Monday, September 17, 2007

THREE FROM TRIPTYCH TRENCHER


Carl Annarummo runs Triptych Trencher, a DIY label and printing press based in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Known for releasing CD-Rs mostly, these are Carl’s first three cassette releases. The 3 mysterious tapes he sent me came with almost no info... not even an artist name! All I had to go on was a catalog number. That’s not to say these tapes are minimally packaged. Each of them comes with some sort of small artifact that makes you wonder if Carl has been raiding his Grandma’s closet for old photos and documents. After digging up some info online I discovered that apparently Carl is responsible for all of the music on all three of these tapes. They are each limited to 33 hand numbered copies and are available for $4/usa $5/world by paypaling funds to oldwesty@gmail.com.

Says Carl... ...
“but really, fuck money, lets trade.
even if you want to send me mix tapes
or a box of junk.”


CLARENDON HOLY EXCERPTS - c32 (Triptych Trencher)

The tape starts and the shit is fucking gross. Is it the treble crackling and cackling or is it the vomit-esque snorting distortion? I don’t know. It bursts in with the gross and doesn’t stop with the gross. This appears to be the “best of” Carl’s practice tapes recorded over two years. It’s pretty good too. Nothing amazing or ground breaking but still a pretty fun listen (and what do I now about breaking ground anyway?). The stuttering low end thumps in the middle of side 1 remind me of a trashier version of Canada’s D/A A/D. Get this tape if you like harsh noise that sounds like motorcycles and/or religious chanting and/or infomercials and/or anything you can run through a shitload of effects pedals. Mine came packaged with 6 totally awesome faded pictures of old people from the 1970’s and 80’s. It’s weird to own pictures of complete strangers who are probably dead now.

AIRFORCE JOYRIDE - c32 (Triptych Trencher)

Another 1/2 hour of rumble and crumble from Carl Annarummo. Side 1 starts off with a mudslide of distortion but soon quiets down to allow for a cavernous snailpaced rhythm to be heard. The “loud, quiet, loud” thing is in effect here with lots of changups and dynamic shifts. Swirling hiss-tortion starts off side 2 and slowly gives way to more of the brooding feedback laced muddy electronics of side 1. Overall, a pretty dark sounding (mostly) harsh noise excursion. Came with a picture from 1941 of a little boy who looks like me when I was 8 years old. Fucking creepy.

DUEL FALCONS - c32 (Triptych Trencher)

“Peace and quiet never sounded so good”. So says the Triptych Trencher website. I couldn’t agree more. This is the sound of 100,000 pounds of nature crushing your skull. What happened is Carl made some field recordings at a local arboretum and as far as I can tell, upon returning home he ran the tapes through the washing machine, then through the dishwasher, then through a chain of effects straight to a tape deck. This is definitely my favorite of the three Triptych Trencher tapes. After a few minutes of the first side you can still hear bits of PBS-like conversation sneaking in and out of the distortion while the chirping birds have become a huge clamouring mess. Side 2 is even more harsh and has almost no recognizable trace of the source material except for a siren that creeps about here and there. Mine came with two “Monmouth Workshop” paystubs from 1976. I can’t believe that after working almost 12 hours this person only got paid $8.82!

-FRED

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