The Dead C - 'Vs. Sebadoh' (Siltbreeze)

Apart from the heaving, panting excerpt of 'Air' that closes side two, The Dead C Vs Sebadoh sounds nothing like the Dead C or Sebadoh, though I imagine the Deep Wound 7" was somewhat of an influence. There's 8 songs at 45 rpm, most built around fast rock riffs and completely unintelligible lyrics, making this the Dead C's 'hardcore' record for sure. It's great, though -- the attitude and atmosphere blow past everything. Some cuts, like 'River of Lethia', merge the more exploratory tendencies associated with the Dead C ca. 1993 with the short format, and I wonder if this was taken on as some sort of challenge for them to record and release it. This isn't exactly a departure - 'Bad Politics' could fit on here easily, though the lyrics would have to be made less audible -- as a slightly different flavour.  Twenty years later, I consider this a prized cultural artefact, though the numbers of people who would understand or care about such an evaluation continues to dwindle.

Joe Colley/Mike Shiflet - 'Meaning' (Gameboy)

Not a collaboration, but a split; Colley gets the A-matrix with 'Intentional Accidents for Microphone', a track with sounds as contradictory as its title.  Static and hum are the main tools, presumably being built from unadorned microphone (+ mixer + amplification, I'd guess) and it's incredibly composed, with long slow passages of almost-nothing that rev into static roars, only to be cut out by either mute-button inline editing or some post-processing.  My bet is on the former. It's an approach to electronic minimalism that sounds really indicative of the era (2004) but I don't mean that to be diminishing.  On the other side, Ohio noisenik Mike Shiflet starts '4 a.m. with Chris and Dan' in an ecstatic manner, and the emphasis is on the static.  This track is from a live radio performance on WFMU so it naturally sounds less controlled and tense than the Colley track.  There's a repeating thump, like a turntable that's finished, stylus bumping the run-out groove, and it adds a chilling momentum underneath the horizontal colours of the oscillations that stay constant throughout.  Both sides of this record are careful, even restrained; yet I wouldn't say delicate.  Both sides end in locked-grooves (of course!) but Shiflet's has a sudden menace that gives this a fond farewell.