No Subject

[hsu@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU (William Tsun-Yuk Hsu)]

Ever wonder what your fellow netters/lovehounders sound like when
they're not spewing redundancies on a keyboard? Well, here's your
chance: pick up one of these great cassettes, and you'll have the
bonus of being the most pre-hip person for a 100-mile radius as well.

Standard Disclaimer: I have no financial (or political, religious, or
even sexual :-)) interests in these projects. These are just tapes
that I heard about, sent for and enjoyed.


JIM HOFMANN	THE NEW CREATURES

Actually, I lied; you can't really tell what Hofboyy sounds like from
this tape because he sounds like too many different people. There's
no hardcore here, just many diverse sounds laid down with directness
and honesty in sophisticated pseudo-arrangements, punctuated by some
sharp drumming. Lots of found speech, noise and natural sounds, but
the textures are transparent and varied enough that you don't get the
overkill of some noise bands. My insert says "Exhume the words",
and the words are interesting and relevant here, and well worth the effort
to dredge them up from the mix. 

So what IS on this tape? There's a disturbing mantra so yuppies will 
throw up while trying to meditate ("No Age".) There's a fake Indian
song complete with pseudo-sitar and wailing. Bruce Springsteen is ripped
apart in a hilarious cover. "Big Boy" is another hilarious track
about this kid who grows up and discovers his toy... "Porno Achievers"
has found vocals commenting on the Ed Meese Commission, and my
favorite, "La Prensa", is a meditation on politics, dictatorship and
communism, religion and war, all this to almost danceable riffs and
rhythms, bells and industrial effects. There's also a harrowing epic
called "Mutants" that I'm still trying to figure out...

In short, this will probably one of the most subtly subversive musics
you'll experience this year. Get it instead of the new <fill in your
favorite sold-out band here> album.



GREG TAYLOR	THE NET.MUSIC COMPILATION TAPE (yeah, I know that's not
						the official name, but...)

You've probably all heard about Greg Taylor's net.music compilation
tape by now. I've been reluctant to write anything approximating a
review of it, since I can't produce anything as witty and 
entertaining as Greg's own commentary, but anyway... This tape is
the aural equivalent of a net.music party: imagine all the netters
you love to hate in this barn full of synthesizers, drum machines,
miles of cable, drum sets, guitars of all descriptions, several pianos,
assorted percussion instruments, obscure ethnic doohickeys, bells,
gongs, flutes, reeds, homemades, toys 'r' us gadgets, plucking, bowing,
tapping, strumming, singing, and banging away when their turn comes.
The emphasis is on the diversity and anarchy, and I enjoyed every
minute of it. 

There are a few tracks that actually sound normal, if you're faint-of-heart.
All carry subtle surprises; I keep finding weird new details when
I listen to the tape again. I won't bore people with yet another 
description of what all the tracks are like (the description would
be inferior to Greg's anyway), but some of my favorites are:

Intro/Vegetableland	The surprise Toejam Jawallaby contribution, complete
			with MTV intro. Yow!

Suburban Voodoo		Hofboyy raps (kinda) to drums and fake ethnic 
			percussion.

Psychedelic Nightmare	A friend of mine who's a Hendrix-or-nothing person
			loved this. So did I. From John Rossi and Coitus,
			vicious guitar-based psychedelic haze. Hmmmmmm...

Got A Bad Heart		Hilarious blues from Bernie Guidos.


	and lots of neat things too numerous to mention, including the
gagaku stuff, more fake ethnic stuff, Tim Wicinski's dance club hit :-),
gtaylor's own contribution, etc. etc. Something for every taste.

Bill Hsu