Bleak Bliss: August 2015

Being - Battery Cages II

We interrupt this steady stream of American Tapes muck for a brief palette cleanser. Here's some stomp box roar from the mean streets of Dayton, Ohio. Being's "Battery Cages II" is the 2nd part of a trilogy, but, much like "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Wrath of Kahn", it holds up well enough on its own. You can figure out what happened to get us to this point. Edition of 50 tapes released by Skeleton Dust in 2007.

Being - Battery Cages II

Wolf Eyes - Strangulation Tank

Looped hypnotic beats and electronic fear that wouldn't sound at all out of place being played out tomorrow at a Blackest Ever Black Berlin night out. Future proofed excellence from Aaron, John and Nate.

Released on American Tapes ‎way back in 2002. It's AM255 btw.

Strangulation Tank

Wolf Eyes - Strangle Rations

You need this. That's it.

CDr released on American Tapes ‎in 2005. It's AM483 btw.

Strangle Rations

Wolf Eyes - Technical Difficulties

Live CDr released on Little Hands in 2000.

Technical Difficulties

Wolf Eyes - Black Rat Floods

Simply extraordinary 3" CDr released on American Tapes ‎in 2002.

It's AM234 btw.

Black Rat Floods

Saturday Night Live - Flooded Low Wayz

First album of raw, but quite lovely, slow-motion improv by the Michigan quintet who would go on to call themselves The Cases and issue several cassettes on Fag Tapes. Clarinet, harmonium, tape loops, creaking chairs and piercing whistles seem to have been used, but it's hard to tell because of the hiss-forward, live-direct-to-boom-box non-fidelity that coats every gesture in a healthy layer of freshly baked mud. Band members include Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner... oh wait, I'm sorry, that's not right. I meant Heath Moerland (Sick Llama, Slither), Mike Connelly (Failing Lights, Clay Rendering, Hair Police, ex-Wolf Eyes), Anthony Miller (Crib Death, Mini-Systems), Candace Williams and Kye Potter. This was released a numbered edition of 25 cassettes by American Tapes in 2005.

Saturday Night Live - Flooded Low Wayz

Wolf Eyes - Scowl

Again these are live captures from gigs in Houston and (the wonderfully named) Kalamazoo in March 2001 ...

CDr released on American Tapes in an edition of 13 in 2001. It's AM181 btw.

Scowl

Wolf Eyes - Snake Transmitters

Live improvised radio broadcast that starts with a 60's psych-rock vibe before turning into synth-suspense via tribal electronics. My youngest cat is always really interested when this one comes out to play. Kato says yes!

CDr released on American Tapes in 2002 in a huge edition of fifty copies. ‎It's AM244 btw.

Snake Transmitters

Wolf Eyes - Music For Valie Export

Aaron, John and Nate captured live in a performance that begins relatively orchestral before bending sinister ...

CDr released on American Tapes in 2001 in an edition of 15. It's AM226 btw.

Music For Valie Export

Wolf Eyes - Untitled

An untitled Wolf Eyes c90 from September 2010, released in an edition of just 12 copies on American Tapes adorned with John Olson's typically brilliant collage art. If you read this blog (and I'm going to guess that you do) you already know that this mystery murk needs to be playing on a constant loop at your home, in your car, and over some sort of public address system at your place of employment.

Wolf Eyes - Untitled

Wolf Eyes - Terror Tanked

Lathe-cut 12" and CDR set of ugly burl by the mighty Wolf Eyes, released in an edition of 30 copies on (where else?) American Tapes in 2004. Because the record has multiple holes and no play speed specified, I included different versions of the rip. The CDR is extremely brief, but I don't suppose that matters.

Wolf Eyes - Terror Tanked

Wolf Eyes - Throats Filled With Concrete

A live performance from Aaron Dilloway, John Olson and Nate Young that conveys threat and swirling murk in equal measure.

Released on American Tapes in 2002 in an edition of 22. It's AM250 btw.

Throats Filled With Concrete

Wolf Eyes - Human Slaughterhouse Demos

This starts off as though it was recorded way down the corridor from the slaughterhouse. It quietly morphs into something recorded in the bowels of the Nostromo. The fact that I find this particularly hallucinatory might tell you more about the poor quality of the drugs that I have taken in my time ... but, I really recommend this one.

Released on American Tapes ‎in 2005. It's AM493 btw.

Human Slaughterhouse Demos

Wolf Eyes - Lost Sockets

Wolf Eyes in found-footage mode.

Whilst also released as a 10" on Blake Edwards' (aka Vertonen's) Crippled Intellect Productions, this is the 3" CDr jointly released on Chondritic Sound and Hanson Records also in 2005.

Lost Sockets

Het Hilaire Brisdak Ensemble - Sound Theft

This starts off with slow motion helicopter blades which chop up HAY by the Butthole Surfers (from Locust Abortion Technician) and gets more twisted from there. Yeah, I know. The Ensemble is the work of Dirk Vercruyssen (and I don't know of anything else that he did).

This great C30 was released on Dutch label Opus Dei Society (probably) in 1987. Opus was a sublabel of Korm Plastics which is run by Frans de Waard ... and now it all makes sense.

Sound Theft

The Haters - Tractor

Classic 1988 LP of GX Jupitter-Larsen/The Haters wreaking joyous havoc in three American cities.

The Haters - Tractor

Kristian Olsson - Cirkeln Bryts

This starts with drone harmoincs before it starts to kick you around the room. CD from 2003 that was self-released by the man who was in the likes of Alfarmania, Blood Ov Thee Christ, Heid and Survival Unit .

Cirkeln Bryts

Kristian Olsson - Laudanum

Certainly not as soporific as the title might lead you to believe ... although the sound of the dank water dripping down the walls might have you reaching for said compund.

3" CDr released on taâlem in 2003.

Laudanum

Kristian Olsson - Att Vara Där Jag Var Innan Jag Var Jag

This takes you one floor down ... closer to the awful reality hidden in the basement. Nobody gets out alive ....

LP released on Nattmaran in 2010.

Att Vara Där Jag Var Innan Jag Var Jag

Kristian Olsson - Såg Vid Såg Jag Såg

C46 of harmonic industrial dungeon drone released on the ever impressive Second Sleep in 2011.

Såg Vid Såg Jag Såg

Ophibre - Cassette/URL

One side is a cut-up and looped voice saying the name of Ophibre's URL, the other a hushed static texture. I'm sure it means something.

Ophibre - Cassette/URL

Odal - Tomato Terrorism/Rotten Weenies Two

High-fidelity nerds, take notice: you're going to want to sit this one out. It's a CDR and 12" flexi-disc set by Dutch scumnoise madman Peter Zincken, known the world over as Odal (and of course also as a member of Bongoleeros and Fckn'Bstrds), which was recorded in 2006 and came out in 2007 on Zincken's own Produck label. The flexi, "Rotten Weenies Part Two" is pressed onto glue. I ripped it as best as I could, but the needle skipped all over despite my best efforts. Because it's pressed onto glue. Still, I think it sounds pretty good. The CDR, "Tomato Terrorism", opens with a charming ditty called "Who the Fuck is John Wiese?", which is actually a fair question. Who the fuck is that guy, anyway?

Odal - Tomato Terrorism/Rotten Weenies Two

DDAA - Live In Acapulco

This is a double C60 released on Illusion Production in 1981.

I could waste your time cracking one off about how great it is ... or you could just download this, listen to it, and then agree with us .... the world is full of choices ... who guessed?

Going loco

down in Acapulco

DDAA - Nouvelles Constructions Sonores Sur Fondations Visuelles

C90 released on the Belgian label Bande Blanche in 1991. It's like the inside of your head when you have too many good ideas all at the same time.

Nouvelles Constructions...

DDAA - Front De L'Est

More French mind expansion, this time from Déficit des Années Antérieures on a double 7" released on their own Illusion Production in 1980.

Front De L'Est

La STPO - La Société Des Timides À La Parade Des Oiseaux

La STPO or La Société des Timides à la Parade des Oiseaux (which apparently translates as "The shy peoples society at the parade of the birds") are a long-standing French collective who are kind of like The Residents if they smiled all the time (maybe they do ... it's hard to tell if an eyeball is smiling).

Anyway, this is the first 7" and first LP released in 1986 and 1990 respectively. We have Beta-lactam Ring Records to thank for taking the 2 track masters and reissuing them as a CD in 2002.

...here I come Constantinople...

Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled

Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to ... shouldn't it be obligatory?

That's a rhetorical question.

Hash Jar Tempo were Clint Takeda, Isobel Sollenberger, Joe Culver, John Gibbons, Michael Gibbons (all in Bardo Pond at the time) and Roy Montgomery (who was also in any number of short-lived collaborations / groups).

Released on Drunken Fish in 1997.

Hash Oil

Hash Jar Tempo - Under Glass

Excellent psychedelic guitar swirl released on Darren Mock's quite perfect Drunken Fish Records in 1999.

Under Glass

Mother Savage - Big Bang Drum Theory

Macronympha & Grae.com team up and bash on some scrap metal for this 1992 cassette album, reissued by Rodger Stella on Mother Savage Noise Productions in 2008. The short songs all seem to be based around percussion sounds, smooshed and smothered in overdriven analog hiss yuck.

Mother Savage - Big Bang Drum Theory

va - Radio Art Internacional 1

This cassette collects radio art by some people you've heard of (notably Psychic Rally, aka Schimpfluch's Rudolf Eb.er and Joke Lanz) and many you haven't.

va - Radio Art Internacional 1

Omit - Deteriorations

Clinton Williams is one of those rare humans that make us just sit down slack-jawed feeling stunned and unworthy. If you've been here for a while then you already know that we love him to bits. Amidst rumours of this CDr deteriorating over time (pun intended) this had always evaded us, with only fragments turning up every now and again. And then, completely out of the blue, somebody emailed to ask whether we were still looking for this. One of those moments where you just keep staring at the screen thinking that you'll wake up soon and it was all a Bobby Ewing. Well, it certainly wasn't ...

On this missing piece of the jigsaw, Clinton gathered material from Bruce Russell (who he recorded with as Dust/Omit), Paul Toohey (who he recorded with as Omit/K Group), Tim Cornelius (of Sandoz Lab Technicians), Donald Smith (of Surface Of The Earth), John Kennedy (aka Slow Learner) and Dylan Sherwood. Then he turned them into something else entirely ...

Released on Sysecular in 2003.

Deteriorations

Bernard C. & Prince Emile De Ly De Magneville ‎ - Les Chants Révolutionnaires/Les Jardins D'Espagne

A split cassette recorded in 1982, released a year later on Illusion Productions, by two theatrical French weirdos from within the DDAA orbit. Bernard C's side features his lopsided song-like wanderings, some of which make half-hearted nods toward melody and others (or, some within a single track) lose whatever form they started out with and disintegrate into little fragments of filthy iron dust. Cough! Prince Emile, in his/their (?) only recorded appearance, sound like a classical chamber group that fell into a tree chipper then got out the other side and attempted to play viola with the remnants of their shredded stumps. There is a big what-the-heck-is-this-supposed-to-be factor to this tape, so if you think squinting your eyes and glancing around nervously is fun, then prepare for some entertainment. Everybody else, just wait a minute. Your bus will arrive shortly.

Bernard C. & Prince Emile De Ly De Magneville ‎ - Les Chants Révolutionnaires/Les Jardins D'Espagne

John Olson - Inzane State Journal #1

No. We really love John Olson. His deeds are legion and his word is law. CDr released on American Tapes last year in an edition of 25.

There's no catalogue number btw.

Inzane State Journal #1

John Olson - Inzane State Journal #2

We love John Olson! CDr released on American Tapes last year in an edition of 25.

There's no catalogue number btw.

Inzane State Journal #2

John Olson - Inzane State Journal #3

More missives from the man himself. CDr released on American Tapes last year in an edition of 25.

There's no catalogue number btw.

Inzane State Journal #3

John Olson - Inzane State Journal #4

Electronics as only he can do it ... literal fun. CDr released on American Tapes last year in an edition of 25.

There's no catalogue number btw.

Inzane State Journal #4

Incapacitants - Pariah Tapes

In the early Eighties, Toshiji Mikawa started the Pariah Tapes label in order to release the first Incapacitants material.

This boxset comprises the first three releases: the 90 minute Eternal Paralysis tape, the Peony Crackers C60 and the Project Pallo '85 triple tape set ... the first two were never even for sale!

This time around we have to thank Mikko Aspa for resurrecting things that we would never have otherwise heard. He released this five CD boxset on his Freak Animal Records back in 2006.

One

Two

Three

Four

and Five

Incapacitants - 箱愚か Box Is Stupid

In 2009, Lasse Marhaug bestowed a great gift upon the world by re-releasing this set of early tapes (all taken from the original DAT masters) on his own Pica Disk as a ten CD set. Suddenly, it was possible to hear Fumio Kosakai and Toshiji Mikawa in all of their unfettered glory. You should have all heard this by now ... but, just in case ...

"In short, for me it’s the ultimate rock n roll." - Fumio Kosakai

01 Stupid Is Stupid [Studio Materials]

02 Stupid Is Stupid [Live Materials]

03 Extreme Gospel Nights

04 Ad Nauseam [Edition Mikawa]

05 Ad Nauseam [Edition Kosakai]

06 Ad Nauseam [Edition Live]

07 D.D.D.D. (Destroy Devastating And Disgusting Derivatives)

08 The Tongue

09 Cosmic Incapacitants

10 I, Residuum

Various - C99

Three C33 tapes featuring Koji Tano's MSBR, UK drone impresario Brian Lavelle, Kenny Sanderson's Facialmess, Radboud Mens' Hyware project, Fin (Geoff Brandin and Andrew Banales) and the Stoke collective of Dogliveroil with the spectacularly titled "All I Want For Christmas Is A Free Noise Unit".

Released on Phil Todd's Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers in 1998 as part of the Are You Sane Enough To Drive? series.

Quick update: I've just been sent scans of the set for your delectation.

MSBR / Brian Lavelle

Facialmess / Hyware

Fin / Dogliveroil

Flower-Corsano Duo - Syracuse Live

Two of my favourite people in the whole wide world. Recorded live in 2009 and self-released as a tour CDr in 2014.

Syracuse Live

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