Cliffsides -
Singularity c31
AS18: Edition of 60
Now firmly rooted in Brooklyn, Ryan McGill’s (Bones of Seabirds) melodic synth project continues to take full flight. Performed entirely on the Roland Juno 60 analog polysynth, this is one of McGill’s most lush and expansive releases thus far. Both pieces that make up
Singularity stretch toward the furthest depths of the galaxy and bathe the listener in a wash of gorgeous melody that’s fit to make hearts flutter and spines chill. It’s immaculately composed, perfectly executed, and sure to deliver you straight to the light at the end of the tunnel. With full color artwork, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
The North Sea/Bones of Seabirds - Split c64
AS17: Edition of 80
Prolific, heavy Midwest and Southeast minds join up for an unprecedented analog synth tag team. Brad Rose leads the way with two distinct burners. One swirls between beauty and menace while threatening to suck you into its hypnotic vortex—a place you’ll surely want to go. The other burrows straight into your skull and blows rainbow bubbles in your grey matter. Ryan McGill goes the distance on the flip with a sidelong piece that sculpts a gentle, soothing pulse into a towering monolith and finishes with a truly hellacious descent—the likes of which haven’t been heard on a BoS recording in quite awhile. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
ANALOG CONCEPT MUSIC c32
AS16: Edition of 50
From Russia with lots of love, antique electronic guru Alexey continues his all-caps American infiltration (previous tapes on Digitalis Ltd. and Holy Cheever Church) with two servings of synthetic mastery. The appropriately titled “Science” mixes cold and spacey tones with bizarre sequences with clinical precision. “Nature” is a much more sentimental and downright gorgeous affair, with warm drones, melodies, and even a little guitar work that’s nearly overwhelming in its sublime expression of the pastoral. Step outside and study the earth, bask in its glory, or—even better—do both. With full color art, inserts (featuring a manifesto by Alexey in both English and Russian), and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Husere Grav/Meditations - Split c33
AS15: Edition of 75
Two dark passengers run parallel through the night. Husere Grav kicks things off in short, episodic fashion with five entirely unique reflections on dread and anguish. Crumbling walls of distortion, heartbreaking funeral dirges, and voyeuristic acoustic passages all tell a twisted but remarkably consistent story. Meditations follows with one side-long track that relies heavily upon synth, homemade electronics, tape, and vocals. A storm of tones, drones, and screeches build into a frenzy and eventually coast into a mournful, tense, and unexpectedly melodic finale. With full color heart-and-lung art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Sean McCann & Greg Manata -
Fair Beginnings c42
AS14: Edition of 75
This is, without a doubt, the most outright beautiful tape we’ve ever released. San Francisco’s McCann (who’s on a roll of sorts with recent solo killers on Stunned, DNT, and his own Roll Over Rover) teams up with longtime friend Manata for a full-length collaboration. In the grand tradition of synth/guitar duos like Fripp & Eno and Budd & Guthrie, McCann & Manata lay down perfectly soothing waves of ethereal ambience. Like standing in a tide pool and pondering the vast ocean—infinitely pleasant, yet a strange, otherworldly presence lies beneath. Your summer will be a little better with McCann’s synth and viola and Manata’s guitar as the soundtrack. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Chapels -
In Aspic c25
AS13: Edition of 50
This new project sees Buffalo’s Adam Richards (of The Circle and the Point and the House of Alchemy label) playing the role of lo-fi exorcist. In Aspic is a fascinating, addictive listen that extols both warm melodies and eerie vibes in heavy doses at once. Richards juggles guitars, synths, and hand percussion to lift spirits from the tape hiss and cause all the floorboards in the house to creak at once. It’s densely-layered and swirling at one moment, sparsely whispering the next, yet always beautiful and engrossing in its own haunting way. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Fossils -
Die Job c30
AS12: Edition of 50
The stoned saga of Ontario’s relentless destroyers continues. With tapes, electronics, guitars, reeds, and perhaps even the kitchen sink as their tools, you can always count on Fossils to deliver heavy batches of cathartic clatter and downright WTF. Die Job is certainly no exception. Side A teams regulars Steve Smith, Daniel Farr, and David Payne with Detroit bruiser Andrew Coltrane for a session that gradually builds and claws itself to pieces. Side B finds the core duo of Smith and Payne administering the dosage much slower, but still burning all the way down. Bleached scalps and rattled bones may result from listening to these recordings. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
HeadBoggleD -
rchive #3 c30
AS11: Edition of 50
In a universe of incredible synth jammers that grows more crowded by the second, Bay Area’s Derek Gedalecia is truly a standout. Eschewing pleasant melodies and anything even remotely new age, Gedalecia uses his analog gear to disorient, discombobulate, and deteriorate. The third part in Head Boggle’s ongoing rchive series buzzes through your cranium in so many different ways: sharp beams of sound, rumbling oscillations, and plenty of bizarro, brain-bending field recordings from who-knows-where. Side B is an entire live set that throws a hand-cranked music box in the middle of the synth storm. To say “it works” would be an understatement. Draw the wildcard and unleash the madness. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Flea Apparitions -
Severed Hands c21
AS10: Edition of 50
Pittsburgh's Lorne Zeman contorts and electrifies his noise like no other. Utilizing a wide array of gear and tapes that sound mangled to perfection, Severed Hands is a bizarre and enthralling foray into an alternate dimension. Percussive walls of feedback, obscured vocals, and lo-fi synth blasts are your guide through a land of mass-dismemberment, primitive rituals, and more creepy crawlies than you can handle. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Robe. -
Desolate Mosaic c74
AS09: Edition of 50
Indiana's frighteningly prolific collective Robe. is here to soundtrack your worst nightmares.
Desolate Mosaic could have easily been the score to a long lost sea creature horror film from the 70's. It's a hazy and doom-laden affair above all else, but beneath the bleakness a certain benevolence bleeds through. An epic, grey abyss awaits. Take the plunge. With black-and-white art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Bones of Seabirds -
Sink Thy Hands Deep Into Earth 2xc20
AS08: Edition of 50
After a breakout year in '08, Atlanta's Ryan McGill starts '09 off right with one of his most cohesive works to date.
Sink Thy Hands Deep Into Earth combines four distinct pieces that explore the warmest recesses of the Earth and the coldest depths of space. Utilizing synths, guitar and feedback, it showcases a delicate sense of subtlety, focusing on single riffs and loops and allowing them to gently decay into oblivion. This is a true synthesis of the beautiful and heavy that will bury you in the soil and launch you into the stratosphere. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Ajilvsga -
Buffalo Altar c27
AS07: Edition of 75
By now, underground lurkers and cassette junkies should be well familiar with the dark path Oklahoma's Ajilvsga has trod throughout the past year. On Buffalo Altar, Brad Rose (The North Sea, Digitalis, etc.) and Nathan Young show no sign of letting up as they unleash two intense barrages of overdriven analog synth. Resting comfortably in the red, this is an unsentimental expression of the natural world in all of its primitive, ravaging glory. Full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Wereju -
The Light of Life Undone c63
AS06: Edition of 75
Ireland’s Cathal Rodgers takes a plunge into the murky pool of life/death and emerges with an epic work of mysterious beauty. Several shades darker than recent Wereju offerings,
The Light of Life Undone mixes droning, low-end frequencies with fragile, heartbreaking melodies to conjure a thick fog of melancholy (with a fleeting glimmer of hope). Full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Husere Grav -
All of Them Witches c28
AS05: Edition of 50
After a split cassette with Robedoor on Not Not Fun and several self-released CDRs, the elusive Husere Grav emerges once again from the southwestern shadows.
All of Them Witches is an uneasy stroll through the cemetery with M.B. and Count Grishnakh—shifting from gloomy industrial soundscapes to lugubrious black metal and revealing that the two aesthetics blend together better than you’d ever imagined. For dark nights in solitude. Full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Jamie Allen -
circuitMusic c20
AS04: Edition of 50
Jamie Allen is a Canadian artist currently residing in the UK. With
circuitMusic, he uses raw op amp components with minimal effects to experiment and revel in the sound of pure, electric signals. Allen’s compositions are streamlined, yet remarkably varied with harsh walls of static, dense drones, and playful rhythms all vying for the listener’s headspace. This piece has been performed at venues throughout North America including Tonic (NYC), Galapagos (NYC), Eyebeam (NYC), SAT (MTL), and the S.S. Marie Antoinette (WA). Be prepared to turn this one up extra loud and get lost in it. Full color artwork, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Meditations -
II c20
AS03: Edition of 33
The brooding calm after the ugly descent into entropy that was
I,
II offers a different glimpse into the world of Meditations with a release of utterly bleak, lo-fi ambience. Created using very little, both sides use heavy doses of restraint and cold melody to create a tense, yet staid atmosphere. This is late night music for watching the world smolder. Full color artwork, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Bones of Seabirds –
Nihanisyati c20
AS02: Edition of 50
Hailing from
Athens, GA, Bones of Seabirds is Ryan McGill.
A devout slave to the tube-driven drone, McGill sets aside the axe for two synth passages, one sidelong and one brief, which seek transcendence by swathing the ears with layer upon layer of dark sine waves.
The cassette ends by way of a blissful return to the guitar with massive crunch and a melody that grows increasingly sinister until its dizzying finale.
With full color artwork, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
Meditations –
I c15
AS01: Edition of 33
Ultra-crude, single-mic recordings from a new unit informed by harsh noise, raw black metal, and the id.
With zero regard for fidelity and blasphemous intent, this is a document of unbridled frustration and anguish.
No good vibes in here.
With full color artwork, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub.
