Cassette Review: Homestyle Cooking / Bran Nue Split Tape

[$5 CAD // Edition of 10 // https://homestylecooking.bandcamp.com/album/homestyle-cooking-bran-nue-split-tape]

This cassette begins with guitars going through some sort of scales and then they get sharp.   It's static transmissions followed by beeping and then it gets hollow and sharp.    This transforms into hardcore punk with the full on band, vocals and everything.    Then the sharpness returns followed by radio frequencies and then just some general feedback.    Windy waves bring about some R2D2 and then laser beeps and whirrs bring about lightsabers.    As we approach the end it turns into this really grinding sound that's borderline industrial with synth and drums and kind of reminds me of something that Nine Inch Nails might have made.   Everything comes together and this ends like a big battle scene in a movie.

On the flip side we have more noise and less of the hardcore punk.    It's sharp, loud feedback into a sort of ringing and there is also some slight static.    This comes through in loops and then following another ringing there seems to be a break but it really just gets quiet.   It comes back with distortion and then turns into sharp drone.    Guitar notes make their appearance and then it gets quiet again.   Footsteps.  A ripping sound.  And then modem sirens coming through like alien frequencies.   This all becomes a flurry of harsh noise and then ends as a broken pinball machine game.   There is this sort of singing now and then it all ends with a screech.

I'd never heard of either of these artists prior to this cassette and I figured Homestyle Cooking was a cheesy name because everyone is supposed to like it but I have this weird thing about eating on other people's plates and using their forks and such.   It's strange because it doesn't bother me in restaurants, for instance, but when I'm in someone's home and it's their personal stuff it's kind of weird to me.   Does anyone else get that?

In any case, I wasn't sure what to expect with this even though it was included with the xBEANDIPx cassette but for all I knew Bran Nue could've been somehow related to that band Brand New that I never really listened to (but I know a lot of people that did).   I absolutely enjoy the fact that this is noise mixed with hardcore punk on Side A but then strictly noise on Side B.    You'll likely enjoy both of these artists and the pieces they present here because if you're on this site, reading this post somehow, then it is already too late to say no.