the weird package from gi'-i-sa-wa recordings
i know this is sort of a weird format for a review, but i felt i had to describe this package in it's entirety as it is the most singularly odd package i've received since i started trading; it came in big priority mail pouch, ok nothing too weird about that, but inside was a pink bubblewrap envelope containing the releases listed below (odd enough on their own), along with a circuit board to which had been soldered what looks like the arm off of a he-man toy, along with a photograph of a flooded road framed by two dark trees which says "front yard" on the back... and then there were the actual recordings...

dogproofracoonbubble 57 different versions of the same 5 children live inside me (c90x2 from gi'-i-sa-wa)
this is a two tape set chronicling the recordings of nathan julian from 1995 to 2001 (a "best of" collection, in his words). the sound  varies a lot over the course of 180 minutes but it all has a really raw, bare feel to it, which i mean in the best possible way. just about every track has a sense of location to it, they just have an atmosphere to them. the first tape opens with the track "warming up for the main even", backwards voices (slightly muffled, you can tell it was done by hand) and sesame street samples over a quiet, playful keyboard melody; reminds me of sitting in my living room as a kid, wood paneling and shag carpet. nice way to start things. sounds through the first tape run from music sample collage to dirty messed up noise to straight vocal samples/collages such as the 'godmother' tracks ('my godmother (aunt susie)' and 'godmother (the return of super sue)'), the first of which is just a  regular audio letter spoken by the title over a buzzy keyboard sound, and the second a much more humorous letter in which she refers to herself as "super sue" and whispers "diarrhea" in a creepy voice over and over. this track is starkly contrasted by the first part of "gog + magog (excerpt)" which sounds like a recording of a man having a nervous breakdown which shifts to deep, pounding rhythmic noise. all manner of media is sampled and mangled on this, tv, movies, records, tapes..  sound ranges from loud aggressive noise to quiet abstract music, and that's just the first tape! things continue in much the same vein for the remaining ninety minutes, dirty samples and field recordings and noise, supplemented with recordings of mr julian as a child in 1983 attempting to sing 'jingle bells' ending both sides of the tape. as with the first tape the tone of the tracks varies a bit, although tape two seems to have a darker feel for most of it. the track names over the two tapes are also interesting; 'relax my parents are coming', 'all flowers are crippled' and my favorite 'something sexy about americans w/out feet'. how can you not love something with titles like that? stylistically i think i would have to compare this to prurient's first release a simple mark, and i would highly recommend this to anyone who bothered to read this review. you will not be disappointed.

dogproofracoonbubble thursday morning driver (cdr from gi'-i-sa-wa)
*apparently this is like the promo version of this, so my copy may not be entirely representative of what actually gets released* this disc came packaged in an 8 inch floppy sleeve, and opens with the track 'zipang', a sort of atmospheric music piece over  static drone, nice way to start things off. things take a more noisy route from then in though, albeit not an entirely harsh one. 'incredible collapse' is a brief wash of static pulled from the upper atmosphere, occasionally loud but never really aggressive, followed by 'fetal dust', the deep low rumble of a far-off thunder storm, moving away, coming back and leaving again. this track i felt could have had more of a resolution, as it is it feels somewhat incomplete. 'ghetto fingernail' is a more layered drone piece, insect buzz over quiet moody synth sounds, cut abruptly short and giving way to 'i wish i was bakshi', sweeping radio static and descending tones over weird 1950's computer-ish bubbling and muffled samples. at the end everything drops away except the samples, which are oddly manipulated, very quite for a bit and then grow louder and louder, alternating with each other and crunching at the edges, ending in a layered psuedo-musical cacophony. one of the more interesting tracks of the cd. just as 'bakshi' fades into nothing 'old ben coal mine' crashes in, loud shifting static tones flopping over each other. 'is jack palance still the devil' seems to be a sped up cd of jack palance's voice, i can't imagine where from, over somewhat christmassy music. the voice sample pauses long enough for him to say "-and to the point" and i'm assuming that the word before and was "brief", which this track is. "the taste of your taste" opens with about a minute of silence before quiet synth drones fade in, and far-off melodies are added, very reminiscent of aphex twin's selected ambient works volume two. the disc closes out with 'don marsh is a coke addict' a sample of a man talking about the opening of a grocery store(?) over dark pulsing synth sounds and  buzzing, generally spewing pro-corporate b.s. about cutting wages and being happily non-union (he slips up and says that his company has the advantage of "not having the labor standard" of his competitors). the vocals and the buzz drops away, leaving just the deep pulsing sound, and then mr marsh ends the cd with a rambling 'summary'. kind of a depressing end to the cd, but it works well. not bad at all.

glitch spying on a surgical masturbation (cdr from gi'-i-sa-wa)
i should point out that this is glitch in name only, not some farmers manual/oval/whatever sounding release and actually this has a very organic sound to it and relies a bit on guitar and other "musical" sources. opens oddly with two short tracks of silence, followed by distant guitar chugging away over an ocean of loops and what sounds like tape-manipulated keyboard squelch (although it could be effected guitar). i'm pretty sure that the two silent tracks were not intended (since from the track listing this has ten tracks, but on the disc there are thirteen) but in any case they definitely threw me off and made me pay more attention to the cd. mostly of this is rather dark atmospherics, showing you the knife but never cutting you open, excellently represented by the epic fifth track which clocks in at almost ten minutes, although with the wide variety of sound it doesn't drag. the sixth track, a more spare guitar piece, reminded me a bit of neil young's dead man score, although lacking young's ocean of delay and emotional pull. it has a weird doped-out cowboy movie feel to it. some tracks feel a bit bare compared to the more fleshed out ones but it doesn't really get boring at any point and it's not a bad listen. put it on at night, with the lights out and think about murderers hiding in the corners.

dogproofracoonbubble noire sampler (c15 from gi'-i-sa-wa)
this tape actually came dubbed over a purina puppy chow "puppy training guide" complete with it's own cardboard sleeve. there's probably a puppy chow collector out there somewhere wringing their hands and wondering if they'll ever be able to complete their collection, and now they never will. anyway, soundwise this is pretty close to thursday morning driver; although a little more chaotic at times as well as adding field recordings, such as the plane (or maybe traffic?) sound that links the first and second sides,  along with a collage of driving, conversation and the sounds of a swimming competition(?). as you can tell by my question marks, a lot of the collage part sounded very familiar without being really specific. noire should be pretty interesting if this is any indication