IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT - "Thanks" - Tape - 2006

   As I'm sure I've said before, IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT is one of my favorite bands. Years back, they were getting ready to go on a tour and their drummer, Don broke his leg. Rather than call the whole thing off, Don learned how to use a combination of percussion and electronics, which ultimately sent the band to a new plateau of weirdness. That trajectory took them into a later tour where they would play sprawling hour long sets, employing the use of hand made horns, staticky radios, tape loops, half-broken amps and miscellaneous debris. The results could be hypnotic, challenging, abrasive and cleansing.
   I got a ride down to a show of theirs in Kentucky during this time and was dropped off at the bar hours before they even arrived. At the time of the show (8 hours later), they were the only musical act scheduled to play. They took their time setting up and the clientele of the bar eyed them warily. As they hit their first notes of the night, a huge Midwestern storm started brewing in the neighborhood. The doors to the bar were wide open and sheets of rain started pouring in. I looked at the middle-aged, burly, biker-style bartenders standing there...arms crossed, not batting an eye or making a move to close the doors. About five minutes into IPCP's set, every paying customer in the bar got up and left, deciding to brave the potentially tornado-inducing storm rather than listen to this band. I looked around. I was left alone with the band, the guy who set up the show, my friend Christina (who lived there and actually came to see the band), Stella (IPCP's roadie, who was laughing at the predicament) and the still-stoic and immobile bartenders. The band did not bat an eye and played their full set. It was great and the insane storm added an extra element of dreaminess to the whole thing.
   At the conclusion of their set, there was an awkward silence after our smattering of applause died down. We were then left with these burly dudes at the bar after driving out their entire clientele. I looked over after a heavy silence and one of 'em said "So, do ya'll like SUN RA and BEEFHEART or something?" Tension broken. The guys loved it and were happy to talk to some other weirdos. Drinks were on the house. The other act was the promoter, Kris, doing a "DJ set", which meant that he would put a record on and let the entire thing play. Then, he would flip it and listen to the other side. (I just now realized that I have told this entire story before in an earlier post. Oops. I am now senile).
   On that tour, IPCP had a mailing list and they said that if you signed it, they would send you free stuff. A lot of bands used to say that, but I never got any free stuff from them. At the conclusion of their tour, the band actually did send this tape out to people who signed the list or set up shows for them. It's called "Thanks" and it compiles live sets, field recordings, jams, talks about botox and random sounds. Listening to this reminds of that night and makes me miss their challenging sounds. I think the thing I love most about the band is that they were somehow always a year ahead of me. What that means is that every time a new LP came out (and they have a lot), I would listen to it and think it was pretty good. I wouldn't quite get it and it wouldn't really hit me, but something let me know that I had to hang onto it. Within a year, that record would become indispensable to me. The same thing happened with this tape. It's pretty out there and it's also really, really good.

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There's also a 12" out there called "Thanks II" that is more stuff like this, more field recordings and  moreeeeee weeeirdddddd. 

SWORD OF THE ANCIENT - "Head Of The Tide" - Tape - 2007

   Many of the sounds I put on here are harsh, abrasive, fucked up, angry and defiant...because I like that kind of music. I also like sounds that are beautiful, indescribable, meditative, experimental and noisy. That is where bands like SWORD OF THE ANCIENT come in. But first I have to ask myself, "Are there other bands like SWORD OF THE ANCIENT?" Some of you may remember when I posted their first tape over a year ago. This tape finds the band stripped of one member, moved over 15 states away from their former home of New Orleans, a lot more subdued and a little more lush, but still strange, hypnotic and captivating. Some of the moments on here sound like they could have come straight out of the brains that wrote the first RESIDENTS record. In addition to changing their locale from a harsh, violent city to a beautifully calm seaside village (which sounds evident in their sound), it also sounds like the band switched from coffee to drinking loads of tea between their two tapes. It works. I think this tape sounds best driving across eastern Montana at 4am when everyone else in the car (van, truck, etc) is asleep or at home alone in the dark, but you can do whatever you want. 

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Updated 2013

FLAKMASK - "Exploring the Magnetic Poles" - Tape - 2007?

   I think this group consists of weirdos from IxPxCxPx and COUNTY Z, but I'm not really sure. That part is fairly unimportant. The part you'll want to know is that this is about one full hour of droning noise, tape manipulations, screeches, skronks, knob turning, pedal manipulation and fully analog messes. They also have some more records and tapes that you can pick up from Trd Wrd. This is perfect for clearing out by brain after reviewing terrible pop-punk records at the magazine that I write for...who would never review anything by this band.

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IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT - "Trashed Is Good" - LP - 2002

   This IPCP LP from 2002 is right up there with my favorite albums of all time. It's blown out, anxious, energetic, inspiring and as dark and moody as Mid-City New Orleans. This record catches IPCP at the peak of their angular punk years and doesn't shy away from some inventive Improvisation.  They take some songs from their 2001 tape (look a few posts back) and expand on them to make them fuller. I love everything this band put out, so expect even more in the future.
  This was the first release on their own label, Trd Wd (and here), which is still releasing great music. This album was recorded and mixed at their warehouses by them in NOLA. The covers were beautifully hand-printed. The download has a couple scrapes and skips because this record has been well-loved and has had a rough life.

                       Trashed Download is Good...Updated Nov 2013

IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT - "Pretty Totally" - Tape - 2001

    Before I got into punk, Fred Astaire and weirdo performance art held my interest. I was 11 years old. It was weird. When I discovered punk a little later, I felt like I had found my place in this world, but something was missing from it. Sure, there were people with mohawks and metal coming out of their faces, but a lot of their interests seemed to mirror the society at large (at least where I grew up). They still talked about TV shows and they still had racist, sexist, homophobic views. A lot of the punk bands in my hometown were afraid of experimentation and improvisation. At the time, I didn't know there was a whole scene of noisy, arty music, but I formed a group that played straight up noise and absolutely no one liked it, but it was really fun. Then, one day I played a show with IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT and it opened my eyes to what I had been missing for all of those years. They lived in big, dirty warehouses, built their own equipment, recorded everything themselves on analog machines, didn't take themselves too seriously (but played intentionally and seriously) and sometimes did things that could be considered performance art. They didn't own TVs, they hopped trains, they ate out of the trash and were welcoming to anyone that wasn't a complete asshole...and sometimes they were welcoming to the asshole too.
   This tape came out in 2001, not long after I met them and it is my favorite of all of their releases. I told them that this is their "punk album" because some of the other ones delve into soundscapes, field recordings, homemade horns and staticky amps. This one sounds (to me) like an arty band trying to be a hardcore band, not succeeding, and making something else entirely that is both beautiful and steeped in improv. This may not be what you think about it at all, but that's my impression.
  This tape was remastered and re-released on vinyl last year by Unwucht Records  in Germany in an edition of 295 copies. Good luck finding one (I saw one at the Princeton Record Exchange in New Jersey, by the way). The members of IPCP are still keeping busy in numerous ways these days with Uke OF Spaces Corners,  Ancestral Diet , Raya Brass Band, and running Trd Wd Records. Long live IxPxCxPx! Til ____ do us _____.

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