cassette craze chronicles I (feat. DEAD NEANDERTHALS, PHURPA, RAT ABBEY, RAW DEAL & JAH CUZZI)

Nothing to see here! Just some tapes of albums, which I I have already covered in previous reviews. Plus some bonus stuff.

I've already told René Aquarius that half of my new stuff since getting into tapes again will probably consist of his misanthropic shit, so here we go...

Initially I had been content with the digital version of the Dead Neanderthals death crust sludge metal monstrosity "Blood Rite", but when after a while the very last copies were still available, I couldn't resist and add this tape to my collection. The artwork really nails the 90s underground death metal aesthetics and thus makes it a good companion to some of the old rancid stuff in my shelf from bands like Stillbirth or Sanity's Dawn.

As a bonus purchase I got myself the more traditional Dead Neanderthals classic "Prime", which sees René (drums), Otto Kokke (sax) and Colin Webster (sax) going berserk through one insane fourty minutes free heavy jazz cataclysm. Glorious!

This one I ordered on Bandcamp Friday August. First I was a little disappointed that the cassette artwork of Phurpa's "Hyms Of Gyer"is different from the digital release, but this cover has an eerie quality to it, which also fits the unreal otherworldliness of the group's overwhelming a cappella drone.

On Bandcamp Friday September I ordered "The Engine Of Night" by Rat Abbay, the instrumental drone/ambient/post rock solo spawn of Thomas Fisher from Esben And The Witch.

The artwork of the tape packaging and additional postcard features a painting by Fisher himself and is done with much love. Still would like to put this beauty into a fitting tray though.

Another Bandcamp Friday, another tape. Well, two actually, but the other one's not on its way yet.

The Raw Deal  / Jah Cuzzi split is totally made for this format in every way. Dig it.

And just in case the tape in the envelope wouldn't be enough for me, Stoned To Death records were very generous with free download cards for other (in physical form already partly sold out) stuff.

"Půl Litru Země" is a great punkish, but at times also quite epic psych ride from Pacino, released in 2017. I especially dig the raw emotional vocals.

The experimental finger picking guitar on "Face to Face Against American Primitivism in Eastern Europe vol. 2" (2019) is something completely different, yet also very interesting.



And finally there were two recent releases from this year:

JASNOVIDEC - Jasnovidec (2020)

How many drone duos are out there? Well, here's another one, featuring a member of Raw Deal.

Six tracks of pure buzzing, whirring, flickering. Here meditative, there drowned in whooshing noise. You won't find great melodies or even songs here. This is primal textural ambient and drone. And even though it's not mindblowing or super innovative, Jasnovidec are quite good at it.

SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN - Covered In Mud (2020)

While there isn't much seriously not to like about the arrangements of the raw psych tunes on here, the production of this jammy psych rock album is rather low-fi, and especially those passages where a way too loud overdriven voice talks over the rest are as good (or bad) as unlistenable.

But then maybe that's just befitting, given song titles like "Mid-Grade Sandpaper" or "Sexpiss". And of course there's also the cover, which might very well be one of the greatest of all times. At least for an album which sounds as dirty as this one. The last track "Hot Lickity Lazy Day" is astonishigly chill though. Weird shit.