Chrome Germs
 Max Gudmunson

SUISHOU NO FUNE / I Throw a Stone into the Endless Depths (Sloow Tapes)
Suishou no Fune are a Tokyo based psych trio who have been throwing for a few years, and have toured in the U.S. at least once, with another trip scheduled for spring 2007 to promote a new CD-R Akatsuki (maybe I should stop mentioning that format in a tape-only column). A powerful act to see live, Pirako Kurenai and Kageo's reverb saturated guitars cut across the spectrum from melodic slow burn to full-on Fushitsusha type blowout. They are joined on this outing by Jun Harada, a high-energy but responsive young gunner who knows how to both fall back and burst into chaotic fits. The best cut on this one takes up the entire B side, Everything Will Turn to Sand? In the tradition of the epic Japanese psych jam, this one has a hundred flare-ups and breakdowns, howling feedback, HUGE drums. Gorgeous In between the most raging moments, Pirako or Kageo will launch into echoing existentialist poetry about darkness, light, raw, death, love, hatred (to quote from the Myspace page). This one is sold out from Sloow Tapes, but you might be able to snag one on the forthcoming tour, through mail-order, or you could go bug them at the health food cafe they run in Tokyo. I Throw a Stone includes an insert with English translations and super cool black and silver screened fold-out art.

ORPHAN FAIRYTALE / Twilight Time (Sloow Tapes)
Okay, so Twilight Time has also been sold out, from the source at least, for a while now. I still can't help but sing the praises of this and urge any prospective listeners to shell out some clams for anything that Eva Van Deuren (half of Frozen Corpse) touches. Like the strangest Folkways recording that never happened, this is pure European folk clanging in a haunted toyshop. Rickety contraptions and creaky floors abound. The first section (about 20 minutes out of a one-sided CS60) is so good that when Van Deuren moves aside the percussive elements for a long ambient closer it's kind of a letdown. Whatever, just rewind and start over. Great color scheme on the j-card, which is normal for Sloow Tapes. If Twilight Time is any indicator, Orphan Fairytale will be one of the many must-see performances if you show up to Brooklyn's No Fun Fest this year.

EMPTY VESSEL / A World of Dew (Arbor)
Listening to Roy Tatum's (Quintana Roo, Changeling, etc) solo project again reminds me that I need more stuff from Arbor, a great Illinois label run by Mike Pollard. Nice guy, solid catalog, maddeningly prolific. Arbor releases are also total eye candy, many coming with hand-screened and decorated covers. Musically, A World of Dew is a hard one to place; I wouldn't say that it's drone (which is a lazy description and overused these days), and although the sound is as heavy as a fog made of cement it's not an indecipherable wall. There are so many things happening within the thick, dimly contrasting layers of humming machines and low end rumbling that with only six minutes per side you can play it repeatedly and pick out new sounds every time. Highly recommended, and at last glance still available from Arbor's website.

THE HAUNTING / Feeding Chamber (Gods of Tundra)
Couldn't resist picking up a new batch from Mike Connelly's enigmatic Gods of Tundra imprint, knowing that they can become scarce pretty quickly. All three of these come with wraparound full color grotesque scrawl inserts and sprayed cassettes. Even the insides of the j-cards are painted Open these up in your room and let the fumes fuck with your vision.
Mike and Tara Connelly's new one is maybe a bit harsher than some previous releases. Feeding Chamber is a nasty breed, and if the Connellys are playing any synths or melodic instruments, the result has been thrown into a gaping mouth and severely crushed. Most of the material on side A swings from wince inducing high pitches to crackling, heavily distorted oscillations and/or mixer feedback, ultimately crashing to the floor (or though it). Side B is more focused, heavier and louder, and if you like noise that stays just below total crumble then this is your bag. A solid release for fans of the Michigan crew(s), and it should be a blast to hear the upcoming Haunting collaboration with Religious Knives (jeez, are noise marriages increasing exponentially?) on Heavy Tapes.

CHARLIE DRAHEIM / Sexual Dyslexia (Gods of Tundra)
This is an excruciatingly slow building piece, grainy like a distant radio signal. Half is made of minimal high-pitched tones which shudder towards each other and sync rhythmically for a moment only to pass. The flip brings even more fuzz and cloudy layers of bass eventually move to the forefront. Lots of stuttering tape manipulation fades in and out, which towards the climax starts to resemble clucking. Merzbow's chickens maybe? Sexual Dyslexia (one of the oddest titles this year) is like waking up from a tussin induced nap, when everything sounds incoherent. Draheim has been more engaging, but this stands out as a work with focus, restraint and a little sadism.

CIRCUIT WOUND / Power Plant (Gods of Tundra)
Hands down, Power Plant is the best of this batch. The low and thick synth which starts it off deceived me into thinking it was going to be an atmospheric piece, so I turned it up louder. A few minutes in, I nearly fell over backwards from the sudden bludgeoning of harsh bursts that continue for most of the duration of side A. I could dribble out words like multi-layered and textured, but great harsh noise defies any word that attempts to organize, even if Jay Howard's compositions are just that. Power Plant is separated into several different sections, three by my count on the B side and one longer piece on the first with buildup, climax and resolution. The title suggests that you could envision the reoccurring crashes as monolithic machines of an industrial complex, but it could just as easily be stormy whitecaps breaking on rocks. Boundaries between field recordings, tone washes and power electronics are blurred and shaking, never leaving the listener comfortable even after the machines have been turned off.


RELATED LINKS:
Arbor: http://www.arborcdr.com
Gods of Tundra: http://www.geocities.com/godsoftundra
Sloow Tapes: http://www.sloowtapes.blogspot.com