Tapes

Letterpress printed by Small Fires Press, Alabama. Black ink on ~60lb bright green stock.Edition of 100 Resourcefulness is sometimes presented as a humble quality born of necessity. But it’s a foundational tenet of the exceptionally unconstrained members of improvising trio Tamarisk, consisting of Christina Carter, David Menestres, and Andrew Weathers. Their latest is a continuation of the interplay they’ve developed for a few years now on a handful of releases and while touring. Like the most bizarre sort of jazz combo, Tamarisk grazes the orbits of outré free improv, moody balladry, object play, staccato scraping, and the contemplation of vistas and landscapes. Vocals vacillate between polished and raw, reaching bravely toward the upper and outer ranges, long-intoned, with spoken word elements and dramatic pauses between broken phrases and wordless utterances, all awash in arrivals and departures. The recordings are anchored with a broad array of techniques that admirably deconstruct an understanding of pacing and conventional movement in music, instead favoring constantly fluctuating textures and timbral variety. Unhinged chords, dissonant counterpoints, sprinklings of prepared work, scraping, and bowing. This is a trio of sharp listeners who are unafraid of intimacy or dynamic extremes, and it enables a deep exploration into their own core. Tamarisk seems to ignore time altogether, dropping into a shared state of receptiveness that yields strange and compelling results throughout the album. credits Christina Carter David Menestres Andrew Weathers

Comes From Far Away From Here – Tamarisk

Letterpress printed by Small Fires Press, Alabama. Black ink on ~60lb white stock.Includes insert with continued artist statement and photograph by EDL.Edition of 100 Erica Dawn Lyle has been described by Pitchfork as a “punk hero,” which, though true, feels like an insufficiently specific term to describe her multifaceted presence and work. Colonial Motels is in fact rawly personal, a ladder out of an abyss of mourning as well as a determination to persevere and connect. Playing less but achieving more, this album captures the engaging intensity and directness that defines Lyle’s art, performance, and activism. Part I builds on patient looping and guitar body play, then gradually disintegrates into a gale of analog and digital noise stabbed with howling guitar calls. A blaring coda strips the electric guitar down to the primes before an abrupt end. Part II starts intense and cathartic, and stays that way, a heavily textured sonic wall which slowly undulates like an animated topographical map simultaneously receding and growing. The pieces seem to encourage a listening level that could be described as provocative, and Lyle’s guitar contains elements of squallish noise, employing to its advantage the overload of all apparatuses involved. But it also contains a masterful degree of space in which to catch the hypnotic repetition of desert blues, subtly weird pedal experimentation, unselfconscious playfulness, and aural hallucinations. Astonishingly, these pieces feel meditatively paced even as they reach peak intensity, enabling the listener to briefly rest in contemplation while in the eye of a storm about which most guitarists can only cower or fantasize. - Artist's statement: "I met Jonas Frickas in 1999 when he opened for my band at a show in Gainesville FL. He was the first person I ever saw get an entire room full of kids moving, using only a single mic and loop pedal. Our orbits occasionally intersected over the decades of DIY until in recent years we both settled in the Northeast. During covid, our lives became interconnected more as my queer upstate NY community members began to visit and organize with the rural land project where Jonas lived outside of Brattleboro. In August 2022, Jonas invited me to play a benefit for Defend The Atlanta Forest at The Buoyant Heart, a DIY space in Brattleboro. There, I met activists from Atlanta who would later host me for an incredible show in the Welaunee Forest in fall 2022. Inspired by the forest and the queer/trans activists who had come to defend it and to Stop Cop City in spring 2023, I made an entire record, Sympoiesis, dedicated to the forest. In March 2023, two days before the record's release, Jonas died mysteriously on stage immediately after playing a show in Tallahassee FL, the same night that the police raided the Atlanta Forest and charged dozens of innocent attendees of a dance party with domestic terrorism. Later that year, I found myself returning to Brattleboro to play a memorial for Jonas. I find myself writing here all around a grief that I have not yet processed or come to terms with: Jonas' absence from this text, now from our lives. But his memorial—which took place in two venues to accommodate the enormous crowd—drew hundreds of people from the entire town of Brattleboro and from DIY art and music communities around the USA and was the top story in the local newspaper that day. Afterwards, I lingered in town for several extra days, feeling kind of aimless and crazy. My friend who I had intended to visit took ill from the stress and grief of the memorial so I stayed instead at the eerie Colonial Motel on Route 5, unsure of why I remained in town but unable to pull it together to leave and return home. There, in the seductive desuetude of Room 210, I often found myself slipping into a kind of fugue state, losing many minutes of the hour, staring at a painting that hung on the wall. The painting depicted a white bench that appeared to glow softly within a virgin forest in Autumn. It occurs to me now that I do not know if this painting hung only in my room or is a feature of the motel and is in every room. To have something to do while I waited to see if my friend would get well, I arranged to record in the studio Jonas had built at the Birge Street warehouse space. For two nights I played for Jonas in his old room during the Full Moon. These tracks were the first two takes on the first night. After the second night, I finally felt like I could leave and go home. RIP dear Jonas Frickas." Erica Dawn Lyle, April 2024  credits released June 28, 2024 Erica Dawn Lyle - electric guitar Recorded by EDL, Aug 1 2023 at The Buoyant Heart, Birge Street, Brattleboro VT improvised, single takes

Colonial Motels – Erica Dawn Lyle

The nineties were full of changes and new energies in Prague. Concerts were organized in galleries, people listened with interest to emerging bands and new musical directions were followed. In this period, there was a growing interest in alternative art, and Richter Band, one of the leading alternative bands operating in the borders between ambient, new age and meditative music, was in its accession. After years of modest gigging in the late 80s, interest in seeing them perform live began to increase and the band started to tour not just the Czech regions but also ventured abroad.At the same time, Jaroslav Kořán, a fiddlerophone and percussion player, left the group and began to experiment with his own music. With him, he brought a range of musical experience from playing in the alternative rock group, Vyšší Populár, and the ambient outfit, Richter Band, as well as building and playing hand-made instruments. The fidlerophone, a unique instrument assembled using aluminium pots and mounted on sprung stands, formed the characteristic sound of Richter Band when played in unison with the subtle sounds of Pavel Richter’s electric guitar, and would later inspire Jaroslav to experiment in creating his own instruments. Although he already owned a sampler and played the piano, as a drummer, he was constantly seeking new percussive instruments and sounds, ranging from water glasses and pots to porcelain plates and salad bowls. In the summer of 1990, he experimented with nails hammered into wood in Šumava, a national park in the South Bohemian regions of the Czech Republic, and the first "Šumava (or village) kalimbas" were created. Together with his brother Michal, they refined the kalimbas, trying out repetitive melodies on them, which they would then record at home and supplement with loops from a sampler and slowed-down tapes.The newly recorded material, full of rhythms, pre-recorded loops and Michal Kořán's synthesizer, was presented for the first time in public in April 1990 at the Klarisky concert hall in Bratislava. Soon after, Jaroslav met Marek Hanzlík, a guitarist from another Prague-based band, Die Archa, leading to the formation of a new musical trio named Modrá (“Blue”). This led to a fundamental musical shift, with Marek’s prepared guitar bringing subtle harmonies and an unusual sound to the rhythmic structures, complemented by Jaroslav Kořán's slowed-down pre-recorded tapes, sampled loops and voices.Over November 1990 to June 1991, Modrá made a number of recordings in Jaroslav’s home studio. For “Bohemian Blue”, the most interesting pieces from this period were selected and supplemented with two compositions recorded live at a home concert in February 1991. Although the group was only short-lived, disbanding in the second half of 1991, it represents an important period of musical experimentation and marked the dawn of the nascent Orloj Snivců (“Horologe of Dreamers”), with whom Jaroslav Kořán still performs today. Modrá - Bohemian Blue CS 2024 [Infinite Expanse]C60 with on-body printing in jewel case and printed two-sided j-cardJaroslav Kořán: zither, sampler, percussion, plates, Mačický xylophone, tapes Marek Hanzlík: prepared electric guitar Michal Kořán: percussion, sampler, Mačický xylophone, village kalimba, plates cymbalsRecorded and mixed by Jaroslav Kořán, 1990-91, Pagoda Studio, Prague Remastered by Michal Kořán, 2018, Moon Studio, Prague 2024 issue under license via Blue Lizard

Bohemian Blue – Modrá

Amazing deadstock find of this rucial document of the late 70's / early 80s Czech avant-garde scene, privately issued by Black Point in 1991 Amalgam 1978-1981 features the recordings of a series of concerts of this project led by the Czech drummer and percussionist Vlastimil Marek, along with a variety of guests that range from renowned Czech progressive rock musicians and ethnomusicologists active in the country’s underground scene to a rare participation at that time of an international guest like Mohan Lal. The recording on the A-side of the tape stems from Amalgam’s participation at the Prague Jazz Days festival held at the Lucerna concert hall on the 19th may 1978. The occasion brought together Marek’s orientally inclined percussive music with the members of the progressive rock band Švehlík, which included Pavel Richter, Luboš Fidler and Alexandr Hajdovský along with the participation of the Indian tabla player Mohan Lal, one of the first foreign guests to play the festival. This first part depicts the inclination towards non-western musical traditions, in this case by Marek and its fusion with avant-garde rock bands like Švehlík, a style at that time already popularized in "the West" by musicians like John McLaughlin or bands like Tri Atma and Embryo for example. In a sense, such music is representative of a legacy of occidental musicians prone to experiment with oriental modes and percussion in order to escape from the constraining aspects of western music towards free and varied forms of music incorporating a clear tendency towards improvisation. The first half of the B-side was recorded at the sports hall Na Folimance in Prague a year later featuring Czech music-ethnologist and multi-instrumentalist Jiří Mazánekon on acoustic guitar and voice, and Milan Valenta on the violin. The second half was recorded at Baráčnická Rychta also in Prague and the liner notes only name Vlastimil Marek’s use of tapes and percussion along the participation of a series of unknown guests. While working on his solo percussion projects, Marek has also played with well known rock in opposition bands like MCH Band, Švehlík and Extempore, all of which have included Pavel Richter as a member. In this sense we may appreciate the diverse network of musicians of different genres which participated in the country’s underground scene, resulting in the creation of a fertile terrain for the development of non-conventional approaches towards a free music conception despite the ungoing political repression of the country at that time. The first side of this tape was released as the second half of the CD Švehlík & Amalgam – Lucerna 19. Května 1978 in 2017 by Galén, a book publisher and record label from Prague.  By Juan Vacas

Amalgam – 1978-1981

*60 copies limited edition* Infinite Expanse follows up their first two LPs with a return to the cassette format, diving deep into the world of the underground cassette network with a focus on SoundImage, a label founded by Martin Franklin and active in Slough between 1989-91. Presented is a compilation of two compilations – Premonitions (1989) and Spiritual (1990) – featuring stalwarts from the scene, including The Vitamin B12, M.Nomized, Konrad Kraft and Hybryds, as well as a host of ungoogleable artists, such as The Happy Citizen, Omega Ensemble and The Time Flies. Birthed through the space provided by the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, a UK government initiative introduced in the mid-80s which assisted unemployed people who set up their own business, SoundImage set out to uncover and present new electronic music which captured a certain sense of magic and mystery. The label operated within the cassette network, though also sought to bring the music to local audiences and stage live events. This included Omega Onsemble, a set of improvisers from Southampton, performing in a small backstreet gallery during the Windsor Fringe Festival in 1990, as well as Richard Leake’s The Butterfly Effect and Peter Appleton, a creator of sonic sculptures, combining for a live show at the Windsor Arts Centre in September 1991. The label even helped them get a feature on Southern TV and connected them with some researchers at the nearby EMI R&D lab in Hayes who recorded the performance with experimental 3D audio equipment. Distribution of SoundImage releases grew to a network of small mail order outlets and tape stalls, with duplication eventually handled by small-run commercial tape duplicators. Some of the artists who featured on releases also had their own outlets for sales, so between them they managed to form a self-contained sphere of underground production and distribution. Listening now, what distinguishes the music is that it sits at the cusp of the  DAW revolution, with the tracks made using the innovative Tascam 244, or similar 4-track cassette recorders, which had just revolutionised affordable music recording. The pumping hiss of its built-in noise reduction, in retrospect, becoming a distinctive feature of the productions. The music also pre-dates samplers, and whilst some of the music makes use of synthesisers, there is still a sense of performance and hand-made sound textures from tape loops, collages, effects and manipulated media, as well as traditional instruments. It sits at a point where abstract music still lived in our imaginations. There were no screens confining the compositions into lanes or grids, no software instruments. Instead, there were cables and cabinets, speakers and effect pedals, radio and tape….reels and reels of tape.

Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989​-​90 – Various

Delta-Sleep-Inducing Peptide (DSIP) was founded in 1989 by Dieter Mauson, one half of Nostalgie Éternelle, and Siegmar Fricke, who was musically active at the time under his name and his Bestattungsinstitut alias. The duo was active until the summer of 1994, producing over 25 tapes over this period and releasing on a range of independent labels, including IRRE, Corrosive, EE and Toracic Tapes, as well as their own privately-run imprint, Delta-Sleep-Inducing Productions. DSIP’s music concentrated on the realisation of experimental and subtle soundtracks, described as mind-cinema of the subconscious, and sought to explore the different stages of sleep, and the phenomena of dreams, through their idiosyncratic sound approach. Recordings were made using a range of equipment, including a multi-track tape recorder, Roland sampler, analog synths, various drum machines and Dictaphones. Samples for their works were often taken from local radio which they were listening to at the time, much of which was Dutch (Hilversum 3) as they both grew up near the Germany-Netherlands border; Dieter in Leer and Siegmar in Wilhelmshaven. By the time they got in contact with one another in the summer of 1989, Dieter was living over 500 km away in Mainz, near Frankfurt, where he moved at the start of the year, so recordings were only made when Dieter was back seeing his parents and then able to visit Siegmar’s home studio in Wilhelmshaven. In June 1991, Dieter moved back to the North of Germany, Hamburg, and their recording sessions became much more frequent. Sometimes they would meet for a few hours, others for several days. The results were hugely diverse, though frequently centred on meditative and repetitive motifs, and are still so uniquely futuristic almost 35 years after the group was initiated. Evil, an album released in 1992 during the midst of this hugely productive period, encapsulates such expressions, and is presented with a first-time reissue in its original format.

Delta-Sleep-Inducing Peptide – Evil

C45 with on-body printing in jewel case, printed two-sided j-card and wrap-around o-card sleeveExperimental soundtrack to a play you probably didn’t think existed, and definitely didn’t think you’d hear, steeped in historical context, and comprising a sonic mixture of early digital synthesis with eerie tape loops, feedback and 80’s stomp box effects.Kolbe tells the story of a Polish Catholic priest who volunteered to die in place of another man in Auschwitz during WWII. In July 1941, a prisoner escaped from the camp, prompting the deputy commander to pick ten men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to deter further escape attempts. When one of the men selected, Franciscek Gajowniczek, a young husband and father, cried out, Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take his place. According to an eyewitness, who was an assistant janitor at that time, in his prison cell Kolbe led the prisoners in prayer. Each time the guards checked on him, he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered. After they had been starved and deprived of water for two weeks, only Kolbe and three others remained alive. The guards wanted the bunker emptied, so they gave the four remaining prisoners lethal injections. He died on 14 August 1941. Years later he was beatified as a Confessor of the Faith by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and canonised as a saint by Pope John Paul II in 1982, with a feast day celebrated since on the day of his death as part of the General Roman Calendar.Over the course of 1985-86, the production company Theatre of Poland, toured Kolbe, a play based on the book by Desmond Forristal, to Catholic churches around Europe. The recordings presented here are part of a cassette that sold on the tour, recovered in Lyttelton, New Zealand, and then mastered in Brisbane, Australia, in April 2023. Audio snippets have also been added to the cassette, including live recordings from the theatrical performance at St Edwards Church, Windsor, September 1986, as well as snippets from the films, Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (1935), and Festliches Nuernberg - Ein Film aus der Stadt der Reichsparteitage (1937). Please note these are exclusive to this version and do not feature on the digital recording.

Kolbe – Martin Franklin & Michael O'Dempsey