Best of Macronympha

[Happiness, forever]

Tribe Tapes just announced their reissue of Crack on CD.

[puritanwaste]

There are times when I'll put on an MSNP tape and wonder if I really need to listen to anyone else's noise. In fact, I asked myself that exact question today when listening through OVMN's S/T tape. The answer, of course, is yes, I definitely need to listen to lots of noise from tons of different artists, but I can't think of many other artists who inspire that question.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

I can't think of many other artists who inspire that question.

Yeah, Richard Ramirez, David Gilden, and Phil Blankenship are the main ones to come to mind for me with that.

[Lactating Tardigrade]

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania LP (Praxis Dr Bearmann, 1995)
Like so many have said, perhaps not their best per se, but just a perfect album, with a proper Album feel to it. And the easily digestible length, 41 minutes, is another factor. At least to me. I've read now and then how the CD reissue on Trash Ritual had a flat sound sort of, but that version went out the door the same week I stumbled upon this, six years ago. Would be interesting to compare them back to back though.

I finally acquired the CD version of Pittsburgh after procrastinating when it was first released. I'm going to do a side-by-side comparison to the tape edition when it arrives. I think it's a flawless album, but I am curious how the CD mix compares to the tape mix. Will report back soon.

I finally gave a listen to the Pittsburgh CD. It had honestly been a while since I had even listened to the tape so it was very fun re-discovering this material again. The CD sounds great! I wouldn't hesitate for a second to pick up a copy. Of course, the tape format adds some fatness and saturation but the CD version doesn't sound thin to me at all. I think they did a good job restoring it. Especially since it's one of the all-time classics, it's a no-brainer. Grab it if you have the chance.

Also listening to the Crack CD version now after only listening to the tape version for years. Grant did an incredible job with the re-mastering. While I will always cherish the tape version, the CD version really pulls out all of the sounds and makes everything crystal clear. This one is up there with their best material. Pittsburgh, Grind, and Crack are my favorite releases. You HAVE to get this release. It's fucking mandatory.

[thatonekidatshows]

Did anyone pick up the 3-CD "Whorechestra" reissue? Mine just arrived (with the bonus preorder shirt), and it both looks and sounds great! The original unreleased version of the tape is really interesting to compare next to what was actually released. Obviously, it still sounds like the "Whorechestra" that we know, but it feels like it's a more patient album (most likely due to it being a C-90 instead of the C-60 that was released).

[XXX]

amazing job all around on the reissue of whorechestra & was quite surprised by the high quality of the shirt. now what to put all these stickers on?

[Lactating Tardigrade]

I recently picked up a couple of the 2009-2010 Macro "unreleased" tapes that Rodger put out specifically related to the early 1990-92 material. I grabbed Futurismo and 1990-91 Vol. 2. There have been a lot of reworkings or unreleased versions of the material from around this time. The mentioned tapes above as well as the "Original Unreleased Version" of Insane Torture Device that Rodger released in 2008 (*Bondage hands cover) and an additional self-titled tape (*3 Cobras cover).

Futurismo is a hidden gem. A really varied tape with many different soundscapes. The J-card notes just say, "Recorded between 1991-92". A wide exploration of sounds, much more diverse than the Insane Torture Device and Physical Chaos releases. It features heavier cuts and splices like Rodger had his hands busy editing this content more than other tapes from around this time. Maybe it's just because it's fresh to me, but at moments I wonder if I like some of these one-off reworked or unreleased material tapes more than some of the other "official" tapes. Futurismo sounds like if the first two tapes were edited in a similar style to Grind or Cut Ups, Drones & Other Weird to me in some regards. There is a lot to absorb. Highly recommended.

1990-91 Vol. 2 consists of more long-form pieces that lay into the loops and don't rush the sounds. Far fewer cuts and edits than in the Futirismo tape. Almost the opposite in that it takes its time to develop the presented themes. Think Insane Torture Device, but even grittier and crunchier. Rodger mentioned to me this is one of his favorite tapes and has a lot of material that wasn't released at the time. The notes on this one just indicate, "Recorded 1990-91."There is a YouTube rip available here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5kK5PX ... ctiveAbuse.

[Lactating Tardigrade]

Did anyone pick up the 3-CD "Whorechestra" reissue? The original unreleased version of the tape is really interesting to compare next to what was actually released. Obviously, it still sounds like the "Whorechestra" that we know, but it feels like it's a more patient album.

Greg did an outstanding job with the reissue. The packaging and accoutrements are really well done. I never thought I would own an official Macronympha stationery envelope! I kind of want extras even though I don't know what I would use them for...

The remastering is great and presents the sounds well without cleaning it up too much. Retains the perfect Macro grime. I'm really enjoying the extended c90 version and like the extra space in the tracks. The c60 version is certainly more dense. Where most artists shine when edited down, Macro excels with extended space and time.

[Lactating Tardigrade]

Macronympha – Mugwump Reformer c62 (MSNP)

This tape is apparently reworked and remixed material from the Pittsburgh, PA release by Rodger. This originally came out in 2008 I believe, and this tape is VERY different from the original Pittsburgh, PA LP, CD, or tape. If I had done a blindfolded test, I wouldn't even come close to guessing that's where this material came from. Originally coming out on CDr and also reissued with extended material on tape (*this review), this is a very different release altogether and I wouldn't go into it thinking it's Pittsburgh Part 2.

Side A
Heavily features metal junk loops and tape manipulation. A psychedelic and almost disorienting focus of sounds. Maybe even closer to being industrial in nature due to the looped and semi-rhythmic metal junk work. I wouldn't say it sounds like Vivenza, however, it reminds me of some of that work at times. I really like where the sounds end up after developing over the course of the tracks as they get more textural and dirtier over time.

Side B
The metalwork is mostly stripped out or heavily buried on the first track on this side which lasts about 22 minutes. The focus is more on tape manipulation and HEAVILY EQ'ed looped sound sources. The first half of Side B does feel like raw original source material that's not fully fleshed out or developed if I'm being honest. However, some much dirtier and crunchier loops develop that become interesting in the latter half.

The final track of the tape is an eight-minute opus of over-driven metal junk abuse with heavily hammering looped and layered sounds on top of one another in a cacophony-laced finale. It's actually a pretty great and cataclysmic finale to the release.

For anyone interested in learning what the fuck a Mugwump is, here is a Wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugwump.

[garrison_keillor]

Listened to Crack for the first time today, some really good stuff on there, the track See in particular really knocked my socks off.