Wednesday, July 29, 2009

AAA LEGEND
Hello World,
Can anybody tell me in what font "LEGEND" is written in this photo?

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Wrong Time To Be Right
I am now stocking Mississippi Records' Tape Series at the Half and Half. Each tape is an astute and very idiosyncratic sampling of, usually, a genre or theme, although some tapes are just a grab-bag of obscure favorites. Oddities, rarities and novelties abound. Each tape costs a mere 3 dollars! Amazing! I'll try to keep at least a few titles on the shelves almost always.

Friday, July 24, 2009

HOLY CHEEVER CHURCH TAPES:
Two new tapes in from Holy Cheever Church, a label based in Livonia/Detroit, Michigan, and dedicated to documenting the fertile improv scene going on there right now, as well as like-minded groups from across the country and Canada. Both are stellar and much different than the improv I'm used to seeing here in Portland. If there's a through line, it's an attention to interesting texture and an even-tempered, almost methodical, approach to playing. This is in contrast to a style that favors big dynamic shifts and wilder playing. I am very intrigued by these tapes and the scene they represent. (Chris Riggs is about to start an East Coast tour, Bent Spoon Duo have a new disc out on Bug Incision.)
Mike Khoury/Chris Riggs - My Words Came Out Slow and Odd - HCC 024
MIKE KHOURY/CHRIS RIGGS -
MY WORDS CAME OUT SLOW AND ODD - HCC 024
Two players, violin and electric guitar. Awesome stuff here. This tape is a long-form exploration of the two instruments interacting, and over the course of it's twenty-odd minutes passes through seething, molten textures, wistful minimalism, spacey drones and skronky squiggles. Well-paced and refreshingly restless. $5
Bent Spoon Duo - Fossils of Summer - HCC 020
BENT SPOON DUO - FOSSILS OF SLUMBER - HCC 020
Lovely tape of bubbling, small-scale improv from this Calgary duo. Lots of bumping, scraping, plucking and tapping. It's very playful, but with a very wide palette of sound -- childlike, out-of-tune strings share space with burbling electronic sounds. Small and mysterious. $5

Monday, July 20, 2009

UHU button
This is not a distro update but a shout-out. Portland all-star Yoni Kifle does UHU Tapes (temporarily located in San Jose), which has an impressive and quickly growing roster. He was just in town dropping off tapes at the Half and Half, as well as Exiled, Mississippi, and a few other places. They've got his Ghost To Falco and Deathsongs tapes at Half and Half. Not sure what else is around, but he's done tapes with Dragging an Ox Through Water, Castanets and What's Up, among others. His tapes are really beautiful. You should check them out.
UHU Tapes

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Valentine's show



















TRUTH SYRUM - THE TAKER'S MISTAKE - NIGHT-PEOPLE 069
Damaged, weirdo-pop. Spaced-out, haunted and very personal in
it's eccentricity. $6




















SHEARING PINX - NIGHT-PEOPLE 076
Latest tape from these fringe-scene heavies. Five excellent freak-outs
that run the gamut from This Heat style broken grooves to Sonic Youth
guitar dreams. Really nice stuff all around from a couple of fellas who
know the ropes. $6




















TERROR BIRD - SOCIOPATHS ARE GLAM - NIGHT-PEOPLE 072
Lovely, piano-based pop music with a hazy, melancholy vibe. It's
hard not to be a little bit in love with the singer by the end of the tape
-- her voice has a rough, far-away sweetness. Solid collection of
stripped-down, late-night pop tunes. $6




















DUNEBUGGY - NIGHT-PEOPLE 071
Here it is! Summer on a cassette tape! Sweet, frayed, stripped-
down, good-times rock and roll played by a pair of loveable weirdos.
Super catchy, super dreamy organ and drum jammers with a
heartbreaking pixie singer. Couldn't be more siked about this tape! $6
I AM ALREADY OUT OF THIS TAPE BUT WILL HOPEFULLY GET MORE!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Mike Watt played the Woolen Men on his radio show!
Woolen Men show tomorrow is with Sad Horse, whose 7" on Mississippi Records is just killer!