Hangedman Vol. 1 cs comp.

Ever wonder where Seattle's noise-friendly mystics and granola-eating folk-doom vegan hockey-mask artists are at? Well, there'r all right here on the HangedMan Vol. 1 cs comp. J-card is screened and even appears to be embossed. 2 sets of liner notes indicate artist and track titles.

MegaBats - "Lawbreaker" kicks off the comp with a gleaming track of murky ambient synthesized bliss. Richard D. James couldn't have done it better himself.

Kristian Garrard - "Iced Axe IV" earthy machines, throbbing hearts, streams of consciousness. Ethereal harmony puts zen in motion.

Karnak Templers - "Spiral Chasm" ritual string worship mournful of thyself.

Josh Medina - "Scotch Broom" guitar-vocal-folkl, conceived by firelight in the absence of moon beams.

Them, There - "Ghostwood" blending cello, wind, and bleak guitar to formulate an exquisite aesthetic.

Side B

Demian Johnston - "And Then it Drags Across the Bottom" is Demian's most successful attempt at sounding like Blue Sabbath Black Cheer to date. Well played.

Inh Halentropy - "Arp Grey Magic 2600" lo-fi beat machines and spooky thermionic leads pre-dates dub-step.

Thunder Grey Pilgrim - "Iaospel" láðspel  actually. Classical black metal picking and strumming with disgusting vocal oddness.

Nightjar - "Bottom Road" even more crusty black metal guitar.

Sokai Stilhed - "City of Love" an enjoyable gem weaving together of backwards flute and loop manipulated vocal frolics. Fun stuff.

marcel duchamp at jennie richie c15 - ReadyMades Tapes

Side A - The Creative Act - a 1957 spoken word recording of Marcel Duchamp waxing rhetorical about art. The conception, execution, perception, critical interpretation, and prostration of art is brought into question with a hypnotic monologue. If verbose artistic philosophy is yer thing, then you probly already have a poster of the Mona Lisa with a mustache on your wall, and you already know about Marcel's contributions to the Surrealist and Dadaist movements of the early 1900's. If not then you better get digging and start doing your homework.

Side B - The Man Who Suffers - a live recording at jennie richie from Sevilla Spain in 2002. Rumble hum and grinding terror haunt the children in B ward. No one can escape.

ArsenLives c20

Seattle & Oakland based artist Arsen Gogeshvili is known for his work with bands OK Thanks and Honey.Moon.Tree., but is perhaps more well know by his glitch bending elecxtronica solo moniker, ArsenLives. There is nothing indicating anything as far as J-card liner notes here, just two electro-microscopic images, pretty enough to display on oh, ahem lets say, a 7" record jacket? hmmm?
This isn't a noise tape, it's more like a polished up ambientempo/chill/trip-step tape. Programmed beats and dub-steppin bass synths eloquently arranged to deliver a very pro sounding electronica EP. ArsenLives may be ready to transcend the realm of DIY to embark up the tree's of WARP Records and the likes. Move over Crystal Castles, Arsen Lives!!!

Bite Itself / Self Com - split c20 out on Casual Men

images of release courtesy of terminalescape blogspot

Both of these dudes are casual members of supergroup PigHeartTransplant, so it goes without saying that these tracks aren't going to disappoint. Quality pro-dubbed black cassettes, minimalist artwork with slick black multifold j card.
BITE ITSELF - Hotel Abyss, a side long track comes off as one mans moral struggle with the duality of human nature. I could easily see this originating from a peyote induced, paranoid psychotic delusion of Good vs. Evil, playing itself out in an abandoned hotel in small town new mexico. Surrounded by distorted rattle snakes, a deranged lunatic blathers about heaven's angles. Tormented creeks whirl and wisp by whipping blades sharpening themselves. Individually, the abrasive drones heard here would actually be quite palatable and soothing to my ears, but this cocktail of harsh blasts of concentrated feedbacks, thunderous pulsing, and awkward mutterings have a rather tensing affect. Suspense and discomfort draw me in with a familiar, somehow welcoming feeling. Like getting a letter from your dead grandmother saying how much she's looking forward to your death cause she just can't hang out with you in the afterlife.
SELF COM - Status Report, analog synth drones emulate the sounds scientists must be hearing when they "tune in" to specific stars in outer-space with their phono-telescopic instrumentation and listen to the audible signatures radiating throughout the celestial galaxies. - Dead Space is a simple four note progression repeated with a light layer of high-pitched squeal and droning lyrics about a spaceman coming or something. As cheesy as that may read, its actually a pretty catchy little tune. - I'm a man is sort of throwback to the Status Report track. Over-driven synth drones or maybe a recording of a turbine engine played backwards like Hypnotoad. I don't quite understand any of the lyrics on this track, but near as I can tell, Self Com is opening up cosmic portals to communicate these chants in the ancient tongues of his reptilian overlord.  

Ritual Stance - "second skin" - CDr on Void Seance

my copy is # 2/12 and came w/same photo as pictured

This is my first Ritual Stance experience, and I liked it. The cdr has a picture of a DOD Thrash Master on it, and somehow it kinda makes me wish I had a DOD FX59 Thrash Master. A photo of a fairly minimal rig compliments the 50 minute track of cracklin' HWN that'll cure your cravings for a heavy dose of good ol' fashion blistering hot wall noise. Subsonic rumbling underneath a blanket of crackling ant colonies. Very pure. Intense. It's the best Harsh Noise Wall or Harsh Wall Noise I've heard since the last time I listened  to Slates New Bug Nation Vol 1.  

Hemingway / Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death - "split" on Dead Accents

Hemingway Side - Right out the gate, Hemingway gots a nicely composed, symmetrical little ditty. a music-box melody, so innocent and true, softening you up for what Hemingway do. They jam on the right, they slam in the left. Screeching and wailing, til we all got deft. They strum and they scream, they pound it in pride. They twiddle and sing, I laughed and I cried. These are just classic H/way cuts. heavy guitar/bass jams coupled with a bunch of loop frenzies and shane going on adrenaline freak-out and microphone-eating spazz attacks. plus you got some weirder, polished studio edits quite different from the chaos they play live.

Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death Side - Some pretty stark tunes for a band with such a long-ass name. dismal oddities of meandering loops of guitar/drums/other. Nullified lounge music for the mentally unstable, or perhaps the soundtrack to your unfruitful pathetic loser life of futile endeavors and unfulfilled dreams. It took a few listenings' just to begin to appreciate the  bleak revelations of despair communicated on this tape.  My affection grows more and more each time I listen, that is, until the vocals in the last track kick in front and center. Dude sounds like some washed up, burnout, Jello Biafra wannabe. It kinda sounds like this guy may have been someone back in the day; and these guys must just suffer from some dick worship of their idols from yesteryear and invited his hasbeenness to belt out on the track. minus the vocals and this tape would be tits.

Demian Johnston - "rhey of guernica" on Dead Accents

Demian's screen printed cover is this iconic drawing of a skull with a dripping jaw, crucified on an upside-down anarchy symbol. There are T-shirts sporting this logo on them somewhere out there as well. bad ass.

A1 - some sorceristic sludge, slow like molasses, and o))) so heavy. aggravated vocal rasps set against mammoth  low-end riffage of grueling feedback. a faint and simple drum beat turns it into an anthem of wide open Doom.

A2 - melodic guitar-picking loop builds layers and drones to create a gentle breeze rustling through a delicate wind chime effect. slowly over time, more and more tender guitar creaking woes are introduced to the ever so softly repeating wall of loops. The collage builds up steam, feeding off of errand pick-up disturbances and interrupted fret damage. It's a real sleepy jam and the tracks' dub'd kinda low, so have it cranked or you just might miss it all.

B1 - Ominous swellings of progressive power-chord dronage drive into deeper and darker waters. That wind-chimey guitar loop eventually works its way back into the mix and its like dejavu, nostalgically evoking  flashbacks of your old haunts on side A. Heavy.

B2 - When you get your hands on a copy of this tape, just ffw to the middle and flip it to side B for immediate satisfaction. Joined by Andrew Crawshaw on drums, DJ pulls out a most righteous offering of slow death. This track is your master, you are the willing slave begging for a long stint of slow, steady beating. And just when it it's starting to climax; the tape's over. Awe fuck! Easily my favorite Demian Johnston hit ever. gimmie more. more more more more more more more of this.  

The Insect Explosion - difficulty without direction - on Dead Accents

The Insect Explosion is rad. Digitally slowed at times to give the drums just the right amount of that glitched out echoverb sound. Dank, distorted cavernous bass grooves crush overdriven drum-machine loops. build ups to sludgy breakdowns give way to drone layers that create an interesting, perhaps epic industrial doomspazz album. White c97, light-defusing J-fold, same 10 tracks on each side. For Fans of The Melvins and Phantomsmasher.

Demian Johnston "fallen timbers" c51 out on Dead Accents

Dead Accents have output a steady stream of highly coveted low-run releases over the past few years, but I've taken a real shine to this one. The labels co-founder, Demian Johsnston picks up his guitar and does no wrong. With no guitar picking wankery or noodle-neck fretting, Fallen Timbers is a nice long sprawling drone induced by long-term exposure to the cold and grey Seattle winters. His guitar gently weeps mournful shoegaze sorrows of pure Black Doom. The track was recorded live by label mate Andrew C in front of a live audience, but you wouldn't know it if it weren't fer the applause at the end. Timbers Fallen is much shorter, and credited as being made up of live sound clips. It pretty much sounds like the same stuff, like maybe it was made of of a few clips of the practice jams before the show. It's a cleaner & crisper recording that finds its way into a slightly heavier reign. Got to be the most exemplery Demian Johnston recording out there if you ask me. Program repeats on the B-side. Only 23 exist and they rule.

Megabats "introvertical" cs out on Dead Accents

Seattle's Nintendo DS jocky duo Megabats offer up two slabs Bliss Drone Wall on a nicely pro-dubbed orange cassette tape. I'm not sure which side is which anymore but they both sound fairly similar. A long, soft, wavery mid-tone on top of a much softer, lower bass pad send you falling into your subconscious to unlock forgotten memories. Chasing old shapeless ghosts on a hazy astral plane, you awaken from your trance only to flip the tape and immediately slip back into your special place. Dead Accents is down to the last few out of 50 of these so get in where you fit in.

Corpse Candle - Swamp Curse C40 on Phage Tapes

You can always trust Phage Tapes as a source for quality cassettes that contain hi-fidelity dubs of top-shelf noise, and Corpse Candle delivers the goods on this c40. All of the exceptionally killer harshnoise[wall] projects seem to have the word "Corpse" in their monikers these days. Having never heard of this project, I figured it'd sound like some crusty garbled drones wept into microphones by candle-light. Side A is full of steady but not stagnant walls, deep rumbles of rhythmical churning crusted with sweeping garble drones. So my assumptions were pretty close eh? I can totally picture some creepy old dude out in the woods, late at night, with his DeathMetal<filterqueen<contactmic<woodchipper set-up just going to town. Side B sounds like dude drove his Harley into a gymnasium, shut the doors, and piped it through his rig, adding some layers of low drone and saturated phono-static wall. This side gets hazy after a bit, perhaps they should open a window and let some of the exhaust and gas fumes out; just don't shut-off that Harley, man. Be careful, this recording is hot & potentially engineered to sound especially proper on premium speakers. Artwork is screened with metallic-flake paint. Killer. 

BT.HN & SISTRENATUS – EXPOSING THE RIBCAGE CDR on Existence Establishment

Killer frequencies transmitted via this trio of esteemed Canadian noise dudes. This CDr is like an HR Giger painting come to life. A behemothic war machine, pensively devouring chaos and expelling highly pressurized pestilence, effectively bringing eternal darkness and planting its seed of brooding decay for eons to come. 1 track, over an hour of deeply darkened bass tones and sparse crackling static sprinkled with just the right amount of delay. A cosmic churning of spaced-out sci-fi synth oscillations intersperse with solemn walls of atmospheric industrial bleakness. The ever flowing transitions, both  ridged and subtle, give this album an engaging yet, horrifically pacifying quality. Go pick yers up at Existence Establishment right now!

Mannequins – False Smiles False Lives c32 on Worthless Recordings

Jacked the photo from discogs cause I lost mine copy in these piles of tapes

Not sure what I expected from this one. The name Mannequins conjures up some pretty varied mental images. Like a band of mannequins, knob-sync'n circuit-bent casio's with projected faces and clothing on their naked torso @least right? Well, as soon as this tape starts playing, you know you've gotten yourself into a whole mess of good harshness. Amped up. This thing is thick and serious. unforgiving. unrelenting. A million different distorted or defiled frequencies in every direction and not a sour note between them. Eventually the action stacked energy level drops you effortlessly into still life HWN territory. Heavy rumble & crunch, less the crackle round out the rest of Side A.Side B picks up where A left off, emulating you deeper and deeper into slowly-slightly-changing Harsh Noise Wall noise trance. creepy f%#kin mannequins. Love it. where can I get more? I have no idea, but you want to get one of these limited to 17 copies from our pals at Worthless. Hit em up and buy a tape or work a trade.

River's Edge tape on Worthless Recordings

River's Edge

Slap this tape in yer deck and a few moments later you'll be thinking:
hey, WTF, this isn't even a noise tape.
Is it some sort of book on tape or something?
No, Worthless Recordings has begun a new series of cassette's showcasing the audio from classic cult films.
Have you seen River's Edge?
Yeah, me neither, but it sounds disturbingly wonderful in a Gummo-esq style of crass film-making.
Listening to movies on tapes might not be for everyone, hence the low low edition of 17 copies.

Summon Thrull - Spire Hell Heap c47 out on Rainbow Bridge

GOT THIS HERE>>@>> Rainbow Bridge. 
Summon Thrull's Spire Hell Heap c47 is a solid solo release from Seattle's Dustin Kochel. Dustin is know for being a member of the group, Physical Demon, as well as his Mastering credits from many releases on Debacle. Not overly HARSH NOISE, not exactly subtle ambient either. This tape tours you through a collage of composed and varied sounds; Industrial riveting machines, synth induced cerebral fogging, cosmic struggles on dense astral planes. Leave yourself a trail of breadcrumbs, you could get lost in this one. Also being released in CDr format on Debalce Records.

Baculum “Ink Fetish” c10 out on Phage Tapes

Baculum is Sam, the tatted up guy that runs the harsh-noise label, Phage Tapes.
This c10 is a slightly layer'd recording of unmistakable tattoo-gun noise, unaffected by effects of any kind. No flanger, no distortion, just the humming and buzzing of a tattoo gun on bleeding skin. The liner notes on the j-card say it was recorded while tattooing HN on feet, and yeah, that's pretty much what it sounds like. It's a novelty tape for sure. Its also a testimonial to the fact that Sam is a die-hard harshnoise culturalist for life. Play it for your tattoo artist friends and see what kind of responses you get. Who knows; maybe it inspires them to start a noise project of their own. So head on over to >>> Phage Tapes <<< and buy something, these little babies are free with all orders *while supplies last*.

Cold Comfort - Brief Moments of Clarity [VHS] out on Worthless Recordings

F-yeah. This tape is for your VCR. It is full of HNW or HWN or whatever they're calling it these days. There are a handfull of different static textures that move very smoothly from one to the next. They each last about 5 minutes. Very proffesh looking all around. The audio is top notch. The video quality is prestine. The packaging feels sexy. Comes with 3 pana-rama-photos that give you a good idea of what is on this VHS. I love owning this, and I wish there was a way I could own it even harder (if that makes any sence). If you enjoy the HARSH staic wall asthetic, you need this. Its a hypnotic, meditative zoneout inducing audio/visual masterpiece. This is the first WorthlessRecordings VHS release, and hopefully not the last. Limited to 28 copies, so you better cough up $8 and get one of these babies ASAFP if you know what's good for you. Everything about this is right. Nothing more.

At Jennie Richie "so far out" tape out on Dead Accents

get it for 5.99 at DA

Where do I even start with this one!? I'd like to point out that this cs has like zero tape-hiss. The opening track starts off with some phono noise and immidiately begins you on a surreal journey through some fck'doff samples and loops complete with strange lo-fi perrifreal chatter. Its oddy compiled and executed with certain skill but there seems to be some sort of paradox here. The whole tape sounds like some weird ass Nurse with Wound remix. There are moments of what sounds like laptop glitches, but those moments are thankfully fleeting. The first side even ends with a techno-esq jam that feels pretty out of place in this experimental collage, but yet, it works here. The 2nd side starts off with a TR-505ish snare @ 1/8th notes teamed w/distant degraded knob twirling, repeated for about 8 minutes. Its insane. I hate it, but I have to admit, I found a couple zen moments in there. It eventually gets better, i guess. But seriously, this album sounds too good to sound so bad. There's got to be some sort of inside joke that I'm missing here. The last track on the tape features Seattle's Jason/Red Squirrels, in addition to the AJR members Happiness and Forever, but little difference in sound asthetic can be discerned by my ear. Maybe some extra lo-fi-junk cheapo walkman speaker turned contact mic foolary. I don't know wtf is attracting me to this tape. I hate it but, it feels like it was recorded custom taylored for me to listen to with my own brand of love/hate disposition. Bottome line: this tape looks and sounds great. It's fun to scrutinize as well. You'll prolly wanna play it more than once. There's only 55 copies, and I think you should get one for yourself.  Right here>>>>  Dead Accents

Sleep Of Ages & a-m#2 – Split Tape on Strabismustapes

Released in July of 2011
S-T003 / Sleep Of Ages & a-m#2 – Split / Hand Numbered Limited Edition of 50

GET IT HERE


re:view'd:

Word on the street is that, a-m#2 from France, is finally putting out some music after 10 years of honing his subtle craft. Hear some of his super sleeptrance inducing work on SOUNDCLOUD.  I recently picked up this split tape from Strabismustapes (a fairly new tape label) that also features the unfamiliar to me, Brazilian artist, Sleep of Ages.
The first half of the a-m#2 side seems to be dubbed at a really low level; like -40/-20dB, but it gets louder around the 3rd song; licking -10dB or so. It's the first tape that I've gotten in a long time that sounds like it has just as much tape-hiss as it does actual sound. Even flipped on the Dolby NR, which is rare, and defeating. There doesn't seem to be any low-end bass freqs coming through either. It's almost like a washed-out recording of 50/60Hz noise colored by a chain of phaser pedal/deathmetal thats been left to fester. I have to assume it's just a weak dub from the batch cause the soundcloud tracks and the other reviews I've seen sound much more dynamic. I asked the Label, and they said it is supposed to be fairly quiet.
The Sleep of Ages side is a little bit louder, but leaves me wanting more... The sounds are ranging from breaking shit to ever changing harsh-wall-drones. It starts off pretty mellow and progresses into something much more involved. Never quite reaching a state of HWN, Sleep of Ages offers up 15 minutes worth of enjoyable noise tracks on his side of this c60 (not c50 as advertised) which means 15 minutes of (boring-ass) silence at the end. I'm guessing this guy is a well-seasoned amature; who'll be getting some more of my positive attention in the future. Same goes for a-m#2 for that matter, stoked to hear what they sound like on a more hi-fidelity recording. As for this tape, the low volume coupled with the high hiss ensures that it probly won't see much more play.