Anton Bordman's demo tape

Took me a while to get these, I ran into a guy on instagram who had this tape and promised me to send me the files. Well it took a lot to remember him because that was like a whole month I think. In the end he delivered his promise and now I present to you this bands obscure demo. It has songs off the 7"s but it includes songs that were also not part of those 7"s. Honestly the quality is really shit but it is what it is. It does sound like the tape was often played it has that worn out sound.

Anton Bordman

King slender's Demo tape

Matt who runs Creation of minerals blogspot is in this new band called King slender, after discovering them and really getting into this demo I asked Matt if he can send me a copy of this tape. I normally never ask. I believe this is the second time I have asked (First time was when Sleeper wave wanted to be on my blogspot I got their demo tape) Matt gladly sent me one and after a few days I received it. I know I haven't done a full review lately. I've been concentrated on full band/information type of reviews without much detail. I do apologize and I will get into details from now on. Before I get into the discussion I want to slowly take it there. King slender is a new screamo band from Philly. A new label I recently ran into called "Parking lot records" put this demo out. I am familiar with a couple of other bands from this label such a Absent, Massa nera, Fei lung and Kings girls. Without judging the quality of the demo tape the quality of the band is superb. It reminds me a lot of those early 2000's screamo bands kinda like The fiction or Off minor minus the jazz. Perhaps a much heavier Bright calm blue (From Asymmetry set) without the spoken words thrown. I shit you not if I had no idea that King slender is a new band I would think its from that era. The tape has its normal looks, pretty presentable if you ask me. I think Parking lot records did a pretty nice job on the looks of this tape. It isn't all that fancy but for a demo tape it looks pretty much like a extended play. The only way you can tell if it's a demo tape is due to the sticker label on the tape that says "Demo" the tape comes with a small insert with lyrics (Bonus points on this) I honestly don't care if the lyrics are printed on the j card or come in a photocopy insert way as long as there is a lyrics insert somewhere this is a good sign for any tape. I normally like to listen and read the lyrics. Likely in between zoning out to the meaning of the songs. It is part of the reason why I listen to physical copies because it not only has a meaning of having it physically but reading it physically engages me to be more focused on what I am listening to rather than hooking my ipod to the player and reading the digital lyrics from my ipod. As for the whole aspect presentation value both Parking lot and King slender on this tape it is pretty great overall I can't judge too hard or find anything to shit on. To even see a label sticker on this that is printed you can tell there is effort being put in this beauty. After listening to the demo tape I suppose I can talk about quality. I never reviewed any parking lot records tape (I might want to now that it got me interested with the quality of this demo) but after listening and reading the quality is actually well done. You won't hear that low kbps on the demo tape. This is pretty actually fucking good. I also want to add that a lot of tapes I have ran into have that very low to poor quality and for this tape the quality is good so you also get your moneys worth on this if you decide to buy a demo tape. You will not be disappointed on the quality of this demo tape. I do hope the same for past PLR release. Most demo tapes I have come across have a pretty poor dubbing quality which I don't really shit on a lot since it is a demo tape after all but for King slender this demo is superb and a amazing one to add to your collection. In the recent years I have backed out of the more modern emo/screamo bands due to the same hype of Algernon/Snowing/Empire empire/American football carbon copies but bands like King slender and even the other PLR's releases I have heard proves that it isn't lingering on too much on the old tradition of emo or trying to hard to do that weird "Twinkly" math rock indie rock that most bands claim it to be "Emo" but slowly redefining emotive hardcore using some influence from previous emo bands while at the same time showing effort that it is new. I know it sounds stupid and there is no better explanation. It is possibly that emo revival is actually reviving since most bands that claim to be part of this "revival" end up being some silly pop punk band that doesn't know that there are bands Innards or Coma regalia that are as "Emo revival" as it can be. We need more bands that have that nostalgic feel that also sounds refreshing at the same time and King slender proved it to me which is why I give this demo a 4/5. Good quality, as well as the engineer who recorded the band did a fantastic job to make this demo sound like a studio quality EP and for the label and the band themselves for taking their time on releasing and making music that shows its old roots of emo while making it refreshing to listen. Perhaps if this wasn't a demo and/or had more songs I would definitely give this a 5/5. There isn't much flaws I can point out on this spectacular demo. It is simply one of a kind you will own and to talk about it in 10 years. You can download and/or buy this bands demo tape from bandcamp. There is also another link to PLR's store on King slender's bandcamp.
Bandcamp

Cloud mouth

I remember Cloud mouth when their 12" called "That ghost is always with me" was out but I did not put much focus on them. Cloud mouth is something between the sounds of Notongue, Daniel stripped tiger and Cougar den. This band is pretty bad ass nonetheless. I tried scoring every physical release of theirs but the outcome ended with me not finding their 4 song demo. The band is from Chicago that was active between 2008-2011. They ended up putting a 4 song demo, a 2 song tape, a split 7" with Cougar den, a 2 song live split 7", a 12" and a 4 song 10" called Keep well. They also did a split 7" with 3 other bands. Out of those 3 I am familiar with Brighter arrows and Grown ups. Cloud mouth's track is also on the 12" so I had no need to spend a lot of cash on that self released split 7". As for the "Wrecked. A live 7" contains 2 songs off the LP that was released months after this 7" the 2 songs are live from 2 different sets from 2 radio stations. Just about their entire discography is equally good to me. I can't decide whether Keep well or That ghost is always with me is better than the other or the other way around. BEAR Records has copies of That ghost and Keep well for less than 5 dollars. It is your best chance to get it off of there, you can buy the LP here for 4 bucks and the 10" here for 3.20

Demo CDr

Freak/psych/fuck cassette

Cloud mouth/Cougar Den Split 7"

Wrecked. A live 7"

That ghost is always with me 12"

Keep well 10"

Notongue

I've been sorting my life a bit which is a pain. I had finished college past August and now I am just waiting to get something in the mail which will be the ceremony for graduation date. Now that I will be getting my AA in general studies I am pretty happy to say for the least part that I walked down a path that was dream like. Now that I got school stuff out of the way I have been thinking of maybe moving to Arizona, Yuma sometime in a year or so and get away from the big city. Enough with life, Notongue (Also known as tongue was a short lived band from the bay between 2012-2013. It shared members of Calculator and Matsuri. The band released a 4 song tape and a 7" called Body+mind. I saw them once during the growing up is dumb vol. 1 fest next with other bands such as Calculator, La bella and Adventures that night. I talked to the vocalist about the 7" that night. He didn't give me a exact date but said sometime next month or so will the 7" be released. That night I believe they played about most of their songs. Dwanta was the most noticeable and the best experience to listen to live. I remember the crowd began dancing than moshing. Even I got in the groove and began to dance. It would definitely be one of the best shows I have seen. Notongue resembles similar to both previous bands I mentioned. I think the tape sounds more Matsuri influenced though. I was able to snag a copy. Shawn Decker of middle man records should be selling these still for at least 3 dollars. The 7" comes with a zine (Or at least mine did) Both the cassette and 7" were under Kyeo speaks (A label that was run by Mark from Moldar/Summer vacation/Winter break/Ten thousand leagues/Heritage unit) 400 copies of this record was made, 300 of them were as a normal press while 100 were promo's I am not sure about the difference between the 2. This is some pretty fucking good shit that just amazes me on how kinda pissed off I am because only 2 short releases were made.
Bandcamp


Body+mind 7"

Calculator

Here is another band I saw for the last time in January 2015 was it? or 2016? Sophie, La bella and Ten thousand leagues. While speaking of the show. Sophie was a band similar to Calculator. I think this show was their debut or one of the first ones but to conclude the band ended. They released a 3 song self titled EP on cassette. They did have more songs though, I at least heard about 2-3 others. Calculator was a band I had mix feelings when I heard them on the split CD they made with Moldar when I was 16 (Posted this split CD on Moldar's post). While I loved Moldar Calculator in the other hand wasn't so good. It wasn't until they compiled all of their songs into one LP called These roots grow deep which included the bands debut EP, the split songs with Moldar and even had other songs that were intended to be on a split with another great band during its time called John Cota. I ended up buying this record once it was reissued in 2013 since I didn't buy the first press when it came out. I have to say after a while I did not hear much about this band since their last release with Moldar in 2009. Sometime in 2011 this band came out with a new 7" called New forms. The band did a lot of shows during that time. As for 2012 I feel blank since I don't remember how active they were. But then they revealed a LP coming out. During GUID fest they played almost every new song from their new LP "This will come to pass" it was probably some of the best songs calculator made, the band matured and sounded more heavy like. I was pretty tired 10 minutes after their set due to La bella and Notongue getting me exhausted. I remember I felt like fainting and I was in the middle of everyone pushing each other. I am amazed I didnt collapse. By the end of the show my show buddy Eduardo had a lot of water and we both just chugged that big ass bottle. On the ride back home I looked out to the window and kept thinking to myself "This fucking record is going to make me scream" After a year the band was featured in a great split between other great bands like Itto, Innards and capacities. Something happened between the label and the band and told a few people not to buy it. I was pretty close to get myself one of these since I love Innards and Calculator but the songs on their split were a bit of a miss and not so memorable. Those songs from calc ended up on a 3 way split CD with some bands outside of the US. I did not know of this until their breakup. After some months the band did one of the final shows. One was in Oakland or something and the day before it was at Bridgetown at La puente. Members ended up splitting between the bands Crush, Ten thousand leagues and Never young. I was lucky to pick up their final 7" from that show but I do regret not getting their long sleeve shirt. They made a discography CD called "Everything" reason I did not get this is because the case/sleeve is paper and that seems too fragile for me. Calculator earned its way to my heart even though I used to kinda make fun of Jeff's screaming style during These roots but eventually it made me nod.

Last show (You can see me there)





These roots grow deep 12" (Demo songs included)

New forms 7"

This will come to pass 12"

Calc 7"

The sound of young America