Author: psomeguy

V/A – ‘Flirting With The Noise Floor’ 3xC30 box

3 tapes. 6 projects. an hour and a half of minimalist sound. 15 minutes each from:

Sergey Pakhomov, James Shearman, E.F. Stoermer, Dosis Letalis, PTRKLLR, V.H.

The phrase “flirting with the noise floor” has been floating around my head since the mid 1990s. I’ve even said the phrase out loud a few times. Mostly in reference to silence, incidental sounds and space used in improvisation and composition. I spent a good part of the early 2000s focusing on variations of this idea in both what I was making and listening to. Years later, I became aware of a renewed interest in what had by then become known as ‘lowercase sound’ coming from people in the Harsh Noise Wall community. The overlap made sense to me considering HNW’s approach to the other pole of extreme minimalism. It was only a matter of time before the extremes would cross over to one another. This is a collection of artists who are doing just that; coming from a harsh noise background exploring nuance and texture with extreme focus and intensity but not necessarily the relentlessness normally associated with HNW.

VIOLETIGER ‘Transformation’ 12″ and video

The debut from this Vienna based duo finds Violet Candide aka Peppy Pep Pepper, also from Mitra Mitra teaming up with the enigmatic Tigerlilly to bring us 5 tracks of stark, hook-filled, DIY, minimal synth greatness. A stellar introduction to this new project.




vinyl released on Sept 30, 2020 go here to order it
for EU friends, it will be available from Kernkrach as well so you can save on shipping

Staring Problem ‘Eclipse’ pre-order

Early goth overtones, proto-shoegaze allure and raw DIY production have informed this incredible collection of songs. With themes ranging from love and loss to science fiction as well as flora and fauna, Chicago’s Staring Problem give us their strongest work to date in celebration of their and Modern Tapes’ 10th year not only in collaboration but in existence.

pre-order here

Here’s the video for the title track.

HUMAN ASPIC + CLOSING

Harsh noise expose of the unspoken usage of human originated meat (HOM) as a part of the american food supply since 1942.
cassette is pro-dubbed and printed in a two color silkscreened cardstock jacket with photocopied booklet.
download includes pdf booklet of notes including an excerpt from FDA depositions on the history of the Human Salvage Program and a video edit (mp4) of “The Whistle Is Blown” which can also be viewed here: youtu.be/TnKDBA6FnZE

Dissonant drones and a hissing, murky ambience. The sound of isolation, slumber, depravity, rebellion, lonliness, whatever you want to project onto it. Grim minimalism for weary ears.
cassette is hand dubbed with a silkscreened jacket and photocopied insert.


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Dosis Letalis “surroundings” and Verhalten “corrupted structures v.3”

mt035- Dosis Letalis Surroundings c60
this prolific serbian noise wall artist goes understated for his modern tapes debut. static and what feels like the hum of living are buried underneath the textures, ambient in an uncomfortable way.


mt034- Verhalten Corrupted Structures v.3 c40
third in the series of releases focused on humanity’s obsession with designing its own obsolescence. This time the focus is pointed inward. Electromagnetic field recordings from various points in the town where this transient sound mangler was raised. Chopped up, spit out in misaligned patterns and clipped beyond recognition.

there will be/are copies available from Scream + Writhe in canada and Skeleton Dust in the states if you’d like to stock up on these releases as well as tons of other stellar noise and experimental releases.

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Peppy Pep Pepper and LANA

March 20, 2020 sees the release of two new releases from two old friends of the label. Both in the works for a while and also a return to more synth based songs where the label has been pushing more and more into the noise and experimental realm as of late. Don’t worry, though, there is still plenty of weird noisy shit up our sleeves coming soon as well.

mt032- Peppy Pep Pepper- Granny Chic– C40
a friend of the label for a number of years now, Violet Candide made her debut (outside of the DJ booth that is) with the duo Mitra Mitra (mt016) and has returned with a stellar solo offering. Her second (the first on Transformer music) and first proper full length solo release of cold and beautifully constructed minimal synth.

mt033- LANA – S/T– C25
this release has been in the works since Nail Club and Verhalten toured florida together in 2018. Sara takes on a new solo alias as LANA, jumping into the midwestern midnight mourning world of Lana Tisdel.
“The scene is a karaoke bar where Brandon Teena’s lost love sings to her former lover hoping she can mean what she sings enough that Brandon will hear it. The room is smoky and everyone is a little drunk, but everyone sits rapt as Lana spills out her heart through a set of old favorites.”
distorted and melancholy. just how we like it. a moving tribute.

both are physically sold out from Modern Tapes.

Kernkrach has just a couple copies of the LANA tape left for those of you in the EU.

DOSENÖFFNER and SCHOLL

NOW AVAILABLE! two brand new tapes from the mangled mind and electronics of Peter Keller (Unser Verhängnis, Bacillus, Condo Horro, etc.).

Mt030 Dosenöffner “Push For Signal” c60 + download

the duo of Peter Keller (aka Unser Verhängis, Scholl, Condon Horro, Bacillus) and Casey Chittenden Jones creates evolving textures of modular noise ranging from the harsh to the understated. an intriguing collection of improvised sounds captured live.


mt031 SCHOLL “Angesichts Konstanter” c60 + download

augmented debut release by this new project from Peter Keller (Unser Verhängnis, Condo Horro, Dosenöffner, Bacillus, ad infinitum). repetitive noise for a paranoid dancefloor that doesn’t exist.

NEW RELEASES for fall 2018. Rien “the grey tape” and Verhalten “corrupted structures v.2” PLUS a new batch of “This Machine Kills Fascists” tshirts with more sizes!

mt028 and mt029 header

Hello everyone! Here’s a doozy of an update for you.  TWO new releases as well as “this machine…” shirts reprinted and in more sizes (XS and XL)!

mt028- RIEN “the grey tape” c40
the sound of implosion, of sound eating itself. we hear what is left behind.
stellar static noise (and sub sonic) minimalism from this prolific swedish provocateur.

mt029- VERHALTEN “corrupted structures v.2” c60
Second in a continuing series of releases for Verhalten. Distorted rhythms are woven with crackling walls of noise and syncopated sine waves pushing the further reaches of the audio spectrum. An exercise in tonality, texture and repetition. A minimalist exploration of the structures humanity creates to its own detriment.

Cassettes, downloads and shirts are all available now from Modern Tapes.

artist copies are enroute and will be available at live performances and online from them soonly.

 

ANOTHER new Verhalten cassette!

hot on the heels of last month’s release of Number, Verhalten returns with a brand new two track, 22min EP that will serve as the first in a series of releases called Corrupted Structures.  Based on inconsistency and a sense of chaos as much as it is based on repetition and the build of inertia, Corrupted Structures v.1 crumbles and hisses all around us just like the people, movements and institutions we feed daily.

mt027 vh cs1

limited edition of 15.

Shaan and Verhalten tapes now available!

It was june of 2016.  Froe Char was playing a show in Belgrade, Serbia with the newly minted Unur alias, Verhalten.  The opening act for the night starts.  A young woman with a single sampler begins a kinetic and intriguing set.  We have just witnessed Shaan.  As the evening progresses everyone starts talking and as we have an extra couple days in Belgrade we make plans to hang out more, then to make some music together and as this friendship forms, so does an idea. “why don’t you do a tape for modern tapes?”  Here is just that:

 

It is 2017. US political conversation is getting more frustrating and inane as the days go on.  A balance between activism and nihilism is all we have to keep ourselves sane.  We feel anonymous, we feel numb.  In a fit of isolated incredulousness, VH decides to make something that feels immediate, something that feels more like a live set.  Each track is constructed live on modular synth and contact microphones.  We now have Number.