Ophibre - Basil Forests (Digitalis Limited, 2009)

Ophibre - Side B


You know what's been missing from this blog for a while? OPHIBRE. AGB used to be like the #1 Ophibre fan site (still is) but I've been slacking. He's been putting out plenty of stuff for me to review (including the one on Songs From Under The Flooboards which was just released today), I just haven't been keeping up. Shame on me. Well, since I last wrote about him, he's moved up a bit in the world with a new release on Digitalis! Way to go dude.

Basil Forests has 2 side long pieces and both are the pure heavy drone Ophibre is known for. The A side starts with that no-nonsense pulsing layered over hushed cosmic hum. Space and time intertwine while stars drift by. Wide open synthy sounds, panning & warping, expanding & morphing, acting like a gas filling every available space in your room. So many intricate sounds whizzing by, it becomes dense & loud in a very soft way, dizzying in its blissy grandeur.

The B side is a whole other monster, heavy as shit right from the get go. It sounds like an entire fleet of WWII bomber planes. Menacing and relentless, it's a black hearted non-entity with a one track mind. Mostly an organ-type sound but there's an unmistakable growl underneath it all, patiently waiting until your mind goes numb when it'll lunge for your throat. However, like almost all of Ophibre's work, it also has a euphoric transcendent quality. Blur your ears and it unfolds itself one coating at a time to reveal an infinite harmony.

Because this one's on Digitalis Limited, that means that it's got quality presentation and, yes, is limited. Though how limited, I'm not sure, as it's not even on the Digitalis site. I'm sure you can (and should) get one if you ask them, or from Ophibre himself.

Top 10 Drone Albums Of 2009

I wasn't going to do a Top 10 list this year. I figured my Top 1 list was sufficient because that was so clearly the one thing that made such a life changing impact on me. But then the fine folks of Weirdo Records asked me to make a Top 10 for them. I couldn't turn them down, obviously, and it was an excuse to do something that I really wanted to do all along. I love making lists. And people love reading them. I don't know why I withheld from something that everyone so clearly wanted.

Once I made my list for Weirdo, though, I realized that about 75% of it was comprised of drone records. So to make things more interesting, I decided to make a Top 10 list of just drone records.

Links go to original reviews. Please check out the other lists at Weirdo because that's where this originally came from. Now, onto the heckling!


10. Gregg Kowalsky's Tape Chants (Kranky)
Minimal long form tape drone meant for deeeep sleep and/or meditation and/or my favorite kind of parties.


9. Nicholas Szczepanik's The Chiasmus (Sentient Recognition Archive / Basses Frequences)
Enormous drone, fills your house/head with wonderful smooth tones, mostly of the euphoric variety.


8. Ophibre's Approaching The Ionized Piezo Kiosk (Earjerk)
Simultaneously melancholic and blissful drone tearing you in two for a half hour. Literally stunning.


7. Keith Fullerton Whitman's Dream House Variations (Arbor)
4 tapes of differing length meant for simultaneous play and manual fucking around (fast forwarding, speed manipulation, etc) is encouraged. This is just fucking brilliant. Oh, and the music's great too.


6. Acre's Isolationist (Isounderscore)
Even though two of the three tracks on this were previously released (though unheard by me and therefor irrelevant), the brand new track is awesome enough to warrant being in everyone's top 10 list. It's the densest, warmest, drone ever and came right in time for winter.


5. Usputuspud's Live In The Shit (The Nafs)
Murky drone disco. That's why.


4. The Golden Sores' A Peaceable Kingdom (BloodLust!)
This is where drone is going. The is the new drone of the future. Everything about this record is utterly fantastic. Chill ambient style, guitar psych feedbackage, and everything else. This is how it's done.


3. Mountains' Choral (Thrill Jockey) (motherfuckers deleted my fucking review)
Unbelievably amazing ambient naturey organic drone. So life affirming. Put this record on and your stress is instantly zapped. Motherfuckers deleted my fucking review, so here's the same label approved mp3 I put up the first time.
Mountains - Choral



2. Jason Crumer's Walk With Me (Misanthropic Agenda)
This is the noisiest drone record I've heard all year. Sometimes it gets almost unbearably rowdy but it's the kind that gives you chills. The final two songs are probably the best sequenced tracks of the year.


1. Eluvium's Life Through Bombardment (Temporary Residence Limited)
This takes the number one spot with ease. Every Eluvium album on vinyl for the first time. It's like hearing each record anew and in the proper way. Plus, have you seen the packaging on this beast? It's gorgeous and epic. It's a fuckin BOOK. And it's personalized. TRL really went for broke on this and it's absolutely worth every penny.

Ophibre / Brian Grainger - No. 3 (Mirror Universe, 2009)

Ophibre - The Ascending Torque Aura


Big <3 to both Ophibre and Grainger. These two guys know their shit and make some of the best drone out there right now. This is the newest split of theirs, not to be confused with either of the two before it that were released on CDs. No. 3 is a tape coming from Mirror Universe and it's a real beaut.

Ophibre's side (the "black side") is epic mind expanding doom drone. Seriously, this is some wicked evil shit. Dark and ominous. It totally reminds me of Hexxus from Ferngully. Like if Lucio Fulci remade it, this is the music that would be the prelude to Hexxus' release. It's the kind of music that has mind control powers and it makes you keep turning it up louder and louder every other minute until blood streams out your ears. Which is to say, this track fucking rules.

Flip the tape over to the blue side and you're treated to Brian Grainger's "The Descending Crystalline Hand" which is a beautifully appropriate title for such a fantastic song. Definitely a much lighter affair than Ophibre's blackness but it still retains some sort of foreboding. The static that fills the air seems like it's just the gentle wash of waves. The thick drone however is quite similar to Ophibre's except there are hints of loveliness that are absent on the black side. And at 20+ minutes long, it's epic, nay divine loveliness. An absolute majestic fire breather of glory.

I can't get enough of either of these guys. Thanks god they're so prolific. I'm glad I can get my fix whenever I need it. However, just because they release a lot of stuff doesn't degrade the quality of each individual release. Quite the contrary. As seems the be the case with every new Ophibre or Grainger release, this is some of their best work yet. Yeah, I say that a lot. But that doesn't make it not true. This is a special tape. Special because it's fucking awesome.

Ophibre; Nature; Hunted Creatures; Peace, Loving at Church

Ophibre

Nature

Hunted Creatures

Peace, Loving

More photos on my Flickr.

I'm pretty sure it's mostly futile writing this review. Last night was the first night of the monthly, I dunno what you wanna call it, residency? of JP's Whitehaus at Church. The first Tuesday of every month, The Whitehaus will be presenting a show with various Whitehaus and non-Whitehaus related bands at Church for free. But seeing how this was the first night of that, and it was also the opening day for the Red Sox, there were almost zero people at the show. Literally, I was one of about 5 people there that wasn't in a band or "with the band." So this review? Probably only relevant to a dozen or so people. In the world.

This was another show with some serious lineup shifting, going almost in reverse. Peace, Loving was up first and they were almost nothing like when I saw them about a year ago. I remember them being very minimal, lots of scattered noise, earthy, and haunting. There was a little bit of that last night, with their wooden frame with tons of metal scraps and tape recorders playing various found sounds and radio broadcasts. But there was actually a lot of free jazz, too. I mean, most of the time, they all played actual instruments. A few drums, guitar, bass, saxophone, it was just how they played that made them less of a "jazz band" and more of a "free spirited, do whatever the fuck we want noise band." I gotta give the banjo player major awesome points, too. He played the banjo right next to a regular microphone (banjos aren't the loudest instruments, after all) and when things started getting a little crazy, he would scrape the mic against the banjo strings. It's such a simple thing but I was just so impressed by that. It sounded amazing and I fuckin loved it. Good job, banjo player.

Hunted Creatures was up next. I was really excited to see him because he put out that exquisite split tape with Ophibre and I knew his live stuff was just going to be spectacular. And of course, it was. Similar to the piece on the split tape, there was a low rumble that resonated throughout the room, creating the foundation of the song. Unlike the tape, however, there was a lot of easily recognizable beauty with something that sounded like a bagpipe (bagpipe imposter?) and the second half of the song was filled with swaths of (appropriately Church related) organs. So wonderful. It wasn't just all drone, though, as he added a bunch of pre-recorded percussion that sounded a lot like the clattering of bricks and wooden 2x4s being rolled around and dropped in a huge warehouse. Similar to the industrial sounds from the split tape, but not nearly as scary.

Nature was a band I knew absolutely nothing about prior to the show except that they were on tour with Hunted Creatures. There were two of them, one sitting behind a drum kit, the other hunched over some electronics with his back to the audience. There was a lot of quiet layered static coming from who knows what in the beginning. Eventually, the non-drummer picked up a guitar and then they started playing some awesome post-metal-noise-rock stuff. The guitar was completely washed out with distortion and delay and the drummer was just going nuts. These guys fucking destroyed. Totally was not expecting anything resembling "rock" at a show like this. The drummer picked up a set of big headphones and used them as a microphone, sounding similar to the vocals from Lightning Bolt or the songs where the drummer sings in Neptune. Fucking amazing. They finished off with weird minimal processed percussion and guitar feedback static drone that ultimately faded away into nothing.

Shit, man. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ophibre's drone is of the highest quality. Last night's set was spacey and slightly New Agey (fuck you it can be done right) in an Emeralds sort of way. I don't know if you used to watch Battlestar at all (and if you didn't, wtf start right now) but the bedrock of Ophibre's piece was like the sound the Cylon Raiders made when they were scanning something with their red eyes going back and forth. Ophibre used it in a way that I would almost call a beat if it was regular or consistent enough, which it wasn't. But what he carefully laid down on top of that was just so perfect and special. I completely lost all concept of time and physical reality. I literally caught myself from falling over a couple of times because I just stopped paying attention to my body. I think I was traveling through space, 30,000 light years away to a sun drenched ice planet and I was exploring one of it's sparkling caverns. When Ophibre's set ended, I couldn't tell if he'd been playing for 15 minutes or an hour. I guess it doesn't really matter though. It was fucking unbelievable. That's what matters.

Show Worthy 4/6-4/12

I had an idea to do some sort of regular concert e-mail or post or something like that. Basically, anything to draw attention to shows that are worthy of your eyes and ears in the Boston area in addition to that concert listing column over on the right. So I'm going to attempt to do a weekly Sunday post where I'll highlight some shows coming up within the next week. This is not meant to be inclusive by any means. I'll probably stick to the experimental side of things, but there are always exceptions. Like Mates of State are playing this week. Everyone loves Mates Of State. If you don't, fuck you. You should.

I don't think I'll normally have this many shows listed but this week seems to be chock full of great shows that I can't go to. Especially Friday.



Mates of State at Mercury Lounge, NYC 5-21-08 via Bao Nguyen
Tuesday, April 7
Mates Of State, Black Kids at House Of Blues ($20, 8:00, all ages)
I'm trying not to endorse this show for two reasons. I'm not a fan of Black Kids, nor am I a fan of House Of Blues. But Mates Of State are so cute and awesome. They put on such a great live show that it's probably even worth it to spend $20 and see them in a club as big as HoB. If you haven't seen them yet, you should. Trust me.




Tuesday, April 7
Peace, Loving; Hunted Creatures; Nature; Ophibre at Church (free, 8:30, 21+)
This is gonna be my pick for the week. It's presented by The Whitehaus Family Record and it's frreeeee. You seriously can't pass this up. You know how awesome Ophibre is and he put out that split with Hunted Creatures not too long ago that was fantastic. You pretty much don't have a good reason to miss this show, unless you're going to see Mates Of State.




Wednesday, April 8
Prince Rama Of Ayodhya, Many Mansions, Jealousy, Concord Ballet Orchestra Players at O'Brien's ($7, 9:00, 21+)
Another Whitehaus related show. Both Prince Rama and Many Mansions put on wonderful live shows. I've heard great things about CBOP and have been meaning to see them for a while but just never got around to it. If I were you and free Wednesday night, I'd check this show out.



Parts & Labor at Middle East Upstairs 12-12-08
Friday, April 10
Parts & Labor at Oxfam Cafe (free?, 8:00, all ages?)
I will be at this show. I don't know who else is playing, if anyone. Both the band's and venue's Myspace only list P&L as playing. Even if they are the only band, it still makes it 100% amazing. Aaaaand it's probably free.



Eliza Blaze at Spring Iron Pour 2008 via Eliza Blaze
Friday, April 10
Spring Iron Pour with Justin Crosby, Fractillian, Peace & Quiet, The Silver City at MassArt Courtyard (free?, 7:00, all ages)
Dude. It's a bunch of great bands that play live while iron is being poured. And I'm pretty sure it's free. That's all you need to know.



The Books via interrobang
Friday, April 10
The Books at The Boston ICA ($25, 7:00 & 9:30, all ages)
You know The Books. You love The Books. Electro-acoustic field recording shit for $25 in a nice auditorium.



Brendan Murray at Hell Hoarse Kavekavity Sessions via ex-atari-kid
Sunday, April 12
Brendan Murray, Oneohtrix Point Never, DJ Howard Stelzer at Great Scott ($7, 9:00, 18+)
Intransitive Recordings is putting on another one of their (his) soon to be famous fucking amazing ass shows. Brendan Murray is releasing a new CD and Oneohtrix Point Never is the guy from Astronaut and Infinity Window. Howard Stelzer (the man behind Intransitive) will be DJing. According to some other sites, Red Horse and Eat Cloud are also supposed to be playing and DJ Won't should be spinning as well. If that's true, then this show is going to be fucking epic. But Great Scott's website doesn't mention them so neither will I. Either way, you should go.

Ophibre - Drone Works For Differing Digital Audio Formats And Encoding Methods (Sentient Recognition Archive, 2009)

Ophibre - .aiff, 0.63 MB, 4410 Hz, 5 bit, PCM, 44 KBPS


I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ophibre. Is. A genius. With a name for an album like Drone Works For Differing Audio Formats And Encoding Methods, you wouldn't be faulted for assuming this was an average concept album. But what could have been a dull technical exercise or experiment turns out to be one of the most compelling drone pieces I've heard in a long time.

The title of this is essentially self explanatory. Ophibre used a variety of processes to create different sounds with the same song as a foundation. Of course, it helps that the original (if there is one) is as gorgeous as ever but that doesn't take away from the beauty of the album as a whole nor does it ever become too repetitive.

There is plenty of repetition, however instead of annoying it becomes curiously fractilian. The whole album has a sine wave like structure, generally going from the highest fidelity to the lowest and back again. Each song is repeated 24 times and each song itself is a repetition down to the smallest fraction. Everything is looped onto itself ad infinitum. I feel like if you start looking or thinking to hard about it, you're eyes will turn into this.

If you don't know Ophibre, this is as good a place as any to start if only for the supreme techniques and structuring going on. And if you're already a fan of Ophibre (if you read AGB, why wouldn't you be?) then this is pretty much required. Only 100 CD-Rs put out by SAR. There are still some left and I highly encourage that you pick this one up. Totally worth it.

P.S. For extra mind fucklery, try contemplating the fact that the song you're listening to above was ripped from a CD, reformatted into an MP3 at 320KBPS, and now being streamed over the internet. Does listening to it that way change the original intention?

Ophibre - Approaching The Ionized Piezo Kiosk (Earjerk ,2009)

Ophibre - Approaching The Ionized Piezo Kiosk


Some have said that due to the large amount of Ophibre related posts here on AGB that I'm having a secret love affair with the man. Well now that's just ridiculous. Why would I be cheating on my wife in such an obvious, transparent way? Don't you think she would notice? But maybe I'm doing it in plain sight so no one suspects anything...shit. COVER = BLOWN.

Approaching The Ionized Piezo Kiosk is Ophibre's latest foray into orgasmic drone and his first CD for Earjerk. Normally Ophibre puts out tapes and while an Ophibre CD is'nt really rare, it's also not a common sighting which is just another reason I'm excited to review Piezo Kiosk.

Once this long track kicks in, it just dives right into a mesmerizing drone, the kind where your eyes glaze over and you're not actually seeing whatever it is you're looking at. Your mind simply wanders off to another place. I claimed "Harem Of Moths" might be my favorite work by Ophibre but "Approaching The Ionized Piezo Kiosk" is quickly gaining on the number one spot. The transcendent shimmer is offset by the melancholic trombone, giving this just the right amount of balance. I'm not sure it's an actual trombone being used, but it sounds very similar to Phill Niblock's Nothin' To Look At Just A Record which is long form trombone drone.

Yes, I just compared Ophibre to Niblock and I did it on purpose. This guy has serious droning chops and deserves high praise. The world needs to know that this Boston experimental noise maker exists and the best way I can think of going about that is to shout about his mad skills.

The packaging on Piezo Kiosk is pretty damn cool, although not quite as spectacular as most of the tapes Ophibre puts out on his Oph Sound label. It's got a semi-transparent reversible eye fuck on the outside with a folded one of a kind piece of a thrift store LP on the inside. There's only 36 of these so you better get on this shit quick.

Ophibre / Hunted Creatures Split

Ophibre - A Harem Of Moths


I have a theory. I think the ratio of good to bad tapes is much higher than any other media. I don't really know why, maybe it's because people who put out tapes mean business. They don't fuck around and they know what they're doing. Tapes are special and you can't just put anything on tape (see my Bulbs review for more on that). So due to such a high ratio of awesomeness, I think I need to start reserving phrases like "favorite tape ever" and "best tape in the world" for really special ones. This... this might be one of those tapes.

Ophibre's side of this split is utterly impeccable drone. It kicks up like a some sort of UFO engine. It's got the exact frequency of the engine drone and it's fantastic. As time goes on, though, and you think of the title of the song ("A Harem Of Moths"), you realize that this isn't an engine. No no no, this is the fucking apocalypse. You see, I have a slight aversion to moths. They're hideous, terrifying, and disgusting. And this sound, this song that Ophibre made, is the sound of my nightmares. It's the unbearable and deafening buzz of a riot of moths. But, when all is said and done, I can detach myself from my mottephobia, and enjoy the shit out of "A Harem Of Moths." I mean, you have to. Because it's amazing.

As is the case with many split tapes I seem to find myself getting into, I have no idea who's on the other side. I'm a flat out newcomer to the Hunted Creatures parade. The name doesn't even sound familiar. But again, as with previous split tapes, this guy totally kills. The first song is live and much more dynamic than Ophibre's side. He makes dark and ominous noise with thunderous sporadic beats, followed by far away air raid sirens and gun shots. Talk about some scary shit. I would not want to be wherever this is supposed to be taking place, which is most likely Detroit in 5 years. Creatures' 20 minutes isn't entirely spent attempting to make you duck and cover, though. It's mixed with strange half-pretty drones that fuck with my brain. I'm never quite sure what I'm supposed to be feeling. Needless to say, totally cool.

Just like every other Ophsound release, this one looks gorgeous and probably takes the cake for best packaged tape ever. It's wrapped in white corrugated cardboard and tied with string. The inner side of the cardboard has the liner notes, while inside the plastic case, the tape is wrapped in a see-through vellum with a printed pattern. Totally awesome. This is another five bucker and it's obviously completely worth it, even for the artwork alone. Check out my Flickr for lots of photos of the tape.

Reaching / Ophibre - Répéter Profils

Ophibre - Répéter
Link removed.

Ophibre and Reaching are two dudes who make noise. Ophibre is one of my local Boston favorites and Reaching is new to me, being introduced to him on this here Répéter Profils split cassette.

Reaching is a relatively new guy but seems to be pretty prolific already. Just take a look at his releases on Discogs. There's about 20 in a year. Not too shabby. You can download a lot of them from this section of Reaching's website. Which I think I should. 'Cause I like what I hear.

Reaching's side, the "Profils" track, is a much darker affair than Ophibre's "Répéter." It walks the line between black ambience and power electronics. There are long stretches of rumbling, stuttering bass with quiet industrial clanging going on somewhere far on the horizon. Or sometimes the bass is forgone and it's just static, like the air is totally still and you're the only one around but you can still hear those machines banging in the distance. It never really gets too loud, nothing that's gonna shred your ears, but it does get pretty scary. There are points when it revs up and starts growling at you like its about to devour you, though. But it growls, you see? Never roars.

Ophibre's track is squirly and all over the place. It's low-key but still crazy. Nothing ever really jumps out at ya. It meanders around in a chaotic way. On average, it sits on the high end of the tonal range keeping you on your toes. Occasionally it'll veer off into the deep end sounding like a machine with a pulse. It's a bit like a stretched out preview for a horror movie, switching back and forth from one thing to another, giving you that unsettling feeling. It works. And I like it.

Apparently there are two versions of this tape, one available from Ophibre's Oph Sound label and one from Reaching's Dirgehead Distribution. I'm not sure of the differences as I only have the Oph Sound release, but Discogs claims the Dirgehead one is untitled. Whatever. All I know is that my tape is spraypainted with "Make It Stone" by Krylon. And that's cool.

The BSC & Ophibre at The Piano Factory

The BSC at The Piano Factory
Ophibre at The Piano Factory
Last night was my first time at The Piano Factory and for being a gigantic building, that shit is hard to find. Well, finding the room where the show was going down was tough, anyway. Thankfully the security dude at the front office was nice and helpful. Apparently (just for future reference) you have to go around to the back of the building, through the parking lot, down some stairs, through a door propped open with a rock, up some dirty stairs, around the corner and voila! You just found the place where magic happens.

Seriously, The Piano Factory is gonna be the new CBGB's of Boston for experimental music. Take a look at the shit they (they = Ricardo from Semata Productions, who owns/rents the room...or something) got lined up in the next couple of months. I'm not gonna write it all here 'cause it's a lot of stuff, but everything's in the "Shows" section over on the right. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to at least some of those. Like John Wiese. Can't believe he's playing Boston, that's so fucking rad.

But hey ho, onto the show. Last night was awwesoooome. First off, I was like the youngest person there and that was a little weird. There were people there my grandparents age. And that makes those people there the coolest grandparents ever (unless your grandparents are Bjork and Matthew Barney). So I got to talk to Ben (aka Ophibre) before the show. Very cool guy who has good taste in gloves. He went "on stage" and did his thing. It was low end droney stuff that was slightly pulsating, kind of like if an organ had a heartbeat. And then there was this noise on top of it all that sounded like a microphone being dragged through a gravel driveway. Totally awesome. At 20 minutes or so, though, it was a little too short for me. I definitely could've listened to that for another 20 minutes at least. It was one of those things you just want to go on forever.

Then The BSC came on and just blew my mind. Sadly, they were missing two people (Liz Tonne's voice and Mike Bullock's double bass) but being new to the whole BSC thing made it not really matter to me. The first set was really weird because it was a bunch of guys making lots of noise, but it was so quiet. And wonderful. It never once felt chaotic. But oh boy, their second set was nuts, especially compared to the first. They started out full blast, banging and clanking, making a beautiful cacophony. I'm really glad I got to hear both sides of The BSC, it definitely enhanced the experience.

I must say, though, there was a slight downside to seeing them play live. Maybe it was just that I've never heard them before, but it was very difficult for me to absorb the music while watching them play. It was a dark room, with 6 people making all sorts of bizarre sounds with traditional instruments, and I was really focused on figuring out exactly what they were doing. I saw the guitarist doing something with tuning forks, the cellist had weird electronics alongside his cello, and the guys playing the theremin, trumpet, and saxophone were making noises I've never heard come out of those instruments. So yes it was the coolest fucking thing to see live but it also distracted me from the music itself. What this means is that I need to track down some recorded BSC material and throw on the headphones. And when that happens, I will be sure to let you know how amazing it is.

The BSC ≠ Burning Star Core

So...I'm an idiot. I saw a concert listing on a couple of websites saying something along the lines of "8-26 The BSC, Ophibre at The Piano Factory" and got all excited because I thought The BSC stood for Burning Star Core (even though there's no "the" in front of the latter). Well, I went to make a post just now about the upcoming show, possibly showcasing a video or mp3 of Burning Star Core, only to find out that an entirely different band is playing.

If you happened to be in a similar position to me, let me bring you up to speed. The BSC is a somewhat local, large group of people led by Bhob Rainey (and includes Howard Stelzer, yay!). There doesn't seem to be a lot of info about them. Like, anywhere. Bhob has a website, a MySpace, and a blog (that hasn't been updated since 12-07). The most info I can find is from the Semata Productions blog (the people putting on the show) where it says, "The BSC generates consistently fresh and compelling work through innovative rehearsal techniques and long-standing musical collaborations between individual members of the group."

Well there you have it. This Tuesday night, Ophibre (who recently e-mailed me because he saw me writing about him on my blog, which means I'm famous, again) and The BSC will be playing at The Piano Factory at 791 Tremont Street in Boston. The BSC will be playing two, yes two sets. Sounds like a good time to me. I'll be there. And maybe I'll write about it afterwards.

The best I can do for a song to hear is this sample found on Bhob's website. It's the only track I've found labeled specifically as The BSC (instead of any individual's solo work). So if you like what you hear, maybe you should come to the show. Come on. There's gonna be two sets of awesomeness plus Ophibre. That's pretty hard to pass up.

Tapes 'N Tapes

Today I spent the majority of my day both procrastinating and being super productive. What I mean is that instead of doing chores (like cleaning the bunnies' litter box or doing the dishes) I transferred the remaining cassettes in my collection to my computer so I can listen to them away from home on my iPod (I don't have a Walkman, sorry). Something I've been meaning to do for quite a while.

Not only was this useful, but also pleasurable as I was able to listen to all of my mostly unlistened-to tapes. What prompted me to do such a thing was the acquisition of those two new ones I found at Time-Lag Records in Portland. Here's a rundown of those fantastic tapes...

Fricara Pacchu - Space Puppet
This is a short tape (15 minutes each side) but full of ass kicking awesomeness. Just like his full length CD that I recently reviewed, Midnight Pyre, it's got bizarre noises that could be interpreted as fucked up Finnish techno. Seriously, though, this guy is officially on my radar and I will be picking up any and all of his previous and future releases that I can. Probably starting with his Stories Of The Old 7" + book from either Forced Exposure or Aquarius.

Ophibre / Adam Sonderberg split
This was a blind buy from Time-Lag, and for 3 bucks, I certainly got my money's worth. Ophibre's side "untitled music for .aiff and magnetic tape" is the better of the two and in fact, I probably won't listen to Sonderberg's side very much, the "untitled music for bell & sine tone." It's a little too piercing for me. But Ophibre's track is wonderful with lots of looped piano.

Evan Caminiti - Buried Light
Intimate, softly beautiful, very droney, somewhat folky. Can you really ask for any more?




Sean McCann - Flutter Oasis
I only got to transfer one side of this one before I had to go into work, but I've listened to the entirety of it previously and it's delicious. Pretty noisy but catchy all at the same time. And it's definitely fluttery, shaking and wobbling all over the place, like some sorta blown out mirage. Hey, that kind of sounds like the album title. Huh. Imagine that.

Back From Maine

Yeah, I was gone for a little while. In Maine. In a cabin. On a lake. It was quite nice, except for the fact that it rained every single day I was there. It was a pleasant respite from work but the best part was what I stumbled upon in Portland on the way home. Waiting for the train ride back to Boston, Elise, her parents, and I ate at a nice restaurant called BiBo's Madd Apple Cafe, where we all ordered the safe soup and sandwich combo (very delicious). Afterwards, we were walking down the street and Elise told me she saw a record store there earlier while they were in town picking me up, so we went looking for it.

Lo and behold, there was Time-Lag Records, one of my favorite online mailorders on the east coast. I was ridiculously fucking excited to actually walk into their store and check out all of the obscure treasures. Due to the in-laws waiting outside, I wasn't able to spend the multiple hours and dollars there that I would have liked to, but I was still able to find a few cool things to pick up. I got two CDs, Quetzolcoatl's Forever Bleeding Canyon Cloud and White Light's For Your Leaves, both of which are great. I also picked up two cassettes that are amazing. I got an Adam Sonderberg and Ophibre split and (this is the best part) I found a Fricara Pacchu tape called Space Puppet for 5 bucks. I didn't even know it existed, and finding something like that it is just so fucking cool. What a great way to end the vacation. If you're ever visiting Portland, Maine, you really should take the time to visit Time-Lag. You won't regret it.

I have a lot of new music to review, I just got my copy of Belong's Same Places (Slow Version) in the mail today, and tonight I'm going to catch The Melvins and Big Business at The Paradise. So hopefully in between all of the hours I'm putting in at work, I'll be able to write some stuff that you'll be interested in reading. And if I'm ever too slow on posting, you can always go check out Forest Gospel. I fucking love those guys and they're always writing new shit.