Wolf Eyes - Early Vol. 1

The strange crew of restless Michigan punks who made up the Hanson Records and American Tapes "scene" was always cavalier with band names. John Olson has used at least two dozen aliases for albums made by him alone. Universal Indians, Basket Case, Nautical Almanac, and Waves had loose and inconsistent memberships. And who were Beast People? Does it matter?

Wolf Eyes, the highest profile name to emerge from this midwestern cauldron of drugs and skateboards, is not the band today that it was when it began, and it's been several different bands in between. On this cassette, released by Hanson in 2001, Wolf Eyes was the solo alias of Nathan Young, presenting one long track of distractedly low-level electro-doodles mixed with what seems to be a steady layer of howling dogs. Or, I suppose, wolves. This was the first ever recording attributed to Wolf Eyes, and is quite far from everything they would go on to do in the subsequent 15 years: the synth no-wave of their Bulb album, the slow thud of "Burned Mind", scorched free jazz/improv skronk, no-fidelity noise, and the near-rock of their most recent incarnation. Side two sees Aaron Dilloway "remix" Young's original track, blurring the animal howls and bringing the already tensionless hum dangerously close to comatose.

Wolf Eyes - Early Vol. 1