Label Fag Tapes
Year 2007?
Genre(s) Drone, Experimental Noise
Barf Thoth is yet another project of Fag Tapes label head Heath Moerland (Sick Llama et al.) Focussing on vocal based noise and drone compositions. Peep Roky is described by the label as:
“The elevator lights went out and the only other dude in there w/ me kept complaining about the silence. said at his crib 13 televisions and radios would be on all the time, 25/8, all set to different stations. he busted me this tape.”
It’s easy to dismiss label description in the noise scene, just have a quick gander at any number of hyperbolic love fests applied to Generic Skaters Release #17,054. For once though I can’t help but feel the label description has perfectly captured the essence of the tape I hold in my hands.
Peep Roky serves up two ten minute(ish) cuts of bubbly drone, corrupted speech and hazy atmospheres. Side A invokes oppressive atmospheres as treated speech crackles away, audible en yet completely obscured. Slowly others voices begin to build into the piece, lurking in the background. As the label descriptor points out it feels like a million different news reports, some rolling backwards, some moving too fast, all rolled into one. Like a panic attack in an electronics store when you’ve left your Xanax at home! The most impressive part of the A Side is the minimal use of electronics, the entire track is driven by the vocal samples and gathers most of its atmosphere from them. The electronics are primarily used to set the mood, oppressive, dank and creepy. Side B has a stronger focus on electronically generated noise. Crunchy drones rise beyond the vocal murk, percussive elements become part of the fray. As if every single TV and radio suddenly fell between stations, rough outlines of shows breaking through the static churn.
Apologies for the shit cover scan, I don’t have a working camera/scanner right now and it’s the best quality image available on the web. Let me just assure you that the packaging is indeed fantastic, sprayed tapes and a collaged cover.
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