Aug 25th, 2004, 03:27 PM
what've you been listening to?
this is what i have piled next to my stereo...
cd's/cdr's...
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aaron hibbs - barred owl sounds (this is the drummer from sword heaven. he's a total sweetheart and deserves way more recognition. i was fortunate enough to be in ohio when aaron was putting the finishing touches on this release, so i got to get an early taste! the sounds on this disc are all derived from "owl sounds". sometimes it's far more obvious than other times. there are plenty of tracks on here that just sound like totally insane low-end rumbling and piercing shrieks, but others are not unlike listening to the sounds coming from your backporch at night after smoking some cheap pot. handmade sleeve with creepy black paint splatters!)
quad muth - selfsleeving driftlimbs (this is really odd shit, kinda like what i imagine a circus of leprechauns on acid would be like. totally upbeat percussion and organ, but plenty of effect-heavy screaming, feedback, crazy distorted sounds, and more! only heresee would put this out, and their fancy-pants packaging is in effect here.)
extreme animals - dare i say troll? (this is the paperrad house band. you can practically see the neon colored rainbows and the demented gumby freak outs in each track. each song is a fucking anthem full of cheezy techno drum-fills, off-time synth stabs, off-key (but still major key dood!) singing, and more. not as good as "midi slaves", but this band can be nothing but fun! minimal, but migraine-inducingly colorful, packaging.)
e.n. - you will be out dated soon (this was my friend from tampa, ian. he was shot and killed a few months ago. this was his last cdr and it's a pretty crazy one. some tracks are like snotty synth-punk run through a hundred filters (merzbow meets gerty farish?) and others are very simple and short, but totally gorgeous lock-grooves. cover features cut-up fashion models. cute pictures!)
this song is a mess, but so am i - church point, la ("church point, la" is freddy's first full-length release. it is all about the death of his mother. it is depressing as fuck. fans of xiu xiu should check this out, because there some similarities. freddy is obviously working more with sequencers and synths, but creating a similar vibe. tracks go from beat-heavy joy division-esque songs to full-on harsh noise to acoustic guitar in the blink of an eye. packaging includes pictures of his mother in the hospital and other family photos. very bleak shit.)
cotton museum - exposed organs (theremins, circuit-bent children's toys, and contact mics inside of bobble-heads?! chris has a fucking 14 year old's approach of noise-making, but it totally rules! these tracks sound especially decayed and will burn a hole into your mind. a little less brutal than earlier releases, but far more rhythmic and hypnotic this time around. his amazingly gross artwork graces the sleeve.)
vinyl...
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prurient - body language (one man, two microphones, an effects processor, and WAY too much amplification is prurient. HAAAAARSH fucking feedback under the complete control of dominick. he will occasionally tap out a rhythm that our feeble brains can handle with his fingers or screaming out some geniunely romantic poetry, but he's usually just swinging the microphones around him like fucking twin morningstars and destroying anything in his path. this record simply rapes you. it's packaged in a radical fucking black and white "block-y" styled foldout.)
hair police - obedience cuts (i bought this lp at the hair police/kites/prurient/brainpaw show in st louis earlier this year. mike told me it would rock me. and he wasn't kidding. hair police have become the most rocking noise band around. this is the closest these guys have come to capturing the brutality of their live shows. totally murky, yet precise. totally stoned, yet pummeling. the lp version of this release has some kind of "grass" substance on the cover. the cd version i saw had a really gnarly looking rat skull on the cover.)
no-neck blues band - first kingdom of the ghost (more chilled out than the average nnck release, there are even some soothing moments like floating on a pond here. very fucking eerie the rest of the time, though. lots of chants and build-ups in ambience. plenty of expected nnck skitter and skree, though. the artwork is gorgeous of course, and the lathes are very nice!)
cassettes...
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dreamhouse - live & outside (yeah, it's live stuff recorded outdoors in six different states! amazing fucking weirdo drum-circle w/ shortwave static, horns, and freakout vocals all packaged in a handpainted and embroidered cereal box with huge foldout silkscreen poster.)
noise nomads - recycled (another classic recycled tape! mine used to be "rush - fly by night", but now it's two guys throwing a guitar run through a hundred octave and fuzz pedals back and forth and completely mauling classic records into shards! pretty fucking harsh for such a silly bandname!)
wolf eyes - droll, volume 14 (the droll series continues! i just got this in the other day and it's totally killer! john must have taken all of his reel-to-reels and caked mud on them to get those fucking thick layers of pure shaking, wavering distortion. the first track sounds like a pair of demons hissing and shrieking at one another! even though this doesn't have any of the signature "wolf eyes boom", track two is one of their most rhythm-heavy jams 'cuz it just fucking pulsates like a throbbing gash the whole way through! intense! packaged in the usual rotting paper, housepaint, and various stamps and clippings. get it or be lame.
sixteen bitch pile-up/sword heaven - split (wow! two of my favorite bands together! that's always awesome! sixteen bitch's side is totally pummeling noise crescendo. one of the most beautiful recordings put to tape EVER! sword heaven's side is a primal gurgling with some seriously intense drumming and metallic tones that out-rocks any rock band! this tape is essential! each tape has different newspaper clippings and really nice metallic foil shit going on too.)
devillock - red tusks (this shit is filthy! total sine wave manipulation here! the whole tape is probably less than 20 minutes, but i can listen to it for hours without releasing i'm hearing the same thing. so many layers of gunk to sift through! this is a perfect companion to the wolf eyes tape listed above. packaged in super-nice silver silkscreen over gore-red paper!
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I don't get it. I mean, why did they fuck with the formula? Where are the car songs? There's only one song about surfing and it's a downer!
Linear Mode
