Small Fortunes - Say What You See

Ho ho! Now this is something that I have watched grow from a silly one-minute-something demo into a full-blown project of epic proportions. Introducing my good ol' pal Gareth B, whom is a fellow band-mate with me in Merthyr Tydfilian based rap metal (yes!) group Start! Start!. Mr. B is always grooving our tunes up with his mad bass skills, but he doesn't get much chance to shine on the mic. That's where Small Fortunes comes in; Gareth B shows us his unique view on the world with this swanky and professional-as-fuck four track EP.

 

Lamenting us through the medium of auto-tune like some bastard lovechild of Ke$ha and Nate Dogg, Small Fortunes takes us into four real life scenarios told through the exciting method of songwriting. "Baldman Beatdown" tells us how Mr. B mashed up a cider-swilling lout at his local bar, "Mr. Sunday Night" is the hilarious tale of a bloke that he met in the local chippy who didn't know what day it was, "Crows Nest" is a backlash reaction to some over-enthusiastic music critic, and "A Birthday To Remember" shares the toilet-rattling tale of getting the shits after his birthday meal. I was present for that one, and boy it was ugly!

Despite the enormously sexy artwork, this EP is burned onto CDr, although you'd never guess because Gareth B has put so much love into this little package. The CDrs are styled like lil' 5" vinyls, which is right up my street, and the production on the songs by Downtown Studios' Uncle Richard is very polished and modern. The cartoony artwork by Lauren Orrells is the finishing touch here. These motherfuckers are limited to 50 copies, so act fast and get one from Small Fortunes whilst the going is good! I also have the first Small Fortunes promo single "Caution! Wet Floor!" download card free with every Pointless Records order, so get in!

Necklacing - I

Wow! This is short and sweet but it sure does the trick of hitting the ol' grindcore spot. Could I shorten that to G-spot without sounding gay? Ha ha. Necklacing's pro-pressed tape release of I is a powerviolency grind smash up available in three lovely colors. I have the transparent red version. Don't take my word for how awesome this is, listen to it for free and then buy it because it's wicked awesome and cheap as chips. This seems to be released by the band themselves although I got my copy from Dead Chemists' distro stock.

Stream the whole thing below from the band's Bandcamp page.    

Merzbow - Recycled

It's been a good while since I last reviewed a tape (the Electric Wizard one that went up yesterday was written months ago), so seeing as I bought a few recently it's high time I did some more tape posts. This is my first ever Merzbow purchase and potentially an in-road onto a long slippery slope of trying to collect all his shit. I went through the same fad in 2007 with Agathocles, and failed miserably, but at least with them it is a case of every release being known (not counting bootlegs, of course). Merzbow's discography is so large that it is said that not even the man himself knows of every release that has been put out. Jesus!

This Recycled tape is an item in a returning trend in tape culture; the dubbing over of old shit tapes. A cheap and easy way to put out music! This was originally a Barbara Streisand tape, which has been butchered and dubbed over with some pulsing and horrible noise. The noise starts off fairly bassy, but gets pretty harsh as things develops. I like the way noise builds and reveals itself; constantly warping and molding itself into new textures, so I'm a bit bummed when other shit cuts through, like random singing and shitty beats. I guess this runs with the Recycled ethic and gives the impression that the music underneath is sneaky through the harsh wall.

This is also probably the loudest tape I own yet; more than likely due to Merzbow's massive bass frequencies abusing the depth of an analogue format. At one point there is a huge pulsing sound which shook not only my speakers, but my TV stand, sofa and whole floor. The volume wasn't even particularly high. As far as I can tell, this is Merzbow self-released, and as much as I enjoyed it, there is a million (literally) other Merzbow cuts out there that are so much better.

PS I can't find a link for this on Youtube!? One day I really will start uploading out of print stuff there.