Cassette Review: Staplerfahrer / Bonehole "Excessive Extension" (Bicephalic Records)

[$5 // Edition of 50 // https://bicephalicrecords.bandcamp.com/album/excessive-extension] 

Every so often in this Bicephalic split series it seems as if an artist comes through that I already know.   This time it is Bonehole and I like the idea of having artists I don't know being presented to me- especially in splits- but this is kind of in a lot of ways what I feel splits should be about because if you've been following along with Raised by Gypsies you will likely be interested in this cassette because of Bonehole and then the Staplerfahrer side will come as a surprise treat.

Staplerfahrer has this scraping and echoing footsteps sound to it when it first starts.   I want to say that it comes out loud and sharp, like a knife stabbing someone, but you don't have to take my word for it.   The first time I pressed play on this cassette one of my cats- Tito- was sleeping on the couch next to me, in a deep sleep, and he jumped up like something bit him in the butt.  (And my cats don't usually wake up for anything, as they've gotten used to all sorts of loud noises and distractions.   As I type this now, I can hear the loud banging of never-ending construction going on at the school across the street)

Crashes and bangs bring out a loud ringing drone which also has an element of glitch to it.    Dinging tones emerge in a ringing noise and the closest thing I can come to compare this with is lightsabers.    There is an essence of cosmic pinball to it but I also feel like "cosmic pinball" is an artist name.    Drone begins to wane in, Transformers sounds become footsteps mixed with crashes and possibly gunshots.    A humming.  A screeching.  And the sound of metal detectors bring us to the end.

On the flip side we have Bonehole who has things started with this old-timey sound of radio drama.   I find that I listen to a lot of old radio shows now simply because they are available on cassette.   My fascination for them began with "The Green Hornet", but just the idea of someone shaking a metal sheet and creating thunder is interesting enough to me that I at one point wanted to try and find as many of them to listen to as I could digitally but since then I started collecting them on cassette instead.  (Side Note: If anyone wants to create a show is like those old timey radio shows I'd be down to hear it)  ((Second Side Note: I was born during the time of television so, no, I am not old enough to remember sitting in front of the radio ala "A Christmas Story"))

Static bursts come through chaotic jazz and this just feels like something you'd hear on the radio before the dawn of television mixed with something else modern.   It's not quite the idea of bringing in a radio show with static as if the signal is bad, but it is something more than just that radio show vibe.    The horns and static combine and then there are also these soap opera-like dramatic sounds mixed with "The Flight of the Bumblebee".   I could just call this jazz scramble but I don't want to underplay the radio frequency factors of it all.   R2D2 beeps or some other form of robotic language comes through in the end and I just hope that when the robots seize control (And they will) this doesn't end up translating to something which is punishable by death.  

As much fun as it is to hear Bonehole again, I really feel like this was just above and beyond what I ever would have expected to hear again and on top of that we have a stellar performance from Staplerfahrer which just makes this split cassette a must have.