C/S012 THE SHA s/t CS
The Sha is a three piece collective made up of Matthew Earle, Adam Sussmann, and Christian Durham. Those names will seem familiar to those keeping up with the wealth of releases coming out on Earle’s Breakdance the Dawn imprint for the past decade plus. XNoBBQX, XWave, Love Chants, Sun of the Seventh Sister are just a few of the very many projects they dabble in. In The Sha the trio go into definitively psychedelic territory – sometimes of the rock variety, sometimes of a more experimental variety. On this self-titled cassette (their U.S. debut) the improvisations tend towards sustained repetition. They open the tape with an entrancing guitar number that stretches out over endless 1-2-1-2 drums, begging the question how one can maintain such a beat for such a prolonged time? And invoking notions of free and hippy rockers all the same. A later electronic and feedback drenched number is broken up by the occasional flourishes of harmonica and vocals – challenging the machines with simple acoustics to remind us that, however otherworldly it is, this music is in fact made by man. Limited to 75 copies.
C/S0013 XWAVE s/t CS
Unadulterated dirge, scuzz, and weirdness from members of XNoBBQX, Sun of the Seventh Sister, Love Chants and an endless list of others. XWave continues the thug punk tradition from Australia – harnessing the attitude of bands like feedtime and 3 Toed Sloth, while adding their own notions of noise, improvisation and ineptitude. At times reminiscent of Japanese Minor scene acts like Kousokuya or Gaseneta, and even bringing to mind the chopped electronics of Lighthouse-era Shadow Ring (although that comparison tends to end abruptly with a barbaric thud on the floor tom to cue another fuzzed out bass line). Punishing, menacing and unkind, for over a decade XWave has abused strings and skins alike – pounding out a nervous breakdown, just as much as they shout about it. Limited to 75 copies.