Cassette Review: Cyanide Tooth "The Whole Tooth & Nothing But.." (ever/never records)

[$5 // Edition of 100 // https://evernever-records.bandcamp.com/album/the-whole-tooth-nothing-but]

Aside from the hilarious comic strip "Cyanide and Happiness" I only really know that cyanide is poisonous and so this kind of makes me think of a poisonous tooth living inside of your mouth.   It's strange because the artist name mixed with the cassette title would make me think of a pop punk band or possibly a hardcore band, but when you break it down to mouth poisoning then it does make sense as a noise project because of other names such as Swallowing Bile for example.

We begin this cassette with an audio clip and then there is static pressure, a winding sort of buzz, wooden clanks and high-pitched sirens.   This all comes to a head with applause and cheers, indicating that at least that particular portion of this cassette was recorded live.   You know how I do enjoy the live music, especially when I can think of it as being improvised and one take.

The second half of the first side is spoken words in an almost singing sense.   It's about slipping on a banana peel, robbing a bank and the lost weekend.    I will leave you to create your own scene with those elements, though I will imagine someone who robbed a bank, slipped on a banana peel, broke his neck and died on a weekend lost before getting to spend the stealings.    Oh and behind these words are the sound of clicks perhaps like a car trying to start would make.

On Side B we have a long program that is primarily an audio clip, a monologue of sorts spoken by a female (?) voice that doesn't seem to go clearly or in a manner which makes it easy to understand at least.   This is backed by various noises such as whirrs and whooshes and static skips and crashes.    The whole thing plays out like a fever dream and I'm digging it, especially late at night when it's dark, quiet and I'm all alone.

Whether you are going to use supplied words to create your own story or try to piece together one being told to you, Cyanide Tooth has a level of interest that should leave you listening to this multiple times before understanding it and then every time after that appreciating it that much more.