TYVEK - “Demos” cassette (Fag Tapes).

I really, really loved this.

After a recent tape on Dan (from Haunted Castle / Cardboard Sax)'s label Excite Bike, I was not overly excited about this one coming in. The one on EXBX was unlistenable, not in the fantastic way that they usually are, but in the sense that it was live recordings that sounded like they were captured from a walkman in someone's backpack, and while that was actually much appreciated in the case of that Trashdog LP, it didn't work as well. IT was mostly muffled bass lines that would only mean a thing to you if you already knew and liked them and it they were jogging your memory.

So, another Tyvek tape on a label that also, primarily, does noise releases: Fag Tapes, the overly productive machine coordinated by Sick Llama / Slither cohort, Heath.

Tossing this on though, I am pleasantly surprised that everything that I love about Tyvek is captured perfectly. Raw demos of stuff, some of which is familiar, some of it not, which makes me think this might be culled from recordings that took place prior to their first barrage of singles. A jankey and disjointed Urinals for the late 2000's, for sure, confidentially messy (some might call that “not giving a shit”, but it's not the same thing) and highly addictive, it doesn't matter if parts cut in and out (and have other sounds occasionally interfering!) and they are not 100% together. Really, to ruin this band, all you would need is perfect musician ship and a “good” recording. Conveyed through the means and style that they often do, it's enough of it's own thing that my attention is grabbed consistently (though they were coming pretty close to losing me with the LP on Siltbreeze).

This collection is really exciting for people who are in my exact shoes in regards to this band, and it's nice to have a large helping of what they do, since aside from the Siltbreeze LP, it's all scatterred into small portions on the vinyl format. The full length that doesn't exist, and really should, is “Fast Metabolism”, a CDr they have had around forever and which instead of making it's way onto vinyl as quite the perfect LP, was dissected into a few singles. (It's criminal to have to flip through four records to enjoy that series of songs, it really is)! This tape has completely different versions of a ton of those songs, maybe half of them (mostly across the b-side, a perfect place for them to pop up, because leading up to them are all these unfamiliar things, once you find the tracks that you've come to love, it's exhilarating).

That being said, the next best thing: there's an LP of early (disclosed as) “horrible sounding” demo's coming out on, ironically enough, EXBX, and so my hope is that it's going to be this tape, because these recordings deserve it, and so does the listener. I can't wait. (and in the meanwhile, if you want one of the 77 copies that exist of this trashcan masterpiece, act fast)!

Check out TYVEK: HERE.

Check out FAG TAPES: HERE.

Check out EXCITEBIKE: HERE.