ALONE

In this modern world where music, especially electronic music, can be created and regurgitated in the most sterile of environments, there is something so indescribably refreshing about hearing synth sounds created and recorded organically. I don't know how I can tell you that Serbia's ALONE sound different, but I can assure you that they don....and that's what sets an act apart from the pack. It's not "oh, that band is doing THIS....and THIS is different so it's NEW and EXCITING" - because that shit is easy. It's "this is.....it's real, and I don't know how to describe it" that makes me look up and take note. And that's what ALONE do...they make me take note. So....take note. 

UNYOU

THE EDOMITES

Weirdo electronics and live drums create something that's not at all easy to listen to, much less identify. The fine folks at Aklasan Records never disappoint, but this 2015 release made me think hard about different approaches to music and sound. Well played, EDOMITES, well played.

BALISONG

THE ABOMINABLE SKI MASK // (NEW ENGLAND) PATRIOTS

Full freak vibes from (NEW ENGLAND) PATRIOTS with murky.under.water.fukkd vocals and space age minimal garage/indie jams...it's just weird. And "out there" sounds are often the best sounds, so weird wins. THE ABOMINABLE SKI MASK pollute the flip side with seemingly directionless electronic noise drenched noise rock missives...like THE COWS getting abducted by WOLF EYES or some shit. "Reapply For Warrior Scholarship" is the standout creamer, if only because it's the track that makes the least sense. Come to think of it, very little on this cassette makes any sense at all until you realize that there is a (perhaps extremely?) loose connection with Boston's FAT DAY (there's a vinyl version on 100% Breakfast, and Doug recorded both sides....and to the small percentage of readers who know what that means, this information will be important). Once a FAT DAY connection is on the table....anything is possible. I'll check tomorrow to see how many of you actually checked this out - it will be a good way to determine your actual courage, or lack thereof. 

APES BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

ENEMA SYRINGE

You might not want to trust me, and I understand that. Sometimes I steer you wrong, like the time I posted the interview with my father-in-law talking about heat stroke and hydrating enemas. Sorry. But surely you are by now smart enough to trust Chondritic Sound, yes? Good. They were nice enough last fall to repurpose two older recordings by ENEMA SYRINGE and present them with two short new pieces to create Flapper. It was a good move. Lo-fi disjointed repetition, minimal beats, and polite distortion make up the initial track, and then things slowly get darker and more chaotic. It's like a journey and an escape, all in just under twenty minutes.

FLAPPER

TRASH MANTRA

This one too me by complete surprise. The artwork led me to believe I was either stepping into a pile of shit-fi noise or was about to be tortured with some awful "ironic" pop punk...artwork lies, my friends. TRASH MANTRA is gorgeous, hypnotic and advanced psychedelic electronic trance brilliance. Simple and raw, not calculated, the half hour of sound on this cassette grabbed me immediately and never let go....listen to the opening of the second track "we are the rats // feeding on your trash" and the careful drunken meander that follows. "Liquor Store" is the closest thing to a traditional "song," and could be reincarnated as a blissed out indie anthem were it not so fukkn weird (in a very very good way), and the tape ends with a driving ten minute synth drenched freakout...it's all here man. And it's all good....like, really good.

TRASH MANTRA

OIL THIEF

OIL THIEF are dark and anxious, migrating from sputtering ambiance thunderous demented beats with a calculated precision, descending into disorienting mechanical psychedelia at will. Two tracks here, sixteen minutes of bliss. 

THE FIGMENT // UNDESIRE

J.S. AURELIUS

The title pretty much sums this one up perfectly, and the source pretty much ensures quality. I suppose I could say a lot of things, but I will leave it here: this is mandatory, my friends. Headphones and volume strongly recommended.

FOR LUXURY OR THERAPY? MEDITATIONS ON DRUG USAGE

-OTRON

Take a break, my friends. Not like the "cool down" break while the sun is rising after a night of dancing on the beach, but a "clock out" break while the whole world goes to absolute shit. Take a break. Step into a new (old?) and different world where the bad things and the bad times don't just don't matter....they don't exist. -OTRON play other sounds....like Jan Hammer reincarnate (even though Jan ain't dead), every track is a perfect montage. This is perfect prog/soundtrack/synth for a new generation - I just wonder if you are strong enough to submit.

DOZE ON

UNUR

Chicago dark/minimal synth powerhouse UNUR returns with Halt And Start, four brilliant pieces of gorgeously dated (and timeless) dreary electronics with guitars that conjure Peter Hook (yes, I know Hook plays bass, I am not a complete idiot, just a partial one) and a driving tempo that comes off the like grown offspring of late '80s Belgian acid house. Yeah....UNUR are doing it that good. Good enough that I don't shy away from either comparison and good enough that I keep coming back to these tracks over and over....Modern Tapes are not fucking around. 

HALT AND START

OBJETO AMARELO

A hypnotic offering from long running São Paulo outfit OBJETO AMARELO...eight pieces of patient and deliberate electronics with soft, spoken vocals. Tracks like the opener "Dia Vermelho" could have easily stepped directly out of the experimental '80s brushes with the then-burgeoning new wave scene. Elements of early HUMAN LEAGUE (I'm talking "Being Boiled" era) creep in and out, while "Crepsucular" is a simple and perfect electronic/synth chill out (this is my favorite track here, if only because it breaks up the vibe ever so slightly and sets the listener up nicely for the driving and comparatively heavy "Propostas Solares" and "Amigo Nuclear" to close the tape). If you aren't careful, Dia Vermelho will play on repeat all day....but I would suggest resisting neither the sounds nor the urge to let them sink all the way into you. 

DIA VERMELHO

OBJETO AMARELO is the product of Carlos Issa, responsible for several noteworthy projects and collaborations, and a part of the TEST BIG BAND (a thing I am fucking dying to see in the flesh). Released and distributed by São Paulo's Dama Da Noite Discos. 

PURE GROUND

Rarely does modern synth driven music completely capture the warmth of The Originators. PURE GROUND does. I feel like I am stepping into the comforting arms of CABARET VOLTAIRE circa Voice Of America and it never feels contrived. 2013's Protection is a dark force, simplicity as intensity and a constant underlying buzzsaw of distorted electronics...it occurs to me with almost alarming frequency that Chondritic Sound does not seem capable of slipping up...

PROTECTION

The recent "Giftgarten" and last year's "Standard Of Living" are obviously essential once you are up to speed...but whenever possible, I like to make sure all of your bases are covered. 

DEALING & TROPICAL BODY

A quarter hour of dark electronics and tortured manipulations from DEALING (for the more curious, I believe this outfit is associated with the decidedly more filthy SACRED FOLLOWERS).  Four tracks from TROPICAL BODY on the flip, and as much as I dig the entirely of this tape, the distant rhythms and high end hiss of "Minimal Structure For Aircraft Travel" is the piece of work that keeps me coming back. Check the 4:25 mark, when that hiss peels back to expose the rolling swarm of synth pulsating under the beats...this is the shit that I want. Don't get me wrong here, all four tracks of lo-fi psychedelic techno are stellar, I don't want my affinity for that one song to imply that this is outfit is only good for one track - quite the opposite. Our Love Was Real is an excellent pairing and deserves repeated listens (as expected from Ascetic House), and I expect that you will be very pleased to give this tape the proper attention.

OUR LOVE WAS REAL

MUDO AUXILIO

There are things that I understand, and there things that I just enjoy. And then there are the things that are outside of my field of knowledge, but that I like enough that I want to understand....things like MUDO AUXILIO. Five bleak, quasi-industrial synth dirges that sound more terrified than terrifying and hold my interest completely. The murky pulse of "Avarice" that closes this release is worth the price of admission on its own, but the totality here demands to be consumed as a unit. Repeat listens recommended. 

REVENANT

FORCED INTO FEMININITY

Good luck.

MESSIAH OF EVIL

BITCHCRAFT

John sent me this one a while back, and upon an initial listen I decided that I needed to spend serious time with BITCHCRAFT. Some bands you can put on and blast a song or two and be all like "yeah, shit bangs, I'm into it." But sometimes you hear a band and it gives you pause - you think "this is going to require some effort." Now, in Thee Busy Lives Ov Millennial Humans there isn't always time for that effort and as a result some brilliance with be unavoidably overlooked. That was the case with BITCHCRAFT until a couple of weeks ago....better late than never. And I want to thank Thee Sounds Ov Bitchcraft for their patience...patience that was rewarded with my undivided attention. For thirty one glorious minutes, and then again for thirty one more, these sounds sunk into me, and now they are here for good, building a permanent foundation upon subsequent listens. Witchy, dark, determined - powerfully earnest, BITCHCRAFT crank out track after track of pure magic. There are few bands I would compare to Brazil's RAKTA, but these Tulsa, Oklahoma women are in that league. I thank you, BITCHCRAFT...you were worth the wait. 

BLESSEDBITCH

SIOBHAN

More trance inducing electronic dirges from SIOBHAN. It's like you're hosting your own dance night in a dark, filthy alley half a block away from the techno club and find a way to amplify the distorted, distant sounds emanating from inside the brick walls and underneath the dumpsters. It's the dangerous, fascinating version of the music Other People listen to mindlessly...and it's wonderful. 

OMEGA STAMP

ACAVERNUS

Please enter the world of ACAVERNUS from São Paulo - the vocal/sound portion of the RAKTA equation isolated and exposed. When I heard about Paula's project and its mission, I assumed it was going to be good. But I didn't imagine it was going to be like this. ACAVERNUS is something else, my friends...something you need to experience.

ACAVERNUS

Today is our birthday. I've been doing The Escape for seven years now...wild. Almost 2400 posts, and approaching two and a half million visits. Weird. I hope you've found some things here that you have enjoyed....there's more to come. 

CAESIUM MINE

Tapes like this are why I buy things on a whim. A hunch. A gamble, if you will. Saw a band a few months ago, it was pretty cool. The band did a good job, file under "not really my thing," but they were totally good, if you get my drift.  Perusing their wares post set, I came across this two track cassette and I thought it looked....interesting. Found out it was a solo thing from one of the fellows in the band I had just seen, electronic and noisy....so I parted with five of my dollars and slipped a copy of Alia's Fine into my bag with the rest of my booty. This tape is not good, this tape does not "get the job done." This tape fukkn sucks you in and becomes one with your very being. One the one hand, it's so simple: primitive analog (sounding) synths, exceptionally chilled out beats (on one track), both masked by a soothing cloud of distortion and noise. I mean...that's it, so any fool could do this....right? I welcome all fools to try, and I hope you succeed like this, because this one is a total fukkn success. 

ALIA'S FINE

HARMS

Boo Boo handed me this a while ago....and I figured it would be pretty good. That dude is typically pretty good at things, and I knew that he'd been fucking with synths and electronics, so I figured he'd be pretty good at those too. I didn't know he would be this good. From TANGERINE DREAM to minimal techno to dated dance floor burners, this HARMS tape delivers from start to finish. "Run. Fucking Go And Get Out Of Here" is the absolute jam, but I think it works so much better juxtaposed against the overwhelmingly mellow backdrop of the rest of Let The Moment Wash You Away. No attempt to be weirder or more intense or more mysterious, just a blissfully successful electronic soundtrack to accompany you on your journey....whatever that journey might be. 

LET THE MOMENT WASH YOU AWAY

ARVO ZYLO

True and legitimate freak jams. Discordant, depraved, psychotic layers of tracks upon tracks mixed with break beats and manipulated rhythms....this one is a killer.

SEQUENCER WORKS: VOLUME TWO

Worth reading the artist's description of his state during the construction of these sounds...but also worth simply letting walls of electronics envelop you.