Tangible Media Revue: March 2025

When I was more active on social media I'd share my recent additions to my music collection. I figured I could turn that into a monthly post here instead. Welcome to the first edition of the Tangible Media Revue!

Hal McGee with Brandstifter and Rafael González

We're going to go ahead and kick things off with some releases from my new buddy Hal McGee. If you're a fan of noise/outsider/leftfield/weird (for the lack of a better term) music, then I'm certain you're sure to know Hal. He's been active in the experimental scene for decades, and has inspired a ton of different people to pick up their handheld TASCAMs and record as much random shit as possible. Hal sent these to me in a really sweet care package, and I spun them immediately. These CD-Rs are collaborations between McGee himself, and Brandstifter and Rafael González, respectively.

I'm sure there's a much more eloquent way to describe these albums, but to keep it simple, each artist took recordings they captured throughout their days, and smashed them together in a smorgasbord of everyday noise and music. For example, a synth interlude transitioning into the sound of Hal dropping off mail at the mailbox transitioning into a friendly conversation discussing someone's upcoming birthday, and from there into the sound of traffic congestion, and so on and so on.

The collaboration with González is especially neat as the album was produced by shuffling the tracks so the order of the noises would be completely random. They loaded 472 different recordings into their processors, hooked their gear up to Audacity, hit random, and let 'er rip. The result they got was all chance. Very cool stuff. I plan to talk about another collaboration Hal did with my buddy Dylan Houser, but that will come a little later in a different blog post.

Show Hal and crew some love at Hal Tapes!

GG Allin and The Disappointments/Anti-Seen

I've been fan of Malcom Tent's YouTube channel lately. You can find that here. He does a weekly segment called Tent Talks Tunes where he...well...talks tunes! He recently did a deep dive on the psyche of GG Allin that I found absolutely fascinating. Malcolm combined his personal history with Allin, with anecdotes from the people that GG knew best. I wouldn't say I'm a huge Allin fan. I of course had my phase when I was in my teens, but over the years I had moved on from him. A few months ago I came across my copy of Hated In The Nation and threw it on in-between calls at work and, to my surprise, enjoyed it a lot more than I remembered. The edgelord in us never completely dies.

Anyways, during Malcom's GG rundown, he mentioned how he had released a recording GG had done with one of his lesser known backing bands called The Disappointments, and how it was one of the best bands Allin had ever played with. Of course, this piqued my interest, so I put an order into Malcom right away. Tent was correct in his assessment - these are some really solid tracks. Raw and sloppy as hell. Pure rock and roll madness here. Includes a fun cover of the Stones' Dead Flowers. This comes with a DVD of their live performance that I haven't watched yet. I've taken a break from drinking, and I feel like I need to watch this after a couple Old Style Lights.

I also ordered a copy of a live Anti-Seen record; a band Tent has been playing bass with for a bit now. I'm not sure if he's on this recording, but I'm going to assume he is since he released it. I am a huge fan of all of those Confederacy of Scum bands. It's the perfect mixture of punk and Molly Hatchet. Good stuff here, just a typical live Anti-Seen gig.

I also spilled coffee all over it and ruined the sleeve.

You can grab these and similar items at Tent's Discogs page.

Jandek's Ready For The House/Six and Six/I Threw You Away

Speaking of Malcom Tent, he talked about Jandek on a recent episode of Tent Talks Tunes. I had never heard of Jandek, but when Tent described him as "atonal" and "dissonant" I knew I had to hear him. Jandek appears to be a true believe in the tangible media as he has very few albums online. Seeing as I love that type of thing I had no problem putting an order in at his label Corwood Industries. I googled "Best Jandek Albums" and wouldn't you know it, there's a whole subreddit dedicated to Jandek! I just ordered the first three albums I saw in the first comment.

Anyways, Tent was right again. This is extremely atonal and dissonant. I had Six and Six on one morning and my wife came through and said "wow, what is this? It's extremely dissonant." I kid you not. Anyways, I eat shit like this up so I was pretty happy with my purchase. I recommend it if you love your classic outsider music.

Give Jandek some love at the Corwood Industries.

Morning Dew's Gulp and Pulp

Courtesy of Honeysuckle records, Morning Dew is a two piece old-school screamo band out of Pittsburg, PA. This is a combo platter of their albums Gulp and Pulp, Honeysuckle rarely does vinyl, so I had to go ahead and grab this. Your typical skramz affair here. I don't think it hit me right the first time I listened to it. I really have to be in the right mood to get down with this type of stuff. I'll spin it a couple more times and get back to you. If you're a diehard screamo fan you'll love it.

You can find Honeysuckle's bandcamp here.

Vaginal Discharge/Andy split 7"

Vaginal Discharge is one of those bands where I have their entire discography in my Discogs want-list. Every time one shows up in my daily Discogs email I usually grab it immediately. You know something, though? I think I like the idea of VD more than I like the band itself. Two guys writing filthy, Gen-X flavored, un-PC pop songs sounds like a fun idea, but everything they record is so clean and proper. The songs need a little grit and more of a lo-fi finish. I absolutely love the work they did with the Sockeye crew as The Bible Thumpers, though. That's some grade A shit right there.

I have no other information on Andy other than he's a part of this split. His Discogs page has no information and, as I'm sure you can imagine, my google-fu has failed me here. More fun acoustic stuff. It's a fine split. One of those albums I won't listen to often but appreciate having in the library.

Captain Three Leg's Wet With Blood

Speaking of un-PC Gen X'ers, Captain Three Leg has been absolutely cooking over the last few years, churning out top-notch CD after CD. Always chocked full of great, misanthropic grind. Not for the faint of heart, here. One of those albums with 40+ songs that is over before you realize it. Fast and short. The way grindcore should be, in my opinion.

Buy some fuckin' CDs at Mortville.

Oh no ! Puro Pinche Ruido ! 47 Song Demo by xGRIFOx

Lucha-inspired noise-core? Please go ahead and hook this up to my veins. Very raw, drum and bass combo. Sounds like shit, which means it's absolutely perfect. If you're a fan of pro-wrestling and grind you're gonna have to go ahead and grab this bad boy.

You can go ahead and grab this disc from empty casket audio.

Good Riddance's For God and Country & Bracket's Stinky Fingers

I will always, always, always love Fat Wreck. I recently put in a shirt order with them, and every time I buy something from the label I make sure to pick up some of their old 7" and albums. I figure they won't be reprinting shit like Guns n' Wankers for much longer, and that's a 10" I need in the collection.

This time around I grabbed a couple things that really tickle my nostalgia pickle. My dear friend Connor and I loved listening to these bands in high school, so of course I'll always have a soft spot. The Bracket 7" has their single 2RAK005 which is just an absolute classic pop-punk song. It also features one of their tracks from their renowned Warren series.

Good Riddance is a crucial, crucial, crucial (shout out Bill Hader) punk band and extremely underrated. To turn a phrase the kids like using these days, they need to be given their flowers. This album features their single United Cigar which is such a perfect 14-year-old suburban anthem.

I ain't linking Fat Wreck. Just google it.

Cakewalkin' Jass Band and their For All You Diehards And Lovers Of Fine Music

Incredible sealed pick up from Goodwill. Was a hell of a find. Really great Dixieland jazz with a tad tongue-in-cheek (or self-aware? They feel like the same thing at this point) attitude. Just look at this album cover. Fantastic. The kind of band I'd love to be in. Who wants to start one?

Here's their Discogs page.

Alright folks, that's all for now. See you in May for April!

See an album you love? Let us know your thoughts!