Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Burnt Hills/Rambutan Eye of the Sun split c60 (Skell 017)

On a snowy night in March 2013 the Burnt Hills crew hosted a show at the Helderberg House with Chalaque, Jon Collin, Yek Koo, and Zaimph. With one longtime member on extended hiatus, Chalaque's Nick Mitchell sat in with us...the resulting bruiser of a set is presented here on side A. Six guitarists, two drummers, one bassist, and a xylophonist baked up a crispy sonic nugget, held together at the seams by feedback, interwoven guitar tones, and a pummeling rhythm section. Burnt Hills has been shredding free-rock style since 2006 on labels like 8MM, Flipped Out, Carbon, and Noiseville--and this missive from the outer reaches of the multiverse fits right in with the band's sprawling aesthetic, showing surprising restraint and unit-wide deep listening to go along with its massive ensemble onslaughts.

Eric Hardiman's Rambutan has had a fine year in 2013--highlighted by the excellent "Inverted Summer" LP on Fabrica Records. While on hiatus in Scotland Hardiman brought Rambutan out live on a number of occasions; this set at Glasgow's Volcanic Tongue record shop finds Hardiman mixing abstraction and more formal melodic elements with characteristic skill, as ideas and textures combine and dissolve in the listener's ears.

Skell Records couldn't be prouder to put this one out, and though there may have been physical separation between Burnt Hills and Rambutan on the days these jams were put down, the eye of the sun saw it all....art gracioiusly provided by Phil French. Pro-dubbed, edition of 100. $7 ppd. US, $12 ppd. rest of the world. SOLD OUT.
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Hering und seine sieben Sachen/Parashi split c40 (Skell 016)


Daniel Voigt is well known in the underground as the man behind the wonderful Sicsic Tapes label. His Hering und seine sieben Sachen tape on Cae-sur-a from 2011 was one of my favorite releases by that fine label, and he has subsequently released material on Cosmic Winnetou and Sicsic. Voigt's side of this split tape (entitled "Desiring Machines" utilizes four walkman cassette recorders as the primary sound sources, augmented by pedals and mixer treatments, and it's a zoned-out beauty of a piece. Drones, voices, and odd sonic interjections all flow together into a ceaselessly interesting, rapidly-shifting river of sound.

Parashi's menacing sonic collages have appeared on labels like Tranquility Tapes, Stunned, and House of Alchemy. These two tracks feature modular synthesizer and a variety of tape sources, chopped and mangled beyond recognition. Parashi's side (entitled "Sigil of the Shining Man" was recorded live at Heron Room North in 2013. These two pieces delve into the darker regions of the psyche, an area where the subconscious mind is the ruler of all it surveys. Edition of 100. $7 ppd. US, $12 ppd. rest of world.


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Vales--Boreal Head Trip c28 (Skell 015)

Dave Doyen gets rough with his modular synth setup on this burner, a 28-minute trip that leaves scorched wreckage in its wake. Different in temper and feel from earlier Vales releases on labels like 905 Tapes and Ghetto Naturalist Series, Boreal Head Trip finds Doyen working with sharp-edged and brittle tones. Vales may have moved into harsher realms but Doyen's sense of development keeps things intriguing throughout this journey into darkness. Edition of 100, pro-dubbed. $7 ppd. US, $12 ppd. rest of world.
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