Phew, that headline was a mouthful, wasn't it? Even though I snuck a cassette into my last Temple Fang double review there's still enough new tape left to justify this forty-sixth edition of cassette craze chronicles - and of course we're starting with the elephant-blue item, which sticks out most in the picture above:
AIDAN BAKER & WARIO PIANESI - 4Rooms (2026)
Yes, this tape is actually connected to a name tag and several layers of cardboard cutouts with a key ring. And no, it's not as impractical as you might think. It's indeed pretty easy to loose the shell from the ring, so you only need to think about how to store this thing. Mine is hanging on a hook close to my player.
I bought this tape directly from master Aidan Baker himself after his show on the MS Stubnitz in April. I don't know how many copies exactly exist, but it's surely among the rarest items in my music collection.
Musically this is a live improvisation session of the quality you should expect from the Experimental guitar player, who once again impresses with beautifully layers of Ambient, Drone and Noise Rock, while the source of Industrial beats (and probably other sounds I cannot with certainty distiguish from his performance and effects), operated by Wario Pianesi comes as a little surprise, since it's a Nintendo DS.
Full disclosure: Despite its apparent household-name popularity I had to look up, what this Gameboy successor even is, so I can only assume that there were (are? Sorry, I'm completely out of this loop...) not only games for the mini console, but also some kind of music / drum computer apps.
Well, if your name is Wario** this is for sure a fitting instrument of choice. And this session - divided into four rooms ("Room1", "Room2" etc.) - sounds seriously good. Intriguing stuff!
I bought this tape directly from master Aidan Baker himself after his show on the MS Stubnitz in April. I don't know how many copies exactly exist, but it's surely among the rarest items in my music collection.
Musically this is a live improvisation session of the quality you should expect from the Experimental guitar player, who once again impresses with beautifully layers of Ambient, Drone and Noise Rock, while the source of Industrial beats (and probably other sounds I cannot with certainty distiguish from his performance and effects), operated by Wario Pianesi comes as a little surprise, since it's a Nintendo DS.
Full disclosure: Despite its apparent household-name popularity I had to look up, what this Gameboy successor even is, so I can only assume that there were (are? Sorry, I'm completely out of this loop...) not only games for the mini console, but also some kind of music / drum computer apps.
Well, if your name is Wario** this is for sure a fitting instrument of choice. And this session - divided into four rooms ("Room1", "Room2" etc.) - sounds seriously good. Intriguing stuff!
CATATONIC LEISURE ALONE - Veil of Sparks (2026)
The Japanese label NEUS-318 presents a live recording from China by a Russian musician living in Switzerland.
Catatonic Leisure Alone is a solo moniker of none other than Electronic Noise artist and saxophonist Anton Ponomarev (P/O Massacre, Witness Wounds, Suncuts, Teufelskeller - just to name the projects I have already written about). "Veil of Sparks" consists of a half-hour long performance called "A Noise of Bunch" in two parts, both filled with immersive, aggressive, expressive, mean yet somehow meaningful Industrial Noise. Even the saxophone turns into a manipulated shrill murder apparatus far from a musical instrument and much closer to a mechanical drill recklessly probing your brain. A profoundly brutal trip to Dystopia, scaringly close the actual hell we're building right now. Sick!
The cassette in minimalist design is limited to not 50, not 75, but for whatever reason exactly 23 copies.
Catatonic Leisure Alone is a solo moniker of none other than Electronic Noise artist and saxophonist Anton Ponomarev (P/O Massacre, Witness Wounds, Suncuts, Teufelskeller - just to name the projects I have already written about). "Veil of Sparks" consists of a half-hour long performance called "A Noise of Bunch" in two parts, both filled with immersive, aggressive, expressive, mean yet somehow meaningful Industrial Noise. Even the saxophone turns into a manipulated shrill murder apparatus far from a musical instrument and much closer to a mechanical drill recklessly probing your brain. A profoundly brutal trip to Dystopia, scaringly close the actual hell we're building right now. Sick!
The cassette in minimalist design is limited to not 50, not 75, but for whatever reason exactly 23 copies.
COLIN WEBSTER / MARK HOLUB / NOAH PUNKT - Neue Hard (2025)
The following two tapes were ordered directly from another saxophone player, the prolific Colin Webster, whose many appearances in my tape/record/CD collection mostly see him beside Rene Aquarius and Otto Kokke in Dead Neanderthals and in Jason Köhnen's projects Bong-Ra and The Lovecraft Sextet, but also jamming with many other musicians in various outings like Kodian Trio, Saxoctopus or the Martina Verhoeven Quintet. And then there's of course also the work (which probably paid more than all of these combined) on the latest Florence + The Machine album.
"Neue Hard" is a trio recording from Zürich with Mark Holub on drums and Noah Punkt on upright bass. Classic chaotic, but still seamlessly flowing, very musical and listenable Free Jazz with just the right Experimental edge. Rather on the traditional side of Webster's work, but not antiquated at all. Inspired performances, great natural sound of the instruments and a mix flawlessly showcasing both. What more do you need? Awesome!
I always love the lino-print on recycled cardboard aesthetic of his releases and the simple bold typo of "Neue Hard" on this cassette cover is no exception. Since this stuff is already from last year, there might not be too many copies left, so better check it out sooner than later!
"Neue Hard" is a trio recording from Zürich with Mark Holub on drums and Noah Punkt on upright bass. Classic chaotic, but still seamlessly flowing, very musical and listenable Free Jazz with just the right Experimental edge. Rather on the traditional side of Webster's work, but not antiquated at all. Inspired performances, great natural sound of the instruments and a mix flawlessly showcasing both. What more do you need? Awesome!
I always love the lino-print on recycled cardboard aesthetic of his releases and the simple bold typo of "Neue Hard" on this cassette cover is no exception. Since this stuff is already from last year, there might not be too many copies left, so better check it out sooner than later!
COLIN WEBSTER / BALÁZS PÁNDI / MATT CARGILL - Chewed Up And Spat Out (2026)
The second Colin Webster session here, on which he jams with drummer Balázs Pándi and Matt Cargill (Sly & The Family Drone) on electronics, is a darker and weirder beast.
And a little under forty minutes is just the right length for this kind of beautifully eery, yet still wild Doom and Heavy Jazz. Brilliant stuff - and as far as tapes go - also almost gone...
And a little under forty minutes is just the right length for this kind of beautifully eery, yet still wild Doom and Heavy Jazz. Brilliant stuff - and as far as tapes go - also almost gone...
CHURCHLICKERS - Churchlickers II (2026)
Is this an album or rather an EP with bonus tracks? I'd say the latter, because I already owned the second half of this latest Churchlickers tape - which consists of live recordings from the MS Stubnitz - as a digital release from last year.
The opener "Whiteout" is also familiar as a previous live single, but now we get to hear a studio version of this great slowly building Post Rock track, which begins with dark piano, adds twangy and later more and more heavy and atmospheric guitar work. What could have been produced to a huge epic of Mono dimensions with many instrumental layers and a perfect bombastic sound doesn't give in to this temptation, but willfully keeps the unfiltered punkish DIY attitude. And exactly that interplay between cinematic ideas and honest minimalist rawness is the central strength defining the trio from Hamburg.
Only a quarter as long as the opener the three-minute track "Wasp Cemetary" is another great example for that, as well as the familiar live tracks, which well... also include a repeat of that very track. But anyway, that actually doesn't attract any negative attention and it's of course generally nice to have this material on tape now, too. The intensity of those keys in "Frost" alone is worth it. Lick this!
The opener "Whiteout" is also familiar as a previous live single, but now we get to hear a studio version of this great slowly building Post Rock track, which begins with dark piano, adds twangy and later more and more heavy and atmospheric guitar work. What could have been produced to a huge epic of Mono dimensions with many instrumental layers and a perfect bombastic sound doesn't give in to this temptation, but willfully keeps the unfiltered punkish DIY attitude. And exactly that interplay between cinematic ideas and honest minimalist rawness is the central strength defining the trio from Hamburg.
Only a quarter as long as the opener the three-minute track "Wasp Cemetary" is another great example for that, as well as the familiar live tracks, which well... also include a repeat of that very track. But anyway, that actually doesn't attract any negative attention and it's of course generally nice to have this material on tape now, too. The intensity of those keys in "Frost" alone is worth it. Lick this!
** Hmm... Coming to think of it... is Wario even real or is this some kind of "Adaption" Kaufmann & Kaufmann situation? ;)
