The Cyclical Tahitian Heroin Economy

Brian Pyle has been pretty prolific of late (well, of always), and here is another Ensemble Economique release to get desperately sweaty over. Combining with Italian Spaghetti wastoids Heroin In Tahiti (whose Death Surf LP of last year is something I inexplicably missed and need to hunt down ASAP) and put out through the No=Fi and Sound of Cobra collectives, this Black Vacation/No Highway split LP is a sight (and sound) to behold. Pyle hasn't sounded more sonically abrasive since Psychical in 2010 (my introduction to his work, in fact) - No Highway is immediate...ly desolate, a sinuous deathcab ride to the soul of the desert, and the deserted. It's cerebral madness, beyond the black rainbow, and it's where I want to be.

But before we can sell our souls to this suave devil, we find ourselves in an airport listening to multilingual departure announcements, and we have slipped into Black Vacation. Heroin In Tahiti are our hosts, and it isn't the flight you fear as much as it's the destination. Hula music for a magnetic meltdown, the only relief that comes is when you think it's over - then a static storm rolls on through, and the emptiness is infinite. Quietly mesmeric - a Western for the Arctic Circle on the cusp of a thirty-day darkness.

Black Vacation/No Highway is out now - grab it here.

Warped Imaginings From An El G

 

I started writing about In Coro, the cassette LP that France’s èlg put out in June. Even a brief conversation with Toni from NO=FI Recordings had me reinvigorated for it – then I simply forgot. Sorry to you both. In Coro is some seriously warped stuff – a mix of French pop, drones and cut-up, psych folk and dreamy experimental sounds. A mind-bending cross between Pink Floyd’s The Wall on a cassette left out in the sun, and an even more sinister audio recording of In The Night Garden.

 

I'm not sure if there is any of these cassettes left – only 100 were made up – but try here. Sample it below. t isn’t for everyone – it actually gave me a headache the second time I listened to it, like skeletal fingers digging through my skull and pulping my brain – but if you are adventurous, there is so much to be gleaned from this. A cracked delight.

Track listing:
A

hoteru
good service
gens vue ouïe
lamento
melted mall

B

des mirages
hattthof de pierran
notringo
melted mall
sharks into the present
l'art du sommeil

Stuck In N4 In The Magic Towers

Just a quick nighttime zone-out post to end the weekend on. The lovely people over at NO=FI Recordings sent me this cassette of Magic Towers called N4. The blurb states that the Vittorio Veneto (Italy)duo "use synths, delays, tape echoes and space sounds in order to compose or improvise ambient and delayed atmospheres and trips. The project is based on the inner observation and the visual contemplation of the sound. The image of the Tower – connected on one hand with the journey, the passage and the transit, on the other with the static position – reflects the attitude of Magic Towers: an observer looking for the right observation point. Space ambients, rhythms from the deep, melodic inserts and an evil beat out: in contemplation of the immense Void." Fair dues - hell, it's some blissfully pneumatic ambient drone as far as I'm concerned. Listen to it below. You can order the cassette here - c'mon, you know you want to...