Samuel Goldberg v. Body Morph Split

Bought this tape not too long ago and truly fell in love.

Sam Goldberg's minimal synthscapes take you down an introspective journey through your consciousness and his. Sounds swell and fade creating waves of peaceful, hardware-simulated drone. It's as if warm bells could chime underwater and their sounds could sustain for centuries. In all honesty, I bought this tape for Sam Goldberg. I became a fan after hearing his side of a split tape with Mark McGuire released on Pizza Wagon.

Body Morph, who has had releases on exbx tapes, american tapes and elsewhere, takes noise and feedback to a different place. Things sound as though they are rattling and shaking back forth, meanwhile bouts of controlled noise come in and out of the recording. There is something subtle yet overpowering and quite beautiful about this release. Definitely worth listening to.

--Rach

New tracks from Adventure

Baltimore's Benny Boeldt is about ready to release his sophomore album as Adventure. Right now on his Myspace you can hear two new cuts from the album, "Feels Like Heaven" and "Rio." The new album, "Lesser Known," comes out March 22nd on Carpark Records.

I'm excited to hear the rest of the album. These two new songs reflect a very different direction in Boeldt's music, which was originally 8-bit-inspired synth-pop. I loved his first record and I'm ready to see what Boeldt has up his sleeve this time.

Album art is below:


-Jeff

Dead Bugs - Soft Drugs

A good friend of mine, Adam Martin, semi-recently released a new album online under his Dead Bugs moniker called "Soft Drugs." His tags for the album are good indicators of its strengths - soft, sleepy folk that could play along nicely as a soundtrack to a film or for long drives. Now a part of the New Brunswick, NJ scene, Dead Bugs continues to create some of the most heartfelt, compassionate music today. There's honesty within his lyrics and song structures, and it's a nice treat for early mornings.

Stream "Soft Drugs" online at bandcamp and download the release for $1 or as much as you'd like.

-Jeff

Top 10: 2010

10. James Ferraro "Night Dolls With Hairspray"

9. Cough Cool "Epic Dreams"

8. Monopoly Child Star Searchers "Bamboo For Two"
7. Brett Naucke "Southern California"


6. Pale Blue Sky "Souvenir"

5. Sky Limousine "Rush Hour"

4. The Savage Young Taterbug "Syrupy Evenings"

3. The Radio Dept. "Clinging To A Scheme"

2. Yoshihiro Sawasaki "Ginjo Onsen"

1. 56K "VR42C-1"

My top 10 releases of 2010. Some nice stuff, good year for the cs.

-Jeff

Library Tapes

So I happened to come upon Library Tapes while blog-hopping one day and I'm so glad I did. Library Tapes is David Wenngren from Sweden (who also releases music under Forestflies and Xeltrei)and various other collaborators. Wenngren has cultivated a sound unlike anything that I've heard recently. His recordings consist of piano and violin that create sounds that seem to evaporate straight into thin air. Such an ambiance and quiet that only exists high up in the atmosphere amongst delicate, feathery clouds. These minimalist recordings are pieces of music that immediately resonated with me being that I grew up playing the piano compositions of Erik Satie and Claude Debussy.


























The album "Fragment" (2008) is a series of musical sketches that lack any coherent rhythm or song structure which is common for this genre. These sketches are merely subconscious thoughts and feelings of the artist himself. "Fragment" seems to be heavily inspired by Philip Glass and John Cage's shorter compositions. The sounds that resonate from the body of the piano sustain for only a short period of time in vacant space alluding to the ephemeral nature of life and the passage of time. This presents a feeling of desolation and seems to reference a disconnect between the composer and the music being played. The music is somewhat reminiscent of a more hazy recording by Stars of the Lid or perhaps some of Richard D. James' lesser known piano works.

In light of all the ambient drone releases posted earlier on this blog, it only seemed right to add Library Tapes to the list being that such minimalist ideas are exactly what inspired the aforementioned genre.

Download Library Tapes "Fragment" here.

-Rach

Interview: The Savage Young Taterbug

When I first heard The Savage Young Taterbug, I thought it was some of the weirdest noise I've ever heard. If you took an old Elvis record, stomped on it and then let it hang out in a rain storm, that's what Taterbug sounds like. His cassette releases on Night-People are "of-the-moment" thoughts, creaky acoustic guitars with warped vocals humming along, a defunct member of Blues Traveler ... or something like that.

I thought that if I reached out to the man behind the music, I might receive some clarity. I was wrong. His answers have only added to the mythology that is The Savage Young Taterbug.
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------

� First off, what does "The Savage Young Taterbug" mean to you? Further, why do you have several names floating around, like Timothy Wind, Charles Free, etc.? Who are you?
my name is charles free

� When did you start playing music? How did you eventually end up making the music you do?
been hummin forever took a karaoke machine and some sheets to the wind to start bringin back the souvenirs though

� You seem to have a very tight connection with Night-People. How has that relationship been and can we expect more releases?
its not about killin my dad or your dad or nothin like that, its just that some things wont last and if they do its not like its going to be a deal in a year you know?

� When not recording music, what do you do? Job? Wander? What does an average week consist of for you?
creeping and crawling

� What music do you listen to?
oldies

� What's one thing you like about music and one thing you don't? Are there things that upset you about the scene you're a part of?
i like any music that oozes soul or sounds like shit, i dont like any music that doesnt ooze soul or sound like shit.

� What beliefs do you follow? What guides you through your life and causes you to make the decisions you do?
"roll on buddy"

� What are you trying to achieve through your music? Why go the route you do?
I'm makin my own soundtrack for the ride to my tomb, i'm not trying to achieve anything but fillin up my own troff with my own mojo. As far as what "route" im going its complete circumstance., i've been living in attics basements and shacks using broken shit singing about broker shit for years, its a slime ride for sure

� Any future releases, tours, etc.?
lps soon from Woodsist / Night People and Release the Bats, another US tour is in works for this summer
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------

-Jeff

SPERMWHALES release on Teal FX out now

Visit Teal FX now to download it for free.

Visit the SPERMWHALES Myspace.

Later,
Jeff