DAIS036 Genesis P-Orridge & Stan Bingo – ‘What’s History’ LP $19
Originally released as a cassette on the cryptic Austrian tape label, Nekrophile, in 1983, this simplistic experimental recording was a industrial classic ahead of it’s time. Recorded in 1981 in the Hackney bedroom of Genesis P-Orridge, who at this point was romping through his final months in seminal industrial act Throbbing Gristle. Done as a spur of the ‘improvisational’ moment, Genesis was accompanied by then TG documentarian Stan Bingo (a.k.a. director Dan Landin) to try out some new equipment and spun into a unplanned composition. This original recording, due to the scarcity of its original format was somewhat forgotten, only to be coveted by collectors. This vinyl LP is an authorized reissue by both artists and limited to 500 copies.
DAIS031 Tor Lundvall – ‘The Shipyard’ LP $16
Edition of 500. Tor Lundvall has graced us with yet another remarkable album this year. Previously, Lundvall had introduced himself to Dais with his masterpiece album Sleeping & Hiding and struck lightning twice with the resilient The Seasons Unfold box set and now we are humbled to be crafting the strings with the curation of his most recent effort. The Shipyard was recorded during the dramatic season change-over of ’09/’10, during which time Lundvall was immersing himself in portrait studies of local maritime themes and nautical life at the docks. This instrumental collection of songs composed the soundtrack to the final renderings of these conceptional ideas put side by side, for which semblance he is most know for. Limited to 500 hand numbered vinyl copies (comes with a free MP3 download coupon) with artwork by Tor Lundvall.
The second long-player from Niao (not to be confused with Ne-Yo or Nyan Cat, this is the duo of George Glikerdas and Gordon Spencer-Blaetz), ‘Prayer’ is a modest collection of seven tracks, thoroughly instrumental in spite of the lyric-less chants which lead each song. Evoking the dead of summer, or perhaps an eternal summer, the LP defies its winter release and lends a convenient excuse to why this review comes so late [in truth, I had lost the disc behind a shelf]. With Afro-beat timbres just shy of Afro-beat grooves, and very far from Afro-beat declaration, the pair achieve a frequently mesmerizing minimalism akin to Terry Riley’s high-fidelity middle works, marked by a constant, rainbow road arpeggio across the album. But far from an endless tapestry of drone, or an ADD cop-out to “chillwave” or some other such horseshit, the compartmental songification of each track affirms, implicitly, that this is in fact good old New Wave: the wild incantations of “Sway” recall the neophyte jubilee of The Creatures, like the punk’s revelation of his own (literal and figurative) voice in an earnest scat; with synthesized leads (no guitars), the stoned rhythm of “Aman Aman” moderates its tight sequencings by plodded percussion, measured by the long kerplunk of the crash cymbal (total misnomer in this case), recalling the shallow-water spirituals of Sun Araw; the title track has a gravity and propulsion like latter Talk Talk, Glikerdas even mouthing the dramatic vowels of Mark Hollis, only the lack of effects belie the scale and close proximity of this bedroom music. The misfit between certain evocative titles and wordless delivery open a cozy nook of reflection in this otherwise “trippy” composition, best exemplified by “Computer Keyboard Oil”, which contrasts a motile percussion (guest drummer Austin Julian) and bleary keyboard which apparently have never met, like a mash-up of James Ferraro from now and three years ago. Rousing, subtle, the key is what is not said.
Stark, lo-fi nightmarish techno and mechanized dark synth isolationism from this new project featuring Antonella, Martin, and Pablo from Uruguay experimental collective Fiesta Animal. Buried, dreamlike sounds drift beneath a dense layer of saturated pulse and hiss. Screenprinted art on parchment paper.
Operating on the fringes of the Baltimore experimental music scene, this duo have quietly released a number of great cassettes on various micro labels. This new tape is their most diverse effort to date, and yet it stands out as the most “album-like” of their output. Intuitive and psychedelic “noise” music, with free music and post-industrial leanings. Some of the sounds on this tape would fit well into the the early output of 90s cassette labels like Apraxia and Chocolate Monk, while others blend elements of Sun City Girls, Noggin, and even touches of early Loren Mazzacane style disjointed blues riffing. Artwork constructed from 1920s sheet music and embrittled 1950s dress-making tissue paper templates with hand typed text. Limited edition of 50.
Debut cassette release for this reclusive Baltimore archivist. Spontaneous compositions crafted from piles of hand-spliced cassette loops. Screenprinted art on 2 different colored construction paper inserts. Recommended for fans of Bert Kaempfert and Philip Jeck. Limited edition of 50.
Our favorite Baltimore duo’s first release in 2 years, and first sPLeeNCoFFiN release since 2008’s “Slow Light,” is a collection of improvised and live recordings, showing off the band’s more experimental, instrumental leanings. “In Hollenshade Basement” is a compilation of drone heavy four track recordings almost entirely guitar based, calling to mind Trapdoor era Dead C and 1990s 7″s by the likes of Roy Montgomery and Azusa Plane. “Deskulling Society” is a harsh, primitive, post-industrial drug experience — a live recording capturing what is probably Rosemary Krust’s most completely unhinged live performance to date, recorded at the defunct Hexagon space in Baltimore. Art is screenprinted in sliver and black paint on kraft paper, screens exposed from used typewriter ribbon impressions on acetate, with the used ribbons also hand-rubbed onto the cassette shells themselves. Limited edition of 100.
limited-edition of 100 on red chrome cassette. Split between cosmic voyager Kösmonaut from Texas and Adderall Canyonly from Oregon. A-Side features Kösmonaut’s album “The Four Directions of the Universe” and the B-Side features Adderall Canyonly’s colossal 29-minute “Btonal”.