Split Tape Series #8: Chik White/Holiday Rambler C50 $7(CAD)
Side 15: CHIK WHITE is the recording alias of Darcy Spidle, star and co-writer of the Canadian cult film, Lowlife, and the guy behind Canadian indie institution Divorce Records. Playing almost like a possible alternative soundtrack to Lowlife, I Am Muck sucks you into a starfish licking world of bizarr0 psych improvisations and avant soundscapes created from “experimental jews harp and acoustic guitar”. Exciting and fearless stream of consciousness music/noise/sound making—like the wind and tides blowing and flowing. Side 16: “More like coal than gasoline”, HOLIDAY RAMBLER (aka D. Alex Meeks of Hooded Fang infamy) is one of those young men you meet where you simply know they have a time machine buried in their backyard. They’re just too comfortable wearing the attire and diction of yesteryear for it to be entirely an act. The title of this set of songs and sounds, It Lasted A Hundred Years, It Will Last A Hundred More, could be a reference to the timeless/old-timey nature of the Rambler’s American gothic folk-blues. Despite being a relatively young sprout, there’s a lot of gravelly down-home wisdom woven throughout the set of bluegrass and gospel informed tunes with a decidedly end-times feel. Kind of like a Smithsonian Folkways recording from the backwoods of Virginia in an alternate universe where the Great Depression never ended. Numbered edition of 50. Pro-duped, cloth bag, hand-stamped “product tag”, glossy insert.
BABEL – ‘Heurter’ CDr $5(CAD)
What starts off as a series of hypnotic, metallic pulses slowly gives way to nearly ambient washes of droning white waves (No-Waves to be exact?). On this three track EP of avant electric guitar improvisations, Jakob Rehlinger (of Moonwood) thwacks a prepared Fender Telecaster with mallets and layers those twackings with loop and delay effects. A real Chatham-esque one-man guitar orchestra. Recorded live in studio direct to two-track. Pro CD-R. Numbered edition of 25. Spray-painted digipak.
BABEL – ‘MetaMeme’ CDr $5(CAD)
Sound collage of news videos, film dialogue, vintage commercials, shortwave radio squelches and anonymous Facebook and Twitter updates read by a text-to-voice screen reader. Additional minimalist percussion and synth textures. A dark portrait of our times as seen through the eyes of the world wide web. Selections edited, compiled and remixed from BABEL’s TRANZMIT “digital mixtape” series. Includes selections from “Radio EnZyme”, “Interknot” and “Radio Flatline” plus new material. Pro CD-R. Numbered edition of 10.