Sunday, March 04, 2012

FFFreakout: Podcast #36


Mascara Snake “Punishment of a Hunter” Portraits and Scenes CS (Avant Archive)
Bomber Jackets “Hot Georgian Summer” Larching CS (Night-People)
The Haiduks “A Tide Through the Flames” The Lemon Tape CS (Hobo Cult/Kinnta)
Raajmahal “Curly Locks” Celandine CS (Digitalis Ltd.)
Pierrot Lunaire "Take Me With You" Theme for Ascension and Eternal Love 7" (Hooker Vision)
Chapels “Where Is Everyone, Part 2” split w/ Jeremy Kelly CS (House of Alchemy)
Insect Factory "Radio Forecast" Melodies From A Dead Radio LP (Fabrica/Insect Fields)
Asio Otus “Pesuvettä hangella” Taivaallisia tulia CS (Sicsic Tapes)
Toning “Paranormal Romance” Paranormal Romance CS (Skell)
Thoughts On Air “Lowbrow” Paleo Sails CS (Avant Archive)
Nathan McLaughlin “4.4” Echolocation #4 CS (Sunshine Ltd.)
C. Yantis “Rand” Box Elder, Cold Scholar CS (Holyoak! Resounding)
Mohawk Park “Vanilla Spiderwebs” Ungeometric Circuit CS (Scissor Tail)
M. Geddes Gengras “Burning” The Kiss of Life CS (Sicsic Tapes)
Aaron Dilloway “Shatter All Organized Activities" Modern Jester 2LP (Hanson)



It has been a couple of months since I put together a non-feature formatted podcast, so I thought I'd try to mostly play a little catch-up with some of the great tapes that have arrived in that time. Of course, just when I think I'm actually getting "caught up", two of my favorite tape labels, Avant Archive and Night People, roll out brand new batches of tapes within the past week that look and sound as fetching as the material we played on this week's show. As for new(ish) tape labels, I'll have to say that Sicsic Tapes out of Germany is now fully on my radar. The music and artwork for their last couple of batches of tapes has been absolutely top-notch. The M. Geddes Gengras The Kiss of Life release that they put out has to, for me anyways, rank at the top of his near flawless output from the past year. It's a more concise statement compared to his previous Stunned and Sacred Phrases tapes, but it's just as mindbendingly powerful. This new Asio Otus tape that just came out on Sicsic, reportedly inspired by UFO sightings in Finland during the early 1970's, bumps and drones according to its own weird, yet fascinating logic, bringing to mind a perfectly realized Fonal offshoot project. I'd also like to give some props to Mike Griffin (a.k.a. Parashi) and the work he is doing with his Skell label. He offered up a New Year's gift of three stellar releases from the likes of Toning, Cruudeuces, and a Fossils of the Sun vs. Parashi/Xanthocephalus split, all of which are total rippers and worthy of your/more attention. Lastly on the tape tip, I received the final two installments of Nathan McLaughlin's Echolocation series over the past couple of months. It's hard to pick a favorite among this series, but I've been really enjoying these shorter pieces found on Echolocation #4, which just came out on Sunshine Ltd. Now that the series has been completed on tape, who's going to reissue this sucker as a CD/LP boxset?

This show wasn't (or isn't) all about tapes though, right? There will definitely be more wax in the weeks ahead, but for this week I had to spin the new Aaron Dilloway and Insect Factory LPs. The sound quality of Dilloway's Modern Jester is impeccable: clean and loud as fuck. The album, as a whole, is another clear reminder from the Wolf Eyes crew of why they were always in a league of their own within the Noise ranks. Between Stare Case, Nate Young's Regression, Failing Lights, and now Dilloway's Modern Jester - hell, these guys are making, to these ears at least, some of the most forward-thinking music they've ever made. I'm also very impressed with this new Insect Factory album that was co-released by Fabrica and Insect Fields. Mr. Insect Factory, Jeff Barsky, coaxes this wonderfully hypnotic late-night drone-drift from his guitar, that fits the album's title, Melodies From A Dead Radio, quite perfectly. Quality stuff!!

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