Eleven Pond’s solo LP Bas Relief was released in 1986, and was reissued by Dark Entries in 2009, the first release on that label. This band only lasted for about a year after the release of that LP, but there were plenty of additional tracks recorded, so here’s a long-awaited release of this previously unheard material. It’s actually kind of mindblowing to hear some of these songs and hear that they were unreleased rehearsals and demos. And it’s also pretty crazy that this band was from a town like Rochester, NY, because they sound like they could’ve been a British band on Factory. “Watching Trees” from the previous LP appears here as a “bedroom demo”, but it just sounds so complete and familiar. It totally sounds like a song that could’ve been a huge ’80s goth club hit, but for some reason it wasn’t. And it’s not the only song on here that sounds like it could’ve been popular. “Blood Ruins Film” has arpeggiating synths, big metallic guitars, and ’80s synth-drums, and it’s kind of overwhelming for such a lo-fi new wave song. “Turn To Silence” is a seriously sweet, heartfelt melodic new wave song that could’ve been in some cheesy ’80s teen romance movie. “Green & Gold” is another starstruck, dramatic anthem with more awesome arpeggios, and a really cool crazy-edit breakdown. “Land Of Yellow” is slightly less polished and more scratchy and demo-ish, and is another sweetly catchy lonely-teen anthem about dreaming in candle light.
Dark Entries released a 1986 cassette by Nagamatzu on LP back in 2010, and now they’re releasing this LP containing 4 of the 5 songs on their debut tape from 1983. Side B is all compilation tracks and an unreleased track. Minimal drum machine, atmospheric synth and bass guitar, mostly instrumental. Not super dark, but not happy either. “Possession” has echoing spoken word vocals. “Deliberation” actually does have a pretty bright melody, and interesting layered elements. “She Speaks Close” also has some minimal spoken vocals, maybe sort of resembles a very minimal version of Skinny Puppy. “Bird, Spider, Fly” is more upbeat and also has some disembodied voices floating around and being played backwards, and also kind of a proto Twin Peaks chord progression. “Radio Song” is a later unreleased track and seems a little bit more spiffed up than the earlier tracks.
Dark Entries finishes reissuing the early Dark Day catalog on vinyl, following the reissues of the Exterminating Angel and Window LPs, with both tracks from the “Hands In The Dark” 7″ (recorded 1978/released 1979), plus the second side of the “Trapped” 12″ (recorded 1979/released 1981). “Hands In The Dark” is a stone-cold classic of the minimal-synth genre, and was compiled on Soul Jazz’s New York Noise 3 comp a while back, plus it was covered by Chromatics on the first After Dark comp on Italians Do It Better. Pure nervous darkwave synth, with twitchy drums and chilling synths, and queasy vocals. It’s over before you know it (2:26) and you’re not sure what just happened. “Invisible Man” is slightly longer (2:52) and slower, and doesn’t feel quite as tense, but it’s still quite terrifying. Especially the slashing guitar towards the end, and the lyrics about “my other twin who left to join me, sometimes it doesn’t know whether to cry or laugh.” Side B is sort of a remix of tracks from “Exterminating Angel”; the label that released that album wanted to release a 12″ single from the album, but they chose the slowest, longest song on the album, and released it months after the album came out, so R.L. Crutchfield decided to play portions of the album backwards with effects added, and released it as the B-side. The 6 “Exterminations” are each about a minute long and just consist of backwards beats and synth rhythms. Part 5 has some warped guitar trails and is probably the most haunting movement of the 6.
3:01 AM Peter Mergener & Michael Weisser ~ Sunbeam ~ Beam-Scape ~ Innovative Communication
3:12 AM Olekranon ~ Nine Streams ~ Danaus ~ Inam Records
3:17 AM Stave ~ The Fear ~ Reform ~ Flingco Sound System
3:22 AM Swans ~ Yr Property ~ We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head ~ Young God Records
3:34 AM Dark Day ~ Hands In The Dark ~ Hands In The Dark ~ Dark Entries
3:36 AM Nagamatzu ~ Bird, Spider, Fly ~ Shatter Days ~ Dark Entries
3:39 AM Eleven Pond ~ Watching Trees (Bedroom Demo) ~ Assemblage ~ Dark Entries
3:45 AM Xex ~ Trust In Machines ~ Change ~ Dark Entries
3:49 AM Algebra Suicide ~ (A Proverbial Explanation For) Why No Action Is Taken ~ Feminine Squared ~ Dark Entries
3:51 AM Los Microwaves ~ La Voix Humane ~ Life After Breakfast ~ Dark Entries
3:54 AM German Army ~ Verbal Hemisphere ~ Endless Phonics ~ Monofonus Press
4:02 AM Russian Tsarlag ~ Feels So Good ~ Gagged In Boonesville ~ Not Not Fun
4:05 AM Palm /|\ Highway Chase ~ Dark Movie Screens ~ Escape From New York ~ Spectrum Spools
4:07 AM µ-Ziq ~ Smooch ~ Chewed Corners ~ Planet Mu
4:10 AM RP Boo ~ No Return ~ Legacy ~ Planet Mu
4:14 AM Qixoni ~ Divergent Thinker ~ Penk ~ Brokecore
4:18 AM Sensate Focus ~ X ~ 1.66666 ~ Sensate Focus
4:28 AM Henry & Hazel Slaughter ~ B7 ~ Endless Power Cycle ~ Fedora Corpse
4:33 AM Interplanetary Prophets ~ Running Out Of Time ~ Zero Hour ~ Planet Mu
4:39 AM PAS Musique ~ The Strobe Wheel ~ Abandoned Bird Egg ~ Alrealon Musique
4:45 AM Shigeto ~ Ringleader ~ No Better Time Than Now ~ Ghostly International
4:50 AM Julianna Barwick ~ Forever ~ Nepenthe ~ Dead Oceans
4:56 AM Sarah Neufeld ~ Breathing Black Ground ~ Hero Brother ~ Constellation
5:05 AM Esmerine ~ Hayale Dalmak ~ Dalmak ~ Constellation
5:08 AM Liam Singer ~ The Dance Of Cupid And Psyche ~ Arc Iris ~ Hidden Shoal
5:09 AM DIANA ~ That Feeling ~ Perpetual Surrender ~ Jagjaguwar
5:13 AM Julia Holter ~ Hello Stranger ~ Loud City Song ~ Domino
5:19 AM Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom ~ Wishes ~ Daytime Viewing ~ Unseen Worlds
5:25 AM Marina Rosenfeld with Okkyung Lee and Warrior Queen ~ Hard Love ~ P.A. / Hard Love ~ Room40
5:33 AM CFCF ~ Lamp ~ Music For Objects ~ Paper Bag
5:37 AM Legendary Pink Dots ~ A Stretch In Time ~ The Gethsemane Option ~ Metropolis
5:44 AM R. Stevie Moore ~ I’ve Begun To Fall In Love ~ Personal Appeal ~ Care In The Community
5:47 AM Raffertie ~ Gagging Order ~ Sleep Of Reason ~ Ninja Tune
5:51 AM Ikonika ~ Let A Smile Be (Y)our Umbrella ~ Aerotropolis ~ Hyperdub
5:55 AM Eat Lights Become Lights ~ Electromagnetika ~ Modular Living ~ Rocket Girl
Hour 1
9:01 PM Henry & Hazel Slaughter ~ tracks A1 and A2 ~ Endless Power Cycle ~ Fedora Corpse
9:08 PM Nate Young ~ Only Fallen Heads ~ Blinding Confusion ~ NNA Tapes
9:16 PM Julia Holter ~ This is a True Heart ~ Loud City Song ~ Domino
9:19 PM Saturday Looks Good To Me ~ New City ~ One Kiss Ends It All ~ Polyvinyl
9:22 PM Shells ~ Raining ~ In A Cloud ~ Life Like
9:29 PM Justin Walter ~ Lullabies & Nightmares ~ Lullabies & Nightmares ~ Kranky
9:38 PM Justin Walter ~ Western Tears ~ Lullabies & Nightmares ~ Kranky
9:41 PM Supercollider ~ LIVE ~ WCBN Local Music Show ~ WCBN Hour 2
10:00 PM Supercollider ~ LIVE [continued] ~ WCBN Local Music Show ~ WCBN
10:22 PM Mounds ~ Pontiac ~ Mounds Of Earth ~ Symbolic Capital Records
10:27 PM Ritual Howls ~ Rosabelle Believe ~ Ritual Howls ~ Urinal Cake
10:30 PM Minus9 ~ Eat The Dead ~ Drown ~ Flying Blood Records
10:33 PM His Name Is Alive ~ Baby Fish Mouth ~ Mouth By Mouth ~ 4AD
10:36 PM Pity Sex ~ Honey Pot ~ Feast Of Love ~ Run For Cover
10:38 PM Congress ~ Kissing Upstairs ~ Maker EP ~ self-released
10:41 PM Floorplan ~ Eclipse ~ Paradise ~ M-Plant
10:46 PM Dangling Ganglion ~ Side That ~ Bump Tiddy Bump Tiddy ~ Silent, But Deadly
3:01 AM The Orb ~ Towers Of Dub ~ U.F.Orb ~ Big Life/Mercury
3:16 AM High Wolf ~ Alvarado ~ Kairos: Chronos ~ Not Not Fun
3:30 AM Bataille Solaire ~ Microsupernova ~ Documentaires ~ Constellation Tatsu
3:41 AM Grapefruit ~ Escape ~ Stolen Highway ~ Constellation Tatsu
3:45 AM Panabrite ~ Cortex Meridian ~ Cortex Meridian ~ Constellation Tatsu
3:53 AM Interplanetary Prophets ~ Zero Hour ~ Zero Hour ~ Planet Mu
4:01 AM Fudge Buttons ~ Year Of The Dog ~ Slow Focus ~ ATP
4:02 AM Longmont Potion Castle ~ Deiter’s Heat ~ 10 ~ D.U. Records
4:06 AM Henry & Hazel Slaughter ~ A4 ~ Endless Power Cycle ~ Fedora Corpse
4:09 AM Russian Tsarlag ~ Green Woman ~ Gagged In Boonsville ~ Not Not Fun
4:15 AM German Army ~ Human Limbs ~ Endless Phonics ~ Monofonus Press
4:19 AM Palm /|\ Highway Chase ~ Ghost Cars ~ Escape From New York ~ Spectrum Spools
4:21 AM µ-Ziq ~ Twangle Melkas ~ Chewed Corners ~ Planet Mu
4:23 AM Eat Lights Become Lights ~ Los Feliz To Griffith ~ Modular Living ~ Rocket Girl
4:24 AM Longmont Potion Castle ~ Beck’s Lawyer ~ 4 (Expanded Anniversary Edition) ~ D.U. Records
4:33 AM Julia Holter ~ Maxim’s I ~ Loud City Song ~ Domino
4:39 AM Julianna Barwick ~ One Half ~ Nepenthe ~ Dead Oceans
4:43 AM Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom ~ Bareback ~ Daytime Viewing ~ Unseen Worlds
4:48 AM Algebra Suicide ~ (A Proverbial Explanation For) Why No Action Is Taken ~ Feminine Squared ~ Dark Entries
4:50 AM Legendary Pink Dots ~ Grey Scale ~ The Gethsemane Option ~ Metropolis
4:56 AM R. Stevie Moore ~ Pretend For A Second That You Are Very Intelligent ~ Personal Appeal ~ Care In The Community
5:02 AM Marina Rosenfeld with Warrior Queen and Okkyung Lee ~ I Launch An Attack… ~ P.A. / Hard Love ~ Room40
5:05 AM Eugene Carchesio ~ 3 ~ Concert For One Person In A Small Room ~ Room40
5:06 AM PAS Musique ~ Esoteric Funk Classic ~ Abandoned Bird Egg ~ Alrealon Musique
5:12 AM Rodion G.A. ~ Zephyr ~ The Lost Tapes ~ Strut
5:17 AM Ikonika ~ You Won’t Find It Here ~ Aerotropolis ~ Hyperdub
5:20 AM Zomby ~ Reflection In Black Glass ~ With Love ~ 4AD
5:22 AM Raffertie ~ Known ~ Sleep Of Reason ~ Ninja Tune
5:27 AM CFCF ~ Ring ~ Music For Objects ~ Paper Bag
5:31 AM Ken Camden ~ Antares ~ Space Mirror ~ Kranky
5:38 AM Lumerians ~ Dogon Genesis ~ The High Frontier ~ Partisan
5:44 AM Food Pyramid ~ GmbH ~ Ecstasy & Refreshment ~ Intercoastal Artists
5:48 AM Los Microwaves ~ La Voix Humane ~ Life After Breakfast ~ Dark Entries
5:51 AM Poison Dwarfs ~ Do It Again ~ Labil ~ Timezone
5:55 AM His Electro Blue Voice ~ Tumor ~ Ruthless Sperm ~ Sub Pop
5:57 AM Ashrae Fax ~ Daddystitch ~ Static Crash ~ Mexican Summer
Whoa! Somehow I wasn’t expecting this to be as relentless and aggressive and noisy, yet accessible, as it is. Maybe the name made me think it was going to be synth-pop or something. Instead, it’s closer to the kind of noisy alt-rock Sub Pop made its name releasing, except this has a little bit of a goth/death-rock thing to it. Killing Joke is definitely a big reference point here. Opener “Death Climb” is like a less electronic version of a Wolf Eyes fist-banger, and “Spit Dirt” is a long repetitive Kraut-rocky thing, but it’s so tense and paranoid, especially if you read the lyric sheet. My god, these lyrics are frustrated and troubled and bleak. Sometimes it truly comes through in the music, but other times it’s somehow a bit more dulled down, especially on the longer tracks, I think they get more to the point with the shorter ones. “Sea Bug” definitely has a big anthemic ’80s college rock quality to it, reminding me of Husker Du quite a bit, with a big pounding rhythm, wall-of-sound guitars and a great guitar melody repeating and building throughout the second half of the song, plus heavily (Italian) accented vocals. “Tumor” is a short, pounding, almost industrial blast, with shouted vocals (pretty shocking, FCC-unsafe lyrics) and a feedback breakdown in the middle, and some squiggly acid synth ending the song. “The Path” is deceptively uptempo and melodic, disguising more terrifying (and also FCC-unfriendly) lyrics. “Born/Tired” almost sounds like it could be a Pixies song, but instead of the loud intro/quiet verse/loud chorus/etc. formula, it starts with a more melodic part and shouted lyrics, barrels on with the same repetitive rhythm and cools down, starting with softer, almost whispered vocals, and then instrumental guitar and piano soloing. “Red Earth” ends the album on this more calmed-down mode, with deceptively cool/clean-sounding guitars, keyboards and drums, but quite creepy (and, again, FCC-unsafe) lyrics. Also it fades out at about 5:45, is silent for about 15 seconds, and then the last minute is slitherning keyboards and a spooky voice that almost sounds like it’s being choked.
Seriously good psych-kraut-space-rock. Intricate synth and guitar melodies, drum machines and live drums, droning organ, and non-obscured vocals. I don’t know why this album surprised me as much as it did, maybe I heard something by them before and wasn’t into it, but this album is just really well done. The songs generally run about 5 or 6 minutes, but they don’t seem to go on too long or get bogged down with endless soloing. They stay fresh and energetic and even funky, in a Can sort of way, especially “High Frontier”. “Koman Tong” is sort of like Afrobeat space-rock. “Smokies Tangle” is instrumental, and “Life Without Skin” starts with spoken female vocals in Spanish, before kicking into a faster, chase-like rhythm, then calming down with wordless vocals and vibraphone (or similar instrument), and then heating up with a hot organ sound and hand percussion. Really solid stuff.
Fedora Corpse presents the first non-American Tapes release by Henry & Hazel Slaughter, a new solo venture of John Olson from Wolf Eyes. This is supposedly his “demented techno project”, according to a little note sent with this promo, but it’s not even close to the sort of actually danceable techno that Moon Pool & Dead Band do. This is seriously corroded, staggering, stuttering, short-circuiting dead-drunk electronic music, with swarming synth-scapes, noise bursts, backwards beats, and oblong rhythms. In Wolf Eyes terms, it emphasizes the shuddering, thudding drum machine rhythms, does away with vocals and guitar thrashing, and mostly frames the noise onto distorting the jagged, skipping machine rhythms. If you want to try to frame this in a dance music context, this might be like going to some illegal dance party, drinking something far more spiked than you expected, and when you sit down you feel like you’re in an electric chair, while the DJ keeps trainwrecking and all his records are skipping. At one point (A5) it sounds like the DJ’s just cueing up records, as the rhythm keeps fading out and coming back in like it’s just a bunch of preview clips. On side B some dub spectres come to haunt the place, turning the place into some sort of haunted electrified dancehall. But even these ghosts seem more concerned with flying and crashing around and breaking stuff and causing physical damage than actually having a dance party. Totally fun stuff. Of course, the record is pressed to highlighter yellow see-through vinyl, so it’s hard to tell which track is which, and there’s no track titles anyway, so it’s not the easiest record to DJ with, but that’s not the point. Also, side A ends in a locked groove, but the track itself has such a pattering, skipping rhythm that it sounds like a locked groove already, except you’re wondering why you can hear subtle differences in the electronic droning in the background, so that when it actually does reach the locked groove, you don’t even notice it’s just repeating and not actually evolving, but you still feel like you hear different sounds coming in and out of the mix somehow.
The Answer Is In The Beat 