Witchbeam - Tales of the Ghede Zodiac

Foreboding oscillation from Witchbeam with Tales Of The Ghede Zodiac on 905 Tapes. Waves of sickeningly thick synth, ripping around in circles. Drum patterns on hypnotic delay, reverberating recitation of what sounds like S&M experiences or some kind of documentary of ritual torture. Evil and playful, like your torturer enjoying himself. Five tracks of raw sound split over two sides, quite minimal in their construction but imbued with a sense of narrative. Ugly, disgusting, and for a post industrial freak, altogether quite awesome. Blindfold me and I'd have pegged this for the Posh Isolation or Hospital Productions catalogues. I think this might be my favorite tape of the year.

Full color double sided inserts. Even though in the photo the shell may look blank, there's a large dark imprint on clear purple. Looks like Tomentosa is still stocking at least one copy, or stream in full and purchase digitally at the 905 Bandcamp.

Shingles - God First Planted A Garden

Heady and heavy exploration from Singles with God First Planted A Garden on 2:00 AM Tapes. Lots to digest here, at 26 minutes this one uses every inch of that tape to patiently develop and deliver on a middle ground between sludge and the cosmos. Caustic swirling washes of synth texture. Broad, majestic melodic lines slowly devolving into fuzzed out guitar grit and riffage. A typewriter urgently meeting the typebars with the platen. What I found particularly interesting was the marriage of unique elements into a single context that really works, and plays with a lot more bite than most of the tape scene. Sounds like the reverberating energy of a Hawkwind jam session recorded from the sewers below the main stage. Messy, varied, off the wall.

Art looks like some type of Dr. Seuss contraption turning crab claws into sausage. Is the CNR81 feeding into the A91 or the other way around? Pro dubbed and imprinted pink tapes, stream it at the label Bandcamp, I purchased from from the excellent 905 Tapes Store, but they look to be fresh out.

Steve Kenny - Night Warning

Paranoia inducing synth waves from Steve Kenny with Night Warning on 905 Tapes. Mysterious hallucinatory stuff. Bold repetition of constantly evolving lines that swirl around the cortex, offering something slightly different on each pass. Super limited number of elements, which allows conscious interpretation to dissolve giving way to close examination of the timbre on display. And that timbre, well, it's kind of like this 90's clubbed out broad and spacey thing that got smashed into the floor and slowed down to 1/4 speed. Rave tracks for the Sloth master race circling the earth in their starship. Two side long tracks, with possibly two on the flip, but without a track listing I couldn't be sure. Sounds like taking a bath in cough syrup to freshen up after a night of sleeping on the bathroom floor.

Edition of 75 pro dubbed beauties, transparent eyes starring back from the shell, some of the coolest on tape art I've seen. Grab direct from 905 tapes, or stream in full at the label Bandcamp.

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.

Mark Bradley - Offerings

The second, (see above for the first) in a forward march of magnetic mind expansion from Cosmic Winnetou, comes in the form of Offerings from Mark Bradley. Clean, melodic modular synth work. Subtle shifts between the brief and numerous tracks create an incredibly unified aesthetic where things sound similar, and yet continue to surprise. I imagine the individual songs as winds blowing through autumn leaves clinging desperately to their branches. While fundamentally the same, with each separate moment, new leaves twist and reveal their shapes and colors, and then change again. A single action, yet unique and beautiful differences. I’ve enjoyed several of Bradley’s works this year, notably his output on Goldtimers, and I count this as the finest I’ve yet heard yet.

Edition of fifty, hand numbered, white shell tape, pretty much awesome. Unfortunately, this one is sold out at the source, but can still be ordered at the wonderful 905 Tapes.

905, Sacred Phrases, Jozik (Freebies!)

A set of three freebies from three of my absolute favorite tape labels. Spectrum Tickets on 905 Tapes, Christopher Merritt on Sacred Phrases, and an Ous Mal / Punktieren / Coaxil split from Jozik Records. Sounds on these tapes run the spectrum from noisy, to glitched out, and downright melodic. Killer artists, killer labels.

If you have interest, simply email me at guidemelittletape at gmail dot com. The set will be given out on a first contact basis. No catch, just check out these labels and support these artists!

Gone to Martin from Pennsylvania as of 4/4. Thanks and enjoy!

Ophibre - Psyllium Husks

New tape of distortion, glitch, and general unorthodox creativity from Ophibre on 905 Tapes. Psyllium Husks is a very challenging listen. Faint glimmers of musicality and rhythm show through only for brief moments for those dedicated enough to seek them. I listened twice and I'm stil not quite sure what it all means, which I'm pretty sure is exactly the point. I received it as part of a "Mystery Sack" from 905 with 10 in-house tapes for just $30. I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend than with 10 new tapes, especially gritty, mind expanding ones like these. Photo of the entire bundle below.