A recent review for the

 (D)(B)(H) / SEEDED PLAIN & HAL RAMMEL

 split 12" LP

 

"This may be the smartest record I have put on in a while. I don't mean in a pretentious way just in the way where I feel like it is actually good for my brain to hear this. (D)(B)(H) starts off the split with a whole side of minimal abstract jazz (even typing their name gives you a little song in keyboard rhythm.) There is a bit Peter Brotzmann and a touch of John Coltrane coming through my speakers right now. The four musicians on this recording, Justin Rhody, Kray Korbella, Marty Belcher and Daniel Wick are mostly multi-instrumentalists on this record. Trumpet, tapes, guitar, harmonica, radios, saxophones and a wide array of drums and percussion creates a huge, sprawling piece of free, although very restrained, jazz. It's really quite good. It was recorded live on the radio and there is a little bit of sound that seems lost. The recording sounds really great and has a sort of lo-fi vintage quality but I would like to hear these players record with someone like Randall Dunn. Seeded Plain & Hal Rammel is a collaboration that also really exceeds in abstract minimalism. The instruments listed here are: Homemade instruments and amplified palette. I wish I could have seen this being recorded so I could really get a grasp on what exactly is going on her. Bed Springs, metal trays, lengths of rope, broken guitars, plastic drums? I have no idea what exactly is going on but it sounds awesome. This is an excellent example of electroacoustic music or maybe musique concrete. Simple screen printed reclaimed record covers with xeroxed inserts. I seriously feel like I could destroy Sunday's NYT crossword after having heard this." --dead formats

devdformats.blogspot.com/2012/01/dbhseeded-plain-hal-rammel-split-12.html

Review for the MAN-0-GRAM FOR A MAA'M cd, "sorry sorry sorry"
(released through Orphanology/Blue Sanct Records, available through Friends & Relatives)


"This immediately gets points for being recorded live in a library full of people talking about other things besides paying attention to the band. The first few minutes of the cd especially are full of voices and chatter from people who are more excited to talk than to listen. Maybe they don't notice as the audio from Man-0-gram for a Maa'm starts off sounding like backwards whale songs. It's pretty awesome. Then some breathing/grinding sounds start to overtake the waves or bass heavy drones. A couple samples peak through the din but they work pretty well in context so I am all for these ones. All the time you hear coughs and sniffs of people sick with colds as this was recorded in Maine during December. It's pretty awesome all the way through. I recommend picking this up, even with the band's silly and kinda lame name. Limited to 23 copies and packaged in a slimline cd case. The design is pretty nice as well."  -dead formats

http://www.devdformats.blogspot.com/2012/01/man-0-gram-for-maam-sorry-sorry-sorry.html

2 new cassettes available!

MILLION BRAZILIANS - "dyngia salon" TAPE
(Rolling forward tribal/dungeon jazz-jams from this Portland, OR based quartet. Two side-long numbers fill this 62 min. long cassette with fumes filling the head, and chains clanging through the slush from behind. Color insert and labels, clear/black norelco cases. Limited to an edition of 50 copies.)

$4 (ppd in the U.S.)
paypal to: friendsandrtelativesrecords@yahoo.com
or cash to: 114 S. Huron St., #4, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

LOUGOW - "king conversion" TAPE
(Jason, of Mt. Gigantic, presents a new perspective under his solo pseudonym "Lougow". 32 minute long tapes containing two tracks (that he recorded over a series of months in a northwestern recording studio) of music for prepared cassettes and percussion. Resembling a hi-fi, thrilling rendition of Cage's "Variations IV", with an allowance of personal input/control and an extended pallet of emotion within the cacophony. Covers printed onto 4 different shades of textured sand-toned paper, with printed/painted labels.

Limited to an edition of 50 copies.)

$4 (ppd in the U.S.)
paypal to: friendsandrtelativesrecords@yahoo.com
or cash to: 114 S. Huron St., #4, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

recent reviews...

Some recent reviews of
RYAN JEWELL - "radio: vol 1" cassette
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"Ryan Jewell is a percussionist and this is ostensibly a percussion record, but it's actually so much more. He uses very simple textures to work his magic across this tape's two 20 minute sides. From little crinkly sounds to more droned-out textures, Jewell's music fits into what I hear is being called the Reductionalist school of contempo "jazz" (think Bhob Rainey, Greg Kelley, Dave Gross, Forbes Graham and more recently Jack Callahan), but could just as easily be something else entirely. Both of these pieces were recorded on the radio. As Justin says "free of genre, pure of essence."  -Nick Williams, Cassette Gods


"This is subtle. Really minimal glitches and noise that have a pretty impressive amount of restraint. The second side is really beautiful work. Subtle (there's that word again) drones and strange bells mixed with quick bursts of quiet noise and some really surprising drums. Really nice. It's so subtle that at times you may think there is nothing going on... what you do hear is very measured and controlled minimal soundscapes."  -Dead Formats

Some recent reviews of

SEWN LEATHER - "blood runs down the drain" cassette

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"This is real out there. Aesthetically this looks like you might be getting some HNW or maybe some creepy doom. It's creepy but in a totally different way. Strange synth manipulations, odd beats and some really spaced out guitar playing and deranged vocals make up something that sounds like it would have definitely influenced David Lynch. I actually have this cassette tape of the cartoonist Al Columbia's music from the early nineties. It's amazing four track manipulated folk noise and it reminds me a lot of Sewn Leather… Oh yeah, Sewn Leather also sounds very eighties. In it's production and use of instrumentation. It is a different psychedelic animal all together. The artwork is fucked up and I am pretty stoked on this one. Bizarre and waiting for you." -dead formats

"This is the first time I've actually heard the music of Sewn Leather. I wasn't sure what to expect and in fact I'm not sure I've actually heard Sewn Leather at all. The note written by the artist to Friends & Relatives head honcho Justin Clifford Rhody is reprinted on the inner J-card and reads as follows: "Use as much or as little as you want. Dear Justin, I hope these recordings are satisfactory. I was on drugs, mostly hydrocodone, when I made them. I don't think it's Sewn Leather. I think it's 'Riz-La-Rink.'" Alright. This shit is all over the map. We've got some messed up Slang Tang, acoustic songs with variable tape speed and a number of other jams with hip hop undercurrents. Like the music of The Savage Young Taterbug, you can tell that this guy is more than a little "off". This is an aesthetic that really speaks to me. Some people might be turned off by a recording with such a variable nature, but for me it's like a golden nugget."  -Nick Williams, Cassette Gods

A short documentary-ish film by Neil Blakemore, created in early 2008.