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.

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.

Usputuspud - Disco

Usputuspud - Cherished Wig (excerpt)


More genre mixxxing. I love it. What we have here is some dance drone. Waves of guitar with minimal beats laid down underneath. And the best part? It's all super blown out and lo-fi. My favorite!

Usputuspud (say it a few times and you'll get the hang of it) put out this limited edition tape called Disco on Caligulan Records. And it. Is. AWESOME. It's like the whole thing was recorded at maximum volume, everything in the red, only to tone it down a bit when it was finalized on tape (if it sounds like I'm spouting total bullshit, I am. I have no idea what I'm talking about.). What I'm trying to say is the tape itself isn't super loud, but it sounds like the original recording was. In other words: really cool.

Everything is so blown out, in fact, it's pretty tough to discern what instruments are being played. I'm pretty sure it's a lot of guitar on the A side. But the B side might be mostly piano based. Or it could just be more guitar. I don't know. Nor do I care.

Each side contains one track, almost 15 minutes each. That's a half hour of kick ass guitar drone with some washed out techno. It sounds like your next door neighbors are having a dance party while you're experimenting with feedback loops and all you can hear is the beat and their feet stomping.

One of the best parts is on track one, "Cherished Wig," where after about 10 minutes go by, the beat drops out, and you're left with the feedback. The cool thing is, it's like there's this phantom beat still lurking. It's totally gone, but you still hear it in your mind. It's great. The last 5 minutes morph from what was a once cohesive guitar into shapeless echoey feedback.

"Fetish Ball," the B side, leans further to the dance side of things. Not a whole lot of drone, with the guitar (piano?) creating a beat all it's out, until some percussion comes in. The notes are drawn out so they overlap each other, and it's all really lo-fi, so it's still pretty droney. There are even times when Usputuspud himself starts singing. It's certainly a nice effect.

I will definitely be picking up his first tape, Liturgikal Alcoholik from White Lodge Tapes, because this is definitely something I want to hear more of. And this packaging is seriously gorgeous. Black ink printed over the already beautiful photo, with an intricate cut out in one of the corners. Stunning.