wasteland jazz unit - barren sect-cut hands - cdr - 9$
Here’s a record that doesn’t waste time blasting the testicles up your throat! Wasteland Jazz Unit have been sandblasting ears throughout 2008 and it certainly feels like a privilige to kickstart a new WJU year with some of their most putrid Fried Jazz to date. Saxophonist Jon Lorenz and clarinettist John Rich delve deeper into the Great Borbetomagus Saga than anyone else these days but add some extra k’s of Noise crudeness to it to make it sound like freejazz for sewage rat biker gangs. The three tracks on this album feel like huge bolts of reed feedback sandblasting the grease out of your ears. A highlight in their discography so far and, let me quote Jon Lorenz here: “definitely some of the best stuff we've recorded yet”.
70 copies in plastic sleeves with art by Jason Rohm.
-ch
mokele mbembe -cut hands - cdr - 9$
Cut Hands headquarters is proud to release the debut album by this Oakland, Cali, band. Lost in a dense fog between Heavy Winged and The Skaters, this outfit jumps from deformed rock moves, acoustic acid and blurry soundscapes to truly fucked up guitarjams and slowjazz voodoo piano. It’s an understatement to say that Mokele Mbembe offer a wide array of sounds on this self-titled album, the opener brings up images of tropical sunsets suffering under heavy monsoons while another track feels like a no holds barred, Japrock jamsession, psych guitars meandering into an unknown, mushroom polluted void. And more…
40 copies, housed in plastic sleeves with artwerk by the band
-ch
the julie mittens -cut hands - cdr - 9$ Oh fuck yeah. Stoked beyond belief to finally drop this. Last September The Julie Mittens dragged their suitcases filled with (un)Holy Fire across the Atlantic to play a couple of hard earned gigs. Their first time ever in the States and they sure realized they couldn’t leave without leaving behind scorched earth. Cellars got torn down and basements wrecked, a band on fire from Syracuse to Virginia. This release is evidence that the tour was a massive succes, recorded live in Albany NY, the Dutch trio unleash two face melting jams much in the vein of Fushitsusha but with the spirit of the most out there freejazz units (think late period Coltrane, Raphe Malik, Evan Parker et al) branded in their way of playing.
So here’s the deal; edition of 100 with 100 different covers of photo’s taken on tour by the band. Carefully selected by the Mittens with the name of the band + name of the recording screenprinted on each one. There’s not one double here.
Also, this release has an important significant other, go check out Abandon Ship for a very, very different live recording and 100 different covers as well. Be sure to buy theirs too later this week because those people suffering from that damned economy need it!
-ch
teeth collection - ojo -cut hands - 3"cdr - 6$
Matt Reis is one of the few guys able to create a piece that’s both dynamic and dense while being haunting and flat out nightmarish at the same time. Just think of the soundtrack to your teenage years, this is the one that will haunt you when you’re gone. Negatives of cruel nightmares raging through long forgotten parts of wasted brain. Minimal blurts of metal clatter, reverb, echo chambers, face down in junkyards, cheeks rubbing metal while your ears fill up with rust. The definite final countdown.
40 copies, black and white artwerk and insert.
-ch
cadena muerto - paranoia is total awareness -cut hands - cdr - 9$
Cadena Muerto is a new demon brought to life by Slow Listener’s Robin Dickinson. Dickinson’s harsher alter ego if you will, the rage inside in the shape of wretched guitarnoise, deformed pieces of snare fuck, mangled metal and visions of Derek Bailey recording inside metal shredders.
40 copies, black and white artwerk and insert.
-ch
hunting rituals - red spectre -cut hands - 3" cdr - 7$
We all know Canada’s sick underground deserves more than the putrid mud it crawls in everyday but give these guys a nice and warm bath and chances are they’ll turn it down. They just love the dirt so much, can’t help it. Here’s Scott ‘Cloud Valley’ Johnson (ex-Fossils) getting down and dirty. Like a big pile of decaying noise coming back to life again. Deep trenches filled with junknoise and some seriously sinister reeds blowing it all into pieces. Canada’s sick underground has never smelled so bad.
50 copies in mini dvd cases. Artwerk by fartjerk.
-ch
phosphene form - decayed inferno - cut hands - 3" cdr - 7$
Sick collection of mangled Industrial soundscapes by this new Canadian cat with ties to the Hamilton, Fossils crew. There’s a sense of downright eerie frustration running through this album, twisted electronics mixed with thick, thudding blurts of frontal noise. Like a stack of heavy labour machines on the verge of breaking down. 40 copies in mini dvd cases. Artwerk by fartjerk.
-ch
rob funkhouser- he is a lost soul as ever there was -cut hands - cdr - 9$
66 minute long tonal excercise that works the fringes of the current free-drone underground up to the cosmic paradise shaped by astral travellers Ash Ra Tempel and the minimalist magic of Steve Reich’s Drumming. Funkhouser has that focus of a determined soul, never rushing, calmly pushing Cosmos to desolate plains where the dark purple mood of the album cover lingers across the horizon. Music for the breaking of a gloomy autumn dawn, coming down from whatever trip you’ve been on, weedsmoke still curling up from the bong…not a jacker in sight. Break in and zone out. Edition of 50 in polyvinyl sleeves with moody artwerk.
-cut hands
skull defekts - dfx - cut hands - cdr - 9$
Crushing two piece thick new album by some of the fiercest electronic damagers to come out of Sweden. On DFX Joachim Nordwall, Henrik Rylander and Jean-Louis Huhta channel two twenty minute bolts of post-industrial sonics. First piece puts up a fog of hazy electronics reminiscent of early Broken Flag tapes by the likes of Maurizio Bianchi and Giancarlo Tonutti whilst gradually morphing into harsher ground. The second piece starts like a lost Wolf Eyes side with a multitude of sinister effects and Industrial beats. Crazy energy building, a whirl of voices lost in a bottomless well, Skull Defekts seem to do it for no less than the most impressive of dystopian soundworlds. 100 copies inside cardstock covers by Gio/Canedicoda and an inlay with photo by Lisa Nordwall.
-cut hands
dragonfrynd - smoke ring mandala - cut hands - cdr - 9$
Terrific new project by Adam Kriney (La Otracina, Owl Xounds et al) on keyboard and effects and Clinton Wilkins on electric guitar. It’s actually the first Kriney release that doesn’t feature him on drums, in fact, there’s no drums at all here. Just the thrill of entrancing guitarfeedback, kosmische tone workouts, touches of swirling Japanese psychrock and amplified Ash Ra Tempel meditations. A new and exciting direction for one of the most busy and promising talents in the NYC underground. Full colour covers, in slimline dvd cases, edition of 75.
-ch
drenches - holy dread - cut hands - cdr - 9$
Holy Dread, man, holy SHIT. This record is fierce. Heavy nature. Electronic bullying, raining down and piercing right through your balding scalp. The title track opens this monster and when I said raining down I meant it literally like that. Amazing effects that sound like you’re in the midst of heavy heavy rainstorms….inside a tent. Ever been there? It ain’t nice! This might just be the toughest harsh noise rec you have yet to hear this year. Stay proud, play loud. Black and white cover art by Branden Divens himself, in slimline dvd cases. Edition of 60.
-ch
tusco terror - mapping a burial - cut hands - cdr - 9$
Much needed new slab of blunt stabs in the ear by these Midwest dirt junkies. The Terror squad bring the post-New Blockaders junknoise with the swagger of a couple of kids at their first coked up punkshow. They mean no harm, yet they bolster fear. If you take the most frantic parts of Wolf Eyes circa Dog Jaw, the intensity of Metgumbernone and a load of heavy machinery falling apart at the same you’re getting somewhere. Mapping a Burial brims with metallic clang, anxious screams, the throbbing of broken effects and a load of shit you can’t even begin to dissect. Brutal.
75 handnumbered copies in slimline dvd cases with black and white coverart and awesome b&w insert drawn by the band’s own Nathan Bowers.
-ch
droughter – beast growth – cut hands - cdr - 9$
From the dark side of San Francisco, Droughter serves up a plate of harsh noise phantasies. Inspired by cheap ass horror flicks and burnt meat, Beast Growth manages to shape harsh electronics, brutal vokills and terrifying lo-fi scuzz into engaging storylined tracks. These tunes go somewhere and they all add up to something grim and tormenting in the end. Droughter knows how to combine brutal and engaging. Sooo psyched to have this beast released, you’ll be hearing more from this guy soon, for real. Edition of 50 in polyvinyl sleeves, bleak artwerkkkk.
cahier –höyryveturi – cut hands - cdr - 7$
Cahier is shaping up to be a grandmaster of contrast, dude’s got a thorough vision of how to soundtrack his growingly fucked up mind. This new joint collects some of his most extremely damaged psycho thoughts. Broken guitar amps singing through layers and layers of grey noise, piercing feedback symphonies which he actually manages to shape into melodic weirdo jams and a cold and wasted feeling throughout the whole thing. A fucked up fairytale for society’s lepers. We all know we’ll end up dead anyway. Edition of 50, black and white photo art, tragic.
jazzfinger– listen and vanish –cut hands - cdr - 9$
Hasan Gaylani and Ben Jones been at it for a while now as the high priests of the murky fog and with this rugged new set of primitive drone sorcery they prove their status once more. Zombie piano style, hardcore tape hiss worship, snare scraping, decaying flutes, drones so damn rusty you’ll cut your eardrums listening to them. Feels like walking through forests of dead trees with your eyes sewn shut, it’s all in your head, man. Edition of 60 numbered copies, comes in a square dvd box with full colour, pro printed covers, designed by Jason Rohm.
-cuthands
sword heaven – live at little brothers –cut hands - cdr - 9$
century plants - accidental visitor- cut hands - cdr -9$
Massive inferno style guitar destruction by this new crew outta Albany, NY. Part raging metallic clang by way of the holy Shred, part meditative feedbacking in total Zen style. Escaping melodies get trashed like Blue Humans digging on a Loren Mazzacane Connors riff. You can just hear the pleasure in the trashing and bashing. Century Plants mitglieds Eric Hardiman and Ray Hare (also making a mark as a part of Burnt Hills) have shared bills with Dead Machines recently and are bound to shake things up wherever they plug in their tools. 3rd ‘official’ release, 50 copies in polyvinyl sleeves with bah-boom artwerk.
-ch
andrew coltrane - symphony of black holes - cut hands - 3" cdr - 7$
New entry into the vastly expanding discography of this Michigan basement wrecker. Check out his brutal burners on American Tapes, RRR and Middle James Co., come right back if you’re man enough and try this one right here. Symphony of Black Holes delivers crude streams of skullcracking sewer noise. Not a ray of light to be found in this putrid dirthole, all black, no joy. 50 copies in mini dvd cases. Artwerk by fartjerk.
-ch
various - cut hands - cdr & artbook -12.50$
Originally intended to celebrate the first anniversary of Cut Hands waaay back in Januscary but since it’s never too late to celebrate in the oh 8 here it is and goddamn if it wasn’t worth the goddamning wait. Jason Rohm paints a grim picture that’s both realistically nerving yet bizarrely funny. The tale of a desperate soul in a world that’s tied by rules and akward questions, almost comic like in subtle detail. Suicide has 32 pages of black and white drawings, with text in English and awkward Dutch. The compilation provides a harrowing soundtrack.
Tunes by Andrew Coltrane, Sick Llama, Warmth, Droughter, Bottom Feeder, Raperies (Like Draperies), Ex-Cocaine, Robedoor and Josh Lay.
125 copies made, limited availibility,
-ch