(Review excerpt from Cyber-Psychos AOD #6.)
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Take This -- The HC3 Sampler (HC3 PO Box 4073 East Norwalk CT 06855 $7.50 ppd. Send for free catalogue.)
A sampling of 4 Hoffman Cleaner Cathode Company bands: I, Thou, Mother's Gaping Hole, Artschool, & Northern Machine. This is one of the indie labels that still makes mail-order not only worthwhile, but necessary. The 3 I, Thou tracks are an assemblage of plodding rhythm programs, scraping guitar sounds, panned synthesis, & taped vocal tracks in a more intricately woven clutter. Sounds like our Goon Patrol project in several ways: get stoned, go on a wave-length, play a bunch of instruments (keyboards, bass, guitar, rhythm programmer), & see what happens. Mother's Gaping Hole (3 tracks) is much the same, though more obnoxious on the sampling side, & including soft vocals & more keyboard-oriented synthesis (glockenspiel, piano... that type o' thang). The 2 Artskool tracks incorporate more pronounced bass riffs, & a lot of guitar sound, amidst the synthesis. Now Northern Machine, on the other hand, sounds more like a nitrous oxide electronics fiddling fest with their 4 tracks. More of a guttural, yet piercing, escalation of sound. I like this cassette a lot.. -Jasmine Sailing
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