Zaïmph & Yek Koo – ‘L’interieur De La Vue’
A studious and strange meeting of two renowned minds of experimental sound, L’interieur De La Vue is a thrillingly unforeseen detour into minimalistic spontaneity from acclaimed and prolific NYC musician Marcia Bassett (Zaimph, Double Leopards, Hototogisu, GHQ) and celebrated Los Angeles cacophonous-psych-explorer Helga Fassonaki (Yek Koo, Metal Rouge). Unlike the constant ethereal burn on Bassett’s guitar/synth drone works or Fassonaki’s overpowering and staggering reinvention of otherworldly experimental rock, the two performances here present a startlingly spacious platform for more patient, contemplative restraints. Bassett’s electronics ebb into harmonious intertwinement with Fassonaki’s deconstructed trumpet inspection, the flow of both these paradoxically serene and scraping tonalities finding a sturdy synergistic ground. Those immersed in the works of Idea Fire Company, Greg Kelley, and AMM should take notice.
The Tenses & Guzo – ‘Full-On Rager’
Both The Tenses and Guzo devote their energies to the iconoclastic and inimitable improv ensemble Smegma, with The Tenses’ Ju Suk Reet Meate and Jackie Stewart (a.k.a. Oblivia) having devoted 30-plus years to the constantly evolving collective while Guzo’s Madelyn Villano is a relatively new presence to the crew, performing on many of Smegma’s recent recorded and live excursions. The first side finds both projects hitting an astounding communion with the intergenerational partnership surging forth a radical and unified exclamation. Plundered records, mangled electronics, droning strings, and even some surf-styled guitar twang yield an astoundingly surreal mass. The flip sides finds The Tenses on their own manifesting a similar torrent of demented bedlam, proving that both Reet Meate and Stewart are two of the underground’s most consistently unshakable radicals.
K.M. Toepfer – ‘Instigate’
On Instigate, Canadian noise maven K.M. Toepfer has envisioned a particularly personal paean to the cassette tape. Toepfer, working for the first time under his given name after numerous releases as Potier. and some notably obscure wall-blasts as Truchsess, explores the gritty sonic eccentricities of decrepit tape machines, turning these primitive devices into bizarre electronic instruments of their own province. Make no mistake, Instigate is as far from “tape music” as one may get: here, the cassette players themselves are reduced to percolating, blown-out beasts, spewing a burning torrent of gloriously mangled electronic storm. These two sides exhibit the uncomfortable tension of total extremity; this is truly the sound of pure decay. Essential for those seeking the uneasiest of solid analog cacophony.