BRUTALISM - No Rave

Would it be cool to be able to throw a couple vintage records into a special machine, add the number of years music has progressed and press listen? The apparatus would combine the sound and give it advances in technological and music styling. BRUTALISM has done this and the product sounds pretty cool.

The best thing is, I do not know what to call No Rave? The sounds have ties to music from the eighties, but they are fresh. An EP of five tracks and all produced with tendrils reaching back into the past. The tape is mirrored on both sides and has the look of how cassettes use to be.

The tape flows with beat driven and party sounding tunes mixed with two tracks "Human Being" and the final "Life is Pain", a little more reflective in nature. The opening track "New Empire" and also "Fancy Friends" reminds me of an awesome eighties band The Beatnigs. For both bands there is a touch on the industrial side to the rhythm, and the lyrics sing like a proclamation. Also both BRUTALISM and the Beatnigs fly under the radar of genre and have the ability to deliver the widest spectrum of sounds. The difference for BRUTALISM is the ability to refine what has been before, adding their take to an entire timeline of music that has now been digitally processed away. It is a difficult task because judging from the picture on their facebook page, these three gentlemen were not even born when the music they emulate was being created. They hear it as a summary and do not know what group of people was listening to what type of music or what was cool and what was cheesy. I could be wrong, Gavin Holland, Zach Carter and Benjamin Bruno are just incredibly young looking forty year old musicians, and they were around then. But if not, this does make the difference and in a good way. No bias to music of that time period. Just working on what makes it sound the way they want "for the now".

There is a reference to Massimo Vignelli on the inside of the tape cover. I would imagine this is a connection to the bands name BRUTALISM and tribute to the recently passed away incredible designer. Both Brutalist architecture and Vignelli were influential on each other. This homage can be seen in the graphics of the tape cover. I think i read there are one hundred of these cassettes made.

Links
BRUTALISM - bandcamp - facebook 

The Dictaphone - Tp Hss

My mind is washed with an assault of really crushing rhythm. The Dictaphone has no boundaries. This music exists in a fluid environment. If you think you can pin it down into one genre, than Tp Hss has overwhelmed you and struggling to comprehend is all that is left.

This cassette times in well over half an hour and spans ten blistering tracks. The sound is wildly electric and raw. There is a vintage quality to Tp Hss reminding me of music from the early eighties. Punk meets new wave, then time warps into the future. Dropping decades of baggage and slipping by the category taggers, The Dictaphone delivers sound gleaming with understanding. This knowledge is simply how to make music, both diverse and cohesive, and really enjoyable to listen to.

Blending strings, percussion and an almost Hasil Adkins approach to vocals, Tp Hss sounds brawny. The music is cool, like a live band wrecking the instruments with deft skills, while you stand mouth agape in awe. That is what i wrote to Santa asking for Christmas, to see The Dictaphone live. This music absolutely has the power to make your fingers tap and your body synchronize with the rhythms being handed over. You will want to keep this on hand to break free of drone and ambient vapor lock.

Out just last month on Crudités Tapes the sister label to SDZ Records. This was released in a run of one hundred and is available from the label now. Genuinely a great composition and worth infinite listens.

Links
Crudités Tapes site
SDZ Records site - facebook - twitter

The Dictaphone site - bandcamp

Choral Reefr - DID IT ALL 4 THE PLUSHIES

Sometimes music comes along and hearing it for the first time is a little overwhelming. Everything happens so quickly and all at once. Choral Reefr is filled and abundantly delivers goodness from so many directions. Excellent song writing paired with hazy vocals. Music thick and layered, hitting the sonic spectrum like an armada of sailing ships, the amalgamation clicks.

DID IT ALL 4 THE PLUSHIES rests on the periphery of genres. Definitely has some pop feel as well as a soulful undertone. The songs are very diverse, but Jessica Oleson's voice keeps the entire tape beautifully flowing. Guests on the cassette like Elliot Snyder, Slyy, Junkie Soda and Joey Joey Michaels add to the skillful craftsmanship in how deep the listen is.

Choral Reefr sinks in your head for late night driving on city interstates. There is a hazy club feel to this music, but with the well written lyrics, the tape comes across much more personal. More to the point of listening to DID IT ALL 4 THE PLUSHIES alone and having an individualized soundtrack for your experiences. The lyrics connect relationships and feelings, weave their way deep into your thoughts. As the cassette flips and plays again (which it will) the scope of this composition will be more and more realized.

Released last month in an edition of one hundred. This is brought to us by the very refreshing MJ MJ Records label. Well crafted configurations made into music and art. MJ MJ Records comes to your ears from every angle. There will definitely be releases resonating with your ears. Choral Reefr works perfectly for me and is available from the label now. 

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Links
MJ MJ Records site - bandcamp - facebook - twitter

Hybrid Palms - Rainbow Breeze

Tropical in nature and mysteriously delivered through some saturated phasing portal. Hybrid Palms has created sounds made from remote islands, locations unknown, blending the continuum of time and speaking through planetary channeling.

Rainbow Breeze is a beautiful pastoral composition. Sounds drip from the forest canopy. Tribal flutes mixed with synthesizer mirroring dancing insect life on the forest floor. Listeners experience a well crafted harmony of field noises, delicate notes and vintage crackle. Although there are six tracks on this cassette, the entire listen sounds more like one blur. There is diversity, but Rainbow Breeze is something to be heard in it's entirety. This tape gently touches the drone world, but stays aloft. Subdued and potently crafted, Hybrid Palms is one that will keep in the deck.

Hybrid Palms was released in a run of fifty. I thought this was purchased fast enough to be able to write about Hybrid Palms before it sold out. Sure incorrect about that.... There are others who know how good this is! Release number sixty nine for Lillerne Tapes. Very awesome label from Chicago, with an impressive amount of completely sold out past cassettes.

Lillerne has two new releases available now on cassette and deserving a listen. One from Clearing and the other a split by Bastian Void / Kyle Landstra. VERY GOOD, VERY GOOD! For now... Thank you Gabe for working with Hybrid Palms and releasing Rainbow Breeze... Digging it to no end.

Teaser Video
Links
Lillerne Tapes site - bandcamp - tumblr
Hybrid Palms - bandcamp - soundcloud
Found one for sale on Discogs

Mr. Bronson - Trans Pacific

Beats and alluring electronic soundscapes. This cassette by Mr. Bronson combines everything good about ambient rhythm delivering a solid core composition. Never too much, always forward, sometimes far into the future. Trans Pacific absorbs genres and morphs into a cassette that will not come out of the player.

Eight track on two sides, spiraling electronics and beats to match. Trans Pacific is music for late night Autobahn driving. High speed straightaways and wondrous slow burning lulls. The entire tape is a blur of night time scenery, dark and vaguely recognizable. City oasis with bright lights and geometric shapes, then returning to smooth flowing synthesizer played at any velocity.

Trans Pacific is too good to be thrown into a category. Do not even bother. Just listen and enjoy the uplifting qualities. This one is sure to rotate from side to side in the tape deck for extended listens. 100% Silk has been spinning quality releases at a steady pace. If you give Mr. Bronson's Trans Pacific some time on the speakers, there is a good chance this one will find it's way into your collection of tapes.

Links
100% Silk site - facebook - soundcloud
Mr. Bronson - facebook

Sheep Bella Tine - What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Exotic

Looking at our solar system in motion, but sped up where an earth year of orbital rotation was only a second. That is Sheep Bella Tine, all parts and pieces moving at varying speeds and all centered around a single core. The sound is raw and connects me with music originating from unspecified times. The music flows like a current, meanders into eddies and moves around a stable mass.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Exotic has guitar riffs hearkening to music emanating from tents in an Arabian desert. This encampment is surrounding some lush and tropical green parcel and everything surrounded by the arid vast expanse. Royalty emerges with drum introduction and the procession moves forth.

Together, Wica on guitar and the percussionist Zacharious, heat and cool, heat and cool, like desert days and nights. Like the planets revolving around the sun, fast and slow, fast and slow. This is Sheep Bella Tine, two musicians revolving like electrons around the nucleus of an atom. The music tethers itself to simplicity and grandeur all at once. The sound is rooted in the physical world, naturally delivered into listeners ears.

This tape is out in an edition of one hundred on Meliphonic Records. Cryptically beautiful like all of the releases on the label. Excellent music for viewing clear night skies filled with stars while the fire is burned down to glowing embers. The sounds will fill the air then dissipate, allowing time for contemplation of how fascinating the world is.

Links
Sheep Bella Tine - bandcamp
Meliphonic Records - bandcamp

tall death - Star Songs

Absolutely refreshing to here music so intricately written and simply delivered. So many moments of small passages finding reverberation in your head. Catchy songs describing social destruction and revelations in a simultaneous manner. The first time i listened to tall death, i felt connected and wanted to be part of the "social experiment".

 Star Songs is nine tracks over twenty seven minutes of one side of a tape. Not sure how bad the winds are in Cincinnati or how small pieces of plant got stuck in the body of the tape, but i had to open it up and remove them. They got caught in the tape spool and caused some drag. I guess art and practicality are at war in Ohio. Once this was done, quickly returned to enjoying these well written tracks. Lincoln's combination of vocals and guitar fit extremely well together. Both seem effortless while delivering his stories and observations of life. If the lyrics were written out, i am sure there would be pages. This is a tape that gets better with every play. It takes this amount of time to understand how well conveyed this emotionally sincere composition of Star Songs is. At first it might seem a little strident because of the noteworthy cool raw quality. This melts away.

Lincoln is tall death and he made this tape especially for me. I found his cassette Star Songs on bandcamp and followed his instruction to email and request a tape. He graciously sent me a copy. I am not sure if he is still making these, but if you like it let him know. Maybe he will get his machines spinning again. Thanks Lincoln, this is very cool and Star Songs is quite good indeed.

Links
tall death - bandcamp

Cofradia De Los Herederos Del Vino - S/T

Imagine planets orbiting their stars with galactic fingers moving them in elliptical paths. The sound created is like the drone of a hand moving around a wine glass. This combines with rumblings of noises from cosmic static. Both are being collected and fall into the empty crevasses, slowly filling this pool of sounds. Deep it is, calm then turbulent, heavy molecules lining up for your ears.

Cofradia De Los Herederos Del Vino sounds like folk music for the expansion of the universe. Natural connections from piano, percussion and drone. Collisions of sound, then separation into timeless untouched voids. The first half of the cassette balances the expansive space between galaxies, with recognizable sounds from our own planet. The middle track "Are You the Son of the House"constricts and becomes tightly wound. The sounds have reached their pinnacle, trapped in a smaller half as long time, fluctuating pace in some chaotic dance. These are the most recognizable sounds in accord to fears of an overpopulated world. Then moving away into the drifting departure or possible big crunch of the universe. "Under the Cloud of Forgetting Part I & II" brings twenty minutes of reflective time of how far we have listened. Similar to the start, slightly more intense at times, the noises of the cosmos shrink back to their origin.

Gabriella Cofradia, Miguel Cofradia and Tomas Cofradia have created inheritors of the wine (my English translation).  I imagine this family has astral connections and channeled these sounds into their like minded environment. Another absolutely cool feature of this piece is the attention to detail and individual art work for each of the seventy seven copies. The cassette is embossed with the same design on the one of a kind collage. All of these art pieces can be seen on the bandcamp page. 

Links
Cofradia De Los Herederos Del Vino - bandcamp
Nice words on Beach Sloth

Andrew Jansen // Loud Sun - (​(​(​LOUD​)​)​)

Interesting how sometimes really good music is created and produced then slips through times spotlight. Andrew Jansen's new cassette on MJ MJ Records was released in the beginning of September, and now over three months time span, this tape has fortunately claimed occupancy in the player. There are sites with special abilities like Tiny Mix Tapes, with the knowledge of how good this tape is. Also the news media City Pages from Andrew's town of residence Minneapolis was attuned to his skills. Even though this site is trailing months behind, these words of description will hopefully help potential listeners with their chances to hear (((Loud))).

Ten songs incinerating all speed and slowly smoldering over two sides of a cassette. I suppose this could be pop music, but rests only the fringe of genres. Sinking into your ears like freshly harvested greens from the garden, the specific aroma only acquired from leaves being just cut. It took me a little while to retrieve this comparison, but Andrew Jansen's sound reminded me of a few of the slower songs on a band with a debut album from 1985. I will let you figure it out.

On (((Loud))) you can hear the refinement of guitar, vocals and song writing. The craftsmanship allows for each component to stand on its own. Andrew creates music in symmetric geometric figures. All parts equally sounding fascinating and pulling your mind into this casually turning kaleidoscope of songs. The diversity throughout the listen will maintain play after play. The tone and pace of the cassette makes all of the tracks complete as a whole. Although summer is not in the immediate future, (((Loud))) seems like a cassette for road trips under radiant sunlight. Destinations creating feelings of relaxing anticipation and magnificent natural surroundings. This tape will definitely be on board for going to the springs here in Florida.

This is out in an edition of 100 from MJ MJ Records. The label also resides in Minneapolis and is curated by an Andrew as well. Currently available, but most releases are sold out in physical form. So do not wait too long.

Gold Again Video

Links
Loud Sun - tumblr - bandcamp - facebook - soundcloud
MJ MJ Records site - bandcamp - facebook - twitter

Infinite Waves - New Cassettes from Kraus and Infants

The Infinite Waves label has multiple new releases for sale. I have captured two descriptions here for both of theses incredibly well recorded cassettes.

• Kraus "S/T"
• Infants "Island Shapes I-IV" 

Infinite Waves site - facebook
The Formant - Excellent write up on Infinite Waves new releases

Infants - Island Shapes I-IV

Evolutionary drone portraying in sound the planets formation of atmosphere. The space in between space. What is now a life producing surface. Infants penetrates into primordial connections of DNA. Calling on reflections of one cell ancestors and the time ladder leading up from the liquid medium.

The tape is so subdued and beautiful. Four tracks on two sides, all of them keeping inside the float tank. Listening to this causes de-materialization of the body. Molecules begin to merge back through time, where the originated from. This is a link in sound to cosmic origins. Tones resonating and releasing emotions buried under civilizations monotonous routines. The forth track is slightly different. More field sounds of a creatures movement from land back to water. Maybe the listeners?

Island Stages I-IV is drone for purists. Very simple and gorgeously well done! Denmark based Infinite Waves again releasing art and sonic beauty. If you are in the states, Tomentosa is the best place to purchase Infinite Waves releases. Keep ears tuned for theses releases to show up there.

I could not embed sound samples for this release. The Formant has it taken care of with Infants "Island Shapes I-IV" and Kraus "S/T". A nice read and sound sample write ups for both new Infinite Waves releases.

Links
Infinite Waves site - facebook
The Formant - Excellent write up on Infinite Waves new releases

Kraus - S/T

Kraus listens like a majestic fire. Crackling beginnings set in the holds of a futuristic planetary colonizing ship. The sound moves farther back allowing the vast scope of what is happening to be heard. The ship is empty, the planet desolate. As the craft finally falls from it's orbit, the sounds of Kraus describe it's destruction.

This cassette is all encompassing. Listening to Kraus on headphones is an experience all to it's own. Wind blown synthesizer rips across the empty tundra as clamorous entities shred what is left of the ancient civilization. They are devouring the land like savaging catfish, prehistoric in methodology and without concern for anything around them.

The sounds emanating from Kraus are a bit of a mystery. Out on Infinite Waves, the presentation is superb, both in sound and art. There is not much to go on as a description  though. To me, this is best described as galactic drone, grandiose in scale, sounds heard by gods when shaping the cosmos. The buildup is intense on each side. This allows for both tracks to position your ears, gripping to the last rung of safety. You will be in free fall by the end of each side. This is the world of Kraus, where there is nothing to hold on to but the sound itself.

I could not embed sound samples for this release. The Formant has it taken care of with Kraus "S/T" and Infants "Island Shapes I-IV". A nice read and sound sample write ups for both new Infinite Waves releases.

Links
Infinite Waves site - facebook
The Formant - Excellent write up on Infinite Waves new releases

Little Big Bangs - Star Power

Little Big Bangs have taken the reigns in hand and released an emotional confirmation that real bands exist. Not muddled down in new sonic trickery, Star Power hearkens to times of house parties and undiscovered talent. The music is being created directly in the foreground and it is everything you could hope for. The soundscape covered on Star Power rests in the mid 1980's for me. Punk music slowly being refined into a full spectrum of sound.

Twelve tracks fill the grooves of this lp. The music plays tight with variations in vocals and tempo. With fast drums and shockingly quick guitar, Little Big Bangs are poised to create a headbanging punk record in the veins of Black Flag and Minor Threat. Instead, Star Power is more tempered, showing skills behind instruments and vocals. The opening track "Bang" is exemplary in defining the sound of the band. Mixed vocals, grooved out beats glued with canvasing base and biting snake head guitar riffs. Songs like "Officer" and "Leach" showcase the ability to play on the edge, diving into the water and leaping back out. "Microscope" and "Situation" coast with the foot off the gas, allowing the embers in the fire to take stage and actualizing the fact Little Big Bangs has deep skills. I was really impressed with "Car Crash", something about the melody that kept repeating in my head after it was done.

Star Power is out on lp, self released by the band itself. From South City, Saint Louis, this Missouri band is one I would like to see play live. Joe Strummer has a quote “I want to grow up with my audience. I don't expect to be getting through to the younger pop crowd. I learned that from Paul Simon.” Coming up on thirteen years after his death, I think he might have taken those words back if he could have heard bands like Little Big Bangs.

Links
Little Big Bangs - bandcamp - facebook