Craniostomy Vol. One
(Butte County Free Music Society - BUFMS64) CDR $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
The founder of Tape Op magazine and Vomit Launch recorded and self-released numerous cassette-only albums throughout the ’80s, mostly passed around to friends and fellow noise-makers, consigned at local record shops, and traded with like-minded travelers through the mail. One reviewer wrote, “The echoing sounds, pulsating tones, and other space age noise creations melodically swim through the compositions, occasionally colliding in dissonant tones that pout over the rhythm, sometimes created by a fuzzy bass or Schroederesque toy piano rambling.” Six previously unreleased tracks plus thirteen selections from a half dozen self-released cassettes, with Steve Valin of Ziplok on three tracks, and Matt Mumper on the full version of “Beor’s Theme.” Cover art by Karen Constance. Edition of 100
Craniostomy Vol. Two
(Butte County Free Music Society - BUFMS90) CDR $8.00
Collaged, layered, and rebuilt selections from solo cassettes Fast Moving Shadows (1983), Fragment (1984), and Sad Poetry of Departure (1985). In these two brand new mixes with a combined length of 43 minutes, Crane sticks to the more droney and repetitive parts of his original recordings rather than the song-oriented material. You won't hear electronic gargle this determined outside of a modular egg dream, no sir. This is a robust cruise through a downpour of crud-blurred shards and pulsating piles of free-rock membranes scraped off the eyeballs of zombies. All of it was originally tracked via a pair of home stereo cassette recorders, years before Crane had access to a multitrack. Using a 9v battery-powered Radio Shack mixer, he played one deck while adding another layer of instrumentation and recording both on the second deck. “If I’d had the ability to edit, multitrack, and add more effects at the time,” he says, “I certainly would have presented my recordings in this manner back in the ’80s.” Instrumentation was Steve Valin’s fake P-Bass, his Hawaiian lap steel guitar, fake Gibson SG electric guitar, Mattel Synsonics Drums, Maestro Echoplex, Casio PT-10, Casio VL-1, Texas Instruments SN76477 Complex Sound Generator, Roland synth, Pearl AD-08 analog delay pedal, Jaymar toy piano, Boss DM-2 analog delay pedal, Dunlop Cry Baby wah pedal, PAiA EK-5 analog delay kit, homemade triple oscillator box, homemade mono keyboard oscillator box, guts from a toy piano, homemade passive mixer, 8-track cartridge recorder (for distortion), two Radio Shack Realistic 33-1080 Electret Microphones, and samples from The Soul of Mbira LP, 1973. Cover art by Karen Constance