Cincinnatus C – ‘Sinuous Ambivalence’
It is always a mystery what Craig Hodgkins will do next. A guitar running into a ton of delay and reverb, lightly riffed over washes of ambient psychedelia wouldn’t be an inaccurate assumption based on past performances and recordings. Neither would folk songs with piercing squeals or obnoxious loops played overtop. However, on Sinuous Ambivalence, barely-functioning circuit-bent pedals smashed with his own hands alongside no-input mixer play as well as overbearing distortion and feedback coating hoards of vocals screamed so hard you can hear veins burst would be a good preface. This 8 track CDr, nearly an hour’s worth of work recorded long before it was released, focuses in on super demented, chaotic electronic experimentation, angst, and intention, fueled by existentialism-rooted ideals and pure desperation carried out with unpredictable direction. A 30+ minute piece of intricate and barely-detectable shifts in feedback tones surrounded by tracks of glitched-out, harsh compositions provide a substantial and elaborate collection of just some of the moods and aesthetics this project has to offer. Professionally printed, hand-numbered artwork on card-stock and hand-stamped CDrs in clear plastic sleeves. Limited to 25.
Inappropriate King Live/Scant split C44
Scant is the solo harsh noise/ambient moniker of Matt Boettke, the core member of Sex Complex (a VA-based harsh noise collective along with Christopher Feltner/Kingdom Of Sharks and Jacob Knibb/JM//Wave) as well as one half of the DC-based psychedelic harsh noise group Widow’s Bath. Matt provides an upsetting and minimal 22 minutes of Ibogaine treatment-influenced static and light rumble that creeps slowly and cuts out abruptly. This material is hopeless and powerful. Meditative and steady. A wall of thick noise somewhere between white and pink that will strike an atonal chord in you between it’s quietly rumbling starting point to it’s sharp and bright, anti-climax. Quality. Inappropriate King Live brings a strange contrast with it’s no-limits field recording manipulation and unloads 9 new short tracks of weird and mysterious collages. Running water, windshield wipers, clips from a live Quicksails set (used with permission from mister Ben Billington), guinea pigs, building a new bathroom, razors, space heaters, thunderstorms, string section rehearsals, wind, plastic bags, conversations with sketchy people and terrorized rubber bands, all mangled into a moderately-paced mess. Professionally printed, hand-numbered j-cards. Solid blue chrome tapes with hand-painted labels. Limited to 15.
Pregnant Spore – ‘Experiments In Putrid Putrefaction Satisfaction’ CDr
A broken field recorder forced these 40-minutes worth of experiments into post-production alteration. The direct signal’s left channel constantly and intermittently cut out, and when it cut out, it used the internal microphone to pick up the emitting sounds. Therefore, a mix of line and microphone signals are heard. There is a strange compression, noise gate and artificial stereo replication by means of delay, complete with HPF and LPF filters, so the result is slightly perception-bending. Channeling into the decomposition of bodies and the biological processes involved, this rehearsal for an OK Putrid recording session has been documented and offered to you in a small edition of 20 hand-made CDrs. This is Rainbow Bridge’s first official release of 2012, the year in which humanity in itself will likely begin and end it’s rotting. These sounds feature mostly hand-made or hand-altered electronic devices that have been built for others before they made their way into the hands of the evil postman. Weirdo style electronic tests without careful intention, but more so exploration, and the tapping into the intricacies of death. A change of pace, atmosphere and focus for the post-war spore. Hand-numbered card-stock sleeves with hand-stamped CDrs. Color artwork made from ink from a home printer as well stained-glass paint acquired from stabbing a spray can with a pencil. Each copy varies slightly in appearance. Limited to 20.
The Big Drum In The Sky Religion – ‘The New Theocentric World Of…’ CDr
A couple of dirty weirdos from the deep depths of Virginia have recorded another serving of mind-melting lo-fi free jazz, drone, noise, and psychedelic whatever. It’s amazing how this recorded piece is over an hour long but never gets monotonous in the slightest. There are elements and textures that just keep on giving throughout the entire experience. It evolves slowly but does not wander off too far nor does it stay in any one place for longer than it takes for that movement to say it’s piece. Horns, voices, drums, guitars, maybe some various electronics, tapes or samples of other sounds woven into themselves… it’s hard to tell sometimes considering the intentionally dirty production. Is it a toy keyboard or metal being rubbed together? Is it someone jamming a classic rock bass-line or is it a self-oscillating delay pedal bumbling into oblivion? What is mysterious can be beautiful and this is definitely a trip worth taking. It is rare an hour and fifteen minutes of free improv would leave you wanting more, but part of the reason you may end up feeling that way is because you know what this group is capable of, and they only gave you a taste of it here. Although the acoustic guitar outro leaves you calm and collected, this piece is overall unsettling and uncomfortable. Hand-painted, hand-numbered, sticker-sealed paper envelopes with card stock inserts. Hand-stamped silver CDrs. Limited to 30.
Extreme Light Infrastructure – ‘Title Indeterminate’ recycled tape
Richard Kamerman of New York City brings us 21 minutes of experimental, circuit-bent electronic magic. Richard, without mentioning demos or label releases, handed me this CDr of material while I was in Boston. I was so impressed with it, considering this kind of noise is right up my alley, that I immediately wrote him and offered to release it as a recycled series. This material is mangled, glitchy, abstract and sharp. I imagine him sitting at a table full of rotting boxes with switches and knobs and just going to town. It exercises the patience-oriented mindset of Chefkirk’s material, but also reminds me a bit of Spykes/Medical Lake/System Voltages/other Olson stuff as well as maybe Nautical Almanac and Gert-Jan Prins. The material Richard provided is pristine and crisp, and the way these repurposed tapes translate those sounds is warm and wholesome. One of the best weirdo electronic composers you’ve never heard of, and this is clearly one of the best releases in the Rainbow Bridge catalog. I LOVE this stuff. Color artwork printed on red card stock with hand-painted tapes housed in cassette bags with vocabulary flash cards. Limited to 40. DISCLAIMER: Due to the varying lengths of all of these tapes, some tapes may not contain all intended material. However, all of these tapes are fairly long so this would be a rare occurrence. Anyone who purchases this release has the opportunity to be emailed MP3s of the material on these tapes per request.
Ghost Volcano/Divine Shell split recycled tape
Ghost Volcano is the weirdo Baltimore noise collective. A bit of Chocolate Monk and American Tapes worship. Besides the core trio, some of the material included Tyler Grimsley, a bassist/guitarist/vocalist for many Baltimore post-rock and emo bands such as New Years and A Garden Overgrown. Having Tyler in an extremely experimental atmosphere generated incredible results in this 5-track, 35-minute A-side. Ghost Volcano uses electronics, drums, various objects, warped records and all sorts of other matter to carefully pluck, flick, strum, bow and kick around to create interesting uses of space and dynamics. Ghastly compositions and improvisations that actively feed off each other. Definitely a multiple-listen experience. Divine Shell is the synth-based drone/harsh noise project of Derek Setzer who currently resides somewhere out there in the western wasteland. He currently writes for the almighty Existence Establishment review website along with Egan Budd (Xiphoid Dementia). This DS piece is more drone than usual. If you’ve got his Death Circuit release, prepare for contrast. The same dark and ugly mood is constant in his material, but there is nothing at all harsh here. Bleak and brooding, like something is about to happen. Buried whispers, muffled rumbles, barely recognizable loops, weird drones, etc. Color artwork printed on yellow card stock with hand-painted tapes housed in cassette bags with liner notes and vocabulary flash cards. Limited to 40. DISCLAIMER: Due to the varying lengths of all of these tapes, some tapes may not contain all intended material. However, all of these tapes are fairly long so this would be a rare occurrence. Anyone who purchases this release has the opportunity to be emailed MP3s of the material on these tapes per request.