Eb.er, Dave Phillips, Masonna and Hanatarash! I weep nightly that I have never heard it ...

Live Aktions 980214 / 980222 +

Birchville Cat Motel & Eso Steel - Split

A 1998 cassette on the Freedom From label by two legendary New Zealand explorers. Birchvile Cat Motel's tracks were reissued on one of his "Chaos Steel Skeletons" 2xCDR compilations, which are now quite scarce. Eso Steel's remarkable rumbles, however, remain exclusive to this tape and are, like everything else he's done, necessary listening for anyone attuned to this particular frequency.

Birchville Cat Motel & Eso Steel - Split

Ajilvsga - Skull Bundle

Well, that's christmas done with for another year ... ho ho ho and indeed hum.

This is a collection of 10 tapes that were released on Digitalis Limited in an edition of 45 in 2009. The tapes range from C20 to C90 and mostly feature splits by Ajilvsga (Brad Rose & Nathan Young) with a wide range of people ... Pete Swanson, The Unholy Warlock, Uton (Jani Hirvonen), CJA (Clayton Noone), Super Minerals (William Giacchi and Phil French), Taiga Remains (Alex Cobb), The North Sea, Hairmaiden Of The Totem Robe (Jeffry Astin and Royallen), Andrew Coltrane and Sean McCann. The final tape is a split between Nathan Young's Alms and Brad Rose's The North Sea. Eight of the tapes were subsequently released in editions of 20. The final tape and the CJA split only ever appeared in this great collection.

Before Anonymous tries to leave a comment to say the uploads are corrupted...these are five zip files that need to be extracted together...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Rick Passages‎ - Untitled

This is a C36 released by Rick Passages‎ on Rat Salad Buffet in 2008. Yeah, I know. Who? What? Well, there is somebody out there that makes my knowledge of American Tapes look frankly peripheral. He is Simon David-Thomas Wilson and if you are in any doubt, he even has an Amtapes boxset with his name on it in an edition of 1 !

Anyway, a conversation that began in a fairly random way led me to this! It's a tape by John Olson that was "released" in tiny quantities. Well, really, it was never released. It was given to a few friends and sent out anonymously to some noise labels. It was never officially for sale. If it hadn't been for that chance conversation (and Simon's encyclopaedic knowledge) this would have passed me by completely!

In the spirit of the gift that keeps on giving: Simon also records as The Blue Spectrum and releases on his Blue Spectrum Tapes label. The latter link offers up label releases for free download by the likes of the man himself, Knox Mitchell / Lidless Eye, Mike Ridge's Zebra Mu, Carl Kruger, Justin Marc Lloyd and Vitaly Maklakov's brilliant Light Collapse.

Untitled

Dead Can Dance - Dark Christ-Mas

Dead Can Dance are one of the most astonishing outfits to walk this earth. Fact. Live they are even better! I was lucky enough to see them on The Serpent's Egg tour in 1988. I remember every single second of that day (or maybe because I am an old fart, I just confabulate these days). The trio of Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun, The Serpent's Egg and Aion are timeless classics.

This is a live bootleg recorded at the Koninklijk Circus in Brussels on the 1st of October 1993.

I'm Dreaming Of A Dark Christ-Mas

K-Salvatore - Untitled

This is a spectacular release from Planam in 2013. Three 8" lathes with individual covers in a lovely silk screened box would normally be enough. But you also get previously unreleased material from K Salvatore. They are, of course, No-Neck Blues Band members Jason Meagher and Pat Murano (aka Decimus).

Merry Christmas from me and the Mrs!

Deck The Halls With Blood And Vomit ... Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

DA AD - Recycled Tape #2

Rumble your way into your yuletide festivities with Alex Pearson on this C30 released on his Snapped In Half label in 2007.

"Happy Fucking Holidays From DA AD."

Recycled Tape #2

D/A A/D‎ - Catholic Bed Death

D/A A/D is the extremely entertaining noisewerk of Alex Pearson who also runs Snapped In Half. I was going to post the Dawn Rising tape released on David Payne's Middle James Co label until I realised that he beat me to it.

CDr released on DumpsterScore in 2009.

Catholic Bed Death

Ivor Cutler ‎- Dandruff

Welcome to the magically surreal world of Ivor Cutler. As with many of the best things in my life, it was thanks to the many sessions recorded for John Peel that I heard this great Glaswegian. If you have never heard the words and work of Ivor, there is nothing that I can say that will prepare you for the worldview that will unfold before you! This was originally released as an LP in 1974 and is simply one of my favourite things...

As an aside, I like my fridges to look like fridges. I have made one concession to the world of fridge magnets. It is a picture of Ivor and a quote of his: "True Happiness Is Knowing You're A Hypocrite". Each morning as I reach for the milk for my first coffee of the day, Ivor reminds me how truly happy I am!

Dandruff

Pete Fosco ‎- Petals To The Sun

This is a CDr released on Reverb Worship in 2008 and is my favourite of his releases. The first track "Feedbacker Jam I" is spectacular!

I was going to post Autumn Fire Blues and Dust, American Dust until I realised that Pete has them up on Bandcamp. Go and check them out.

Petals To The Sun

Pete Fosco ‎- Crescent Avenue

It's almost impossible to know whether Pete has a structure in mind before he starts or he just plugs in his guitar and pedals and goes where it takes him. When you are as good as Pete Fosco, it really doesn't matter.

CDr released on Dead Pilot Records in 2009.

Crescent Avenue

Vomir ‎- No Content

It's Romain Perrot on four C60s on the 50th release from Phage Tapes. It appeared in 2009 in an edition of 50.

What else could you possibly need to know?

Tape One
Tape Two
Tape Three
Tape Four

Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck - Idiot.loch

Album made to sell on a European tour in 2004, released in three editions with different covers. Released on the artist's own Hate Operation(tm) label as a CDR.

Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck - Idiot.loch

Dead Machines - Plays Tales From The Darkside

This is the last of the Plays film series that I can post at the moment. It's a CDr released on American Tapes in 2006 in an edition of 30. What can I say...it's Dead Machines...it's really great...go figure!

It's AM508 btw.

Plays Tales From The Darkside

Dead Machines - Plays Vampyr

This is a CDr released on American Tapes in 2006. It was only available on a tour during that year and there were only eight copies made. 28 minutes of solid gold ...

It's AM603 btw.

Plays Vampyr

Dead Machines - Plays Kwaidan

Originally released as a damn fine 7" single on Ideal Recordings in 2007. John re-released this with a CDr of additional material on American Tapes in 2009.

It's AM736 btw.

Plays Kwaidan

Dead Machines - Plays Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Single-sided LP released on Arbor in 2009. John and Tovah Olson manage to capture the alien intent of the protagonists before ending in a great locked groove that has been allowed to run for a couple of minutes before ending rather abruptly.

Plays Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Giancarlo Toniutti - The Early Tapes Period

Three LP and bonus 10" box-set that brings together the Wechselwirkung, Metánárkōsis and Das Todesantlitz tapes from 1982 and 1983. Released on Vinyl-on-demand in 2009.

Purely for my own convenience, I've uploaded these in two parts. You'll need to extract them to the same folder for it to work.

Part 1

Part 2

John Hudak ‎- Don't Worry About Anything, I'll Talk To You Tomorrow

This is the original release which spawned the extra material that grew into the compilation posted below. At 55 minutes long, this is something that you can completely sink into.

This was the first release on Kevin Wienke's Alluvial Recordings in 1998.

John Hudak - Don't Worry About Anything, I'll Talk to You Tomorrow

John Hudak - Helene Marie: Reinterpretations

I'm better off leaving this to the label's original press release:

"When John Hudak recorded the "Don't Worry About Anything; I'll Talk To You Tomorrow" compact disk for Alluvial in early 1998, through a series of events, we ended up in possession of an extra piece. We had always intended to release it in some format but remained unsure how to use it. We approached John with the idea of presenting the piece to other composers, many of whom we had in mind prior to raising the idea with John. Upon receiving John's OK, we set about sending it to the composers we chose and a couple of John's choosing. The project ended up taking a lot longer than anticipated. It was well worth the wait. The original track, the source material, is the first track heard. This is followed by Jason Lescalleet. Jason created a shifting, moving tapestry of sounds with beautiful ebb and flow. Marc Behrens uses his signature, understated approach to create a piece full of layers with focus on the nuances of tiny sounds. Sukora's contribution uses small sounds that are almost imperceptible with periods of near silence. Peter Duimelinks explores the extremes of the original by focusing on the highest frequencies and lowest, bassy rumbles. These are blended with a gentle rhythmic pulse that is easier felt than heard. John himself created yet another rich soundscape that is hard to imagine having been coaxed from the original. Francisco López approaches his track with a violent furor that culminates with stark silence. Eric Lanzillotta pays homage to an earlier phase of John's work from his days using the analogue tape. His piece rumbles steadily along and crushes the original beyond recognition. Frans de Waard presents a piece varied with buzzes and whirling sounds compacted into so many layers. The final statement is from Leif Elggren. It sounds as though he ran the original backwards in layers. It is accented with loud, piercing blasts of static interference. The variety over the two compact disks is exactly what one would hope for from a project of this scope. It is varied, confrontational and cohesive. This is a beautiful statement that compliments what John does best - single-minded, gentle soundscapes that are deeply personal and peaceful. John's compositions set a calm, serene mood for the listener. Fans of his style will not be disappointed."

Great double CD set released on Alluvial Recordings in 2002.

disc 1
disc 2

Climax Denial / Discordance / Human Larvae / Moribund / Sewer Goddess / Sharpwaist

In 2010, Phage Tapes released this collection of six C10s as their 100th release. Very fitting. Very Good. Indeed.

And buy from the label on discogs!

Phage 100

Various - Det Totala Raggarkriget

Sweden's finest on a C70 jointly released by Chefsideologens Bolag ‎and Raggartapes. I can't tell you anything about the labels. The A Side is Alfarmania, Broken Lights, Händer Som Vårdar and Treriksröset. The B Side is uncredited. It sounds like something Tommy Carlsson might do ... anyway, I don't know ... let's make it up and start a rumour!

Det Totala Raggarkriget

Various ‎- Slutstationen

This is a C90 released on Styggelse this year. That should be enough for you to know that you need this. If you need more convincing: Puce Mary, Alfarmania, Händer Som Vårda, Shift, Arv & Miljö and Treriksröset are only a few of the people here. If that isn't enough, apologise in the comments and jog on!

Slutstationen

va - Epidemic

Double-cassette compilation of oppressive death-industrial noise and grimy power electronics. It was released in 2004 on Truculent Recordings, the 00's label run by Jeff Plummer / Immaculate:Grotesque.

tape 1
tape 2

Dr. G & Jean Street - Live In Detroit

Dr. Gretchen Musical Weightlifting Program were Gretchen Gonzales and John Olson and are duly presented alongside Nate Young. Given to the world on CDr by American Tapes (well, given to 35 people) in 2000.

It's AM COLLAB 17 btw.

Live In Detroit

Dr. GMWP - Lies By Night

Dr. Gretchen Musical Weightlifting Program on a CDr released on American Tapes in an edition of 12 in the year of our lord two thousand and one.

It's AM176 btw.

Lies By Night

Spykes - The Water Gallows

Solo awkwardness by John Olson, again flexing his negative-space muscles with jagged tones and defiantly unresolved non-structures. This is free improvisation at its most truly free, genuinely unstable and likely to move in any direction moment-to-moment. That quality sets Spykes (and most everything that Olson plays on) miles apart from all those well-funded and palatable improv festival circuit whores who "improvise" but take care that their freedom is predictable enough to get them invited back to the next relatively-lucrative gig. John Olson's improv doesn't try to be likable or even conventionally satisfying. It's a good thing he's a prolific as he is, because no one else makes music like this. A numbered edition of 30 copies on American Tapes from 2005.

Spykes - The Water Gallows

Graveyards - Grave Tour/Live Frying at Hell's 4/29/09

A home rehearsal improvisation by John Olson, Ben Hall, and Hans Beutow, released in a typically small edition on American Tapes in 2009.

Graveyards - Grave Tour/Live Frying at Hell's 4/29/09

Graveyards - Live Afternoons Inside @ The Histories of Your Choice

Painted and collaged box containing two CDRs and a cassette with posters and wadded up newspaper (I scanned the posters, not the newspaper). Numbered edition of 30 copies from 2009, catalog # AM838 for all you collector nerds.

Graveyards - Duo

Ben Hall and John Olson on a C16 released on American Tapes in 2000 in an edition of eighteen.

It's AM128 btw.

Duo

The Fountain Of Youth - Plays The East Lansing Folk Festival

C30 released on American Tapes in 2003 in an edition of 15. The Fountain Of Youth is (inevitably) the work of the lovely John Olson.

It's AM298 btw.

Plays The East Lansing Folk Festival

Solvent People - Third

It may come as no surprise that this is the third Solvent People release. It's John Olson on 22 minutes of tape and it was sent forth on American Tapes in 2005 and there were only five copies of this made.

It's AM386 btw.

Third

The Rita / Goat - HNRA

These are two tapes that come in at roughly 48 minutes a piece. Sam abstains from his usual muse to join Goat in a dragster / car engine themed harsh noise fest.

Released on Andy O'Sullivan's (aka Goat's) Philosophy Shop in 2010.

HNRA

The Rita - Womankind

C20 released on Andrew Nolan's Survivalist in 2010.

Womankind

The Rita - The Rack

The unmistakable sound of Sam McKinlay. Released on Handmade Birds in 2011.

The Rack

Black Tent - Ascent of the Protists

Limited CDR on Muet Organization that reissues two earlier Black Tent releases, a tape called "Pardon Me, But Your Teeth are in My Neck" and a CDR called "Chihuahua Style". It came out in 2003, right on the precipice of The Year Noise Broke and almost everyone who had been playing for years in previously-empty basements in Hamtramck found themselves profiled in The Wire by a breathless David Keenan, headlining No Fun Fest, collaborating with Thurston Moore, and had Henry Rollins driving up the prices of their crappy cassettes on eBay. Why anyone clamored for more indistinct mud by Sick Llama and not Black Tent's spindly electronic shitstorm is beyond me.

Black Tent - Ascent of the Protists

Black Tent - III

Self-released CDR from one of the more obscure artists of pre-Wolf Eyes Michigan junk electronics.

Black Tent - III

Black Tent & Cotton Museum - Untitled

Collaborative CDR of harsh noise from Detroit, Michigan.

Black Tent & Cotton Museum - Untitled

Cotton Museum ‎- Crippled Sloth

Ten inches of solid Michigan noise released on Scratch And Sniff Entertainment in 2004.

Crippled Sloth

Thurston Moore / Cotton Museum - Split

Newly born noise kid Thurston Moore and Chris Pottinger sharing the spoils on an LP released on Chris' Tasty Soil in 2007.

Thurston Moore / Cotton Museum

Cotton Museum ‎- Merkin's Revenge

C30 released on David Payne's Middle James Co in 2010 in an edition of 33.

Merkin's Revenge

The Beast People - The Beast People

Another C10 released on Aaron Dilloway's Hanson Records in 1997 which also has a great bandcamp page.

The Beast People

The Beast People - The Birthing

C10 released on Hanson Records in 1997. The Beast People were Aaron Dilloway, Andrew W.K., James Twig Harper and Nate Young but probably not always all of them at the same time.

The Birthing

Jean Street - Pure Jeanious

This is a C10 that actually only runs to a total of 7 minutes and 9 seconds featuring an understated Nate Young. Released on Hanson Records in 1999 in an edition of 30 copies.

Pure Jeanious

Neon Noodle - Come Quick, Please Help Us, We Cannot Kill the Tabanga

Weird (even for these guys) tape of sparse (or should I say "minimal"?) synth tunes by an alter ego of Smersh. Mostly instrumental and more synthesizer-based than Smersh, Neon Noodle music favors brutish basement bleep over Smersh's overdriven guitars-and-machines "rock". This addled disco is slathered with a generous portion of Tascam 4-track tape hiss, which I did not try very hard to EQ out. The hiss is part of the charm (if, in fact, you find this sort of thing charming). Neon Noodle has some real macho industrial song titles too, like "Summer Sunsets are the Best" (they really are!), "Brenda's Real Arty" (she sure is!), and the sort-of-onomopoeic "Plastic Box Wobble Wobble". I'm not sure if that creature on the cover is supposed to be a Tabanga or a Boston Terrier, but in either case I doubt anyone would want to help kill him. He looks cuddly, doesn't he? This tape came out on the band's Atlas King label in 1985.

Neon Noodle - Come Quick, Please Help Us, We Cannot Kill the Tabanga

Smersh - Chronology 122

This tape imperfectly attempts to address a problem that I don't think anybody actually needed solved. According to the text on the cover, "This tape contains pieces from over 100 Smersh songs. This has been done to placate the bastards who find Smersh songs overly long and uncreative." Had enough people actually complained about the length of Smersh songs to merit making a whole album to "placate" them? Smersh songs tended to be usual pop-song length, three to five minutes each. They didn't do side-long jams. Whoever thought they were too long probably just didn't like them at all. And why are they "bastards"? That's a lot of emotion to level at probably-non-existant people. But let's assume that throngs of angry cassette listeners wrote hate mail to Smersh's suburban Piscataway NJ address in 1985 to complain, "Your songs are just too long!". Why would those people be placated by a collage made out of a few seconds each of 100 Smersh songs? And if those people found Smersh songs uncreative, then why would they like this tape any more than previous ones? Maybe I don't get it. Or maybe I do get it, and it simply makes no sense. Whatever the case, "Chronology 122" does exactly what it says on the tin: a few seconds of a Smersh song are cut roughly into another few seconds of a different Smersh song and so on for two 26-minute collages. No attempt was made to make the cuts sound smooth, or mesh together in any way. Listening to it is a weird experience. It's wholly, objectively unsatisfying by design, and so a perfect encapsulation of the freedom embraced by the no-genre no-audience cassette-culture non-scene of the 1980s. Artists and non-artists were free to dive headfirst directly to the bottom of their own nonsensical sonic impulse, which they energetically did. Released on Atlas King in 1986.

Smersh - Chronology 122

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