Wether - Lighten Lift

I'm thinking this pattern will sound familiar; buy a batch of tapes, find an artist you didn't know about, proceed to purchase more and obsess. So a while back I posted about a Cenote Glow/Wether split, and was really captivated by the Wether side.

Fast forward, time to post a couple (second below), tapes from Wether, the moniker of 905/Tabs Out noise maker, Mike Haley. The first, on 905 itself is Lighten Lift. A curious name, as the tape sounds like a belly crawl through an extraterrestrial back alley. Anything but light. The title track steals the tape with filthy bass rumble, echoing percussion, spacey distorted hauntings. In a way difficult to describe, the soundscape feels claustrophobic, compliments of the thick bottom end, and really quite cavernous as juxtaposed and possibly improvised(?) synth elements float in and out of consciousness. Subdued and sinister, lethargic and menacing, something like that. The label description uses the term "mutterings", and I have to admit, this sounds a lot like a burned out decker high on wiz and mumbling to himself in the redmond barrens.

Limited edition of just fifty, pro printed and dubbed, really sweet and subtle detail on the shell imprint. Grab direct from the 905 Tapes Store.

Wether - Memorex Breath

This, second release (first above), in a two part update covering Wether releases, features the bleak and minimal cranial assault titled Memorex Breath, on Beyond The Ruins. Nasty, swirling, sonic head-in-vice assault. Two untitled sides. The first, a squealing distorted tide of twisting knobs defeating musicality entirely with aggression. The flip of the tape turns up the heat considerably, channelling walls of increasingly manic fuzz upwards into a high pitched roar of caustic celebration. Things crescendo, and then rescede into a subtle and well crafted piece of minimal noise, moving almost flatline in comparison to the previous, that twists ever so slightly a single thread of soft scraping melody before finishing in a dead stop. Try to find a sound sample of this one, I dare you. Nonetheless, worth the blind buy, no question.

Bleak and minimal physical edition, xeroxed covers, in an "undisclosed" quantity. Grab from your choice of the 905 Store, or direct from Beyond The Ruins.

Cenote Glow / Wether - Split

Electromagnetic travels from Cenote Glow and Weather, in a split release on Sic Sic Tapes. One sidelong track from each artist, each unique and individually directed, but still cohesive. The front half, Whilpool, from Cenote Glow takes rolling cyclical grind, and evolves slowly, introducing sharp arpeggiated tones that dance effortlessly across the aforementioned nastiness before evolving into something else altogether. It's a cold, icy, feel, almost crystalline and sinister. The flip, Spirits In An Elevator, from Wether takes a more subtle, subdued approach, but to no less effect. Rich, deeply comforting low end rumble, tempered by the most delicately placed bits of melody breathing just beneath the surface. Feels like watching a full glass of water that's just about to overflow the edge, but never does. Hypnosis brought about through massive overwhelming depth of timbre and texture.

Edition of 75 hand duplicated, individually numbered copies. I was fortunate enough to grab this one as part of the latest Sic Sic batch. As expected, it's now sold out at the source, but still available from Cassette Mania.