Thursday 5 November 2020

Slow Kids Playing Fast - A Last Hooray (1998)


Here's a second tape from the Boat Dreams From The Hill archive, and a nice follow-up to the first Slow Kids Playing Fast tape that we posted... AND, dumdums we are, we now see that someone had very nicely pointed us to the BDFtH website in the comments on that page FOUR YEARS AGO. If nothing else, we at the CCPS excel at missing obvious clues.

Chris van der Laan has some amazingly honest notes to accompany this tape:

The second tape Slow Kids Playing Fast released in 1998, I'm pretty sure the original run was in the neighborhood of 90 copies. Not changing their name was probably a bad move as they decided emo with typical random angsty outbursts was their true calling on this release and only even bothered pretending to be fast on a couple of the tape's nine tracks. Their friend Bryce recorded four of these songs in his basement, the rest were once again done by the same disinterested engineer that recorded their first tape in his trailer. This tape doesn't hold up as well as their first, the band apparently had never heard of "digital clipping" and it sometimes gets in the way of the songs, which are about as memorable as you'd expect coming from people between the ages of 15 and 17.

Oof. Get the tape on the Boat Dreams From The Hill website


Wednesday 4 November 2020

Crimson Grind - Simply Tolerated (1997)

 


While we were chasing after yesterday's Eine Kleine China tape, the band pointed us to the treasure trove that is the Other Stuff page on their label's website. Huge thanks to former Calgarian Chris van der Laan and his Boat Dreams From the Hill label for putting up a bunch of great archival tapes, records, and CDs. We're gonna shamelessly pilfer that page for our own, not-so-great archive!

First up is Crimson Grind, and thankfully Chris has provided this bit of background:

My memory is hazy on this one. Justin agreed to play bass for Slow Kids Playing Fast if I could play bass for his heavy metal band. We rehearsed these 4 songs a few times and booked a few hours at a local studio (EK was the name, I believe). We recorded live and Justin did vocals afterwards while Dave and I sat on the floor in the control room with our friend Nick, who would've been the bass player if he had figured out how to play bass. Pretty sure Justin and Dave's parents were with us. It was my first time in a recording studio, good times.

Get it via the Boat Dreams From The Hill website

Tuesday 3 November 2020

Eine Kleine China - Feels Industry (2017)

 


Here's another bandcamp discovery - and a very happy one. Eine Kleine China is a one-person (mostly) electronica project that we weren't previously familiar with. 

Coming to us via Vancouver label Boat Dreams From the Hill (run by former Calgarian Chris van der Laan), this tape is a nice bounce through experimental electronica, minimal wave, and synthpop. These are short pieces, but meatier than throwaway doodles. Our favourite tracks on here strangely remind us of minimalist versions of Chicago experimentalists Tortoise - especially "Big Data" and the almost eponymously-titled "Eine Kleine Human Fly."

Huge thanks to Eine Kleine China for getting this into our grubby hands (well, mailbox). You can grab the download via their bandcamp.

Monday 2 November 2020

If I Look Strong; You Look Strong - Entropy (2019)

 

 

 

Well, here's a good and excessive thing. In however many years of the CCPS, we have yet to feature a DOUBLE cassette. Thankfully, the manic mind of Noah Michael and If I Look Strong; You Look Strong have scratched that itch we didn't know we had.

These tapes give If Look Strong; You Look Strong all the more space for their genre-skipping approach. Playing almost all of the instruments on this, Michael bashes through math rock, screamo, ambient, anthemic punk, and... jazz fusion? Seriously, we're pretty sure that's where the sprawling, 19-minute closing track, "The Ultimate Fate of the Universe…? Heat Death" heads for a short bit. It's weird, over-the -top, and jubilant.

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Sunday 1 November 2020

Ghost Story - Soundtrack to Falling Down Stairs (2020)

 

VERY occasionally, we do leave the CCPS offices (wearing a mask, carrying hand sanitizer, maintaining appropriate distances) and visit our local record stores. So big thanks to Eddie at Melodiya for pointing this tape out to us on one such visit.

This tape came with a sticker that proclaims "make EMO socially acceptable again," which we appreciate - we've always liked bands/albums that give us a clear thesis statement. Ghost Story are unapologetically emo - these songs DRIP with the feels. Gene is already at work storyboarding introspective videos for each track on here. 

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Get this via the Ghost Story Bandcamp.