io-audio : home

Tomentosa Records “was created due to frustrations with the difficulty in obtaining rare and oop recordings for a fair price. We hope to offer a variety of new releases as well as to stock and procure oop used items. Our hope is to keep prices as low as we can.” That right there folks is a creedo worth supporting. Now I’m of the mind that the internet has the potential to be the greatest thing to independent music and the D.I.Y. ethos since people began xeroxing sleeves for their 7″ punk rock singles so it’s nice to see people like those at Tomentosa offering up quality releases by the likes of Digitalis, Music Your Mind Will Love You and a whole host of other weird and wonderful D.I.Y. labels worth checking out. I’m especially pleased that Tomentosa has agreed to place io’s “at land” amongst such esteemed company. So nourish your indie spirit and follow the links provided…

Things are weird. You see, a couple of years back I had been put in touch with Mr. Brian Lucas an acquaintance from our days in the San Joaquin Valley who was now spreading his unique brand of madness out in Thailand. A friendship was struck and the result was father io’s Costa Mesa/Thailand Tapes. Then as it was one day, I received an email from Herr Lucas stating that not only was he moving back to the States, but that he would be moving in with his father who by pure chance it turns out lives only several blocks from my sound cave here in sunny Costa Mesa. So what are two creatively inclined miscreants to do? Well, aside from directing our venomous mirth at the utter lack of anything substantial and non-silicone in the area, we did what we do best… get completely blotto on whatever was at hand, discussed the merits of ebony porn, and modulated the output of strange stringed things. “Tundra Bone for Teeth” is the first of two releases culled from those sessions.

1. Six Bock
2. Creek Hymn
3. HELLO Hello hello
4. Apsthera
5. Oval Green and the Sonar Patterns it Follows
6. Tundra Bone for Teeth

Okay… so lately there’s been a whole lotta talk and not so much music, so I’m going to make it up to you, despite the fact that Valentine’s day has passed and you didn’t even give me anything (which I suppose at the very least saves me a visit to the doctor.)

Whatever.

So this is a little bit different than the previously posted downloads. Sure, it’s head music… but it’s head music that rocks. 10,000 volt ghost was born from a never ending love for distortion, riffs, and yet never quite abandoning the drone. Imagine if you will Syd Barrett as one of the aliens from “V", all covered in scales and biting the heads off of birds and whatnot, even though that has nothing to do with the music whatsoever. I just thought I’d throw that out there.

So strap it on and get it done. Mars awaits.

1. Ions Arise
2. Tension and Release
3. Untitled 02
4. Smoke Station (collaboration with Caregiver)
5. 3H and Station (collaboration with Dave Graham)
6. Bad New Moon - Resonance Remix (Original:Superhit, Remix: 10kVG)

Okay, so I’d probably post a link to a site named “Music Like Planets” no matter what. If the target site had little more than a picture of Gary Coleman in clown makeup and played and endless loop of a 3 second sample taken randomly from “Pop Goes The World” by Men Without Hats, I’d still link to it. The name is just that cool and fortunately for you dear reader, so is the content (though come to think of it, a picture of Gary Coleman in clown makeup would actually be kind of cool too…)

Dave Graham, the man behind the music on a cosmic scale churns out a great deal of quality tunes of all varieties though most of the audio that he posts for free download at Music Like Planets tends to be of the experimental/minimalist/drone/ambient variety which as I’m sure you know warms the cockles of my heart, or at least it would if I hadn’t lost my cockles to a one-legged albino during a game of “go fish.”

Also be sure to check out the links posted to sites for Regolith, Soundasleep, et. al. as they also contain some very quality spew. Your cockles will thank you.

Yeah, I know… it’s been a few weeks since I last posted. Sue me. In any case, in order to make it up to you I have another fantastic link to throw your way. This one comes all the way from Ohio home to… well… stuff, and by far the most important of all that stuff is fictionband.com. Prolific doesn’t even begin to describe these folks as they churn out quality slabs of sonic-ness at an astonishing rate all of which you can download for free right from their site. How ’bout them apples? However, perhaps the coolest thing about these guys is their absolute love for music in and of itself. With fictionband, it’s not about mugging it up for the camera and it’s not about ego, celebrity, or getting a reach-around from some major label exec with a bald spot AND a ponytail. It’s about music for the sake of music and that kids is something that we don’t see enough of nowadays. Over and out.