What Will They Try Next? (#47)

Source here. Originally recorded on March 20, 1997.

The first 15 minutes or so end up featuring some really aggravating squeaky distorted murmuring. I'm not sure if this was us or some found recording, but please do speed past that part into much more interesting stuff. Not so many vocals in this one, but a good mix of hi and lo fi awaits the intrepid listener.

1. Hipster or Eastern European?
2. Transmission from the planet dorkwad
3. Bells and Peals
4. We're in my house goofing on the four track come on over
5. A Confusing Wall
6. A very very white dub
7. Overwrought Synthesizer Theme
8. The numbing isn't working
9. The cartoon orchestra performs the hits
10. Burroughs and Clavinova
11. Shoot the piano player, please
12. Today is going to be the day for saxophones
    
13. Hands on the home row
    

Negativbustoplexicon (#44)

Source here. Originally recorded on February 27, 1997.

While this doesn't have a definite theme, it's pretty clear here that we're trying to do more with less. It's low density layering, focusing on the juxtaposition of two or three elements. It's good stuff, with storytelling, instructional, and singing examples with plenty of ambient background.

1. Thunder's just a lot of noise
2. Why is there always accordion? It makes the dogs upset
3. Large Bees/Dirt Bikes used for travel
4. Twitchy mice flee dogs via jet plane
5. Naturalment
6. Bad News Horse
7. BLAM
8. Sew What?
9. Beating on the Strings
10. Worst. Ballad. Ever.
11. Everything's going to be just smooth
12. A spooky pronunciation guide
13. I devour metal guitarists
    

Excerpts (#38)

Source here. Originally recorded on January 16th, 1997.

Too much typing today. I wanted to write up a review of the Bad Plus show last night (link, you are under no obligation to follow) before moving on to having collage pollute my brain by shoving my recollections elsewhere. Done and done.

Much longer passages with less layering define this piece as ideas are allowed to develop and either work or fail over time. As a result, I listened to this in real time (dirty little secret, I sometimes skip ahead since it would make the third time I've listened to something like this). We had what seems to be an inordinate amount of fun with slowly hand-turning turntables. This is not a bad thing.

1. The Flavor of an Indeterminate Old Country
2. Moving Northward into Wolf Country
   
3. Hand cranked creature comforts
4. Drug/Drugs across the strings
5. Gulls and Dogs do not like Electronica
6. Cartoonish concepts of a nation state
7. Quick jazz break
8. Preaching to the disco choir
9. Urgent message from the front lines
10. Rotary Kalimba
11. Accordion to you
12. I am desperately trying to be spooky here
13. Post Show Post Rock
    

Love: A Straightforward Analysis (#28)

Source here. Originally recorded on November 16th, 1996.

A serious attempt at a theme show here. Remarkably, it's nowhere near Valentine's Day. Ironically, I'm posting this the day after a wedding announcement party, so synergy you know.

A major component of this show is a long, rambling, torturous answering machine message of the kind that would be handled these days with e-mail. The voice aspect makes it real and immediate (painful, funny, sad), and also allows for background music (there is background music on the answering machine message, yes). This is brought in at various points until just past the point of bearability and then faded out while something new is prepared.

1. The first of many overwrought poetry readings
2. Careless whispers and heavy metal
3. It's like group therapy without the group
   
4. Watching the submarine races
5. The inevitable appearance of that Joy Division song
6. Heart trouble
7. Possible wrong number
8. Industrious Reproduction
9. Fumbling around in the dark
10. Seeing the sailors off
    
11. It's a love affiar
12. Sometimes the jokes write themselves
13. 80's electro end credits to Cinemax sexy crime movie
    

Feedback is the Mother of all Illegitimate Children (#25)

Source here. Originally recorded on October 26th, 1996.

Yes yes yes. This is as dense as it gets. Here, we explore feedback in all its forms; meaning, feedback with various time dependencies. It's sort of amazing that all we vary (aside from the input) is the length of time before the output gets fed back into the input: from the almost immediate squeal to a chewy club sandwich of recursive 8 second delay, sometimes more than one at once.

To say this is "thick" is to diminish it somewhat. Moments of clear sound erupt suddenly out of a wash, only to descend back into an audio morass. One of my favorite tracks here.

1. Chipmunk Central Casting
2. Alien Spin Cycle
3. The roof leaks and the TV gets nothing
4. Like if Morse Code was a free-form jazz quartet
5. Quick post-punk interjections, as if there was any other kind
6. In which we abuse traditional Irish music
7. The call of the wild
8. Steamroller of justice
9. Legal IDs are my secret mantra
   
10. LEVELS ARE PEGGED (in the background)
11. The wolves at the door of hip-hop
12. "Audio Collage"
13. Lean radio station against amplifier, exeunt
    

Added by IanF-R:
Long one of my favorites, too. Before the three groups of tapes were reunited, I had this one in my possession, and I would play it once every few months when my better half was away; a soundtrack for my house project days.