Grasshopper - Wretched Blood Wraith Taken from Auxillary Out Thanks Drew!

GRASSHOPPER “Wretched Blood Wraith” c23 (Obsolete Units)

Got a couple of jazz-inspired (emphasis on the “-inspired”) tapes recently and figured I’d them throw together and kill a couple birds with one stone.

So actually I’m not sure you can mention “jazz” in the vicinity of this Grasshopper tape because it’s full of some of the thickest, most steamrollin’ drones I’ve ever heard. It’s a duo of trumpet players though so they must’ve played jazz at some point right? Anyway I’m getting off topic. The topic is of course that this tape totally RULES. It’s so heavy and oppressive without actually being that abrasive in any way. The two guys weave filtered sonics into a fucking dense, maniacally zombie-like tapestry on the first side, “Regal Blood Wraith”. It sounds like there’s maybe some garbled speech in there too but I may be hearing things, the point being there are so many things going on it’s difficult to wrap your brain around it.

So basically my vocabulary is not capable of describing how brilliant this piece of music is to you but the piece just keeps getting more massive, more swollen, more terrifying. The sonic equivalent of the Blob basically. This is some Yellow Swans-level shit, these Grasshopper guys know what the fuck they are doing. Simply incredible. I know which jam I’ll be pumping when Halloween rolls around this Saturday.

That was just the first side, “The Langoliers” takes up the flip and it’s equally as good. From the get-go the piece contains infinitely more hope than “Regal Blood Wraith”. The tones are brighter, there’s spacey synth-esque sounds and a soaring processed trumpet melody. That is until a killer, deep melodic undertow starts up and the piece locks into a great hypnotic groove. The piece achieves a strange, pulsing beauty and it feels just wonderful to bask in the sounds and it’s pretty great how the piece just keeps getting better and better and better. It’s also nice that they put the uplifting track after the (awesome) trek through hell of the first side so you end feeling at peace with the world.

With this tape I have discovered one of my new favorite bands. Get this immediately.

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videos courtesy of Bill Quattro
mp3s are available courtesy of Bob Bellerue here: hear

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Also, have these beauts in stock…


Grasshopper - Wretched Blood Wraith c24 (Obsolete Units): “The NY brass/electronics duo Grasshopper has been confounding the NY populace with an aggressive sprawl of electric burble and fuzz-damaged horns, but man, I didn’t see this one coming. On this cassette, their sound hits a peak of totally controlled, sharp mayhem, one that’s almost PE in nature save for the commanding brass that blasts in where vocal chords usually shred. Interestingly, Wretched… was birthed, then aborted, and reborn as a more concise pair of compositions filling out an ominous sub-drone sprawl. Here, a very imposing, very unique identity sees creation, falling between harsh noise, early electronics, and free jazz. One of their first releases outside of member Jesse DeRosa’s fantastic Baked Tapes imprint.”


Grasshopper - Kindertotenlieder cdr reissue (Blood Fist Karate School): “Highlighting some of the more abrasive tones of the NYC trumpet duo, Kindertotenlieder acts as a conduit between earlier brass psychedelic zoners and their more recent live orchestral assaults. Super metal lettering by Cherlyn Russo. Printed on vellum.” (baked description) CDR reissue also includes bonus cut from waaaaaaaay out of print Halloween tape If You Want The Million Dollars…

$6ppd each! Grip both for $10ppd.

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These guys have been sitting in a box in my room for a while, time to officially become unlazy and get these out. Scorchers, every last one of them.


CRY OF THE 12th AETHYR by Chaos Majik (c30)
Todd Brooks, the multi-hatted New Yorker responsible for the creation of fine goods and organizer of epic events through his Pendu organization as well as purveyor of a new breed of cerebral jazz as member of the city’s seminal damaged jazz titans Ghost Moth, here offers a rare peak into his far overlooked (and underpraised) solo project, Chaos Majik. True to the adhocist roots that embrace all of Todd’s work, spontaneous acts of creation thru use of readily available materials, we see (or hear) his homebuilt circuits come alive through interactions with itself, Brooks and their shared environment as the setting sun slowly coerces the shape of these photosensitive oscillations. Despite it’s very electronic origins, Cry of the 12th Aethyr never strays from its organic roots, conjuring images of pitch dark nights in unfamiliar woods, completely blinded by the shadows, but fully cognizant of the thousands of formless shapes slowly enveloping you. Go ahead, turn off the lights and take a stroll through your mind. EPIC. Ltd. 60.


SMOKIN’ IN THE BOYS ROOM by Abusement Park (30 sec. loop + urinal cake)
Two dudes, a sax and a makeshift drumset from bongos, trashcans, sheet metal and other assorted crap constitute the behemoth that is Abusement Park, a band lavishly known for their ability to crash a party in style, celebrating the poignancy of unwelcome guests via locking themselves in bathrooms (sometimes together, sometimes separate) and churning stomaches with their guerilla tactics in a congealed acoustic mess of horn damage, clangs and ceaseless pounding. They recently stopped by The Bakery to cut this tape, for which I had to flank mics from pipes in a tiny NYC apartment railroad car style bathroom. The entire performance, some 10 minutes of putrid agony ringing thru the building’s heating & water pipes, was later cut up, and merged down to this looping 30 second tape. Ltd. 7

“This loop is solely for demonstration purposes and should only be played at top volume through a boombox situated in a bathroom.”

EXTEMELY LIMITED QUANTITY AVAIL. Due to the size/weight of this, USppd for this tape and cake alone is $7.


SHREDDED HEAVEN by Millions (c30)
Horrifyingly beautiful in the truest sense, an exquisitely woven and meticulously shaped narrative assembled from the horrifying nomenclature of hums, buzzes and shrieks by one mister David Suss under his Millions nom de plume. With ever-increasingly epic releases on the likes of Peasant Magik, Abandon Ship and Obsolete Units, Shredded Heaven finds Suss at his finest. “Scrape yr skull against that great celestial cheese grater and let the fruits of that communion drift down and slowly blanket the earth. float back home and watch as all you know is submerged beneath the sweet glacial avalanche.” Synonymically literal artwork by Suss. Ltd. 60.


NICARAGUA ‘72 by Sunglasses (c60)
Having recently relocated to Chicago from Queens, I was glad to hear from Matt Kimmel (man behind the camera at Acid Marshmallow and the keyboard in Fluorescent Vibes) that he quickly settled in and had hooked up with former Miami Beach bandmate, Ryan Chupick, and together had been bringing a new brand of focused meditative hymns to the windy city. Nicaragua ‘72, their debut, is a hour long excursion in four parts, each painstakingly restrained, slowly budding from repetitious ebbs and flows, subtilely expanding mantras lowering the pulse and drawing one into a somnolent state, growing steadily until side B erupts and shit starts to get real. Ltd. 40.


BAJON by Pork Lion (c7 + bizcard)
A freakshow of recent experiments gone horribly awry. These diary vignettes range from psych guitar noodlings to knob-twiddling vocodations, with excerpts of an unintended chorus of a oddly sized and tuned folk guitars, a Mothers “cover” and a tone poem for ring modulator and LFO to round out these 3 sides. Quick glimpses into a burnt mind. Ltd. 24.



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$6ppd each unless noted
All 4 (minus AP loop/cake) for $18ppd
Paypal/questions > bakedtapes@gmail.com
Prices reflect shipping within US only. Please email for int’l costs.

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Grasshopper @ Shea Stadium, 2009.08.05
Grasshopper @ Shea Stadium, 2009.08.05
Grasshopper @ Shea Stadium, 2009.08.05
Photos courtesy of Joe Perez at IMPOSE (see full article)

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Here’s the details:

August 4th (Tuesday)
Graveyards (featuring John Olson of Wolf Eyes with Ben Hall & Chris Riggs!)
Jeremiah Cymerman
Symbol
Grasshopper
+ One MORE Serious Heavy Hitter

Paris London West Nile - 8:00pm - $5
(Ghop will begin on time due to the sheer number of Jammerz)
285 Kent Ave (btwn S 1st and S 2nd)
L Train to Bedford Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

August 5th (Wednesday)
Telecult Powers/The Seth collab (Virginal Volcanoes)
Zone Dogs (Detroit, MI)
Grasshopper
Glen & the Boys

Shea Stadium - 8pm - $?
85A Debevoise Ave
L Train to Grand St
Williamsburg(ish), Brooklyn

August 10th (Monday)
Millions
Fluorescent Vibes
Chaos Majik
Grasshopper/Rust Worship collab (Grass Worship)

Goodbye Blue Monday - 8pm - $Free
1087 Broadway
J Train to Kosciuszko St
Bushwick, Ny

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I pee’d a little when i saw Grasshopper tracks on the ping of @ESPDISK’s twitter feed…

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Grasshopper @ 92Y Tribeca, 2009.07.11
Grasshopper @ 92Y Tribeca, 2009.07.11
Grasshopper @ 92Y Tribeca, 2009.07.11
Photos courtesy of Andreas Brandal

also…

Grasshopper @ 92Y Tribeca, 2009.07.11
Image courtesy of Karen Aragon

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Grasshopper @ Death By Audio, 2009.06.17
Grasshopper @ Death By Audio, 2009.06.17
Grasshopper @ Death By Audio, 2009.06.17
Grasshopper @ Death By Audio, 2009.06.17
Grasshopper @ Death By Audio, 2009.06.17
Photos courtesy of Nate Dorr

Review of show at Impose Magazine.

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Grasshopper & Abusement Park @ Virgin Island, 2009.06.27
Grasshopper & Abusement Park @ Virgin Island, 2009.06.27
Grasshopper & Abusement Park @ Virgin Island, 2009.06.27
Grasshopper & Abusement Park @ Virgin Island, 2009.06.27
Grasshopper & Abusement Park @ Virgin Island, 2009.06.27
Grasshopper & Abusement Park @ Virgin Island, 2009.06.27
Photos courtesy of Kevin Jackson

Apologies for the yellow sweat band… it actually worked wonders in keeping my glasses sweat- and fog- free and my equipment from getting soaked with my man water. I realize only in hindsight how much of a fucktard i must have looked like.

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