cassette craze chronicles XLI feat. CH'AHOM, DÉLIRANT, DIRK SERRIES, GORGONIS, HAGER/KAPUTT, MIIRA, NEVER SOL, THE MOND and URN

Phew, they keep piling up! Time to spin some tapes again!

DIRK SERRIES - Fog Curtains (2025)

Let's start with the elephant in the room, the one which obviously sticks out in the picture above! Released by Momentarily Records, a label specialized on small cassette releases in special packaging, Dirk Serries' latest(ish?) solo album comes as an unexpected haptic experience in a grey block of concrete.
There's something oddly satisfying about this inconvenient housing which you cannot even fully close. Just holding this solid thing in your hand, feeling its surface - and also being glad that this is not the standard for all tapes.

The music fits the grey colour and just like the concrete surface is a rather textural experience, in which maybe three or four layers of sound keep meandering around each other, just like... uhm... "Fog Curtains". Droning, whooshing, resonating, this is a pure sound experience, the core of Ambient guitar music.

The Bandcamp description actually almost says it all:
"The four songs on the album are a beautiful and captivating journey through a misty landscape. The artwork consists of a self-cast concrete shell and a colourful credit inlay, which perfectly matches the slightly hazy colour of the tape."

One might only add that you probably won't even notice that these forty minutes are divided into four parts, because all changes are very subtle, the principle of organic formlessness never changes. "Fog Curtains" certainly requieres attention and deep listening - yet the album rewards you with a freeing and relaxing sensation not meant to be put into words.

GORGONIS - Choice Paralysis (2025)

A pink mutant cat shooting lasers from its eyes - yeah, this release by Fuzzed Up & Astromoon Records surely caught my attention with its packaging, too. Even though I was at work I immediately checked it out hoping that the music would be good enough to justify ordering it. And damn, this shit is not just good, but absolutely on fire!

Gorgonis from Boston are a big band project with a Rock'n'Roll line-up plus a brass section and additional gang vocals, combining a wide array of styles like Garage Punk, Rockabilly, Horror and Morricone soundtrack music, Psychedelic Rock and johnzornish Avantgarde Jazz to an exciting wild ride that could totally work as the score for a Super 8 Tarantino tribute short film.

Speaking of short: The songs are compactly on point, so the nine tracks don't even add up to a total playing time of twenty-five minutes. But that's just the right length for this fun little album. You can - and should - just always spin it again if you need more. It's a feral, loudly meowing killer!

DÉLIRANT - Thoughteater (2025)

I've already reviewed this deliciously horrifying slab of Dissonant Deathened Black Metal back in February, but as so often with releases from Sentient Ruin Laboratories it took a while until this awesome looking tape became available for a reasonable price in Europe.

And not that this fact needed further confirmation - but yes, Délirant's "Thoughteater", a sonic nightmare in seven chapters, remains of of the sickest Extreme Metal releases of the year. Yet after almost six months I still cannot close my review of this gloriously discordant maelstrom better then I already did, so I'll just lazily copy that whole last paragraph:

"Thoughteater" feels like the horrific freeze frame of the moment Saturn's son realizes that Francisco Goya is making his father fucking eat him alive. What a dickhead! And what a brain-levelling blast!

CH'AHOM - Knots Of Abhorrence (2023)

Alongside Délirant I also purhased a Sentient Ruin tape, which is a little older. Ch'ahom's debut album has been released in 2023, the same year I got the compilation of their first four demos.

"Knots Of Abhorrence" doesn't stray from the band's former path, yet only increases the quality of the German Death/Black Metal group's music. It's still dedicated to Aztec blood cults, intercuts its attacks of dissonant brutality with accordingly ritualistic flutes and percussions - and almost tries to hide its Progressive influences and technical masterclass in a swampy low-fi aesthetic. So if you don't pay attention you might miss that this actually a pretty amazing, atmospherically dense Death Metal killer.

With "Path to Ixtab" there's only one track that had already been released previously, the other five tracks (including the digital only twelve-minute bonus "Ts'Ono'Ot") are all new - or were new in 2023 -, so there's absolutely no reason not to include this in your sick collection of advanced ghoulish insanity.

NEVER SOL - Tell The Sea I'm Coming Back (2024)

From Sentient Ruin Laboratories to a label which dedicates itself even more to tapes, the diverse Czech underground herald Stoned To Death!

A while ago I couldn't resist their friendly discounts, which introduced me to the singer and solo artist Sára Vondrášková aka Never Sol. Her three-song EP "Tell the Sea I'm Coming Back" is based on the full droning sound of the pipe organ, so there's of course no way around comparisons to the great Anna von Hausswolff. And concerning the slowly moving monolithic instrumentals this is more than fair.

Vocally however Never Sol doesn't reach the same eccentric Kate Bush heights, but mostly stays more reserved inside a warm range which reminds me of the lower registers of Angel Olsen.
It's only during the mini album's second half that the singer explores a higher, more mystical and dramatic tone with higher notes. Both organ (plus some added synths) and voice build a huge and intense atmosphere, contributing to a very good release.

Even though I don't feel that Vondrášková has reached her full potential in terms of songwriting yet - the pieces are still missing a certain something to really make them stand out - I can only recommend this tape.

URN - Self Sabotage (2024)

Slovak composer, guitar player and long-time Danish resident (now living in Tuscany) Jakub Volovár released another album of tracks recorded in Aarhus under the moniker URN. And no, "Self Sabotage" isn't much easier to put into a box than "Recitál" from 2019.

Or maybe it actually is? Yeah, especially since with very few exceptions the upright bass and drumming remain stylistically consistent this can all in all safely be labeled as Jazz, even if the guitar occasionally explores other territories like Blues, Flamenco or Experimental Ambient.

Reading the description on Bandcamp I would argue that I don't experience the album by far as depressively melancholic as intended. The vibe of "Self Sabotage" is intimate and most the thirteen tracks seem rather relaxed - at least on the surface. There are subtly interwoven dark undertones. And there are also hints of funkier Fusion on one and rebellious Heavy Jazz on the other side. But URN doesn't approach these influences in a radical way, yet rather introduces everything harmonious and playfully. This whole album by design feels more like an eased juggling of ideas than a presentation of completely finished songs - and that's what actually makes up a large part of its appeal.

An interesting, somehow very private take on contemporary Jazz.

THE MOND - The Mond (2016)

The third Stoned To Death tape of this bunch is clearly the oldest release here. Yet as I am writing this there's still one last copy of this insane live recording available! So if you're a friend of chaotic improvisations between Psychedelic Rock, Avantgarde Jazz and Noise - don't think twice and get it!

The 2016 debut of Experimental maniacs The Mond delivers a very enjoyable take on free musical madness, mainly because the trio's instrumentation of "electrified trumpet", modular synths, drums and keyboards establishes an interesting, recognizable and hands down just cool trademark sound. "The Mond" is not the reinvention of music, but a very fun album for fans of raw Heavy Jazz and pleasently weird soundtracks to stuff falling down stairs.

MIIRA / HAGER/KAPUTT - Split (2025)

Am I saving the best for last? Maybe. I actually don't want to tie myself down on that. Yet undoubtly this split cassette on Nasse Records (limited to fifty copies) is something special.

Side A belongs to the German guitar/drums duo Miira and their twenty minute Post Rock epic "Unfollow Function". It's just amazing how big their sound feels. And this piece is more emotional, sophisticated and dynamic than their previous album "Wellness".  Huge and heartfelt.

Framed by church bells side B belongs to the duo of Philipp Hager (Zement) and Franz Joseph Kaputt, whose even longer track called "Beschluss der Ewigen Anbetung" ("Decree of Perpetual Adoration") is a calmer affair, which mixes a beautiful saxophone with acoustic guitar and Ambient sounds. It feels as if Smooth Jazz was meeting Appalachian Folk under the umbrella of Post Something on a small, softly lit living room stage.

Both sides complement each other perfectly, making this cassette an exemplary split release, which leaves nothing to be desired. 

KAMASI WASHINGTON und NOVINE live in der Fabrik, Hamburg (21. Juli 2025)

Beinahe zehn Jahre nach seiner spektakulären Gruenspan-Show während seiner ersten Deutschlandtour und neun Jahre nach der nicht minder ekstatischen Wiederholung kehrte Saxophonprophet Kamasi Washington nun endlich endlich nach Hamburg zurück!

Und war es wieder ein super Konzert? Ja, aber...


Doch zunächst einmal gab es gestern tatsächlich einen Supportact:

NOVINE

Wer gerne unverschämt schönen Menschen mit samtweichen Stimmen zuhört, der war bei der nur von einem Gitarristen begleiteten Neosoulsängerin Novine, die neben ihren eigenen R'n'B-Stücken auch noch ein Prince-Cover zum Besten gab, exzellent aufgehoben.

Ich musste stimmlich of an Janelle Monáe denken - und es gibt ja wirklich schlimmeres als das. Eine wunderbare, sehr entspannte Einstimmung auf den Rest des Abends.

KAMASI WASHINGTON

Entspannt war auch der Umbau, war ja eigentlich schon fast alles auf seinem Platz. So musste der Roadie nur einmal für elle Instrumente und Mikros einen Linecheck machen, Setlisten und Handtücher verteilen. Das dauerte bei acht Personen auf der beinahe komplett zugestellten Bühne der Fabrik aber auch schon lange genug.

Nein, viel mehr Musiker hätten wohl nicht mehr Platz gefunden; dabei ist Kamasi ja durchaus schon mit deutlich größerem Besteck unterwegs gewesen. Auch wenn die Next Step-Gesichter bis auf einen neuen DJ/Perkussionisten vertraut waren, hat sich die Konstellation doch etwas geändert. So wurde die Bläsersektion aus Washington (Tenorsaxophon und nun auch häufig Keyboard), seinem Vater Rickey (Sopransaxophon, Querflöte) und Dontae Winslow (Trompete) nicht von Posaunist Ryan Porter unterstützt. Noch auffälliger war das Fehlen des früheren Markenzeichens. mit zwei kompletten Drumkits anzutreten.

Tony Austin trommelte zwar immer noch ungezügelt vielarmig wie fünf Schlagzeuger auf einmal, aber das war auch ein bisschen Teil des Problems, dass die Show trotz aller Klasse einfach nicht so sehr zünden mochte wie 2015 und 2016. Wenn man sich schon weiter vom Spiritual Jazz-Maximalismus entfernt hat und auf den Sturm und Drang des Doppeltrommeldauerfeuers verzichtet, dann hätte man vielleicht auch konsquenter sein können und insgesamt noch mehr rhythmisch zurückgenommene, feinfühligere Momente einbringen können.

Natürlich kann ich diese Show nicht wirklich verreißen. Der größte Teil der Performances war natürlich großartig, kein Solo enttäuschte, auch wenn vielleicht das erste Brandon Coleman-Piano-Feature und die DJ-Sample-Passagen, in denen mit Rap und Hooks gespielt wurde, ein paar Längen entwickelten. Doch vor allem Miles Mosley am Kontrabass (wie immer ein Highlight der Show) und selbstverständlich Kamasi selbst bügelten dies locker wieder aus. Darüber hinaus trat der Bandleader wieder sehr sympathisch und als humorvoller Geschichtenerzähler auf.

Irgendwie funktionierte die ganze Geschichte aber trotzdem lange nicht so grandios wie damals im Gruenspan, und ich denke das hat auch mit der Location zu tun. Ich stand vorne in der Mitte und konnte aufgrund der dicken Säulen auf der Bühne schon einige Akteure kaum sehen - die Anwesenheit von Sängerin Patrice Quinn, die ohnehin nur relativ unauffällig in der Setlist des Abends vertreten war, konnte man so zwischenzeitlich schon beinahe vergessen.
Es gab sicherlich kaum jemanden im Publikum, der alle Musiker im Blick hatte. Ich würde nicht einmal darauf wetten, dass die Band selbst immer freien Sichtkontakt zueinander hatte. Auf jeden Fall kommt eine offenere Bühne mit größerem Kontakt aller Beteiligten im Raum zueinander der Show sicherlich zugute.

Was man vielleicht auch nicht ganz vergessen darf ist, dass das aktuelle Album "Fearless Movement", welches auch über die Hälfte der Setlist stellte, natürlich eine gewaltige Vorlage darstellt, die live einfach schwer zu toppen ist, selbst wenn man den Trick anwendet, alle Songs des Konzerts ohnehin konsequent deutlich anders zu arrangieren. Und klar, meine persönlichen Jazzansprüche mögen in den letzten zehn Jahren auch ein bisschen gestiegen sein.

Und trotz allem soll dies - ich wiederhole mich - ja kein Verriss sein. Kamasi Washington hat definitiv abgeliefert. Es fehlte eben nur das entscheidende magische Sahnehäubchen obendrauf, um den Abend wirklich besonders werden zu lassen. Doch das kann man wohl auch einfach nicht von jeder Band an jedem Tag verlangen.

LADEÛLAS - Ladeûlas

Deûle + Lassolas = Ladeûlas

LADEÛLAS - Ladeûlas (CD) (2025)

Here are two interesting French bands merged together to one project featuring bass, guitars, synths, vocals and - in good old Jazz tradition - two drummers assigned to the left and rightl channel of the mix. The first track of their forty-minute album beginns with crawling clean yet dark, somehow jazzy chords in the vein of Kayo Dot's "Choirs Of The Eye" and female vocals which would immediately trigger many critics' reaction to compare them with Björk - which is both wrong and absolutely on point at the same time.

Because if you're referencing the vibe most people would commonly associate with the Icelandic singer - this is not quite it, no matter where during her long solo career you apply the comparison. But if we're talking about young, quirky, wild and raw Avantgarde Punk Björk and her early band K.U.K.L.'s 1984 debut EP "The Eye" that not only hits the nail on the head in terms of singing, but also in terms of the instrumental arrangements and production. Much of this indeed feels like a slightly chaotic Post Punk group of that specific energy performing inside a vast machine hall.

Yet while this impression persists throughout all four tracks, which can evolve to an individual length of up to fourteen minutes, this album also ventures into more atmospheric, mystic Ambient moods with subtle Arabisms as well as Noise Rock, E-L-R style Doomgaze and even blasting Post Black Metal or what could me described as the meeting point of Post Rock and synthwave in that long trippy section of the closer "À Votre Service". Yet it always stays true to the unique spirit established during its first couple of minutes in the opener "Borderu".

All this makes Ladeûlas' self-titled debut a very unique and intriguing, at the right spots unpolished, yet always beautiful work.

JOÃO PAIS FILIPE - Teocalli

Wow, in the far back of my head I actually thought I already had an album featuring Portuguese experimental drummer João Pais Filipe in my digital collection. But that was just me confusing him with some fellow countrymen. Probably because that album also had some long tracks and a pretty phenomenal drum sound.But well, let's get to the record at hand, shall we?

JOÃO PAIS FILIPE - Teocalli (LP) (2025)

"Teocalli" was developed as a sountrack to an experimental film and consists of just one ongoing track of forty minutes length. It begins with very headphone-friendly produced hypnotic drums and percussion. And goes on like that. And goes on. Until you don't believe that anything else will ever happen on this album.
And that's ok, because this sounds glorious. I could shelve this between Klaus Weiss' Niagara and The Art Blakey Percussion Ensemble and very much enjoy it as it is.

But then different things do happen! First, after a quarter of the total playing time, while still keeping the Afro-Beat pulse bright bells or tubes (?) are added to sound palette, before they even take the full unshared spotlight. Especially in this part the stereo bouncing of it all is just wonderfully satisfying.

After a whooshing surge Noise the piece returns to pure percussion rite. There are some further pronounced changes of direction during the piece's second half, but it's needless to recount all of them here. IT doesn't make it easier to properly describe the effect of this record anyway. It's a very experimental, but also somehow very direct and easy to instinctively understand album.

It makes me wonder how this must have looked as a live performance. How much was actually played, how much was maybe sampled and manipulated? I really cannot tell. All I know is that this feels psychedelic, vital and visceral, a beautiful zen-like trance on the blurred yet heightened edge of perception.

To underline it once again: This sounds just so enormously satisfying and wholesome. The presentation of the record with a large-size booklet of stills doesn't hurt either. A wonderful release beyond the need of strict categorisation. 

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PURPLE TRAP - The Stone

If you know you know, I guess.

PURPLE TRAP - The Stone (LP) (2023/2025)

I at least knew the label Karlrecords. I also knew Japanese Noise improvisation legend Keiji Haino. And of course i also knew bass player Bill Laswell, who I recently reviewed several times with the return of his trio with John Zorn and Mick Harris, PainKiller.

Rashied Ali, who had played drums with Jazz greats like Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders and both Alice and John Coltrane only seemed familiar via name recognition to me, and if he had already been present somewhere in my music collection, I'm not actively aware of that.

However this was still enough to imagine how this live recording of their trio Purple Trap from December 2005, which Bill Laswell first released digitally for his Bandcamp channel subscribers in 2023, would roughly sound like: Intricate Free Jazz, brute Noise, a masterful balance of chaos which finds and dissolves structure - and musicality too seasoned to bother with seeking validation.

Ali as one of the originators stays closest to the traditional image of Free Jazz, while Laswell fluidly moves between smooth stabilizing lines and more experimental or sick distorted sounds.
Haino, who also delivers some manic vocals, is all over the place between surprisingly sweet and listenable and - much more frequent - parallel dimension rock star mannerism and other delightful Avantgarde dada.

Or in other words: legends at work. It's good. Friends of Free Noise Jazz can't do wrong with this record.

If you purchase the vinyl release don't throw away your download code, because one of the seven tracks is only available digitally!

SARKH - Heretical Bastard

Fünf Jahre nach ihrem Debüt "Kaskade" bringen uns Worst Bassist Records und Echodelick partnerschaftlich in wenigen Stunden (VÖ:7.7.) endlich den zweiten Longplayer der deutschen psychedelischen Post Rock/Metal-Instrumentalisten Sarkh.

Das ist an sich eine uneingeschränkt super Sache - und dennoch wird es allmählich etwas schwierig, dieses Trio zu rezensieren. 

SARKH - Heretical Bastard (LP) (2025)

Liegt's an Rocky? Nein, Rocky ist ein guter Junge! Glaube ich zumindest. Ob es nun erheblich verkaufsfördernd sein mag, dass das Artwork von "Heretical Bastard" von Strandschnappschüssen des vierbeinigen Freundes des Gitarristen geziert wird, sei mal dahingestellt. Das kann ich als Kläffern eher skeptisch gegenüberstehender Katzenmensch ohnehin nicht beurteilen.
Und ob Doggo es gut findet, mit dem Albumtitel in Verbindung gebracht zu werden? Puh, keine Ahnung. Ich bin ja schon froh, dass das Design kein Comic Sans enthält.

Aber ganz egal wie lange ich auch brauche, um mich festzulegen, ob ich das Cover nun brilliant oder bekloppt finde; es ist auf jeden Fall schon irgendwie mutig in seiner auf ästhetische Gewohnheiten scheißenden Unorthodoxie.

Nein, tatsächlich komisch ist für mich als Schreiber natürlich, dass ich Teile dieses Albums schon mehrfach besprochen habe. Vier der sechs Stücke erschienen nämlich bereits auf der "Helios EP", und zwei dann nochmals als Teil der Vierer-Split-Compilation "International Space Station Vol 2".

Das ändert aber natürlich nichts daran, dass Sarkhs u.a. von Russian Circles und Motorpsycho geprägter Sound hier in ziemlich brillianten Kompositionen gepflegt wird, die mich auch nach wie vor nicht langweilen. Und so mag für alte und neue Fans schon ausreichen, "Helios", "Kanawaga", "Zyklon" und "Cape Wrath" nun endlich allesamt auf Vinyl gepresst besitzen zu können.

Ergänzt werden sie durch zwei im Dezember 2024 live (nur mit wenigen Gitarrenoverdubs) aufgenomme Tracks, das erhaben schwebende und krachende "Glazial" und das zwischen himmlischer, weediger und schwarzmetallischer Stimmung alternierende "Autumn To June", die dem Rest des Materials keinen Millimeter nachstehen.

Nein, ganz gleich ob sie eher wie eine Gruppe aus dem Stall von Pelagic, Heavy Psych Sounds oder El Paraiso Records klingen - Sarkh zelebrieren dieses Ding immer geschmackvoll, ohne sich in unnötigen Spielereien zu verlieren, auf höchstem Niveau.

Für Freunde des gepflegten atmosphärischen catchy heavy Riffs gibt es hier eigentlich nur ein Kommando:

Apport!

Gut gemacht! Whoooo's a good boy? Yes, you're the goodest booyyy!