To whom it may interest, Still getting acclimated to 2023 and up on January releases. How are you feeling about this year? Anything that you're looking forward to? I believe I've mentioned this before, but I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to develop a following in the TikTok space. You can find that here .  For last week's rounds of browser tabs, I've heard the following: ____________________________ Alex Ward Item 4:  "OURS" (from  Furthered,  releasing 3/3/23 by  577 Records )       577 Records · OURS by Alex Ward/Item 4 from album 'Furthered' (577 Records) Courtesy of 577 Records. Meg Baird:  "Ashes, Ashes" (from  Furling,  releasing 1/27/23 by  Drag City ) Courtesy of Drag City.  Ad Omega: "Triumph of Void" (from  Aphelic Ascent,  releasing 2/10/23 by  Drakkar Productions ) Courtesy of Falce Press & Management.  Constant Smiles:  "Triumph of Void" (from  Kenneth Anger,...

The Soft Moon Exister Sacred Bones Released: 9/23/22 No Ripcord review:  http://www.noripcord.com/reviews/music/soft-moon/exister Sincerely,  Letters From A Tapehead

It was announced that Boris, whose creative versatility I don't think can be matched at this point, are releasing a new LP in January of 2022 via Sacred Bones. Within two seconds of this announcement, I was on the website ready to pre-order the blue and white starburst LP variant of the album, which is titled W . The lead single "Drowning By Numbers" is a notable departure from the Discharge-level speed of last year's excellent NO , minimally driven by bass throbs and dark ambience. As was the case with the group's pop-centric endeavor Attention Please , released in 2011 via Sargent House, all vocal duties for W are handled by singer/bassist Wata. I don't think it's necessarily an exaggeration to claim that W will be the infinity'ith LP to be released by Boris, but it's worth noting that this will be the first Boris LP released by Sacred Bones . Release date is January 21st, 2022. Check out the video below: All info and links are courtesy of Ste...

"Welcome to the new creations…" works as both a lyric and as a promotional pitch for Mutator , the first entry LP to launch a series featuring unearthed material by Alan Vega, pioneering artist and co-member of the seminal and necessary electro-art duo Suicide. Vega, who unfortunately left us in 2016, was a prolific being to say the least and had apparently left behind a significant amount of material. Mutator had originally been recorded between 1995-1996 with Liz Lamere, Vega's wife and creative partner. Introduced today after years of collecting dust, the ominous and coldly factorial "Nike Soldier" is the first aural peek into this unknown work, Vega's eerie vocal radiating with the tone of "prophesied doomsday".  Mutator is up for pre-order via Sacred Bones with the actual release scheduled for 4/23. The "Deluxe Dark Red" is already sold out. I just pulled the trigger on the "Limited Clear and Dark Red Smoke" variant. If...

Album Artwork | Photo By Craig Mulcahy At the expense of objectivity, I'll just state for the record that I enjoy the music of Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou and that their collaboration, which has resulted in a new album called May Our Chambers Be Full , sounds very promising thanks to this lead single, "Ancestral Recall." Stylistically, Rundle's lush vocal works very well with the scream-prone Thou, her emotive delivery well entwined with the already affecting guitar phrasing at work. The sound is gratifyingly huge and, based on the strength of this single, I would call this pairing kindred, comparable to Jarboe's partnership with Neurosis , or Cult Of Luna's work with Julie Christmas , both of which produced excellent albums. But, again, this is a fan typing. May Our Chambers Be Full is due to release on 10/30. You can pre-order the record at Sacred Bones . (Sadly, I missed out on the "Diehard" LP. Congratulations and "eat a dick; I hate you...

A new single from Uniform is out today for the group's upcoming release, Shame . "Delco," (or Delaware County, a Philly suburb not too far from where I live in Montgomery County), is a personal and cathartic distillation of hometown abuse and its subsequent impact upon vocalist Michael Berdan. If you've heard Uniform before, you know that they, (Berden, guitarist Ben Greenberg, and drummer Mike Sharp), are adept at converting pain into decibels. "Delco" is no exception: Berdan's bark reverberating over a calamitous barrage of drum fills and riff-borne fuzz. Sometimes, making a loud noise is the best form of therapy. Shame is due out on September 11th from Sacred Bones. Uniform's 2017 release Wake In Fright was reviewed for No Ripcord . All info was provided by Rarely Unable. UNIFORM ANNOUNCE A NEW ALBUM SHAME - COMING SEPTEMBER 11TH VIA SACRED BONES LEAD SINGLE “ DELCO ” REVEALED New York City, NY (June 24, 2020): What if th...

A new single from Jenny Hval called "Bonus Material" is streaming online. It's airy, light, and wanders as Hval gently sings, a saxophone (performed by  Espen Reinertsen ) and sprinkled piano strokes cutting through the tonal swells beneath. Initially, I likened this track to Julee Cruise as it contains the same sorrow-laden and angelic disposition that Cruise carries through her work. Hval's most recent work,  Practice of Love,  was released last September via Sacred Bones Records . The Practice of Love by Jenny Hval Via Stereo Sanctity: Today, Norwegian multidisciplinary artist Jenny Hval presents a new single, “Bonus Material.” It follows the widely acclaimed The Practice of Love, which was released last year via Sacred Bones. “Bonus Material” is sparse and celestial, floating with Hval’s light vocals and twinkling keys. It features saxophone by Espen Reinertsen, who appeared on The Practice of Love. “It is an unfinished track about unfinished substa...

"I have no use for God / God has no use for me / When there's nothing to lose / Then you are finally free…" Good to know. Navigating the industrial dance punk spirit of Wax Trax!, a new Uniform single called "Awakening" surfaced as part of Adult Swim Singles . For Uniform, the level of ire is familiar if not stylistically necessary at this point, though "Awakening" is a tad easier on the ears than what I'm used to. The recent acquisition of drummer Mike Sharp is immediately noticeable, a sturdy snare beat breaking through an array of electrified racket and droning guitar sounds while vocalist Michael Berdan waxes frantic about complacency, which is a worthy target. It's a solid four+ minutes.  Uniform's 2017 release Wake In Fright  was reviewed for No Ripcord . All info, including tour dates, comes courtesy of Rarely Unable. Awakening by Uniform UNIFORM RELEASE A NEW TRACK " AWAKENING " AS PART OF ADULT SWIM SINGLES;...

I stress that The Body remains a consistently fascinating entity whose work I either champion or dismiss, the creative push-n-pull a la Chip King and Lee Buford  qualifying as anything from merely pushing decibels to forward thinking and genre-hybridizing to unlistenable grating shit-spew. With that said, The Body partners well. Those excellent recordings they released with Thou , Released From Love and You, Whom I Have Always Hated , remain some of the most ear rupturing sounds I've heard on a physical album. So, being a Uniform fan, I have high hopes for  Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back , The Body's second collaborative noise venture with the group, which is due to release 8/16 via Sacred Bones . Uniform, another duo with a penchant for amplified gloom and tolerance-pushing vocals, has a machined edge that suits The Body's amp'd up misery. "Not Good Enough" is like a ten-megaton Suicide , every driving pulse set to trudge as if dragging th...

For a No Ripcord's monthly installment of blurb-sized reviews, or "QUICK TAKES" as the feature is titled, I submitted KEN mode 's Loved and Thou 's Magus . Both albums contain some of the most exciting, violent, and emotionally turbulent music I've heard this year. Please enjoy the reviews and I'd recommend reading about the other albums covered in this feature as well. Please feel free to comment or send all angry missives to lettersfromatapehead@gmail.com . Hit the link: No Ripcord —  QUICK TAKES (AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018). Thou Magus Sacred Bones Released: 8.31.18 ___________________________ KEN mode Loved Season of Mist Released: 8.31.18 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Exploded View Obey Sacred Bones Records Released:  9.28.18 No Ripcord review. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Some new singles and others I've been meaning to post. Enjoy. Death Valley Girls :  " More Dead " (via Stereo Sanctity /  Suicide Squeeze  / YouTube) Via Stereo Sanctity: After recently announcing that their new album Darkness Rains is set for release on Oct 5th via Suicide Squeeze Records, Los Angeles doom boogie/dystopian punk/occult glam rockers Death Valley Girls have shared a new single & video entitled " More Dead ". Speaking about the new track, the band commented: "After having experiences with people we love struggling to stay alive, we believe the harder the battle, the less one is able to ask for help. We wanted to write a song about how important and necessary each person is, especially these days. We need numbers now more than ever to fight the good fight." The video director Dylan Mars Greenberg went on to add “I wanted to create a video that dealt with a serious issue that affected both Bonnie and I but in an abs...