Cassette Review // cop funeral "Hot Lonely Singles" (Already Dead Tapes)

$6 //
Edition of 100 //
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/hot-lonely-singles //

Melodies begin this cassette inside a sea of distortion.    It feels like it could be this harsh song with the air swirling around but there is a video game tone sound that goes with the distortion blasts and the two sounds seem to offset each other.   The distortion really is in the front of this though, with those tones being somewhat buried behind it and not as prominent.   This builds in a broke helicopter way, a glitch way and then the deep distortion just drones with only slight waves.   The melody has gone from those tones into the distorted synth somehow.

After some looping we shift gears and go a bit higher, which is something which can play tricks on your ears.   It begins to sound like a video game car revving up behind a cloud of distortion.   Then the bomb is dropped.    I feel like more of guitar sounds are coming in now and then the bass beats are dropping in a loop.  Screams come out now, though they might be human but they might be machine.   This song has a futuristic sound to it and when I try to place it into a realm of movies I come up with that live action "Super Mario Bros." one (Which despite being nothing like the video game was still pretty cool)

Quieter now, the doom lurks and slithers like a snake.    This goes on in a way which can hypnotize you and though these songs might not be related, I feel like after this song drops you off of a cliff the next one has that pacing like you're trying to climb back up.    There is also somewhat of a pinball glitch sound within here as well.    Up and down the ringing of the drone behind the distortion goes.    As it rings and rings like an alarm then it just stops and the silence plays tricks on your ears.

Sad strings now come in with sharpness.    This calmly floats, like in the ocean.   The next song comes on with this glitching sound but it just chops through in a loop.  It's like a laser blast taken and diced up, sliced up and burnt to a crisp.   It comes back with these little whirrs behind it and I feel like this is set on some other planet with aliens.  I am thinking of the film "The Phantom Planet".   The tones get higher and it feels as if there are sirens in the background of them. 

Deep tones drop in now and I'm thinking of Scooby-Doo.  I think of Scooby-Doo a lot lately and I'm not sure why.   Beats slowly come in but they give it more of a haunted sound that anything else.   Notes softly bounce now like Pong while the whirrs are crashing around.   It almost feels like a heartbeat and then it all just comes to an end.

On the flip side we open up with an audio clip from a self-help cassette which I can dig because I have several self-help cassettes just because I think they're neat.   This takes us into a grinding beat which reminds me of The Prodigy.    There are some higher pitched squeals in here as well.     Quieter once again now, this song seems to expand and have somewhat of a FNL vibe to it, somewhat like fireflies even.   This is soothing now, peaceful.

Slowly we drive through this loop of sludge and then the next song comes in with higher guitar sounding notes, like we're about to play the national anthem Hendrix-style.   A moderate grinding produces beautiful tones behind it, somewhere between guitar and piano.   It has that steady hum of something like a lawnmower but then those magical tones behind it like something out of the "MOTU" film or when a character in a movie from the 1980's realizes what they must do to set everything right.

That song just sort of cuts off and we go into tones which sound like glass in outerspace.   It feels like we're on some kind of wonderful carousel ride now.    A loud cloud of distortion comes in now.  We've gone from a nice little melody to just flat out noise.   The distortion twists, bends, transforms and just begins to pound away.   The way this song lifts up and drops down I feel like I've heard it before and I'm not sure if it's because it's a demo and a different version came out later or if it's just because I'm getting used to Cop Funeral now because of how many times I've listened to this cassette (and the others also by Cop Funeral)

A sigh brings out the ups and downs of synth whirrs.   It's almost like a siren as it loops around.  Loud distorted crashes now.    A melody like an urgent ringtone now.  It kind of distorts like the way the speakers shake when it gets loud.   It really opens up now as well.   There are bells in here as well, like the way you would hear from percussion, and it just flows in such a magical and uplifting way.