holypalms – Tribute to Snake Charmers – 30th April 2016

Cat #: 185TZM

Recorded in the same circumstances as debut release BABA, Moscow resident Pavel Eremeev (ex USSSY) takes holypalms on a full-length journey and tribute to the music of the snake charmers around the world.  

Self-described as ‘electro-noise-raga’ Pavel combines sounds of a quarter-toned baritone guitar along with an electronic background of tones and beats. Silky and liquid hues of sound enhanced by electronic cadence beats and crescendo grooves. Asymmetrical noise collapses into a lo-fi vortex and ebbs with the silver lustre of subliminal guitar sounds. 

Folky and deep-rooted high grains of Indian classical raga are embedded amidst the improvised techniques of recording. Recurrent, moxie melodies enthral and cut through like a Katar dagger opening an ineffable horizon of endless travelling into the shamanic atmosphere that is holypalms.

” “Tribute to Snake Charmers Music” is my own vision of traditional melodies of the music performed by the caste of snake charmers from India and Nepal. I have imbued these sounds and it somehow entered into my guitar improvisation, and then I developed them, inventing rhythms and background sounds.” – Pavel Eremeev 2015

First made available via fellow Moscow cohorts at Cancelled Records, tenzenmen hopes to broaden holypalms fanbase by presenting Tribute to Snake Charmers Music to you here.  

Review:
“holypalms step into the cloud of oriental psychedelia that might easily pass for a lost collection of desert ecstasy from the Sublime Frequencies label. I’m quite sure Pavel can actually charm snakes with his guitar. Recommended!”
(Weed Temple, Transmissions from the psychedelic underground) 

holypalms – BABA – 24th April 2016

Cat #: 184TZM

The inspiration behind BABA is taken from old lo-fi tapes found in markets around Asia (ref: Sublime Frequencies back catalogue).  The warm distorted sounds of real live music performed at ceremonies and on the streets transferred to a tiny apartment studio in Berlin via Pavel’s unique headbone.

If you wish to pay for this download and want the money to go directly to Pavel, please download from: holypalms.bandcamp.com/releases

Pavel Eremeev: All technical wizardry

USSSY – usssy – 3rd March 2016

Cat #: 181TZM

Compilation celebrating the amazing work of uSSSy!

1. c.a.m.s.
2. holyshit
taken from ‘usssy’
usssy.bandcamp.com/album/usssy

3. cock-fight
4. polarity reversal
taken from ‘oko’
usssy.bandcamp.com/album/oko

5. tamers of hucksters
6. yagibiha
taken from ‘ud’
usssy.bandcamp.com/album/ud

7. kiitos theme
taken from ‘live at substancia’
usssy.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-substancia

8. tab – al-liga’
9. sanare ali
taken from ‘karpet birch’
usssy.bandcamp.com/album/karpet-birch

10. krestyane
11. booty dance
taken from ‘afghan music house party’
usssy.bandcamp.com/album/afghan-music-house-party

12. perkele
13. rave
taken from ‘unsharp mask’
usssy.bandcamp.com/album/unsharp-mask

Yes, you can get the full albums at the links provided – just remember, you discovered them first at tenzenmen! 

Narrow Lands – Popular Music That Will Live Forever – 20th November 2013

Cat #: 148TZM

Once known to jangle, Sydney band Narrow Lands have turned their hands to rumbling. Since adding a baritone guitar to their mix, their music has become heavier, darker, weirder and, well, simply better.

On their debut LP, the guys from Narrow Lands mix the sweet grittiness of punk with a thundering mess of noise/feedback, in the spirit of bands like Swans or Dead China Doll.

Recorded in two days in mid-winter, in a shed behind Alan’s parents’ place on a little farm west of Bathurst, Narrow Lands aimed to keep the LP sounding as fresh, authentic and ferocious as possible.

Each ridiculous sound you might hear here is an experiment with the potential of an instrument, a way of allowing things to ‘freak out’ without forcing the issue. The result hits you like a friendly punch in the guts.

A co-operative release between tenzenmen and Octopus Pi (www.facebook.com/Octopuspi)

Yes I’m Leaving – 5th November 2013

Cat #: 110TZM

“Yes I’m Leaving’s first self-titled album was recorded in a rehearsal room in an industrial district in Rydalmere a suburb in the outer west of Sydney over three hours on a date I can’t recall.

The band had been writing and playing sporadically for a while with members travelling or moving to eventually return to a time upon which their music could be captured to ‘tape’. Microphones were aimed at a set of guitar combos, a bass rig, a mouth and a drumkit and then plugged into a recording machine, quickly checked for levels and then, in the end, 13 songs were ringing away in the headphones.

I guess the songs are either attempts at nasty snide repetition, improvised ‘feel’, or just a stabby mean sound usually all at once. If you listen you’ll hear a string snap at the end of a song and a frustrated swear word. Some songs had only been put together the week before so were highly volatile. I don’t even know how I made some of the noises on that recording, I kind of like that. It was mixed the same night and originally put onto tape and cd as a release. Now it has been mastered with a bit more kick in the bass and an upsized screenprint + insert, on random coloured vinyl.” Billy Bourke.

Yes I’m Leaving – Mission Bulb – 22nd May 2013

Cat #: 140TZM

Mission Bulb was recorded live over a period of 6 hours in a rehearsal room at Keynote Studios in Homebush West, a suburb of Sydney. Guitarist/Vocalist Billy Burke manned the 8 track recording machine and acted as engineer, placing microphones where they needed to go, often with unconventional microphone choices to capture the sound.

Many tracks had only been finalised a week or two before recording, and many were done with live vocals, leading to a truly raw and live sound being created. The energy and other various factors on the day of the recording captures a particular time and place that is entirely unique, and would be impossible to recreate exactly again.

The end product is ‘Mission Bulb’, an album that for the first time comes close to re-creating the true sound that is ‘Yes I’m Leaving’.

Death To Giants – Blood Pours Out – 4th May 2013

Cat #: 143TZM

Blood Pours Out is the debut album from Shanghai two-piece Death to Giants, and serves as an apt introduction to the band. The songs on the album arose largely organically, as drummer Ivan and bassist Dennis recorded a series of jams in practice studios around the city. They went on to choose the tastiest bits from those recordings, and stitched them together to form the songs present here. Contents are highly flammable — ingest with care.

Death to Giants is:
Ivan: Drums and Vocals
Nichols: Bass and Vocals

Recorded on Saturday, November 13th, 2012 at db Studios by Ryan Baird of iAmalam
Mixed and Mastered in December 2012 at Studio Poney by Laura Ingalls of The Horses/Acid Pony Club
Artwork and design by Ivan Belcic
Cover photo by Kaine Lyu of Astrofuck

All Songs written by Nichols and Ivan
“30 Extra Lives” is based on “The Knitting Song” by Boys Climbing Ropes (boysclimbingropes.bandcamp.com)