Decibel Magazine 069
THE WAGES OF DIN by Scott Seward
Spring has sprung. At least in my neck of the woods. Wait, you are reading this in, like, November or something, right? Magazines are weird. Yay, fall! Don't even get me started on summer, you are no friend of mind. This month's column is devoted to one label. Lucky them, huh? Specifically Feeding Tube Records, straight outta Easthampton, Taxamassholechusetts. And why would I ever give this much space to a label that you and everyone you know has never heard of? Simple, dude. They embody the Din aesthetic-if there is one-to a T. They are all of Din. And then some. If they didn't exist, I would have to invent them. And vice versa. Almost everyone with a record on Feeding Tube would play at your house for some gas money, some hash, a beer and a couch to crash on for the night. I'll bet. The releases have been coming out fast and furiously, too. So, get that futon set up and await the knock on your door.
Crystalline Roses "One Man Cult" Let's start simple. This is fractured and not all that freaky folky stuff for acoustic guitar and sometimes banjo and maybe a sitar and low voice and definitely sticky buds. Lovely, really. Did I mention that most Feeding Tube releases are handsome vinyl-only releases? Limited, too, so act now.
Cave Bears "Crawl Space" 7" In a word, dementia. Not recommended for anyone over the age of three.
Sam Gas Can "Aswang" 7" And I quote "Two songs about disembodied, Vietnamese monsters with a thirst for infants blood." But in a good way. Or maybe not. I can't tell. I know I like this, though. Wait, do I? Yes!
Dashpi 7" Ay yi yi! Really bad-and hilarious, a la Frogs perhaps-bedroom synth reggae and helium vocals. All housed in one of the most beautifully designed single packages I've ever seen. Go figure!
No Sound "It's Never Room Service" & Nals Goring "Watership Down" I'm combing these two releases because they both share the same anything-goes thrill for dada-esque sound-making that never fails to make me smile. God loves a fucked-up art-fuck mess. Tapes and loops and dribbling sounds of boredom and glee. America, so much to answer for.
Picayune "Summer Bummer" If Tom from Stiltbreeze had heard this album first, he would have put it out and Dusted.com would have written that it was a "dry dissipated treatsie on late-America hegemony and decay," but he didn't hear it first and he has to make do with all the ennui that the great state of Ohio can muster instead. I love this album. Guitar sprawl caked onto wax like mud. Suck it in and blow it out.
Pimania "The Music of Mel Croucher and Automata Ltd." This is too much. This is rich. This "package" is a work of art before you even get to the music. Stunning, really. Here, because nobody asked for it, is the original music for an early '80s UK computer game called Pimania. Oh sure, you remember it. Anyway, if you don't buy this, I hate you forever. The "music" is completely bonkers synth action and Ivor Cutler/Viv Stanshall loon-style humor. This is the archival release of the year. I can't say enough good stuff about it. You never know that you need something until you have!
If you make, sell or distribute noise. deep drone/psych, experimental electronic and/or nuclear industrial crazzy-ass gunk, and want to be featured in a future edition of The Wages of Din, email me at skotrok@earthlink.net
