Saturday, March 11, 2017

BIG HOLE/EUGENE CRITCHLEY "SPLIT" 2XC60 SET (AOW 437)

Very pleased to unleash this enervating, heart-crushing split into the world.  I've tried to be very careful in putting together splits for Eugene Critchley; I want to make sure I'm working with artists who understand where I'm coming from with the project, and can craft pieces that reflect the sorts of views EC is about.  This suffocating split with Big Hole represents, to me, a pretty perfect philosophical meeting between projects.  The two EC pieces on this set were conceived and recorded right after "Pessimism Totale," when I was in a severely distressing and unhappy place, unsure of everything in my future and pretty much hating myself every moment of every day.  These are two of the bleakest, most sorrowful, and most personal things I've ever committed to tape.  I sent these tracks to Christopher, who had been dealing with some similar feelings, and he crafted two Big Hole tracks that perfectly complement the EC tracks in terms of mood, atmosphere, and philosophy.  This is some of the best work I've heard from Big Hole, two truly despondent, damaging walls that draw you in and threaten to drown you under their miserable weight.  There is no relief or respite here: only total, all-consuming misery and hoplessness.
Packaged as a two-cassette set, with each cassette having unique, but complementary, artwork reflective of some of the ideas present in the work.  Released in a limited edition of 12 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $36 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "I GO THROUGH ALL THIS" C60 (AOW 465)

Bleak and harrowing new cassette of ambient and drone noise wall crafted from Bjork's seminal song "Hyperballad."  I've long wanted to do some work with some Bjork material, as it is so dense with sound and lovely; that density translates well to my treatments of the song.  There is nothing very "pretty" here; instead, the ambient piece is austere, frightening, and removed, while the drone wall reminds me very much of a muffled Sunn 0))) piece run through audio quaaludes.  Really deep stuff!  Really love the artwork on this cassette as well; minimal and monochromatic.
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $26 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "EVERYTHING YOU LOOK AT DIES" C102 (AOW 464)

First cassette in a new series I'm working on, utilizing the work of Courtney Love's Hole as inspiration and sound source.  This first album draws on the band's album of collected b-sides and alternate takes, "My Body, The Hand Grenade."    The work here is very much in the deep drone noise wall space that I've been working in for the last several months.  Two massive, unctuous, dense walls to drift off to.
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $26 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "NOTHING LEFT INSIDE" C90/"AN ANGEL'S LIFE, ON ANGEL WINGS" C90/"IT HURTS TO BE ALONE" C90 (AOW 461/462/463)


Three separate and monolithic albums of bleak and despairing drone noise wall, crafted from sounds sourced from Black Flag's "My War," "Slip It In," and "Loose Nut."  Black Flag existed in a space of constant misery, depression, anger, anxiety, and brutal, cruel self-examination, and these three albums have been immensely important to me for as long as I can remember.  The three cassettes:

"Nothing Left Inside": empty, barren drone walls.  Sounds sourced from "My War."

"An Angel's Life, On Angel Wings": thick, engulfing drones to contemplate the miseries of existence.  Sounds sourced from my fave Black Flag recording, "Slip It In."

"It Hurts To Be Alone": wretched and and distressed, anxious drones.  Sourced from the underappreciated "Loose Nut."

If you enjoy my work as Eugene Critchley, you'll no doubt dig these three recordings as well.  These three albums form a trilogy of sorts, but i'm making them available separately.  If you do buy all three, I will do my best to match the set (for as long as I am able.)
Each cassette is released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $10 each ppd. in the United States, $26 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com