Thursday, September 30, 2010

The lastest batch from Gift Tapes...

Nathan McLaughlin - Echolocation 3 - Gift Tapes
Nathan McLaughin - Echolocation 3
Heavy duty tape of Deep Listening for the heads. This is the kind of music that completely fills whatever room it's being played in. The sonic textures are great, from low rumbles that sound like they were recorded from inside a glacier to distant bass lines emanating from impossibly deep in the music to sweetly droning tones. There's really a lot here, one of those tapes that takes a few listens just to wrap your head around. Recommended, don't want to miss this one. $7

Mi Or and the Pedestals - Eos - Gift Tapes
Mi Or and the Pedestals - Eos
Not sure I've ever heard a tape quite like this one. It's definitely coming from the Gift Tapes universe being in the mode of long-form synth and electronics exploration but the scope of sound is pretty wild. One pole is gently bubbling new-age/kosmische synthesizer and the other is raw electronics, and the tape swings back and forth between the two, building to loud erruptions of sound then washing back away into placid near silence. The flip is not as ebullient but there's still the pairing of relatively clean, dewey synth-tones and grittier, almost industrial-leaning sounds. $7

Panabrite - Wizard Chimes - Gift Tapes
Panabrite - Wizard Chimes
As the synth craze continues to sweep the underground we're at the point where it doesn't cut it any more to just warm up the oscillators and put echo on the filter sweeps. With Brother Raven's last LP for Digitalis a high water mark of the traditional school of kosmische playing, it makes sense that Anderson's Gift Tapes imprint would be keeping standards high. Panabrite's Wizard Chimes stands out for how wholley composed it sounds. Nary a knob twiddle feels careless. What we have is nine little worlds of mellow, bubbling sequencer and chiming bleeps, each succinct and thought through. $7
Couple of very dreamy 3" CDRs from Hooker Vision. Morning music. The run-size of this label is still painfully small but they are definitely locking into an aesthetic both visually and sonically, which is always cool.
Aerial Jungle - Mosaic 3" CDR - Hooker Vision
Aerial Jungle - Mosaic 3" CDR
Two ten-ish minute jammers from Rachel Evans (of Hooker Vision) and the inimitable Brad Rose (of North Sea, Altar Eagle, Digitalis, one million other projects). First one is quietly propulsive with some melodic nods toward the Moebius-Roedelius school without laying it on too thick, thanks goodness. Second one is all swirls of mist and sparkling synth tones, relaxed without being catatonic. Both do their thing without lingering too long. Nothing earth-shattering but the whole package is great; little CDR, colorful art, really pleasant tracks. $6
Moss Swarm - Seance Horizon 3" CDR - Hooker Vision
Moss Swarm - Seance Horizon 3" CDR
Psych-folk drone-zone work from Grant Evans of Hooker Vision, Nova Scotian Arms. More twining branches and curling smoke than the other, more new age-y stuff of his I had heard, and this is a good thing, adding quite a bit of grit and substance. Again, two tracks, succinct and to the point. Nice variety of sounds and textures, all in all a Jeweled Antler, Last Visible Dog vibe done pleasantly if unassumingly. $6
eggy shirt grey
The last of the Eggy/Half and Half shirts. Half and Half closed and I washed the screen out, so when these are gone that's it. $7 a pop.

SMALL
Blue x 3
Green x 2
Red x 1

MEDIUM
Blue x 3
Green x 2
Red x 1
Yellow x 1

LARGE
Blue x 1

Monday, September 27, 2010

It's been a while since carrying their stuff, but it's really nice to have a few Holy Cheever Church releases to offer again:
Chris Dadge - What Comes After Dust - Holy Cheever Church
Chris Dadge - What Comes After Dust
Chris Dadge -- half of the Bent Spoon Duo, a third of the Bent Spoon Trio, Bug Incision head-honcho, and member of countless other projects from all over the sonic map -- offers up a solo tape of the kind of beguiling-instrumented improv very much in line with his Bent Spoon work. The main difference is in the tone of the work, which is much darker and more insistent than the duo, which has its share of playful and open moments. $6
Gino Robair - NoiseBox - Holy Cheever Church
Gino Robair - NoiseBox (e.11.B)
Solo instrumental work on -- I'm assuming -- the NoiseBox. Not sure if this kind of tape belongs to a genre or scene but I always enjoy these releases when they come my way. A man, a single piece of electronics and no overdubs. The result is a tape of odd sound -- chattering, chirruping, whistles, groans, raspy howls and the sudden, thick worm of noise, shimmering with electricity. And lots of space, little bits of silence always poking though. I think listening to these tapes I dig how simple the relationship is between maker and listener. One on one. Gino might as well be playing through the phone. $6
Pete Fosco - Negative Mind - Holy Cheever Church
Pete Fosco - Negative Mind
Nice tape from Pete Fosco, a distant sonic cousin to Pete Swanson's recent releases, teetering on the line between tone and texture, playing that hard, bright mid-range of saturated audio. Why do these kind of tapes always sound so sad? There's no tracklisting but the second piece on side A is quite arresting -- simple and beautiful. Side B is barely there, just the light of the setting sun on the surface of the water, then a short guitar piece to close the tape out. Really excellent stuff, slow and measured, the sound always shifting in subtle ways. $6

Friday, September 24, 2010

Talk Talk --
Me and a bunch of local label folk (Gnar, K, Kill Rock Stars, Slender Means, etc.) recently answered a bunch of questions for a new Portland music blog, Outsider Music, you can read the group interview here.

Also, this was a while back but I never got around to mentioning it, answered some questions for Digitalis, you can read the interview here.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Last minute notice! Tonight!
"Double Moon Event" a textile instrument/installation by the Polyps (me and Josh Kermiet) plus music by Tracey Trance and Wolfman, a slideshow by Justin Clifford Rhody and art by Adam Zeek!
8pm
4817 NE Garfield
FREE!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Great free show Thursday at the Mission Theater!

Soft Paws
Golden Hours
Orca Team
Hornet Leg

with Cyrus being shown before hand and Breakin' shown right after the bands finish, and it's all FREE. Cyrus shows at 5:30, bands from 8 to 10:30, then Breakin' at 11.
The Mission Theater is at 1624 NW Glisan.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Three new Eggy tapes!
They are five dollars each, email eggyrecords@gmail.com if you want to put an order in. You can scope the whole discography here.

Earthmasters - s/t - Eggy 18
Earthmasters - s/t - Eggy Number 18







"Beheaded" by Earthmasters
Earthmasters is the woozy, sideways pop-craft of young Brooklynite George Demoura. George sites Ariel Pink and Blank Dogs as influences but what he's created is a million times more zonked and wholly his own. These tracks exist in a frictionless alter-verse, either instrumentals held down by sea-sick drum machine or pop songs whose bizarre logic doesn't keep them from being inscrutably, weirdly catchy. Hand-colored covers, each one a little different. Pro-dubbed.

Five Dollars. Order here.

Nodolby - s/t - Eggy 17
Nodolby - s/t - Eggy Number 17







"Red is the color of my true love's hair" by Nodolby
Nodolby is the solo project of Mic Scariot who runs the Italian noise label Dokuro, and who has graced Eggy with an excellent tape of lush, elegant noise music. The sonic palate is wide, moving from the traditional feedback-distortion axis into more mysterious audio territory where strange rattling and scraping evokes Brothers Quay-style interiors and where distant melody flickers in the dusk. Hand-colored covers, each one a little different. Pro-dubbed.

Five Dollars. Order here.

Orca Team - Let It Go - Eggy 16
Orca Team - Let It Go - Eggy Number 16







"Vancouver B.C" by Orca Team
Ten songs from this Portland trio who have made the pre-Beatles 60s their turf and keep company with the likes of Link Wray and Joe Meek's reverb-pop projects. The tracks here outline a very succinct sound -- stylishly up-front bass-lines, flashes of melodic guitar and steady, minimal drumming. Remarkably solid collection of songs that just get better and better with each listen. Pro-dubbed.
Recorded by Robert from Hornet Leg/Nucular Aminals.

Five Dollars. Order here.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

RRRecords tapes 2
RRRecords tapes 1
Handful of tapes from RRRecords' Recycled Music series, all the covers look like the ones above. $4 each, this is what I've got:

Pulse Emitter
Kites
John Wiese
Wolf Eyes
Nautical Almanac
Noise Nomads
Pedestrian Deposit
Evil Moisture
Boyzone

Monday, September 6, 2010

Came across a nice treasure trove of out-of-print tapes my roommates had stored away from their days running a mobile small-press arts shop out of their Airstream, hope to get everything posted in the next week or so. First up is a nice batch of Night-People tapes and a Night-People related Not Not Fun tape. I only have one copy of each of these.
Black Vatican - Night People
Black Vatican - Zed Omega - Night-People 020
With the NP catalog up to 112 releases and counting, this is practically a fossil at release number 20. Black Vatican are a duo who do wobbly, blasted pop music very much setting the tone for subsequent NP tapes by people like Truth Syrum and Hanging Coffins. Classic Shawn Reed silk-screen art on the cover of this one. $8
Chris Cooper and Bill Nace Duo - Night People
Bill Nace and Chris Cooper Duo - Night-People 022
I haven't listened to this one yet but it's definitely on the nicest looking tapes in the NP catalog. $8
Dunebuggy - Night People
Dunebuggy - S/T - Night-People 071
Really happy to have a copy of this back in stock. Debut tape from the good-times rock and roll creepazoid super duo of Ryan Garbes(Raccoo-oo-oon, Wet Hair) and Charles Free(Taterbug, California Son). Every song on here is pretty much a fried take on Louis Louis/Wild Thing done with blasted organ and drums and wild pixie-singing. One of my favorite NP tapes. $8
Hanging Coffins - Night People
Hanging Coffins - S/T - Night People
Severely zonked tape from this mysterious Eugene, Oregon group that swerves between fried riffage to melodic, downer jams. $8
Meth Teeth - Night People
Meth Teeth - Indian Spirits - Night People
Four song tape originally issued by Olympia, WA Ick Ick Records for a Meth Teeth tour, if I remember correctly, all the tracks appear in different versions on their Woodsist LP, if I remember correctly. "I Was Wrong" is one of their jams. $8
Shepherds with Shawn Reed - Eyes of the World - Not Not Fun 083
Shepherds with Shawn Reed - Eyes of the World - Not Not Fun 083
Shepherds is a Woods side project, I recognize main-man Jeremy Earl and tape-looper Nonhorse Lucas Crane among the four names, the other guys might be in Woods, too, this time joined with Night-People Raccoo-oo-oon Wet Hair Shawn Reed. This has got a Pre-American, pre-song Woods vibe, all shambling psych-murk and tape loops, none of the lo-fi indie sound their onto now. Nice snapshot of the tape underground of a few years ago. $8

More tapes to come, Friends and Relatives, Isolated Now Waves, RRRecords.
20100909 - Portland OR - Artistery - Tiny Knives, Woolen Men, Blood Beach, Besties
Poster by Brian Mumford!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Stopped by Cherry Sprout Produce Market up on Albina and Sumner yesterday to check out the nice wall of Chris Johanson paintings they've got up this month. Great stuff, be sure you don't miss it!