Tuesday, June 30, 2009


New batch of tapes in from Night-People! Hope to have these down at the Half and Half this weekend.

These items are in stock right now:
Stepmother - Collage II - Karamazov - $5
Seth and Amanda - Lying Together - Karamazov - $5
Dim Holys - Is There Heat Rising in Your Neck - OMS-B - $7
NASA - Diamond and Wood - Not Not Fun - $7
The Polyps - Wheat - Eggy - $6
The Golden Hours - Spooky - Eggy - $4

Going to order some tapes from Holy Cheever Church and hopefully also Rare Youth. Waiting on the next round of releases from Gel Tapes and Not Not Fun.

Don't be the last kid on the block without a Sea Lords! Available at the Half and Half.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

New Tapes! Chad and Sam run Karamazov Tapes from up the ways a little bit in St. Johns. Looks like they do about a fifty-fifty-ish mix of locals and the cream of the Kansas City scene. I grabbed five, but more titles are available at Exiled and Mississippi. I dropped a few off at the Half and Half and will bring the rest by later this week.

STEPMOTHER - COLLAGE II - KARAMAZOV
Stepmother is the work of 19-year old St. Johns experimental-music wunderkind Forrest Wright. "Collage II" is an 18-minute journey that blends snippets of field recordings and found sound with meditative drones and howling electronic noise. A beautiful and evocative tape from an undiscovered local talent. $5

JERK - TROUBLE - KARAMAZOV 009
A strange and wonderful world unto itself, this tape is the "lost" L.P. of a 4-tracker bedroom weirdo, recorded 10 years ago. "Trouble" is equal parts ramshackle pop songs and audio experiments, both calming and disturbed, all radiating the aura of a found object. $5

SETH AND AMANDA - LYING TOGETHER - KARAMAZOV 014
Seth and Amanda might be a duo from Kansas City. This tape is a long-form exploration of homemade electronic noise, mangled synthesizers and strange radio transmissions. On the one hand, it's pretty harsh stuff, on the other, it's relatively restrained; each noise and texture has room to breath. Lots of cool sounds and moments of weird beauty on this tape. $5

WIERD MIX VOL. 7 - KARAMAZOV 012
What was it like to be 12 years old in the '90s? It's all here on this tape, the bona fide document of a pair of bored suburbanite kids. Bad TV, fart jokes, torturing monkey-faced little sisters, SNES, fart songs, Bart Simpson, yelling obscenities, farts themselves, and unfunny skits make up this 60-minute, low-brow, audio panorama. I find this tape oddly mesmerizing. The re-produced original art work is not to be missed -- a cut and paste collage of pop-culture detritus and inane ca-ca humor. $5

SNUFF GAMELAN - KARAMAZOV 015
Traditional Indonesian gamelan meets surprisingly funky jazz in this strange and charming showdown of musical opposites. $5

Monday, June 22, 2009

Dragging an Ox Through Water is touring Europe with Jackie-O Motherfucker! Here are the dates cut and pasted from his website. Here. Good luck, Brian!

# 2009-06-23 Milan IT - Moonshine Pub - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-06-24 Bolzano IT - Caffè del Teatro - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an OX through Water
# 2009-06-26 Wroclaw PL - Survival Art Festival - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-06-27 Offenbach DE - Hafen 2, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-06-28 Geneva Switzerland - L'Usine - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-06-29 Marseilles FR - L'embobineuse - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-06-30 Vic Spain - ?? - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an OX through Water
# 2009-07-01 Coimbra Portugal -?? - Jackie-o motherfucker, dragging an ox through water
# 2009-07-02 Lisboa POR - ZDB Gallery - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-03 Madrid ES - El Perro - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-04 Barcelona ES - Becool - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-06 Nantes FR - BPM - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-07 UK - ?? - Jackie o motherfucker, dragging an ox
# 2009-07-08 Newcastle upon tyne UK - ?? - Jackie o motherfucker, dragging an ox
# 2009-07-09 Manchester UK - ?? - Jackie o motherfucker, dragging an ox
# 2009-07-10 UK LONDON - Cafe Oto - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-11 Den Haag NL - ?? - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-12 Berlin DE - ? - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-13 Amsterdam NL - ?? - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-14 Koln DE - ?? - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-15 Vienna AUT - ? - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water
# 2009-07-18 Verona IT - Arci Kroen - Jackie-O Motherfucker, Dragging an Ox through Water

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

I got a few tapes in from the Night-People label out of Iowa City. They have been releasing a ton of amazing music lately so I'm pleased get some tapes that might not be on people's radars here in Portland. Not to mention the art that Shawn does for these guys, which is silk-screened and super elegant, and worth the price of the tape by itself. Also, check out the Night-People website because about a dozen new tapes just dropped. I will bring these by the Half and Half this week. Very interesting interview with Night-People here.

YVES/SON/ACE - COLD SHOWERS - NP069
This is a weird one. The main reference point is probably the Conet Project. Mangled transmissions from a world right beneath the one we inhabit. Barely visible shapes in a haze of tape hiss. Refreshingly difficult and, really, shouldn't cassette tapes be the medium in which people really experiment? Raw and weird. $6

NAUTILUS - BIG SHADOW - NP067
Nautilus is Heidi Diehl and she makes beautiful, quiet music. Two tracks here; side A is "Horizon," a simple, shimmering drone in two parts. Side B is where this tape really shines. "Little Unknown" is still drone music but moves through three distinct parts each it's own world yet all a cohesive whole. Nautilus uses melody really well and that's when her music hits home. $6

PEAKING LIGHTS - TWO FOR CEREMONY - NP068
Peaking Lights are one of the most interesting bands making music right now. Their sound is mysterious and lush. A repeating melody or strange old drum machine beat is usually used as a foundation upon which squiggles of sound and distant, echoing vocals are overlain. It's hazy and mellow but engaging as well. Two medium length tracks, pre-Imaginary Falcons LP. $6