Saturday 20 April 2019

Hairnet - Anarchy Is A Comin' (2019)


Well, another day, another Pee Blood band. Featuring members of Janitor Scum/Glitter/The Pee Blood House Band, Hairnet is another quality garage punk outfit from a bunch of familiar faces. It's pretty much what we've come to love and cherish about the Pee Blood family: it's raw, not too serious, and catchy.

Get it over at the Hairnet bandcamp.

Thursday 18 April 2019

Various Artists - Descension/Ascension (2019)



Last month, three of our favourite local electronic artists got in a car (we assume it was a 1987 CRX - or maybe a fleet of CRXs?) and did a tour across the prairies. To support/document the trip, Deep Sea Mining Syndicate put out this tape, with two tracks from each artist: Carbolizer, Corinthian, and Wish Lash.

We've made a pretty big deal of Corinthian already, and just posted some of Wish Lash's great work, so let's talk about how great Carbolizer is, okay? Carbolizer is the project of Adam Fox, and while his full-length LP from last year veers into synth pop territory (which, to be honest, is one of our favourite territories), the two tracks on this tape are more ambient and experimental, in a vein that is not too dissimilar from Corinthian. The standout track for us on here is Carbolizer's "Erie," which sounds like Corinthian covering Depeche Mode. Or something.

Get it via the DSMS bandcamp; you also might be able to pick up a copy over at Hot Wax.

Wednesday 17 April 2019

Wish Lash - Altar of Doubt (2018)



Wish Lash is the electronic music project of Kerry Maguire, a key member of CCPS favourites Crims and Flow as well as Purlicue. Where those bands a fun and take the piss, Wish Lash is more serious - and seriously good. Finding a space of her own somewhere between the dark ambiance of Corinthians and the ethereal drones of Valiska, Wish Lash is compelling listening.

Get it via the Wish Lash bandcamp.

Monday 15 April 2019

Bent Spoon Duo - Scotch Tape (2018)



This tape is a whole lot of great things coming together in one weird place. Devin Friesen's Shaking Box Music put this tape last year, featuring a 2010 recording of Chris Dadge and Scott Munro's improvisational Bent Spoon Duo. That's a lot of good stuff in one sentence - so we apologize for not grabbing this sooner.

To make up for being so tardy, here's a video of Dadge and Munro from 2008, performing live in the old CJSW studios:



Get it via the Shaking Box Music bandcamp.

Sunday 14 April 2019

Teerjerker - Loner Demo (2014)


Sometimes you're in a punk band, and you put out a tape and then change your band name, and figure, heck, let's just re-release that tape with out new name. And sometimes, five years later, the CCPS finds a copy of the first tape and posts it even though they already posted the re-released version. Sure, it's a bit ridiculous, but the Teerjerker (later Empty Heads) track "High N' Dry" is an amazing piece of Dinosaur Jr-inspired punk; that track alone makes this a worthy exercise.

But we're still going to point you to the Empty Heads bandcamp to get the download.

Friday 12 April 2019

CCPS Miscellany: SNFU - Live Polish Hall Sept 29, 1989 (1989)



Well, here's an interesting one. Corey Hamilton asked us if we could digitize a tape of an SNFU show he made almost thirty years, and we talked/tricked him into letting us post it here as well. Huzzah! Yeah, we know they're not a Calgary band, but the influence of SNFU down here is pretty significant. It looks like this show was just before the band temporarily called it quits and the Belke brothers split to form the Wheat Chiefs.

We went looking on the youtube to see if we could find a video from that era, but '88 was the closest we could find:



Get the boot here!

Wednesday 10 April 2019

Dave Smith - Dave Smith/Demos (2011)







Sadly, we're at the end of the big pile of tapes we borrowed from Kevin Stebner. And we're going to go out with a three-for-one, featuring the sad bastard folk of Dave Smith (whose name is, as you can imagine, pretty much un-Googleable). The three tapes are a collection of full-band-ish recordings, and then two tapes of demos. This lands somewhere in the vicinity of Stebner's first Cold Water tape and Lucid 44.

Grab the tapes here.

Tuesday 9 April 2019

WTCHDCTR - 20XXビート (2014)


Huge thanks to WTCHDCTR for putting the name of this tape up on bandcamp so we could just copy and paste it, rather than having to figure out how to pull the kanji in. Phew! Also, big thanks to Kevin Stebner for letting us borrow this tape, which hits a part of the city's music scene that is pretty under-represented here at the CCPS.

WTCHDCTR is Zach Ulaszonek, and this tape is a mix of electronica that starts off glitchy and settles into a nice ambient chill. It's a pretty good thing for a lazy Tuesday morning.

Get the download from the WTCHDCTR bandcamp.


Monday 8 April 2019

Poor Man's Fantasy - Drifter (2011)


As we get to the bottom of the pile of tapes we got from Kevin Stebner, we're getting further into stuff we know little to nothing about. Which, you might point out, is actually usually the case for us and nothing really new. Poor Man's Fantasy appears to be a one-man show, doing a nice bit of psych folk.

We're also getting to the sad point where enough time has elapsed to that even though a tape lists a bandcamp url, it's not necessarily still active. This, folks, is why the CCPS is here. To make sure someone still hooks you up with a download.

Sunday 7 April 2019

Tel Fyr - Tel Fyr (2011)



Apparently we're into the heavy part of Kevin Stebner's tape collection, with this post-metal release from Tel Fyr. We could probably make up some random stuff about this band, but we're kind of tired, and would rather just link to a video.



Tel Fyr's self-titled tape is available for download via their bandcamp.

Saturday 6 April 2019

Gnats - To The Hands Of The Heathens (2012)


We don't know much about this band other than the very brief description on their bandcamp: "GNATS is a two-piece punk band from calgary, canada." Listening to this, we never would have guessed there were just two of them - this is a big sound for a duo. And quite good. 

Download is available from the Gnats bandcamp.

Friday 5 April 2019

Laura Leif - Rough Beasts (2011)






We're really excited to have another tape from Laura Leif to offer; she's a remarkably talented and sadly over-looked songwriter. Leif's voice, accompanied by her ukulele and cast of friends is nothing like the title - these songs are warm and inviting.


L.T.Leif - dontdonut from Laura Leif on Vimeo.

Some of these songs were released on her 2016 LP (released under the moniker L.T. Leif), which we recommend you try to track down - that release is far superior in audio quality to our crappy rip of the tape.

Thursday 4 April 2019

Rap X - Rap X (2011)



Here's some more Scott Munro action, this time as half of weirdo rap act Rap X, alongside Micah Stone. We really like this band, with their short, strange burst of deconstructed hip hop. Stone is a great lyricist and MC, and Munro's beats are suitably oddball. This tickles just the right part of us.

Looks like a version of this is available through the Rap X bandcamp, we suggest you grab it there.

Wednesday 3 April 2019

Bent Spoon Duo - Fossils of Slumber (2009)


Here's more territory that we REALLY should have poked into earlier. Chris Dadge and his Bug Incision have been a staple of the local improv/experimental music scene for a helluva long time, and we haven't featured much of the related cassette output simply because of the sheer overwhelming volume of it. So, having this tape from Kevin Stebner is a bit of gift that way, in terms of forcing our hand.

We're also really excited to discover the Cassette Gods blog, not just because of their name/area of focus, but because of their great review of this tape, which describes it as "a great junk-clatter act." With Dadge and Scott Munro on percussion, random stringed instruments, and some electronics, it's a pretty great record of two great players.

This tape is out of print, but Dadge has made a cdr/download available through the Bug Incision bandcamp.

Tuesday 2 April 2019

Yankee Yankee - Ecstatic Dreamer (2013)



Here's another Whitney Ota/Unit Structure Sound Recordings release, this time featuring Ota's experimental ambient electronic project, Yankee Yankee. We're not sure why we've missed this project on the CCPS, other than sheer incompetence. We've seen Yankee Yankee a few times, and are always fascinated and enthralled by the amazing sounds Ota conjures.

This one's available for download over on the USSR bandcamp.


Monday 1 April 2019

Burro - Macy's Trip (2011)



Back into the tapes we got from Kevin Stebner, here's a great one from Whitney Ota's Unit Structure Sound Recordings label and his improv rock trio. We've already made a big deal of how great this band is, and we don't want to get too far into hyperbole or redundancy - at least not this early in the week.

We can't seem to find reference to this tape on bandcamp, so we'll offer up a download right here.