CD Review // V/A "I'm An Adult" (Busey Teeth CDr)

$10.50 //

Edition of 70 //

https://buseyteethcdr.bandcamp.com/album/bt008-im-an-adult //

One of the ways to tell whether a CD is going to be great or not is to put it into your laptop and see if Windows Media Player recognizes it or not.    Sometimes it recognizes some great artists, sure, but other times it mostly will just recognize the radio type of stuff you know?   In unrelated news, I actually saw a car with a Bon Jovi sticker on it yesterday (And I don't even live in New Jersey)

Planet Shithead starts this CD with screechy distortion.   For Side A, by name only I recognize Hell Garbage, MOT and August Traeger, so it will be nice for you to hear some new names if you're in the same boat as me.   Obozdur has a lighter sound with more emphasis on the harsh side of things, as it can feel like a glitch modem, searching the frequencies for new life forms outside of this planet.   

Zatan (who I may have heard of before and thought they were Zartan) has a warbly, underwater type of sound going on.    Hell Garbage makes itself known with loud, distorted guitar sounds like "In Utero" era Nirvana only somehow heavier.    It feels like we're riding on a wave now, this track is just so much fun and every song on here thus far has been different which just goes to show you how much this blanket genre tag can do.    The end of the Hell Garbage song also includes applause, so that indicates it was live and at this point in time I, oddly enough, just assume most songs are recorded in one take.

A series of quiet beeps grows in the rustling grass on this MOT song.   We once again have this shift where we go from the CD up until now being mostly loud and now it is much quieter, much more minimal.    There is a little bit of a growing, like a helicopter engine, and then it just seems to take off.   SRVTR has this crackling static sound which really seems to drive the point home, which is interesting because it's like an amped up version of the MOT song when you listen to them back to back.

See Through Buildings has this sound of an engine failing to start just as a drone and it is loud and could make my neighbors uncomfortable (which is always a plus for me)   In some weird way, it feels like vocals are trying to come through this, like someone is talking through a bad drive thru speaker box.    Krallar gets much quieter, the sounds of doors opening and such like a field recording with this minimal drone hidden behind it all.    There is an ambient air here, which once again takes this CD from so very loud to rather soft.    A sound like an old school printer can be heard as a phone is ringing, much like an office setting here.

Loud static comes through, dropping like bombs, on the song by Musician.    This all builds to where it feels like we're glitching and then it just shifts into this industrial type of pattern and it just becomes a different song but one you really should be listening to because of the rhythm.   Wrist Clutch Exploder has an audio clip before their song of Marge Simpson saying that growing up means giving up everything that makes you happy.  A steady flow of static sludge now.   

The next fifteen tracks are by Vinz Clortho and they all flow together as one set of distorted harsh noise.   They range from eight seconds to a minute in length and it is best to listen to them all through a stereo or some means which doesn't take a pause between each so they can just intertwine.    There are vocals screamed in the background as well.    I also found a Vinz Clortho on Bandcamp that is NOT the same one.  

Mean Flow feels like their static is in water.    A Year Of Coffins buzzes in like a bee.    There is a lightsaber type of hum in here as it builds up and comes crashing back down.    Through the higher pitched screeches it comes to an end and then the big distorted static bomb drops from TxDxD.    Lord Cernunnos has this distorted video game feeling which I'm really digging.   

August Traeger brings about some back and forth lasers shots fired during what feels like an electronic symphony.    Escape From Hell has this darker distorted video game sound going for it and I just feel like it's a perfect way to end the first CD because it's not as loud as other songs on here but also not as quiet-- just such a perfect compliment to the album thus far, as we are halfway through.  

Music Review // Katrina Stuart "Blue Roses" (Musicash Inc)

https://open.spotify.com/album/3phXT2dg9fZTjzG35LsbvK //
https://soundcloud.com/katrinastuartofficial/blue-roses-katrina-stuart //

Maybe it's because I grew up in the 1980's with names like Debbie Gibson and Tiffany or maybe it's something else, but I've always been a fan of music which has had a certain pop style.   There are artists out there that fit that mold of "This is one woman in a studio making songs with lots of other people"- and that's okay, but there are still artists who do this which I try to listen to but don't.   I'd really rather not name off the ones I don't listen to though because it goes against what I stand for on the whole.

Partly because of Debbie GIbson and Tiffany, later because of Madonna and then we get into artists like Britney Spears, P!nk and most recently there is Demi Lovato.  I always seem to find these women who are powerful and creating this sound which just completely encapsulates what pop music is supposed to do: to grab onto you and not let go until it takes every piece of you away from yourself.

On "Blue Roses", Katrina Stuart does exactly that.   This song is about being hurt or wronged in some way and feeling like flowers aren't going to make up for it, so at one point the song does say to take the roses and burn them.    I feel like that idea of a woman scorned is a trope, but at the same time I really think there aren't enough songs out there that just don't seem to care about your apology and know that moving on is most healthy for everyone in the situation.

This song hits me pretty hard on a personal level because I was never one to learn to let go.  I've stayed in many relationships for far too long and now it feels like because of a lifetime of doing that I push people away too quickly.   Still, if you don't wish to use the lyrics of this song as a warning for not letting someone overstay their welcome (thirteen long years I can't erase) it's got a great beat and just feels like it'd be fun to drive around while listening to on some night where you had no real plans.

Comic Book Review // Vampirella Vol. 5 # 1 by Christopher Priest (Dynamite)

https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513028213201011 //

Back in the 1990's, when I was but a teenager, I was really into comic books, buying a bunch of them whenever I could.   I was friends with other kids into comic books and that was at a time when you would be made fun of for reading them (gasp!)  But it was also a time before the internet became what it is today.   To put it simply, I bought my first Vampirella comic book back when I was in grade school and high schoolers would've been buying Playboy.  It was that sort of risque feel that you would hide it from your parents.

Fast forward to earlier this year and on Free Comic Book Day I got the Vampirella issue which said she'd be coming back and this is what I'm reading comic books for, really.    Not only am I excited about this new series, as you'll find in my upcoming reviews this isn't the only new Vampirella series I'm reading.   Yes, I'm going full Vampirella and I'm embracing every second of it.

This issue is about Vampirella explaining who she is to a psychiatrist in New Orleans.  Of course, he doesn't believe her and thinks it's a mental condition, but there was this plane crash where she somehow survived so it seems rather odd, no?   This is the first issue in the new series though, so I feel like a lot of it is just setting the tone for things to come and helping people who might have never heard of Vampirella before begin to understand who she is.

Right now, since we are at the first issue, the possibilities seem endless for this.  I already have the second issue ready to read so I'm excited.   I really enjoy the art in this and think Christopher Priest could tell some amazing stories.   But, mostly, I'm just a fan of Vampirella and whatever she does.   Even if this only puts eyes on her as a character to where people decide to go check out her earlier works then, in my mind, it's a success.    Also, if I ever go full out in the Dynamite store and buy Vampirella things which aren't comic books I will also write about it.

Cassette Review // Peter Kris "Afternoons In The Valley" (Histamine Tapes)

Sold Out //
https://histaminetapes.bandcamp.com/album/afternoons-in-the-valley-ht020 //

We start with these drones which have notes trying to come through like Nirvana as it makes me think of "Pennyroyal Tea".    There is a calming trance about this though and then it just fades out.   Distorted notes come through next with a haunted air.    Through this winding whirr the notes ring through with echoes.    Those hollow drones return with some notes in front of them now to create a sense of FNL.

Back and forth notes now find a series of sharper notes behind them and this is creating the song, it's using the music instead of lyrics but you can really hear it singing.   The speakers shake on this as well, but it's this series of notes as the song and nothing else so it is rather peaceful as well, tranquil.

As the distortion comes through like waves or perhaps a storm during the next track it can also take on the form of a march.    Notes cut through now in that blistering guitar way.    We're taking into darkness now which makes me feel like a song by Stabbing Westward is about to begin.   It rambles like an old engine- chugga chugga- and the notes come through like post rock.

On the flip side we open up with these notes which feel like they're going in a circle, like a carousel, but they also remind me of Nirvana somehow (the ones in the way back)   As the notes toll back and forth there is a decent amount of distorted static droning behind it as well.   This all makes me feel like we are about to take off into space.    A rambling type of guitar now, but it still makes me think we might go into some Nirvana.   Though it can also take this darker turn to where it feels like a western.

As the next series of notes come in they remind me a little of bubbles forming and bursting, and I'm singing along with them like a pop song.  Bom.  Bom. Ba-ba-ba-bom.    The guitar notes just really cut through these tracks and maybe they are the only sounds, sometimes maybe they are not, but this is just guitar heavy and it's something where when you listen to it you can just feel like you're leaving your body and entering a different level of conscieness.

This particular song can become hypnotic though, a line between that snakecharmer I like to think of and something metal in the Black Sabbath way.   It kind of just fades out at the end, to complete the first cassette, where it feels like it could have been a march that just made it so far out into the sunset we can no longer see the footprints.

The second cassette begins with this upbeat country song- perhaps Dolly Parton- and the words are about where you go when you die, what happens to you, and how no one really knows.   It's a bit spiritual.    After the first song comes to an end, I keep going and it sounds like more of the same.  At this point, I realize this was a cassette meant to be dubbed over and it wasn't, so what I'm hearing is not what I'm supposed to be hearing (oops) but you still can get a general idea from the first cassette of what this will be like.

Wrestling Review // Saint Louis Anarchy Battle of Spaulding 2019 (IWTV)

Cage Match Results here :::

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=236263

This is my fourth show since joining IWTV and I will admit that I decided to watch it because the lovely Sarah Rose tweeted about it.    It's funny that on the IWTV site I can search for "Orange Cassidy" and find events he wrestles on, but if I search for Sarah Rose it doesn't show me the events she is the ring announcer on.    I also decided to watch this show because it was St. Louis Anarchy Wrestling, a promotion I'd never heard of before and the majority of the wrestlers on this card I've never seen before.   "2 Cups Stuffed" (which I watched before this) was kind of like an all-star event for me and this one is more of a getting to know new names feel.

Right away it's funny to me that Cage Match has the real names of Shark Bait and Big Beef listed in the opening contest.    Big Beef (aka Gnarls Garvin) is a big guy, but a lot of these guys have that tall-ish skinny look going on for them.   They remind me- in terms of size- of somewhere between a CM Punk and Adam Cole type.   If you really think about it though, getting hit with an elbow by someone like that would hurt so much more, like a razor.

The first match I saw where I knew someone was the third match which had Curt Stallion in it, but I only know him by name.    I also recognized Davey Vega by name but then in the fifth match we saw Gary Jay take on Chris Dickinson.   I watched this CZW show once- the last time I tried writing about wrestling regularly- and I was first introduced to Chris Dickinson and Gary Jay has been on two out of the three other events I've watched so far on IWTV.

Evan Gelistico might be my new favorite wrestler and not just because he came out dressed like Casey Jones.    All four competitors put on a great show in that match and Everett Connors is... strange, but I do enjoy seeing Raul The Bear.   You might not know all (or any) of these names, but the action hits hard and fast.   It's just good old fashioned wrestling, the way wrestling was meant to be, without all of the spots and nonesense which ruins a lot of wrestling for me.   These matches had great storytelling in the ring and the commentary sold the history outside of the ring.

Before the Gateway Heritage Title match, the commentary got really funny and personal.   There was this one fan in a button up shirt (with one button unbuttoned) and he just sat near the entrance area all night with a pitcher of beer.  At this point in the show, he wasn't there and the commentator got really upset and concerned as to where he was- noting they wouldn't hold up the show for him so he needed to hurry up.    I would like to see a show dedicated to this fan now called "The Hardest Button To Button" but I digress.

Never having heard of Jeremy Wyatt or Thomas Shire before, these two just put on an absolute classic wrestling match.   This was under "Pure Wrestling Rules", which I tried to follow as Jeremy Wyatt explained them but I was distracted by how cute Sarah Rose's shoes are.   It kind of reminds me of when ROH had their Pure Championship, which last I remember they merged with their World Championship and I'm... pretty much... afraid to look up anything about ROH these days.   Still, this match was Match of the Night for me and if you don't have the time to watch this whole show, at least go out of your way to watch this match.

The main event saw Nick Gage take on Warhorse and, yes, this is my second event in a row with Nick Gage in the main event.    This was a fight.   At one point, while in the crowd, Warhorse had the fans help him create this pile of chairs.   Now, whenever anyone sets up a spot like this it typically leads to it backfiring on them, but I'll hand it to Warhorse because he was able to get the belly-to-belly suplex onto Nick Gage onto that pile of chairs.   Later on though, Warhorse would light a skull on fire and end up being the victim of a piledriver onto it so perhaps he pressed his luck a little bit too much.

These two literally tore the ring apart and it was such a contrast from the match before it, but that's what makes this such a great show for me.   It had a lot of mat-based wrestling, but there was some high flying and also hardcore style fighting with weapons.  Nick Gage is insane and a legit man I would be afraid of if I ever was to see him in person.    I'm not sure where I'm going from here, but I'm sure I will be watching more SLA as they post new events. 

Wrestling Review // BLP / GCW "2 Cups Stuffed" (IWTV)

CageMatchdotnet Results :::

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=239092

Black Label Pro on Twitter :::

https://twitter.com/blabelpro?lang=en

Game Changer Wrestling on Twitter :::

https://twitter.com/GCWrestling_?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

This is both my first time seeing Black Label Pro and Game Changer Wrestling.   To go against everything I said in my last review, for Bizarro Lucha, I did a search on IWTV for "Orange Cassidy", found this event and remembered I had wanted to watch it even though I'm familiar with maybe 87% of the wrestlers on the card.    This is my third event watched on IWTV as well, so if you kind of read all these reviews in a row it might be cool, especially after I've watched twenty something shows.

Our opening contest saw Violence Is Forever defeat the team of Tom Lawlor and Erick Stevens, who were going by The Filthy Fucks, which they questioned whether or not they could say on FITE TV, but hey, somehow I got this replay on not FITE TV because, you know, FITE TV makes me pay per event and I don't think that's as much fun as one monthly rate for all this wrestling *but* I will likely have to put down money on FITE TV one day when a card comes along that speaks to me.   (Have Mance Warner and Orange Cassidy faced each other yet?  Cause that would be...)

Tom Lawlor I recognize from MLW obviously and I remember Erick Stevens from back when I was buying FIP DVDs and Dave Prazak on commentary just makes this feel even more nostalgic and good.    This was a hard hitting tag team match up with four guys who can just legit go and it's the type of match you want to open any wrestling show because you just think "How is the next match going to top this?"

Luckily for whoever booked this show, up next was Homicide vs. Ethan Page- which could be a main event match anywhere else- and if you aren't familiar with Homicide, well, you should find all of his matches and watch them.  Ethan Page is also EVERYWHERE now since leaving EVOLVE and his ACH ordeal in the past.   I think Homicide vs just about anyone can be great and I think Ethan Page vs just about anyone can be great, so pitting these two against each other is everything you could ask for in a wrestling match.

In six man action the team of Los Serpientes (Which is Ophidian, who I know, and Arez and Laredo Kid in it- I've only ever read about the other two) versus Los Beasts (I've never seen any of them before) it was this smaller, high flying style versus the larger, high flying style because, yes, the Beasts still flew.   There was this one great spot where two of the Serpientes were being held up like Legion of Doom used to do with one guy and Black Taurus came off the top onto them and somehow landed on his feet.   Wow.   I am impressed and this match was something I would dare to call nonstop action.

At what I would call the halfway point because it was the fourth match out of eight, we had Jerry Lawler taking on Mance Warner.   Now, if you follow my reviews from number one on IWTV and this is the third, you'll see that connection to my first review because it had Ophidian in it and the one before this had Mance Warner, so I feel like it's neat how these IWTV events kind of feel connected as well.   Though next I might watch something that has no connection to any of these events so who knows.

When Jerry Lawler first came out, this one guy started chanting "Shut the fuck up" as soon as he took the mic- before he even spoke.  So the crowd chanted "Fuck that guy" at him for being disrespectful.   Then, as Lawler ran down the crowd, they all started a "Shut the fuck up" chant.   As Lawler compared the crowd to ECW one guy yelled "You're in Chicago, motherfucker!!" and Jerry Lawler responded "This is why cousins shouldn't be allowed to marry" 

The match itself was a thing of magic.  Far too often people think of Jerry Lawler as the comedic cliche he was painted by in WWE but he's hardcore and can smash you in the head with a glass bottle.   Mance Warner is a name I want to see as much of as possible right now because he's just doing such great things.   This match technically came before the Mance Warner match I watched before it (in Bizarro Lucha) and they referenced it there, but alas, here we are.

Funny thing is, when Mance Warner was fighting Calvin Tankman in Bizarro Lucha he set up a bunch of chairs and tried to put Tankman through them and as we all know in professional wrestling: if you spend a lot of time preparing a trap for your opponent, you're going through it.   Now, against Jerry Lawler, Mance Warner put a door between two chairs hoping to use it against Lawler and instead was put through it himself via piledriver and that cost him the match.   So maybe Mance Warner should stop building these traps for his opponents and just start chucking chairs at them. 

The second half of this show was just insane.   It began with a match that made me wonder "How many guys are in this thing?" but had G-Raver take this really bad spot on a light tube off the top of a ladder (and he was rushed to the back), Logan Stunt got launched into the third row like Bam Bam Bigelow and Spike Dudley but he did come back and wow... this was like watching a multiple car crash.   I haven't played video games in years, but I used to rock the PS2 and whenever you'd have multi-person matches (six or eight guys in there) with weapons it just felt like you could never win because someone would always be there to stop you.   This felt a lot like that.   It was crazy fun.

Gary Jay and Warhorse fought next, which was a hard-hitting match and this was my second time seeing Gary Jay in as many events I've watched on IWTV so hopefully he keeps kind of creeping into my playlist.    During the match before this though even someone doing commentary said something like "How are there matches after this?"  Every match just felt like a main event, and yet we just kept going.   This is just such a solid card from top to bottom and it wasn't even over yet.

I was in my younger years, the best years to be in (in my opinion) during the Attitude Era and Monday Night Wars, so when Gangrel was in WWE- to me- he was great.  I loved everything he did back then and always wondered why WWE didn't still have him under their employ to some extent (perhaps as a trainer even)  But, alas, he has his own school I'm told and he seems to only be getting better with age.   His opponent on this show was Orange Cassidy who is quite possibly my current favorite wrestler but Mance Warner comes close as well (Though I like different wrestlers for different reasons.  With so much pro wrestling out there in 2019 it's so hard to not have like a hundred favorites)

Gangrel hit his signature DDT on Orange Cassidy after spitting orange juice on him and this was just a great match from start to finish *but* still not my favorite Orange Cassidy match ever.   [My favorite Orange Cassidy match ever is also possibly my favorite wrestling match ever as well, so there]

The main event was my first time seeing EFFY though I've heard a lot of things on Twitter and damn if that dude isn't hardcore.   This was an absolute war and Nick Gage as always just brings it.   You think after all these great matches the crowd would have been dead, but this was just such a solid show from start to finish and I don't feel like any match was bad or could have been left off of the card, which is not something I can say a lot in this world of so, so much professional wrestling.   

Cassette Review // Feu Follet "Le Champ Des Morts" (Blackjack Illuminist Records)

€7 //
Edition of 15 //
https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/le-champ-des-morts //

Right away this cassette starts with some dark synth and keys.   It's energetic and in ways can remind me of The Cure, but at the same time it also reminds me of the band Brazil (who I feel are vastly underrated) and that is in more of a modern sense.    The drums just go crazy near the end of this first song and then the second starts off with more of these 1980's/1990's synths, which I enjoy because if you're going to listen to cassettes it's nice to hear the music that was originally on them.

This has a darkness about it, but it also can feel like the soundtrack to some forgotten movie from perhaps 1991.    Though these songs have singing- and great singing you really need to focus on- the music itself is often times a lot to just take in.   An instrumental version of this cassette would do quite well I imagine.   There is a slight video game feeling to this as well.

On the third song I definitely feel some sort of synthwave that could be on the radio right now (or back when I listened to the radio, because I realize now I want it to be in that radio block of Neon Trees and Owl City, who probably aren't on the radio anymore)   The fourth song- "Nantosuette"- has a lot of electronics and beeping and then it turns into this peaceful wave of distortion as well.   Is there such a thing as electro-shoegaze because I do believe I just experienced it. 

As we go into "La Queue Du Loup" we're in a definite darkwave sound, which at times can even begin to remind me of certain songs by Blue October.    This then goes into these great synths which make me feel a little alien.    This takes us into the next song which has more of a 90210 feel but also is somehow more upbeat with the synth like a movie from the "Pretty In Pink" era but also a little bit modern.

The flip side opens with some blissed out key tones.  Then it comes in with that groove.   A small music box-like lullaby is what this all becomes reduced to before these tones drone in through the background.   This is on this loop that just makes me feel like we're going into the water, yet in space at the same time, and then this immediate driving guitar riff comes in.     We go into a song next which starts with a lot of music and eventually vocals come out in the drive.

Tones feel somewhat alien but then kick in with this great percussion part and it's just driving in the sense that you want to put it on and go down the highway- like that song about wearing sunglasses at night.   There don't appear to be vocals on this song, though sometimes the music can sound like them, and this cassette is rather heavy on the music overall which just makes it that much more fun to listen to for me.    If you're into anything synth/modern then this cassette would be perfect for you as well.

Music Review // Michael Barrow & the Tourists "Never Stop"

https://open.spotify.com/album/4vfKiNtiTfCWZod0JoTVWK#_=_ //

When this song first begins, it feels like we're going to go into that rock n roll / Americana sound of something like Counting Crows.  But as it goes on, the vocals remind me of something like Jack Johnson or something out of a coffee shop.  In many ways, I feel like this could be a song from a children's movie- such as that "Curious George" movie- which is why I think about it like Jack Johnson, but it just has that vibe about it where you could play it for kids.

It's funny how when we grow older our priorities change though.   This feels like a much more mature song than something I would have heard in my younger years and found comfort in with my newest relationship that month.    The idea behind the title being that he will "never stop loving you" makes you think at first perhaps of a significant other, but the more you listen to this song and the more I think about it I feel more like it's a family relationship, such as the way a parent loves their child.

When I was younger I was listening to the radio once in my mom's car and the DJ called Hootie and the Blowfish a "middle of the road" band and I asked my mom what that meant.   I don't really feel like there are strong comparisons between the two artists here, but I feel like Michael Barrow & the Tourists have a sound which isn't threatening and if you put this particular song into a mix just about anywhere I doubt anyone would ask you to turn it off.

In musical ways, this reminds me of The Rocket Summer but also because of the positivity in the lyrics as well.   I feel like I've listened to more songs in my life about heartache and loss than about being happy and in love.   There probably is a genre for this, but whether it goes into acoustic or folk or something completely different is a question for someone else to answer.   I'm just really into this song because everyone should have something in their life which they can sing this fondly about.

Cassette Review // Healers co. "Healers Paradise"

$5 //
https://healerscompany.bandcamp.com/album/healers-paradise //

This starts off quietly, with a slow build and it feels hollow.   There are some bugs floating around and just little sounds like that within the ether, but mostly this just has that air about it.    Whirrs come through to where it feels rather alien, and then these vocals come in like moans more than singing, primal more than words.    In this weird sense, I think of this whole song as being like the beginning of the Earth, the birth of creation.

Ambient now, spoken words come through on the next track with these space synths.   It feels like a transmission from a spaceship, a vessel out there reporting in.    Loud glitches turn tribal and then we are taken into this ringing, like a triangle.    Singng comes out with this and it feels a little bit like Daniel Johnston.   There is a definite strumming in here with the words forming and then you can even feel like there are drums.

Sharpness kind of like a modem takes us into these warped strings now.    The vocals return and this is such a strange song but it feels like a cross between the first two so it works perfectly for Healers co.    It gets screechy like hamsters in the wheels and then we're hearing about sorrow.

On the flip side we have sharpness wrapped inside broken down acoustic melodies.   The vocals return, if only slightly.   This brings about some heavy drumming and lovely guitar strumming.   The vocals kick in and make me think of Violent Femmes.  Water can be heard running.    The changing frequencies bring that fun number to an end.

Quieter waves of distortion ring through now.   Little electric pings come through now.    There is a shaking behind this as well.  It can pick up the pace to where it feels like walking almost, but I just imagine a form of percussion shaker.    Vocals come through now but I'm not sure what they're saying as this song has a more spiritual feel to it.

And then it all becomes dark rock n roll with the words "And that's a fact".    This fades and another song starts with tones and static, an audio clip about someone being the happiest playing music, and there is a certain vibe to this song as the vocals come in deep and dark as well.   There are some pretty loud beeps in here as well.   This song is about guitar strings and whistles in many ways.

Cassette Review // Tresque "Tendresse, Encore" (zamzamrec)

€7 //
Edition of 77 //
https://zamzamrec.bandcamp.com/album/tendresse-encore //

Beeping through the transmission of a spaceship, perhaps lost in space, starts this cassette.   It gets a little bit wavy and then forms this pattern like it's trying to speak.   This grows and it's strange because it sounds like such a minimal beeping but there are different layers to it which make it sound like such a full electronic song.

As this builds with a driving, a sound somewhere between an alarm and a Wookie comes through.    It just feels like such an endless loop as the beeps repeat.    It sounds kind of squeaky now as it's winding down and it's great to listen to this one on a big home stereo setup with speakers because it just makes it sound like these notes are dropping all over the room.

You can hear the drumbeat now and this is followed by this constant bouncing, such as a ball about to burst.   It's a back and forth now, which makes me feel more like the ball is going into a tennis court when before I was thinking of basketball.     Though as it continues like this, I can feel a bit like an electronic pinball game as well.   It feels a little bit like it's glitching now.    And then as it comes to an end it feels like the ball just bounced right off.

On the flip side we once again find that bouncing of the ball tone but this also brings in another tone, which is like this static burst and it feels like an electro-shock.    A sharper ringing comes through now, like when a metal detector finds something.    This feels like a slow steady rocking, like being in a boat out at sea and slowly being lulled to sleep.

Quieter now, it begins to drift out but you can hear more of the mechanical side of things.    The static feels like it's skipping, like a glitch now, as it just repeats and then builds back up with an electro-synth march.    There is a little bit of that grinding or screeching but it really just feels like dragging your feet.    At times it can just feel like up and down on a carousel as well.

Wrestling Review // Bizarro Lucha "Endless Waltz" (IWTV)

CageMatch results here :::

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=239991

Bizarro Lucha is on Twitter here :::

https://twitter.com/bizarrolucha?lang=en

This is the second event I watched on IWTV and my first time seeing Bizarro Lucha.   This came up because it was recently added so I looked at the card, saw Mike Quackenbush and a lot of names I didn't recognize so I figured taking that move from CHIKARA to this makes sense.   I don't just want to watch wrestling where I go "Oh yeah, I know him!"  I really want to see the matches where I feel like I don't know 80% of the names on the card.  I want to be won over by new names and Bizarro Lucha was a good place to start with that.

The one rule I enjoy about Bizarro Lucha is that there are no DQs unless you pull off someone else's mask and not everyone is masked.    The first wrestler that I recognized on here was Shotzi Blackheart who I have actually never seen compete before but there was this story about her not too long ago and, um, if you want to google it and find out then go ahead but let's just say I'm not saying what I know her for with good reason.   Her match against Atticus Cogar was quite good though and it had that psychology that I love in wrestling: they're just telling a story in that ring.

That isn't to go against everything that happened before that match.    The third match had seven people in it and as they all entered I said out loud (to no one) "How many people are in this match?"  Dreamboy001 is someone I want to follow.  So is Harlow O'Hara.   Dale Patricks needs to leave Creed in the past WHERE THEY BELONG.

There is a lot of history between Mike Quackenbush and Billy Roc, who face off on this show, and I feel like if I'm watching something which is a sport, something which has that athletic side to it, I enjoy the historical aspect of it.   It's one of the reasons why I love baseball.  Maybe if I thought about more statistics like "These two teams haven't met in the Super Bowl for fifteen years" I'd watch the NFL, but it's still rather boring to me.  But to have that history makes the match feel much more special and when you watch this (which you should) you can hear all of that history for yourself and just not how you're watching magic happen.   And it isn't even the main event!

Percy Davis and Suge D put on this great match which was just... it was a tough match to call for a winner because both guys just left it all in that ring.  I feel like sometimes in wrestling (one of the reasons why I stopped watching so much) is because there are so many nearfalls and so many kick outs when it comes to finishers.   I feel like it hits that point of "He just blew him up with a grenade!  How did he kick out of that!" you know?  But this match is a great representation of how to watch two evenly matched competitors make you believe it could be over at any moment without feeling like "OMG 13TH RKO!!"

The main event was great... until it wasn't.   The Luchaversal Champion Mance Warner- who I've seen in MLW- took on Calvin Tankman who I've never seen before but is built like, well, a tank.   This was a stellar match with these spots where you just wondered what it would take for one of these guys to lose.   I definitely feel like this was one of those matches that was really hard hitting- like Suge D-Percy Davis before it- and you should go out of your way to see it. 

But then Nick Iggy came in.   And yeah yeah, I know, heel heat blah blah blah, but this was so disappointing.   These two guy put on such a great match and then they kind of had it ruined at the end by having Nick Iggy come in to cash in a rematch clause, which even the commentary team said wasn't like MITB so why do it at the end of the match.   I just wanted to see someone win who earned it and that was either going to be Mance Warner or Calvin Tankman.   I don't think of this move as much as something that a heel would do, in that way of "They want you to not like it so it did what it was supposed to do", but rather it's one of those reasons why I stopped watching a lot of wrestling because- to be blunt- shit like this just pisses me off. 

Overall, I enjoyed this show to the point where I will watch Bizarro Lucha again.  I feel like there are good stories to be told within the ring and the characters just really help me get invested in the match.   In some ways, I feel like Bizzaro Lucha is a non-PG version of CHIKARA and maybe I'm just biased because I enjoy both lucha libre and that which is bizarre but Bizarro Lucha might just be my new favorite wrestling promotion. 

Cassette Review // fibril "fibril" (Already Dead Tapes)

$6 //
Edition of 100 //
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad318-fibril-fibril //

Quietly, this one starts off into this distorted wave, choppy though, and these higher pitched vocals come in behind it, somewhat magically.   It reminds me a bit of Coheed and Cambria, but mostly this one line from that one song on their first album when he sings about Thursday and I always thought it was funny, like he was namedropping the band.    This is interesting though because it has that blissed out feel, like Smashing Pumpkins or something, but the distortion just drives it to where it is also almost harsh.   If you were going to try and get someone into listening to something harsh (with that sharpness that dogs don't like) this could be a good way to gently eaze them into it.

A darker, minimal static now takes us into this different plane of existence.   It's a ringing drone, somewhat haunted but mostly uplifting.   Guitar notes ring through now with the skips of static drum beats.   The singing returns and this has this gothic feel to it, like something from "The Crow" soundtrack but I'm thinking of Garbage as well, who were not on such a soundtrack as far as I recall.    This also really just begins to make me think of The Lyndsay Diaries.

This goes into a song that is pretty straight forward distorted rock.  In ways it reminds me of Veruca Salt and in other ways it has this industrial quality to it which reminds me of Stabbing Westward but not always quite as dark.   There is also still that SP vibe, which could mean both Smashing Pumpkins and Silversun Pickups.  Also some of The Wrens perhaps.    Those electronic clicks come through next which bring out some beats for a chillwave number.

Through organ glitch comes some static and singing and then we drop off into these guitar notes like the Old West with static bursts behind them.   It has that feeling of that one electronic Smashing Pumpkins album but with these beautiful acoustic guitar notes mixed in somehow.    It grows into a melodic song and then the distortion comes through quite harsh, like the changing of a radio station.   This changes to where it goes up and then out.

On the flip side we open up with some winding static.    This gets sharper but then returns as deeper, darker beats.    You can feel the mechanics of it dropping up and down, somewhat like a glitch and somewhat with those acoustic guitar notes behind it all as well.   It's very solemn.    This grows and then eventually the guitar notes feel like "Come As You Are" and the singing returns.    And then it just kicks in with a sea of distortion.

A solo drum beat now with the singing and this has a Phil Collins way about it but also in a modern sense, the final song in some sort of film this cassette has created by reminding me of different artists and even different genres with every song.    This becomes some form of gaze but it really feels like the distorted guitar chords put us in a haze.    This is the perfect way to drift off as the cassette comes to its end.

Cassette Review // LEATHERS "CLASS ACTION"

£5 //
Edition of 50 //
https://leathers1.bandcamp.com/album/class-action //

Right away, this sounds a bit like some wild rock n roll band.  Perhaps they're from the classic rock era, perhaps they're from the south.   It makes me think of something like Jet, in the way that it's a modern take on something classic, though this would be more like a modern version of Lynyrd Skynyrd perhaps.    There are these starts and stops on the second song though, which make me think of The Romantics.   While a punk feel can be in here, a garage feel even, it just builds on the third song with big bass.

Even a simple message like "Don't you come around here no more" makes me think of classic rock, like Tom Petty, but this just has that feeling about it where you think of a band like in the movie "Almost Famous", playing these arenas and having these wild stories to tell while out on the road-- it just has this vibe about it that I feel like for quite some time rock n roll has been lacking. 

On the fourth and final song you will hear them singing about how they have a one track mind and it's just everything that sing along rock n roll should be.   There is groove to this where you just imagine a certain scene- sideburns, bell bottoms, vests, that sort of hippie / Woodstock era of music, but also it seems a little bit past that and even into the 21st Century though I don't know of any band making rock n roll music quite this good in 2019 so we'll simply have to put LEATHERS in a class all their own.