Just when you think you’re on a roll and starting to get really productive, some smarmy bastard pops up and blows you out of the water. After feeling chuffed and accomplished over our two new releases lately, i finally found the time over Christmas to dig back through our Soundcloud feed and catch up on what other people had been up to towards the end of the year. After trawling through the usual batches of people recording the sound of their empty fridge and endless amounts of half decent minimal techno, i fell head over heals into a wealth of recordings and releases coming out of my beloved Chicago.
Teen River is relatively new cassette label run by the mysterious Gordon and Katrina Stoneheart with awesome release shows taking place at the infamous BallHall house, which i had the pleasure of staying at for 3 weeks in the spring/summer of 2010. During my time in this old converted dancehall, now inhabited by around 8-10 of the most beautifully welcoming and pro-active creators i’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, i was lucky enough to experience a couple of gigs featuring an awesome mix of bands ranging from folk to garage punk, noise and drone. It’d been a while since i’d checked up on the institutions happenings, in some way my time their now evokes the same feeling as that of a ‘girl that got away’. Wheel turns however and it seems my blind eye turning has caused me to miss her incredible blossoming, resulting in being slapped across the face and falling in love with this girl more than ever.
This January sees Teen River release no less than 20 tapes in one fowl swoop, all featuring an awesome mix of bands and projects from across Chicago and beyond. The full list of whats to come is at the bottom, with info on how to order. I’ve selected a few of my favourites to get you started, they’re selling out fast so get em while they’re hot.
J. Fernandez – Wasting The New Year
Dark yet euphoric psych tinged tunes with great ambient bass tones and vocals that Thom Yorke would be proud of. The synth on this song gives a smokey swagger that reminds my limited modern knowledge of Tame Impala and all those lot. Other tracks from this release have a more haunting electronic and downbeat beauty to them. In short this is fucking ace.
TR028: J Fernandez “Wasting The New Year” by Teen River
Henry and Katrina – Side A
Deep and dark ambient loops and organ drones that sound like a cathedral mass in the year 2130 might sound. The oscillating guitar tones and sound bytes could be sampled direct from the customer service desk on planet Verizon and help form the perfect soundtrack for soldering broken electronic equipment to.
TR07: Henry and Katrina – Side A by Teen River
Wimps – Bush Tetras
Lo-fi and mellow grungy garage punk tunes with awesome female vocals. Sounds a bit like something a long suffering girlfriend of one of The Lost Boys might write when they’d all been being nob head vampires again.
TR022: WIMPS “Bush Tetras” by Teen River
Pandava – Side B Excerpt
Incredible head loosening jams that meander on a journey up what sounds like the mid to upper ganges. Free flowing and stomping guitars twang out heavy psych tones, only to come a cropper at a steeper incline and plunge arse first into a chaotic clattering chasm. The end hints that they get out of it somehow, but the excerpt leaves us wondering how many survived and what happened next? Very much a musical snakes and ladders.
TR014: Pandava Side B Excerpt by Teen River
JAN 2012 TEEN RIVER TAPE BATH
TR013 GELATIN KIDS
TR014 PANDAVA
TR015 TIDDJLEY BONEZ
TR016 EARTH MASTERS
TR017 CSLUXEM
TR018 HEADLESS HORSE HEAD 5&6
TR019 HEADLESS HORSE HEAD 7&8
TR020 AD9
TR021 BIG SANDWICH
TR022 WIMPS
TR023 BOWL OF DUST
TR024 MULCH PUSS
TR025 GAZEBO SNAKS
TR026 BOUND
TR027 GEOLOGICAL CREEP
TR028 J FERNANDEZ
TR029 AMERICAN LANDSCAPE PAINTING
TR030 HENRY AND KATRINA
TR031 MOLE PEOPLE
TR032 GORDON
2 for $5.00 / 5 for $10.00 / 20 for $40.00 / teenrivertapes@hotmail.com
Teen River Soundcloud
Teen River Tumblr
Teen River Facebook
I like Wimps.