Sunday, February 15, 2009

ALBUM OF THE WEEK


Bite Itself 'Shallow Water' cs. 2009, What We Do Is Secret

So today we travel into the hearts, of men. Noise is the shit and many of you listen to it, and when you do so, it is different from the way that you would listen to most of your other records. You know there are joints in your collection that require special attention during the listen, and if you stop paying attention, then it isn't exciting anymore. And thats what we are trying to do right, escape reality when we begin an album. (?) So anyways having said that, this is Bite Itself. A noise project from the complex mind of one who calls himself Sheath. Recorded in Portland Oregon with the help of some other cats, there are two compositions on this forthcoming cassette release, Mother Whisperer b/w Hollowing the Body. I presume each movement will have one side of the cassette, which rules, fuck, tape releases rule. The songs are quite different, both are frustrated seethers and take many different forms. The bass dirge and Roland rhythm, feedback blanket and deranged vocals cannot be fucked with. Heavy in a way that chafes and makes your ears pulse and get itchy. This sort of effort and its included soundscapes vibrate an awkward series of thoughts for me when I succumb to the sounds therein. The calloused sonics on this record took me to a place which echoed that of a shadow world or a fog, or a mist in a creepy place that I had not visited before and would not want to return to. And when I was creeped out and worried while I listened to it on headphones (how you should listen to stuff, incase you forgot), I got my head smashed wide open and was bludgeoned repeatedly with violent, seething, vibe crushing harshness that scared the fuck out of me. And that is precisely why noise records, shortly stated, rule. The good ones have a whole thing about them that is confrontational and intense in a way that is desirably unpleasant. Unpleasant in a similar way to how you feel when you think about your own fucked up mind and know that you ought to think about that stuff, and be mindful of your alienation and fears and so on but it is painful and shit. These aesthetics are very hard to pull off with a record, when it happens properly and you can identify that, it takes this whole new form. A good one to me, erases 95% of the pretentious noise records that happen all the time and are boring. Creativity and the illusion of sanity is what counts for me. This cassette tape will come out soon so pay attention because this sort of thing disappears very quickly. Seattle label What We Do Is Secret (throatpunchaction.blogspot) is releasing it at the same moment that the Pig Heart Transplant LP + 7" comes out, PHT being an excellent northwest noise collective that Bite Itself is a member of. He is also a member/contributor of the thearticles.org family.

and this week with,
Sister Aly de Las Viudas
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:R & R Produce:
Tucked into the lobby of the Wachovia building in downtown Atlanta- this tiny gem is pretty much the one-stop shop for your fruit and veggie needs. It's family owned and every single time I go there I am greeted with a smile. R & R is a mini bodega of sorts, and they focus on super fresh, super cheap produce. You can grab a banana, a pineapple, 2 scoops of rice, a mini twix, a dill pickle, some almonds, an avocado, a bell pepper, fresh popcorn, some local honey (you get the picture!). Such a pleasant, positive place filled with tasty treats that are good for your body, and your brain.

:Iowa:
Strangers I meet who find out I am from Iowa often say, "oh, I'm sorry," or, "yeah that's the place where they grow potatoes!" And I reply with some sort of, "no don't be sorry, I love where I came from and just so you know Idaho is where they grow potatoes." Doy! But for real, I love Iowa! Rolling hills, river valleys, black soil, bountiful fields, simple, hard working people, farmers, Amish markets, cows and piggies everywhere, riding bikes on gravel roads for miles, 2 NPR stations (one that features news all the time!), great public television, one of the illest state fairs, and a million stars at night.

:Heirlooms/Passing things on:
I am a packrat. I was born into that shit. My parent's house is like a weird museum full of things passed on from family members who are no longer in the flesh. I am so thankful to have all these relics from the past, to tell stories from, to learn and remember from. When you acquire a knife that was once used by your great grandfather, or a scarf your grandma wore, or somebody decisively passes something on to you- it's really very special to me…because in a way, it's like a transfer of energy, it's deeply personal and direct. I battle with this sometimes, because I know it's just stuff- simple objects on the surface- but sometimes objects can mean so much and feel so powerful.

:Tote bags/Refill stations:
Fuck plastic sacs man! I am so down with the tote bag fad. There are so many packaging items that are made for no good reason. They fill up our landfills, not to mention the cupboards under our sinks. Using reusable bags, and also utilizing bulk bins and refilling stations is so awesome, and while it may seem like it doesn't really help the earth out that much, you've seen the trash vortex! Shit is whack. You can go to Sevenanda and put liquid soap in an old jar or ketchup bottle if you want to. That's tight! And every time you do that, it's one less thing that gets thrown away, discontinued, and deemed useless. Plus it feels old timey general store, which I personally love.

:CraigsList:
Okay, we've all had some boner experiences with craigslist…no call backs and scammy posts and the like…but I love craigslist because it's a diverse, functional, informal economy. You get to bargain, trade, haggle, not pay taxes, and connect with people in your community. Plus, you can look at super cute dogs, hilarious personal adds, and find a house or a job.

:Scandinavia:
Amazing music comes from this land. And one visit to Norway has left me yearning to return there almost every day of my life. If you ever catch me in a deep outer space gaze, I am most likely caught in a day dream which involves me frolicking in a Swedish forest grove with foxes, gnomes, and Gustav Ejstes, no joke!

:Auxiliary Percussion:
Bells, bongos, shakers, guiros, claves- the list could go on and on. But damn, that shit gets me pumped up. I love hearing it, and I love playing it! It's so cool that such small instruments can add such dimension and depth to a piece of music.

:Good Magazine's Transparency Feature:
Simply put Transparency is "a graphical exploration of the data that surrounds us." In this feature, Good Magazine pairs up with the design studio, 'heavy meta' and creates provoking 'info-graphics' on a variety of subjects such as: church attendance vs. football game attendance, how much rentable self-storage space is in America, and how Iraq war expenditures are allocated. The partnership is cool because it challenges the traditional way we perceive and process information- combining unique variables with good design, while bidding farewell to boring x,y charts and graphs that often fail to depict any sort of relevant statistical story.

:Eggs:
For the longest time I was a wiener who wasn't at all into eating an egg, straight up. I could integrate them into recipes, but I always got kinda googley and weirded out by preparing them stand alone. Well finally I said fuck that and got down on eating eggs. Eggs are so simple, yet the possibilities that surround their use are tremendous! And they are cheap! And you can get a hen for like 20 dollars and farm your own eggs, plus have a nice animal friend to boot!

:Cooking for People:
I am so grateful that my Grandma Marsha brought me up in her kitchen. She taught me how to work with food, always let me lend a hand in the kitchen, and had the patience to allow me to experiment. I absolutely love being in the kitchen! Chopping vegetables is my version of meditation, and sharing food with friends is hands down, the best way to spend any meal. I'm just really stoked that so frequently we are able to come together and nourish our bodies- cooking alone for one has always kinda bummed me out, but getting together and feeding a crew- a family- makes me so happy! Thank you, gracias, tusen takk!!

11 comments:

Lord Sabbat said...

sick. lemme get this album. did richard draw the artwork? haha looks like witchyard.

top tens ill too. what? you arent from idaho?! daymn!

Witchyard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cfs.creasy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cfs.creasy said...

richard - more like artwork by two dudes who have been owning their style(s) since, literally, you were in grade school, or probably kindergarten. check out the covers of any of the records jon released on his satan's pimp label in, oh, i suppose, 1993, for instance. or any of the artwork he does in the more recent records of his band iron lung. or the stuff the other dude (nic) has done for blue sabbath black cheer, et cetera.

Witchyard said...

Haha, is this for real?. Learn sarcasm.

Anonymous said...

ah c'mon yall you know rich is jus playin. and doesn't everyone bite someone? I like the artwork,i was just sayin yall gots similar styles.


s.ape.esq

the xarlacc said...

"where seldom is heard, a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy and grey"

cfs.creasy said...

richard - sarcasm being notoriously intransmissible in such conditions (hence, perhaps, my response, or, perhaps, your question 'is this for real,' et cetera), and though the same could be said here i nevertheless think the issue is rather one of irony, and we can begin to ask ourselves, since it's maybe already too late not to have done so, who is playing the role of jimmy stewart, or who ed wood, jr., if you prefer. and of course who will direct the sequel, or is this a bio-pic in the first place ? in conclusion, i thought we were all playing ?

Lord Sabbat said...

well, this still doesnt solve the fact that i still do not have a copy of this album on cassette.

sanders, lets do a trade you lil frenchy.

cfs.creasy said...

spee - i would love for you to have this thing on cassette, but not even i have one yet. it has been in limbo forever, because it's being released at the same time as the pig heart transplant LP+7" (since it's sort of a "members of" thing i guess) and that has been tied up due to pressing problems with the 7". but when it does get out, i'll try to get you one. but the thing is limited (i guess maybe keep an eye on the WWDIS blog). it's going to be in a book-on-tape casing (kinda like a dvd case) and hand screened liners and stuff.

and though i told joe not to disseminate the thing in digital form, i'm sure you can grab it from him, if you haven't already. i hope you like it. the same caveat that applied to david bowie and to swans records applies to the tape (TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME). next up is a pig heart transplant / bite itself split 7" and that will probably be more brutal stuff but less 'noise' and more dirge machine beats, and then another cassette of noise and a franz schubert cover.

andepie said...

I'm glad scandanavia finally made a top ten