MUSIC I SOLD

noise tapes bargain bin mediocre not worth keeping taking up space pedal synth mixer paypal REVIEWS "nothing personal" like 2000-2010 NOISE

[gotridofthesetapes-blog]

Hive Mind - Eidolic & Opaque c20 Tone Filth, TF 49, 2009 - edition of 100

Another Hive Mind tape, another excellent looking release from the Tone Filth label. Some throbbing, some pink noise. This one has some locomotion to it before it dissolves into TV static. I think I’m listening to side B first. Fade out, tape player clicks. This recording has more movement than most Hive Mind releases. It churns, it feels like it has a direction and that direction is - forward. It drives and shifts. Not bad.

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Cosmic Charlie - Melting in Someone Else’s Car Negative Aggregator 02 - 2009, edition of 60

This appears to be the first release by the guy known as Taterbug from Iowa City. He did not release much under this moniker. This recording is somewhat nice and a little lo-fi. Perhaps there’s a tape loop of some kind going on, and its somewhat pretty with some distorted hum-shifts. Or maybe somehow its guitar? I can’t describe this. It makes me think of a basement, or of church somehow. Or a field. There’s definitely some cassette play here but overall an interesting array of sounds and shifts. Not like most tapes out there. Anyhow I figure I’ll pass it along to someone who would appreciate it more than me.

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The Cove c30 Gods of Tundra, 2009

I thought The Cove was Mike Connelly’s project with his wife, a duo which they recorded at their home aka The Cove, but I could be wrong. But it’s certain that Gods of Tundra head honcho MC is on this recording. This is actually quite good... very cassette oriented; slowed down, player clicks, dropping out, and so on. The pace is rather spaced out - it’s not in a rush or trying to prove anything. It succeeds in being ambient in a way, scenic, vaguely eerie. It almost tells a story. Not bad but goes on a bit long.

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Roxanne Jean Polise - Bottom Of The Ocean... You're Not Here American Grizzly Records AGR 03 - 2005, edition of 50

This project was quite prolific in the mid-2000s. Some of the recordings are quite ambient, even beautiful. Perhaps a foreshadowing of the general movement in that direction by several projects in the scene (which would adopt new names, of course). Actually, this project would evolve into a new name itself - Warmth - and perhaps a more refined sound emerges with the new project, but I haven’t gotten to those tapes yet. This release features two sides of characterless distortion, stirred around and with other emergent elements that come and go, creating an overall... just another noise tape. Not the strongest outing from Steev Thompson.

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Wolf Eyes - Undertaker Pt. 2 c20 Polyamory, 2003

This tape is kind of obnoxious because it has no data on it whatsoever except for the record label logo and a skull. I remembered to myself that it was “Wolf Eyes Something Something Volume II. Close... It’s also kind of irritating when the actual cassette case is a part of the release - if something happens to the case then it’s irreplaceable. This recording sounds like a electronics swirling - not like a “band” in any way. Perhaps like multiple people doing things at the same time. It’s rather generic and unexciting. A jam. Oh - I spoke too soon. Like they heard my dismissive chatter and Side B - they’ve submerged me into an ocean of battery acid. Sounds of chaos alternate with a calm tide. I guess there’s some stuff going on here.

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Envenomist - The Helix CD Killer Pimp, 2009 I could never bring myself to listen to this CD. The artwork is so awful I cannot find a way to even put it nicely. It looks like some bargain bin techno or just from some world I have no interest in whatsoever. I think I got this for free via mailorder with some other items. I may have to give it away as well as I see it sells for only about $2.50 on discogs.com. “Don’t judge by its cover” - well sometimes you have to. Being released on a label called “Killer Pimp” doesn’t make me feel excited or motivated to hear it either. Let me know if I’m wrong about this one.

[gotridofthesetapes-blog]

Neuntöter Der Plage ‎– Let Your Flesh Writhe, For It Is Your Time Chondritic Sound ‎– CH-219, 2008

Oh dang - a c70... do I have time to listen to the whole thing? Neuntöter Der Plage was always one of the more mysterious Michigan noise people. He didn’t seem to bro-out with Wolf Eyes and Hive Mind and the like. Maybe - but scarcely. This guy seemed more genuinely out there, doing his own thing, yet with a darkness that seemed much more genuine. I appreciate that this release has actual pauses between tracks. It seems to be made with a higher level of care and attention than many tapes. What’s interesting about this project is that he successfully blends ambiance, noise, power electronics/vocals doom in a seamless way. It seems natural and unforced, unlike many who strive to sit at a similar crossroads of genre and approaches. Anyhow - I recalled having a slightly higher regard for this project and now remember why. I don’t need this tape in my life but someone out there would really enjoy it.

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Phantom Limbs - Shudder cs Accidie Records, 2009

Phantom Limbs is Eric Haney. I’m not sure who that is. Somehow I own this tape. Not sure which side is which as its unclear from the label. Meandering, atmospheric textures reach out, repeat, go on for a little while. The sort of distortion on this tape seems of a more lo-fi origin - from the type of gear used vs. a more synthetic distortion via a pedal. Or perhaps he’s just using a bunch of cheap pedals - but that’s not a slam. It just has an unpolished quality to it of someone who may just be using whatever gear was around or in reach. Nothing wrong with that at all... The other side is broken up into more segments with flashes of more dynamic elements but it tends to come back to the usual, common blasts of noise and various textures.

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Dave Phillips - Hole/Holy 3″ cdr Entr’acte 12 - 2005

I think this release is just a buncha sex sounds, if I remember correctly. I can’t really listen to 3″ cd-rs - they’ll get jacked up in my CD player. I guess I could put them in a computer? That just sounds like a hassle. Either way, this release is very vivid if I can remember it 10 years later. I think it’s just a woman oohing and ahhing. Like a field recording or something...

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Envenomist & Hive Mind ‎– Initiation Into Nothingness c40 Chondritic Sound ‎– CH-223, 2009

On paper, this sounds like a perfect pairing. What can these two come up with in a collaborative scenario? The end result is OK - but basically it’s background music. Someone would really enjoy this but it just didn’t captivate me. I don’t have the energy to elaborate right now.

[gotridofthesetapes-blog]

KVLTS - A Wooden Bible c10 Chondritic Sound ‎– CH-181, 2007 edition of 21

KVLTS was a duo of Greh Holger and Charlie Draheim. They were both roomates and ran a space called “Behind the Green Door” in Detroit. This cassette is very typical “Michigan Style” noise. Two guys doing stuff with stuff at the same time and recording it. Textural, screechy, pink noise, blasts and spurts. Both sides sound pretty much the same.

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Locrian - Burying the Carnival / Exhuming the Carnival c38 Self Released, 2008 edition of 200

This cassette sounds mostly like a jam. “Atmospheric” droning guitar with a noodling guitar beneath it that eventually emerges on top - very Guitar Center with some distortion and feedback “lurking” in the background. The carnival - buried in dark guitar meanderings... The other side features more of a “building” up quality of it but again - there’s the dark guitar/ambient sounds with a more active “picking” guitar along with it, but overall the feel of this tape is kind of goofy. I can’t take it seriously though as a release, it does look good. Black print on gold paper and gold ink on black tape. Well done packaging. Overall this seems like the kind of release a band might make so they have merch to sell while on tour. It sounds live or hardly edited. There’s something a bit generic about it but maybe that is unfar; that could be said about most of these tapes... Certainly there are worse things in the world out there. Either way, I don’t need to listen to this ever again so, it’s gone. ALSO: One side is 12:49 long, the other - 18:21 leaving quite a disparity (silence on one side) which can be rather obnoxious. They should have technically just made both tracks 13 minutes and done a c26 or something and it would have been a stronger recording.

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Necklacing - Primary Structures cs Accidie Records, 2009

Another blank covered noise release by Necklacing. Digital distortion on repeat with little content. One side has a slight throbbing melody buried way beneath it (or maybe that’s my neighbors..) somehow this recording seems more “dynamic” than the other tape I’ve already reviewed. But overall its unlistenable to me. The full title is “Primary Structures b/w Specific Objects” so maybe they’re trying to be academic. Both sides sound very similar. I don’t think they spent much time making this.

[gotridofthesetapes-blog]

Zombi - Genius Faction Since 1972 - AD7205, 2003

Zombi is a solo project by Mike Connelly of Hair Police (and later Wolf Eyes etc.) It seems he used this moniker from about 2001-2003 and then abandoned it for some others. There are just too many Zombie names to keep straight - so all for the best! It seems simple and lazy of me to just lump this in as “Michigan Noise” particularly because this was made before he even lived in Michigan. There is a crudeness to it, a consumer-electronics/object quality to it which only seems striking now, from the view of a later date i.e. before everyone got synthesizers and more elaborate, high-fidelity sound (or industrial, or whatever splintered off direction, though I suppose newcomers still make noise similar to this, with basic gear). I was going to say that this tape is rather good; but the second side is much like the first and I’ve grown tired of listening to it. BUT let me just say, Mike Connelly is one of the friendliest people I’ve encountered from going to any type of noise show, consistently friendly, even upbeat - in a world of depressed, socially awkward weirdos... He’s a good one. So is Since 1972. If you’re just learning about noise you might enjoy looking at their back catalog. It seemed like quite a classic American noise label for many years.

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Tombi - Forest of Three Trees c20 Tone Filth TF41, 2006, edition of 103 Tone Filth always put out very nice, professional looking tapes. So professional, he was inclined to use many beiges, “office colors” and even a Times-New-Romanesque font, as though this tape label had its own office job. The song titles of this release all have a similar quality words like haze, cloud, amber, fog, and so on. Perhaps I should just say that yeah - that’s what this sounds like. A reaching out type distorted ambience; perhaps even outdoorsy? Yet also artificial like shitty office lighting. What does that even mean? I don’t know....  Electronics, distortion etc, etc etc etc and so on. Whatever gear this guy used he used on both sides... it sounds like someone who is really into one particular pedal and uses it on everything. This tape is its own haze, rather consistent... but it’s not distinct or special enough to me to warrant keeping. I’ll pass it along, someone else will probably enjoy it more.

[gotridofthesetapes-blog]

Hive Mind - A Feast Within c20 Gods of Tundra, 2009

I thought this cassette was called A Beast Within, as the spine text is difficult to read. Feast is even funnier to me; if you’ve seen the man behind this project you might know what I mean. Besides, he already has other releases with the word “Beast” in the name. I found another review site of old tapes when searching for this and I guess my writing about noise is “wrong.” Sorry I am not more imaginative than using words like distortion, wall, blast, sludge, and so on. I’m reviewing the tapes I don’t think are worth keeping thus am discussing lower - bottom barrel noise. To me, it is unimaginative so if my writing follows suit; so be it. Plainly discussing content. I don’t even have the energy to parody some type of elaborate enthusiastic review so I’ll just paste for contrast:

Two more blasts of alien flightpath correspondence from the ever reliable Hive Mind on this tape. Side A scans across interference-laden airwaves in search of a signal, glimpsing eroded tones among a field of radio fuzz. Starting out with the regular purr of a possessed oscillator and accumulating more haunted electronics before vanishing into the ether.

Nah. To me this is a guy dicking around with a synth and some pedals. I don’t need to own it anymore. Hopefully it can find a better home, with someone more inclined to write a more lively, colorful review.

[gotridofthesetapes-blog]

Caldera Lakes c16 Accidie Records, 2009

This release is not on discogs.com. I am not sure if it has a name or what. I am not sure which side is which. One side features some rhythmic distortion and chime like qualities - metal sound creaks with some female vocals and reverb. It’s OK. At least it does not sound like typical pedal-electronic sludge, so it avoids that common pitfall but falls into the other one where women with noise projects almost always seem to use their voices. Whoops! The generic noise is on the other side, my bad. The track eventually trails off, the wall drops out. More paced creaking of sorts, clanking, sounds textural and as though objects are being used in some way. I would not be surprised if tape loops were used on this release, or maybe they just had one of those green looping pedals. But I’m no expert... At least the track changed at some point and attempted to go somewhere. There is evidence of trying, but they should have tried to take it a bit farther out. Overall, I have no compelling reason to keep this.