Been listening to music all day, probably went through like 20 tapes already. I'll talk about the ones that stick out the most I suppose...
Crown of Cerberus - "Salome" which I reviewed on the Stench so I won't talk about it anymore here.
Custodian – "Faults In The Structure" fucking good, one of my favorite from him. I have refereed to this as anxiety attack put to tape and I still feel that way. It shifts around a lot, a very quick cassette with lots of pedal work and mid-range tones sweeping back and forth and getting cut up and put back together and cut up again. Very high recommendation on that one but I lost the fucking J-card ugh!
Concrete Mascara - "The Answer In The Ashes", this one is actually better than the F&V tape which was a really good tape in my opinion, so I guess that makes this one really, really good. If you know what CM sounds like you will have a good general idea of what to expect; 8 tracks that build themselves up slowly, good vocals and a clinical feel but not "clean" really, still fairly raw sounding but you can hear everything, the sounds aren't blurry or buried in tape hiss, they remain clear.
Wince - "Wince" I've probably listened to this over 50 times since I received it last year. Wince is kind of my go-to if I am in the mood for some good, pure, Harsh Noise with no Industrial or P.E. crossover. I like how each track is just a bit more low-end as the tape goes on. Like the first track utilizes the high-end a lot, feedback and screech all over the place and the last track on side b is more of a low, thick crunch with tiny pieces of something happening in the background. Very well executed tape and stands the test of time.
F E Denning - "Echoes of Sumeria" - this is still one of my favorites from this year so far. Side A is a low end drone and some distortion that sounds like the ocean and slowly, to the forefront, delicate and melodic piano passages come through. Side B is looped, somewhat repetitious noise that is kind of harsh, blown out and raw recording style, yet it remains elegant and delicate the piano on this side is a bit more buried and harder to pick up on due to the effects and whereas Side A used the noise and drones as an undercurrent Side B seems to savor them more and keep the melody down, but it is there.