not too long ago, i was sent the debut batch of albums from jeff rehnlund and ryan martin's
collaboratively ran hot releases (based out of carrboro, north
carolina). unfortunately, two of the three albums are lps and i'm
currently without a turntable (i'm hoping to get a new one next month).
i have no issues reviewing this cassette, though.

killer workout c30
[2009, hot releases]

outside of stumbling across her sizable photo collection on flickr, andrea stroud is a bit of mystery to me. i'm assuming she's also from one of the carolinas (me, too!).

come on lovers
begins the tape with a faint hollow drone in the left channel, a
metronomish ticking and minimal ambiance. there's a repetitive loop
that approaches from the distance, but it'll backpedal once a noisy
stammer surfaces. as soon as the commotion dies down, andrea gets busy with continual skittery tape manipulations.

killer workout veers into denser noise with bag of tricks.
the foundation is mutilated waves of choking distortion. trapped within
the noise are a few separate split seconds of sound that you can only
hear in between the base's spikes in amplitude. what i really dig is stroud's
alternation between the distinct layers. while they're far from
coherent, the skipping cd nature that she produces sounds fantastic
held within the structure of the rumbling. after a few minutes the
density will break slightly, allowing the other layers to gain a little
clarity. by the track's midpoint andrea
brings in monotone droning, percussive clamor and warped synthesizer.
the base will once again ascend to a muffled crawl that disfigures all
other sounds in its way, most notably, her vocals.

haunting atmosphere, supplied by howling drones, will open up the last song on the first side, sugar daddy.
that eerie ambiance is then betrayed by an uptempo drum machine rhythm
and new age synthesizer. that will later by expanded upon by spacier
synth sounds and andrea's hushed intonations. it sounds like the sort of thing that james ferraro churns out with proficient regularity. rad shit. i like that slight rhythmic during the last few minutes. if sonny sharrock hadn't done such a fine job with the theme song to space ghost coast to coast, i could easily envision this working in its place, granted this would be far more literal.
while killer workout may have transitioned out of the spooky to finish up side a, the firm
takes us on a return trip. buried beneath the bleak soundscape is a
combination of a light trembling, the environmental sounds that a tape
recorder (anywhere) would pick up, the muted tones of a far off
conversation and repeated banshee wailing from andrea, lurking (deep) in the firm's
depths. the latter of which will occasionally trade back and forth with
a crazed loop that sounds like someone speaking in tongues. even more
vocal samples (and manipulations) will be integrated along with
understated tone modulations and a rising layer of distortion. i think
i also hear (super) faint acoustic strumming in one of the channels
once the noise subsides. it's worth noting that a good deal of this
stuff is (purposely) mixed low and if i hadn't listened to this a bunch
of times with headphones on, i don't know if i would've even picked up
on half of it.

dirty talk,
initially, works as a continuation of the previous track, until those
remnants slowly fade away under a sustained (but fluctuating) squeal
and the sound of stroud
speaking. her voice will quickly get strangled under affections and
sputtering distortion and then layered until it's essentially just noise.

the two minutes of phantom love
are rather minimal: ghostly ambiance, a loop of trembling space synth,
occasional sped up vocals, high pitched whines and tonal manipulations.
those first two aspects are what predicate the overall sound of phantom love. andrea once again does a nice job with the mixing depth, constraining the more clamorous layers.
the tape's closer, hot for you,
is quintessential late 80s dance music, which is to say, friggin'
great. it's even better here, since it sounds like it's being blasted
through the shittiest blown out speakers ever. heavy on muffled low end
distortion with a veneer of static coating the upbeat female vocals.
the song that andrea's using (hot for you by samantha fox)
is catchy as hell. i can't believe this is the first time i'm hearing
it. i would've preferred listening to this on the radio back then
instead of all of that paula abdul (gimme a break, i was like eight)... if i could use a song to describe the look the tape's fold out cover / mini poster, this would be it.

hmm,
with regards to this tape, and without being blatant, all i can really
say is: truth in advertising all around then, eh? niiice. and a little
odd, but in a good way.

Dirty Talk