Warm Gospel 13: Skyscraper // DJ DJ TANNER - Halloween Split (c30)

Skyscraper // DJ DJ TANNER - Halloween Split c30

For whatever reason, Halloween and Christmas are the only 2 holidays fully represented by the kind of garbage vinyl one finds littered all over the dusty shelves of thrift stores. To us, it’s gold. Repurposing the cheesy sounds of our parent’s childhoods, through mountains of effect pedals and tape hiss, we manage to turn the silver age of baby boomers into the second round of the dark ages.

Warm Gospel 08: SEEZUREFACE - Space Socks (c30)

SEEZUREFACE - Space Socks c30

This SEEZUREFACE dude emailed me about his tape. It was appropriate, like his music was beamed directly to me through walls and trees and clouds. It came from above or outer space or somewhere we don’t have a name for. Brimming with alien synths and noises that sound like Earthly radio signals being received through an alien version of what we call “speakers,” this beam of sampled energy is other, worldy, and otherworldly.

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Warm Gospel 07: DJ DJ Tanner - Idol (c47)

DJ DJ Tanner - IDOL c47

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“Here we go loop-de-loop!” Part 3 in the series feels familiar: like déjà vu, but not in a comfortable way. After the reel is just another reel. What are you so worried about? Have another drink, the night is far from over, although I know you were thinking about going home anyway. But the music starts to slow down. Not in tempo, but like its stretching, sagging downward, and you hear voices right next to you.

Warm Gospel 06: Tires/Big Digital Split - The Girl Who Gets a Charge Out (c24)

Tires/Big Digital Split - The Girl Who Gets a Charge Out c24

For me, it’s weird when a jam session manages to impress. In Big Digital’s first (and last?) show, keyboard, vocal loops, and various electronics were folded into the broken, sludge of post-dance music Big Digital channels and tweeks through his own pile of chords and effect pedals. And through all of the murk, beautiful sounds protruded outward from the wall of noise before decaying and crumbling to the ground. Rather than relying on echoes and reverb to project the sounds out into infinity, Digital Bear opts to keep it close, never allowing any sound to stray too far from the haze.

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"Electronic rock band Tires plays primarily instrumental music, with an emphasis on groove and a layered palette (including the occasional electric drill on guitar). The huge sound produced is accomplished by just two people: Phil Young on guitar and electronic sound manipulations, and Jordan Mayland on drums and synthesizers.

The two are in a virtual “who’s who” of Iowa bands, including The Wheelers, The Volcano Boys, The Mantis Pincers, Nuclear Rodeo, and many others. As if that wasn’t enough, they often control their own lighting during performances as well."

-Bryon Dudley (GDMMC - http://www.desmoinesmc.com/)

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Warm Gospel 05: SOAP - Layers (c30)

SOAP - Layers c30

This stagnant, beautiful tape sounds like it was recorded in the deepest part of some cave off of the Atlantic Ocean where heavy waves of water drift in slowly, splashing against the cave walls lightly enough to pull a 9 or 9.5 from an Olympic diving judge if they had been around to judge the waves based on how small of a splash they were making, and if those waves were actually Olympic divers instead of, well, waves.

However, SOAP comes straight from one of the most landlocked places in the whole United States of America – Iowa, so it is surprising how much the tape sounds like it could have been a collection of water-drenched, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill-era Grouper demos.

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Warm Gospel 04: DJ DJ Tanner - Comedian (c47)

DJ DJ Tanner - Comedian c47

Moving into softer samples after all of the funk earlier in the night, part 2 in this continuing tape series is like coming down and the greatness in everything is still all around you, but it is very slowly starting to fade. And you begin to worry that no matter how pretty the clouds look, they are still a signal of the calm before the inevitable storm. Things always repeat themselves, only it could be the end of the reel. This time, I think I may not know what will come next.

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Warm Gospel 03: Skyscraper - Skyscraper (c24)

Skyscraper - Skyscraper c24

It’s when the wind picks up. Slowly, at first, but more fierce with each swing it takes. And it was such a nice day. Now, the wind has begun knocking your things over, and you knew you shouldn’t have brought paint out this time, but it actually looks really beautiful spilled out all over your blanket like that. It keeps swinging harder. The wind through the trees begins to sound like a low, dull drone, so you pack up and move everything inside, but it slithers across your windows and walls, booming. You begin to think this may be something truly from above, like bigger than you or today or the color of paint. And when you finally draw up the courage to peak out of the assaulted window, you see that light breaking through the clouds, one beam at first, but two more pierce through while you stare; a witness.

Warm Gospel 02: Skyscraper - Germany (c24)

Skyscraper - Germany c24

If postcards could speak, they would tell you they have never seen the places they depict. “It’s just a tattoo on my back.” You feel uncomfortable. The postcard is just spewing out the absolute truth of its life, but you feel uncomfortable. Hundreds of thousands of pictures of places and events that it’s never seen, and that you’ve never seen. And you begin to realize that postcards, in general, are just reminders of places you haven’t been.
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Warm Gospel 01: DJ DJ Tanner - Antihero (c24)

DJ DJ Tanner - Antihero c24

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The first installment of DJ DJ TANNER’s 24-part series about “A PIECE OF SHIT HUMAN AND HIS ADVENTURES IN ONE DAY,” this collage of lo-fi bedroom recordings and a limitless scope for sampling moves like a stumbling drunk between buildings on the strip. Like Fritz Lang’s storefront windows, it’s an album of observation; a quiet viewing on the verge of an experience. We can only wait to see what will happen next.