Music: Lebaha Men "Garifuna Feild Recordings" tape

The Lebaha Men are from Belize, which is not close to Nashville except in full pan-global scope.

Which is maybe what makes Field Recording right? Escapism maybe, or a pseudo-adventurous state induced by industrialized-culture. Right?

The Grammys may be somewhere along the entrails of the luxury class/American appreciator-of-music, but they're a distant yet bright star to some, presumably, right?

One mustn't abstract too much from the socio-political implications of this tape though, lest we detract from the music, which is basically really cool. The drumming is mostly very complex, full of 32nd+ note rolls and thick with flamming and quick changes of emphasis. But it never loses the primal pulse, in spite of the heady roll-exchanges, (there are only three drummers, and their ability to play off one another is laudable/extraordinary.) The vocals are basically "ethnic" chant/call-and-response, but often quite a bit more melodic than you might expect.

Recording quality is decent, well-suited to tape, (recorded direct to cassette by Stephen Molyneaux.)

Watermelon artwork from No Kings.

Music: Ayebawl CD-R

A few times, in my general day-to-day internet reading, I've come across the phrase "Active Rock". It's pretty context-less to me, having abandoned commercial (and mostly all) radio for quite a few years. I imagine it though: the vocals are all shouted or screamed, the sharp distortion on the guitars is alternately piercing and crunchy (as described by the ads for FX pedals I've never used or heard,) the drumming may or may not involve a double kick drum pedal.

Realistically, the "Active Rock" I've read about contains up to one of these characteristics, with none of the 'tude implied. I mean, realistically the "Active Rock" I've read about is about as corporation-contrived as, say, Backstreet Boys. "Active Rock" is an ugly phrase. But let's say for a minute that it isn't, OK? That it fucking means what it says it means.

Ayebawl is fucking active rock.

Like, Tom George and Lukin Nunn, trading off on vocals, Lukin's screach is especially nuts, but exacting still and double tracked (this whole thing has a real nice, clean studio-quality,) and the guitars, man. Matt Bach's just a killer lead player. Everything's so composed, controlled, but it rips hard. And as drumming goes, there's a lot of pounding, but the number of hits and the speed never betray precision.

It's an intelligent hard core album sort of. All the thrash with none of the bonehead bullshit. Its violence is more visceral than bludgeoning, (and it is pretty fucking violent.) If you think Motorhead are pretty good, but kind of old fashioned, check it out.

Nine crazy tracks. Crazy Ed Gein artwork. Crazy, man!

Music: Hobbledeions "Asyndeton" tape

Heavy J. Bonham-meets-hypnogogic-flavored-murk at first; of course Habbledeions' Scott Martin isn't one to hang out too long on a real floored beat.

This third tape for No Kings is not a paradigm shift by any means, and really only barely an expansion of the sound Martin's been establishing since "Capisce" (perhaps with less emphasis on Dilla-esque lo-fi hip hop.)

It is, however, the best. An extremely focused effort that nevertheless trades styles, timbres and moods like an Indian. And so that heavy lump that begins Side 1 is quickly replaced by skittering fusion, then filtered noise, a tropical-pop waltz, and then this chopped and unscrewed Motown (or something) sample, over which Martin's trap set becomes some sort of lyrical rabbit, bursting down the hole. It's pretty much the best thing I've heard from Hobbledeions, and I've heard nothing but great shit.

So that's about halfway through the A side, because this is a hefty tape at 45 minutes, which is nice because a lot of what's great about the cassette, as a format, is its accomodation of lengthier albums, etc.

Vocal drone and these chopped up "eh-eh" vocal samples round out Side 1 all punk as hell.

And Side 2 starts out pretty nasty too. A Brit yelling, sampled from "The Wall" or maybe "Brazil", I've seen neither film, and the beat! Complicated but direct, it buoys pinging synth and noise and I'm at a loss for pinning its antecidents other than Can.

Most of Side 2 is pretty song-oriented, though those songs are in pieces assigned to the pads on Martin's MPC. Usually the sounds are filtered and processed, re-sampled so that exact instrumentation becomes an unnecessary means of signification. The drums too, are well-blended and I guess here's another panygeric on the cassette-medium, exemplified by this tape: natural compression, I mean Dolby filtering... It just sounds GOOD.

Later there's a real bouncy quarter note-bass/delay guitar jam that reminds: your vibes are maxing out. And fade into calming vamp. And fade.

Groovy pink-on-white, non-recycled stiff J-card, edition of 60. Highly Recomended!

Music: Dave Cloud and the Gospel of Power "Practice in the Milky Way" CD

A real problem with Dave Cloud recordings is that they always sound like Karaoke. His voice is just too bizarre/unfitting for any accompinament, however technically absorbing and/or "rockin'" the accompinament may be.

Or is it just poorly mixed? Maybe Dave has a complex where he has to hear hisself way upfront.

At any rate, this is some solid shit where Matt Bach's lead guitar and arrangements just slay trope-based/Tradition-based rock and get into real Steely Dan-territory, as far as really brainy-perfectionist composition style.

But all the "learned" instrumentation doesn't undersell the "Outsider" apeal, whether "knowing"/"unknowing". That's the weird thing about the record: these dichotomies are presented: irony/sincerity, deranged/non-deranged, but then it's mostly up to you, ya know?

They play a Sexton Ming song: "Rockin' After Midnight". It's the only cover. The originals are just as lyrically "outsidery" there's: "On your knees, in supplication," sez Mrs. Crumb in "Mrs. Crumb", the track-7 psych-out masochist-jam that serves to reinforce Cloud's preoccupation with high-literary sexual perversion.

"Before I Give You Up" is a groovy, lightly trotting Rhodes-jam. Imagine the Partridge Family let their drunken, leering uncle sit in on vocals on evening. And really this thing is all over the map style-wise
Like, the deeper into the album you get, the slightly-less freaky it gets, maybe you're just more used to the mix, or more catching the slipping referential-wave.

Solid disc of outer space-feelings from Nashville's favorite barroom conspiracy theorist. Fire Records.

Music: Clearing "No Titles" tape

For a tape called "No Titles", the insert included in this baby is chock full of titular information, but OK that's helpful sometimes, what is written.

As for audible "titles", I'd proffer "droopy-eyed synth pad-ery". Some of the sounds on the first side are booming and others are all wet with effects or detuned in interesting ways. Yes often they're interesting sounds, and always they're very static.

If that's your thing, you'll hear a lot more maybe. As background noise, I'd rate this definitely above say air conditioner or refridgerator.

Pretty good Blue v. Pink art from No Kings.