The Chad Tape is a posthumous release from Chris Reimer the much-missed Women guitarist who unexpectedly passed away earlier this year. Named for Reimer’s interactions with Chad VanGaalen in planning the cassette release The Chad Tape is about 40 minutes of patient achingly beautiful drone ambience from Reimer’s massive collection of solo recordings curated by his close friends and family. I’m very happy these recordings exist and are out in the world — I saw Reimer perform solo a few times last year and definitely pestered him once or twice all “Hey man are you going to release any of this stuff?” — and although I (along with many others) wish the circumstances of this release were different it’s still great to have out there. Proceeds from the tape/digital download go to the Chris Reimer Legacy Fund providing scholarships for children in music and dance education so check it out already!
For something more aggro Vancouver’s Hard Feelings have just released a new EP Welwyn Street . Five speedy tracks of ragged Hot Snakes worship? That should be of interest to more than a few of you. I can definitely dig the guitar lines on “Wasting My Time” and “Rooftop Scene” but there’s a lot packed into these 15 minutes. Like the Reimer tape Welwyn Street is also streaming on Bandcamp — you know how to Google things right?
This week’s Sub Pop release ( Instinct courtesy of Stockholm’s Niki and the Dove ) looks like a movie poster for some turgid romance film where the moon inevitably serves as some heavy-handed metaphor or plot device but it’s actually just a double-LP of slick radio-ready Swedish electropop. Or wait sorry — the press release says “independent flamboyant Björk-influenced pop.” It’s pleasant I guess but I can’t help but feel you’ll be able to make up your mind on this one with a simple glance at the cover art.
Although New Plastic Ideas generally focuses on new releases I’d like to close this week’s column by drawing your attention to the work of Jason Noble who sadly passed away last weekend at the age of 40 after a lengthy battle with cancer. The Louisville musician’s work with Rodan Rachel’s and (especially) Shipping News was utterly fantastic resulting in several records that I’ve enjoyed listening to for many years. Rodan’s Rusty was one of the most aggressive and dynamic post- Spiderland records to come out in the early ’90s; Rachel’s was a long-running chamber music group that often found a sweet-spot between post-rock and neoclassical musicianship (especially on The Sea and the Bells ) and Shipping News reunited Noble with his Rodan bandmate Jeff Mueller bringing the Louisville post-rock sound into the oughts with excellent albums such as Save Everything and Flies the Fields .
