Tangible Media Revue: May/June/July 2025
- Jake Joyce
- Aug 12
- 9 min read
Holy smokes, folk. It has been an insane summer. I can't believe we're already in August. So much has happened and it feels like the season has only just begun. As I'm sure you noticed, this affected my ability to post the monthly Tangible Media Revue.
For the most of the year, I was prepping for a mini-tour out west with my band Demetri The Unfavorable which was capped off with a Davey Dynamite gig at Compost Heap in Denver. When I got back from that run I was laid off from work. Things have now settle down a bit and I figured now would be the best time to finally get this damn thing posted.
Keep in mind, there might be a couple albums I picked up during this time period that I've completely forgotten about. My brain has been scrambled. If you sent me something and I forgot to include it please let me know!
Let's crack into it. I've got a lot to cover, so this will certainly be quantity over quality. Apologies for the inevitable typos!
Figured I'd kick things off with my most recent Mortville haul. I was able to finally meet Andy in person in July as he so graciously hosted a show for us in his basement in Ottumwa, IA (the hometown of Tom Arnold). We had a lovely time, and it was great getting to chill with Andy for a whole day. I had picked a couple of these up prior, but Andy sent me home with a care package of some of the newer Mortville releases, such as the new Burn Victim full length. For fans of slamcore and middle-aged metal. Fun stuff.
Additionally, there are two new C3L CDs which are of course always well worth the price of admission. These things are filled to the brim with tracks, each lasting only a few seconds a piece. You gotta check these out if you love lightening fast grind.
Finally here, Andy put together an anthology for noisecore band Necrophiliacs. Folks, this thing is awesome. I adore these old lo-fi noise demos. Reminds me of my youth! This disc comes with an absolutely insane inlet book that may as well be considered a novel. Great stuff here as always, and cheap per the usual!
Get your Mortville fix here.
Limited Appeal dropped a new Larry Lifeless 7', and as am I'm wont to do whenever I put an order in with LA, I grabbed a couple other things that piqued my interest. I started following Limited Appeal about two decades ago when they became the de facto label for all things Seth Putnam and still keep an eye on what they're up to to this day.
As expected, the Larry Lifeless slab is classic Larry. Noisy, sludgey metal with the typical LL shrieks. Absolutely love this 7" and love hearing more Larry releases even after his untimely passing back in 2021. Brainbombs - while not anything like Larry Lifeless - is still in the same vain of noisy, chaotic punk. I had never heard these guys but I know Limited Appeal never disappoints. This was a great pick up.
Speaking of a blind purchase, I had also never heard of Dan Melchior but picked up Bard Fawg because the album art caught my attention. Limited Appeal is mainly known for their hardcore/noisecore releases, but they've done a couple albums for what I will lovely refer to as "dark folk/dark blues." Rustic, acoustic albums with a little bit of a sinister edge. This is also good stuff here.
Check out Limited Appeal here.
Hal McGee is an absolutely noise-machine. With four new releases in three months he is bound to keep you busy with each CD-R he drops. Each of these releases are a form of collaboration with the rest of the noise-circus he has helped cultivate over the years. There is a metric ton of stuff to cover here, and honestly it's all so robust that I don't think a two paragraph summary even begins to cover these audio adventures. I would very much suggest diving in at the bandcamp link below. Great stuff as always, Hal! Keep it up!
Check out Hal McGee and friends here!
An anthology of Chicago's very own Tiny Tongue. At least I think they're from Chicago. That's what their bandcamp says, but the return address for this tape said Wisconsin...hmmm. Regardless, this is a solid comfy synth act that deserves a lot more love. Feels like the genre is slowing down a bit, especially compared to the last few years when this type of shit was everywhere. One of my favorite genres.
Show Tiny Tongue some love here.
Big fan of the Chondritic Sound label and thought this looked pretty interesting so I grabbed it when it dropped in May. Super chill yet spooky dark ambient with some lovely synth parts. We played a Davey Dynamite show in Lansing on my birthday back in May and forced everyone to listen to this while they drove my drunk-ass around town. Happy birthday to me.
Check out Mistletoe here.
My buddy Sean lent me his copy of Mark Lanegan's autobiography and I plowed through it in about a week. Really great book. Anyways, Mark talks about the first label they were signed to called Velvetone records, and how the only other album the label had released prior to the Screaming Tress was a slab called Winnebago Weekend by the Twangbabies. Mark said it was one of the corniest most awful things he had ever heard. I thought it sounded right up my alley so I ordered a copy.
There are a couple solid tracks on here. When Sean and I listened to it together he some of the songs actually sounded like old Johnny Hobo tunes and I was inclined to agree. The majority of this is a bunch of family friendly slop. I actually didn't even bother listening to this again when refreshing myself with the other albums. I'll be stashing this in the archives. Somewhat shockingly enough, this isn't up on YouTube or anywhere else for that matter.
Stuburban alumnus Far Out Cassette Club dropped a new MOLA RAM tape and I had to sang it (nearly) immediately. Three solid doom tracks from the SLC duo. FOCC threw in a couple extras - an instrumental hip hop tape (lo-fi beats to chill in my garage with is more like it) and a fun little meditation tape. I forgot to write down the names of the artists. My bad! There's a lot to get through here.
You can find our far out pals here.
The moment I saw these on auction I knew I had to have them. The first of the two is an Antonio Inoki themed record featuring his entrance music and a couple of other tracks that sound pretty similar to each. Also sound live action clips in between each track that I obviously can't understand because I don't speak Japanese!
The Pro-Wrestling Theme features a whole slab of wrestling themes from the 80s from all the Japanese territories. Great stuff here, especially the Japanese covers of Iron Man and Eye of the Tiger (for Road Warriors and Hulk Hogan respectively).
This is one of those CDs I picked up when randomly perusing the "top harsh noise" albums on bandcamp. I am a big fan of Desert Storm-esque iconography so I knew I had to grab this when I saw it. Very cool harsh electronics, and oddly catchy at times. I love when harsh acts incorporate a little bit of dynamics to their tracks. Keeps things fresh. I also grabbed a digital copy of their album Trauma Market which I would also highly recommend.
Take a trip down this here link to find some YCS.
Punk Disputes Records continues to drop hot heat. First and foremost, the Drill CD - brutal hardcore with an absolutely insane vocalist. Like a banshee at the gates of Hell. Lo-f- and crazy as fuck.
Next up, the Deliquesce tape. I adore this one to death. Demos and live tracks recorded in 2009/2010 (right before the world went to shit for those keeping track). Sounds like it was recorded directly into an old Tascam. I love that style of recording. I'd consider this pretty similar to come of the emocore that came up in the late 90's and early 00's.
And finally, Victim Youth. Lo-fi brutal fast core but with the occasionally transition to a more melodic and slower jam as well. It's like a rustic Kid Dynamite. Drummer reminds me of Sky from Peach Vomit/Krap Spackle so that's how you know it's good. Punk drummers are the best drummers in the world besides the jazz players in my stupid opinion. These guys would fit in really well with the Harvard, IL scene.
Pick up some swag from these folks here.
Yeah, I went back to the Jandek well. His music must have spoken to me more than I realized. I did a bit more research and learned that as the years went on he changed his style up several times. Since this stuff isn't available anywhere digitally I knew I'd have to order the meal to get the taste test.
Raining Down Diamonds is a part of his "bass era" from 2005. I thought this was much more recent, but 2005 was 20 years ago. Jesus Christ. This album features the atonal singing except with a bass instead of the acoustic guitar. Typical Jandek stuff but I had fun.
Blue Corpse is more of the acoustic stuff, but there's actual melody in his vocals. I'm new to the Jandek space but this is the most "accessible" album I've heard from him so far in terms of "listenability" for people with actual sensibilities.
I also bought a live from Detroit 2016 DVD that isn't pictured and it was much different than what I expected. Featured a full band with a second vocalist. Was very cool, actually.
Mosey on over to Corwood Industries for some Jandek.
Springfield, IL's very own Insectarium! We'll get getting an interview up on this site now that things are starting to go back to "normal" on my end. For now we'll talk about this here little disc. Equal parts spooky sounds ala the old Halloween tapes and drum-heavy Middle Eastern folk. Really cool stuff here, and I suggest you take a spin through their entire discography.
Check out Insectarium here!
Last winter, my wife and I finally cleared out our old storage unit in Palatine and moved everything to our garage. It's pretty much just a ton of bullshit of mine from 20 years ago. As I was going through a box I hadn't opened since high school I came across a patch from a band called The Killing Gift. Now, if my memory serves correctly, we played with these guys at the KOC in Arlington Heights when I was in Just Left. Either that or it was one of the many nights I spent rocking out there when JL had the weekend off. I can't remember.
Anyways, I did some research on them, and apparently a couple of these dudes would go on to form Gaslight Anthem. I figured I'd track down the only Killing Gift release on Discogs and pick it up. Very solid 2000s emo. Catchy riffs and catchier vocals. The kind of music that brings me back to that special time between 2002 and 2008. It was a different simpler time, folks. Let's all throw away our smartphones.
Stucco Records made a post about having had found a dozen Suck Lords EPs in their attic and did a special release for them, and for some reason I felt compelled to grab one. I think it was the punk Donald Duck on the front that sold me. Typical hardcore stuff. It's cool I reckon. I'm just trying to pound out the rest of these reviews before I go insane!
Check out SUCK LORDS here.
Grouse Editions is the best label in Chicago right now. T.S.S Bradley plays some noisy jazz that would make Paul Abella blush. Meanwhile, Hunting Scene continues to be the best band going right now in Chicagoland. Beautiful neo-folk which makes your skin crawl in the best way possible. These are must listens, and you can do that below!
Exactly here.
And last but certainly not least, the newest slab from Americana god Nathan Salsburg. Much more laid back and airy than his other release, but this is a great album. I believe it's supposed to just be one giant song. I assume he did it all in one take. Fantastic album.
And you can find that here.
And I'm spent. Have a great rest of your summer folks!
How many typos can you spot? Leave them in the comments below.
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