Blog
Chuck Johnson – CJ-1
March 30, 2015
Having already issued his sprawling, esoteric take on folk music on Three Lobed and Strange Attractors Audio House, Chuck Johnson now returns with a stunning tape of guitar-and-analog electronics via Drawing Room Records. The producer, currently based in Oakland, previously assumed the name Pykrete…Week in Review #61
March 28, 2015
#1 – 3.23.2015 – J&C Tapes’ sister imprint PLASTIK TONEZ dropped another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cassette in it’s confounding discography. This edition finds Justin Wiggan (Roadside Picnic) sourcing Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love LP as inspiration, but why explain…
Copley Medal – “Select Panic”
March 27, 2015
Ryan Martin is an ascetic renaissance man of the noise and post-industrial scene. Not to be confused with the Ryan Martin of Secret Boyfriend and Hot Releases fame, the Ryan Martin of Brooklyn helms an array of creative projects, from manning the impeccable Dais Records imprint with Gibby Miller,…Psychic Heat – “Stargazer (Live)”
March 26, 2015
Lawrence, Kansas-based label/music collective Whatever Forever has been releasing Midwestern gems since 2011, and their new cassette EP from Psychic Heat is no exception. The studio versions of the Lighter and Brighter EP take up side A, while side B hosts the live tracks, a concept that fits nicely…Mads Emil Nielsen – PM016
March 26, 2015
The Copenhagen-based Arbitrary imprint is a non-profit venture founded by Mads Emil Nielsen, for publishing books and audio artifacts to be distributed in shops, galleries, and via mail order. Each of the label’s three active releases features involvement in some way by Nielsen himself, whether…The Variable Why – Looking at The Triangles
March 24, 2015
It’s a shame Looking at The Triangles, The Variable Why’s debut release, is sneaking by everyone’s radar, trailing just out of the collective peripheral when it should be front and center. Following the brief and modest appearance of “I Could Have Killed You And No One Would Have…
Stave – After The Social
March 24, 2015
I posted to Decoder about how Stave absolutely killed it when I saw him opening for Demdike Stare in 2013. His first release Reform was on Chicago’s Flingco Sound System, followed by a 12-inch called Trust on Trensmat, both in 2013. Now Berlin’s Repitch Recordings is putting out the newest…Premiere: Hiiragi Fukuda – Seacide
March 23, 2015
Japanese experimental artist Hiiragi Fukuda returns with his third stateside issue, as Trouble in Mind Records reissues the guitarist-synthesist’s 2014 Seacide on LP and CD (originally issued on cassette by Sloow Tapes). It would be shortsighted to call Fukuda’s rhythms minimal, as that…
Xth Réflexion – /\\06
March 23, 2015
It’s been nearly three months since we last heard from Aught, the anonymous heroes based from who knows where, with Xth Réflexion’s dizzying /\\05, a dissonant and cavernous set minimal techno that we cherished dearly and of which we couldn’t get enough. Thankfully, the…Premiere: Kara-Lis Coverdale – Aftertouches
March 23, 2015
Following last year’s stunning A 480 cassette on Constellation Tatsu, Kara-Lis Coverdale now returns with a bold and moving work of modern classical miniatures inflected with electronic elegance. The Montreal native and occasional collaborator of celebrated titans of textured drone music (Tim…
Week in Review #60
March 21, 2015
Catching up with last week’s slightly delayed FFFoxy Podcast… “On this episode of the FFFoxy Podcast, we started off the show with a premiere excerpt from the Philadelphia-based duo Good Area’s forthcoming LP called Macbeth. This release, following solid efforts out on the reputable…
ÄSS – Live in New Jersey
March 20, 2015
Did you ever notice that garage rock is cleaning up its act more and more and more and more? Well, if the likes of bright sunshiney west coast glee whet your appetite for scuz, you ought to head east for some S-K-U-Z-Z. After beginning their tape with a spot-on Cheap Trick cover, ÄSS jump into the…Hasil Adkins’ Hot Dog Songs
March 19, 2015
Manufactured Recordings, the tape imprint sprung from the Captured Tracks root, very coyly announced late last month via Facebook that they had “partnered with Norton to make Real Kids, The Mighty Hannibal, and Hasil Adkins tapes! All on cassette for the first time!” Now, obviously I’m…Skell Records February 2015 Batch
March 18, 2015
Skell Records took all of last year off, a notion that left a gaping hole in the collective heart of noise and improv enthusiasts the world over. So when label owner Mike Griffin (aka Parashi) unveiled not one but four (!) new cassettes last month, this particular listener did spit-take and cleared…
Head of Wantastiquet – IDSID
March 18, 2015
Head of Wantastiquet is one of the wonderful solo and side projects that shook out of Sunburned Hand of the Man’s touring band when they played Morgantown last year, along with the exotic noise-wrangling skronk of Chad Cooper and his Magnetic Expansion moniker. Their subsequent dispersal to the…Hollow Boys – Violent Ascension
March 17, 2015
What do you want from psych pop? Hollow Boys seem to answer that question with a slow, heavy opening to their most recent tape, Violent Ascension, expanding beyond capacity and truly indulging the listener. Yet, the band almost immediately changes course with peppy, bright soul music that sounds like…In Tall Buildings: “Flare Gun (City Center Remix featuring Dina Bankole)”
March 17, 2015
In Tall Buildings (Erik Hall, formerly of NOMO) just released its second album, Driver, on Western Vinyl. I haven’t heard it yet, but the first album was a decent collection of R.E.M.-esque folky indie-rock. I was really excited to hear this City Center remix of first single “Flare Gun”,…Premiere: Jeff Zagers – “A Hole to Hollow”
March 17, 2015
Last year’s stunning Chu’s Musings Trill three-cassette boxed set was Jeff Zagers’ master work. Released by Soft Science, the box collected three previously released albums of the Savannah, Ga-based producer’s expansively experimental, intricately produced pop music, showing…Premiere: Rejections – “Will”
March 16, 2015
Rejections is quite near and dear to Decoder’s collective heart for a number of reasons, one of which being the project’s The Vertical City EP was the first published review after our May, 2013 relaunch. Now, almost two years later, Michael Hann is still king of the rhythmically dissonant…Subscribe
Blog Archive
- December 2015 (14)
- November 2015 (17)
- October 2015 (23)
- September 2015 (23)
- August 2015 (22)
- July 2015 (31)
- June 2015 (28)
- May 2015 (28)
- April 2015 (31)
- March 2015 (43)
- February 2015 (40)
- January 2015 (38)
- December 2014 (25)
- November 2014 (26)
- October 2014 (30)
- September 2014 (23)
- August 2014 (39)
- July 2014 (37)
- June 2014 (37)
- May 2014 (36)
- April 2014 (46)
- March 2014 (37)
- February 2014 (37)
- January 2014 (32)
- December 2013 (43)
- November 2013 (45)
- October 2013 (40)
- September 2013 (37)
- August 2013 (47)
- July 2013 (42)
- June 2013 (43)
- May 2013 (68)
