Tomorrow, Cristin and I are headed out east for a little vacation to NYC.  Immediately following our break, I’ll be touring as Harpoon Pole Vault with Bee Mask/Chris Madak (see Deception Island label).   Super excited!  Three of these shows will feature Zaimph/Marcia Bassett, so be sure to catch those if you can.  Our NE mini-tour dates are listed below.  Hope to see some of you!  FRESH poster design by WITCHBEAM!

July 9, 2010 – Philadelphia, PA – Pageant Soloveev – HPV, Zaimph, Bee Mask.

July 10, 2010 – Brooklyn, NY – Port d’Or – HPV, Zaimph, Bee Mask.

July 11, 2010 – Burlington, VT – Firehouse Gallery – HPV, Bee Mask, A Snake in the Garden.

July 12, 2010 – Easthampton, MA – Flywheel Arts – HPV, Bee Mask.

July 13, 2010 – Providence, RI – ZACCHILLI HOUSE – HPV, Bee Mask, Arley Marks.

July 14, 2010 – Brooklyn, NY – Zebulon – HPV, Zaimph, Bee Mask, mi or and the pedestals.

Gift Tapes Presents, An evening of contemporary drone music with:
Zaimph, Jaime Fennelly & Brother Raven
June 23th (Wednesday) – 8 PM sharp
Gallery 1412 – 1412 18th Ave (18th & E Union St) – Seattle, WA 98122
$7 admission

Gift Tapes presents a night of contemporary drone music: NYC-based Zaïmph, recent Seattle transplant Jaime Fennelly, and Seattle’s Brother Raven. Zaïmph, the solo project of Marcia Bassett, combines guitar and electronics to create subtle noise music. Jaime Fennelly (of Peeeseye fame) will make his first appearance solo on the west coast, performing with a harmonium and electronics. And lastly, synth duo Brother Raven will attempt to craft the music of the cosmos with synthesizers, performing the last show of their west coast tour in their hometown.

Come hang out!!  This show is gonna be FRESH!!!

Dog parks, sloppy wet burritos with lettuce marinated in mayo, tons of fun, so many RAD people… and we found a buyer for the van.  MANY MANY THANKS to: Sean Johansson, Sagan Genesis & the Villanova House in Davis. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Maxwell Croy (& roomate Julie) & Maholy-Nagy in SF.  The AAA dude that helped us get our van towed 70 miles to our LA venue.  Cameron Stallones (Sun Araw), Helga Fassonaki & Andrew Scott (Metal Rouge), Chris & Katie of Synchronicity Space in LA.  Maxwell August Croy & James Devane (EN), Alex Gray (Deep Magic), George Chen, Danny at 21 Grand (for inspiring some hilarious impersonations) in Oakland.  Levi Berner (& music partner Amanda in Double Dare), Abyssal Republic, Lamborghini Diablo, Golden Retriever, The Slaves (Birch Cooper & Barbara Kinzle) + Brenna Murphy in PDX.  And lastly, to everyone that came out to hear us play our shows – THANKS for the support!!!

We had some issues with the mothership that may delay the start time of the 6/17 brother raven / matt carlson show tonight at Synchronicity Space in LA.

AKA Rollin DEEP.

-JEA

Gift Tapes is pleased to announce that our monster SUMMER double-batch has arrived!  Six new tapes out today.  Purchase them here while supplies last!

Oregon Painting Society – Radiant Dream Face, GT021, c30, edition of 150
Totally bizarre sound worlds from an island of misfit droids.  Offered up by up-and-coming Portland art collective Oregon Painting Society (core members include: Matt Carlson, Brenna Murphy, Barbara Kinzle, Birch Cooper, and Jason Traeger) this recording is a document of their Radiant Dream Face installation mounted at Portland State University, December 2009.  Improvisations with houseplants, a pair of corn cobs and a glass crystal, each controlling oscillators, recorded direct to 4 track.

Concessionaires – Skyline, GT022, c40, edition of 150
Synth/guitar duo project consisting of Brad Rose (The North Sea) and Pete Fosco.  Their debut release unveils massive cathedrals of melodic sound that push/pull the listener through cavern-like underworlds into open, pale-blue, impressionistic skyscapes.  Two side-length meditative improvisations, perfect listening for shimmering summer afternoons.

Studio SS/2 Hands on Knobs – Home Office split, GT023, c60, edition of 150
The daily reality of machines in the home and the office as interpreted by 2 synth artists.  Studio SS merges home appliances with analog and digital synthesis.  A mixture of both quiet noise and on-edge insomnia that hint at the claustrophobic terror state of a forgotten inmate.  2 Hands on Knobs engages office machinery with synths, sampling keyboards, and drum machines, creating industrial spirituals for a drone army or narrating  the awkward birth of an android.

Zaïmph – Coast to Coast, GT024, c40, edition of 200
In Marcia Bassett’s newest Zaimph recording, masked guitar roams from the East to the West, through rugged American landscapes.  Bassett’s guitar and effects are captured direct to cassette as a stereo room recording, summoning a gorgeous haze of tape noise and ambient sounds.

Merzbow – Untitled Nov 1989, GT025, c40, edition of 200
Electronics and field recordings collide in what many consider a peak moment of Merzbow’s extremely prolific career.  Recorded in 1989 and mixed this past February on a 4-track that Gift Tapes sent to Japan!  HEAVY factory sounds manipulated via amplification and signal processing to create a massive mechanized environment and an altered state.

Bee Mask – Canzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio Cosmico, GT026, c30, edition of 200
Bee Mask’s newest work gives a nod to experimental music of the 20th century; classic kosmiche zones are fused with musique concrete to form a surrealist sound collage of home studio and field recordings.  Synths, sampler, prepared piano, variable speed cassette players, voice and handmade instruments all come into play, explaining quantum mechanics via dream logic.

*All cassettes are pro-dubbed, imprinted, loaded with high bias tape, packaged in regular size Norelco cases, w/ 2-sided color cardstock j-card insert that includes artist name and album title.

* * *

In related news, Brother Raven‘s first LP entitled VSS-30 is due out very soon on Digitalis — keep your eyes peeled.  You may have also noticed that Taped Sounds recently released BR’s 5th tape.  I am told that copies are sold out at the source, but that an additional pressing is in the works.  Additionally, the band will be touring the West Coast US in June, performing the following dates (most which will include Matt Carlson!):

June 15, 2010 – Villanova House (802 Villanova Dr.) – Davis, CA – w/ Matt Carlson, others TBA

June 16, 2010 – Hemlock Tavern – San Francisco, CA – w/ Matt Carlson, Moholy-Nagy

June 17, 2010 – Synchronicity Space – Los Angeles, CA – w/ Matt Carlson, Sun Araw, Metal Rouge

June 18, 2010 – 21 Grand – Oakland, CA – w/ Matt Carlson, En, Deep Magic

June 19, 2010 – Abyssal Behemoth – Portland, OR – Golden Retriever, Cloaks

June 23, 2010 – Gallery 1412 – Seattle, WA – Zaimph, Jaime Fennelly (of Peeesseye)

Also, Harpoon Pole Vault will be touring NE US in July w/ Zaimph & Bee Mask (both of whom have tapes out in this current GIFT batch)!  Tour dates are coming together now, but more info will be posted here soon as details begin to solidify.

More exciting stuff happening later this summer:

DRAFT, the new no rules sub-GIFT imprint will debut its first set of releases.  We’re expecting these to land sometime in August.

The next edition of the SYNTH NIGHT series will happen Friday, August 13th.  An Evening of Meditative Music with Stella Haze, Spare Death Icon & Pulse Emitter at the Chapel Performance Space here in Seattle.

Gift Tapes delivers its fifth batch: three new cassettes containing carefully-crafted analog recordings.  High-bias, pro-dubbed, imprinted tapes with hand-numbered, full-color, double-sided cardstock sleeves, packaged in standard clear plastic cases, editions of 100.

J. Hanson blood orange :: GT017 C37 audio cassette, edition of 100 Description: Synthesized chanting; ethnic electronics bathed in crimson light Music by J. Hanson $6 USD

On Blood Orange, Portland-based J. Hanson creates ethnic-tinged compositions with modular synth and spring reverb.  These pieces take influence from ritualistic gamelan music, shamanic drumming, and early electronic music.

Knit Prism orbs :: GT018 C31 audio cassette, edition of 100 Description: Multidimensional perception; inverted flotation awareness Music by MWP $6 USD

Ontario’s Knit Prism uses synths, guitar, electronics and tape to bring supernatural phenomena to light.   The spacious assemblages of hovering drones and complex textures on this new release, Orbs, will stand out as some of KP’s finest work to date.

Studio SS sickness :: GT019 C45 audio cassette, edition of 100 Description: Sensory disruption process; panic-attack boomerang synthesis Music by JS $6 USD

Studio SS is the solo project of the man behind Börft, an obscure, experimental Swedish label putting out tapes and LPs since 1987.  Sickness is a meditation on various modes of delirium through the use of synths, effects, mics and speakers: LFO-modulated delusions and granular washes of hysteria… the perfect panic attack.

We’ll be selling what stock we have left of this batch, but you can also pick them up from Mimarolgu, Tomentosa, Discriminate & Colour Ride.

Also, I noticed that Mimaroglu still has copies of the Father Sound/HPV split from the last batch & Tomentosa has a few copies of various Gift releases : Pulse Emitter &  Matt Carlson from last fall AND Stella Haze & Million Mists from the first batch!  Get your hands on them while you still can.

Last night I found a pretty ruley package on my doorstep from fellow NW underground JAMMER Pete Swanson that included a new cassette of his solo work. Blasting the tape on the way to work this morning – I felt inspired to write a little nuglet about the experience.

Mr. Entertainment opens with a super crunchy, cracking loop that lays the rough and porous volcanic foundation for Pete’s signature sound: HEAVY & BLOWN-OUT. Monstrous fields of sound roll in like thunder, while fragmented text, seemingly jumbled and masked, works towards subliminal manipulation of the listener. Melodic undertones hint at the emotive spirit buried beneath this nuclear assault of tape and electronics. Self-released in October of 2009, this tape is a fine example of Pete’s recent efforts. I noticed this tape was just made available on Mimaroglu’s site – grab it while it lasts!

Pax Titania, the solo electronic project of Christopher Cprek (currently residing in Louisville), incorporates homemade electronics, sequencers and drum machines to create sweeping textures and bumping rhythms.  Orphan Daughter of an Orphan Daughter, released on Catholic Tapes, is like a high-speed chase scene on Light Cycles, as colliding drones outwardly flex their energies just above the speedy oscillations of a 2-dimensional plane.  It’s musical accompaniment to an action scene, a unique vision that is bound to cause some head wear.

Last night Gift Tapes organized a local Seattle show that we were SUPER excited about: Stellar Om Source, Pacific City Nightlife Vision Band, and Brother Raven.  This show is the first of what we hope will become a regular series.

Stellar Om Source was AMAZING – epic and angular stream-of-consciousness visionz; super-lush frequencies that drifted as much as they rumbled.  Performing in total darkness, her sounds seemed enhanced by laser projections that danced across her being, reflecting off golden threads sewn into her shirt.  The combination of sound and visual elements was seamless, elevating her presence into the cloudless atmospheres of deep space.  Total electronic music goddess. As this was maybe the 26th show of her tour, she took the opportunity to depart a bit from some of her new work, making this show even more of a treat!  Definitely the uber-tech HiFi set of the evening…  I love the fact that these two bands are touring together…

Jamming on ultra-lo-fi ghetto baby keyboards, Spencer Clark’s Pacific City Nightlife Vision Band made some of the craziest crypto-shamanic-islander jams I’ve had the opportunity to experience live; totally hypnotic and ritualistic music.  Spencer Clark is a total TRIP – at some point he walked across the room to grab his secret stealth keyboard, still in original box, total K-mart style; serious “next-level shit”.  His partner on this tour, Dan (of Eat Skull) was top notch accompaniment, striking 3-5 notes repetitively for each of their 20-minute jamz.

Check out the FRESH lineup for the next GT show if you’re in Seattle:

SYNTH NIGHT
April 2nd @ Josephine
Magneticring (Josh Stevenson) – Vancouver BC
J. Hanson (Josh Hanson) – PDX
Brother Raven (Jamie Potter/Jason E Anderson) – SEA
Matt Carlson – PDX
Mr.WE the shadetree mechanic (DJ) – SEA

A few months back, a guy named Kurt handed me a tape containing a live Brother Raven set from a hot summer night (performing with totally RAD folks: Marcia Bassett as Zaimph, Pete Swanson & Josh Stevenson as Magneticring).  We want to share it with you… COSMIC MINIMAL SYNTH, recorded live to tape at The Josephine, Seattle, WA, June 24, 2009. Download here (MP3, 34 MB, MONO).