Orb Tapes

15/12/2023

Year end sale is live now!
Use code "BYE2023" at checkout for 25% off anything in the store. Applies to all distro titles, but does not apply to existing bundle items. Sale ends January 1st and all orders of 3 or more items will receive freebies!

09/12/2023

Dirty, new-school boom bap jams on the way from Crownovhornz in the new year. Also catch him on tour RIGHT NOW with the insanely good
Release details TBA soon.

01/12/2023

Our final release of 2023 will come out at the end of this month and features live recordings from 2 amazing noise / experimental improv acts, Galaxxu and Beachmaster.
On this tape, Galaxxu's lineup includes friend of the label on sax as well.

24/11/2023

OUT NOW:
Soft as Snow - Organ Candy


Soft as Snow is a Norwegian avant-pop duo based in Berlin. Their music effortlessly straddles the structure and determinism of club and “pop” music and the abstract expressionism of experimental music. Crackling, pixelated synth lines, drum machines, and pleading, introspective vocals coalesce to form a unified sound world – one in which our digital existence precedes and overshadows our physical bodies. “Organ Candy” is a sonic articulation of this conflict.

Following recent releases “Bit Rot” and “Massage” on Infinite Machine and Jollies Records respectively, this new collection of tracks continues the endeavor of illuminating our own abstracted and refracted realities. The smoothness of a black screen is mirrored in an ethereal, half-whispered vocal line while the jagged and jarring physical circumstances of our world are reflected in an accompanying wave of crunching, deteriorating synth wails. “Organ Candy” is a coexisting of these two worlds, a recognition of their inextricable link – dreamlike and bleak, ensnaring and liberating. The duo’s music contains an alluring thread of the recognizable couched in an undoing of that same familiarity, or what The Wire succinctly describes as “electronic music pushed to the brink of collapse.”

Slide 2 photo by
Slide 3 photo by
Slide 4 photo by

27/10/2023

Today is finally the day - "All The Duos" by Maria Chavez and Sandy Ewen is here!
CDs and digital downloads available on bandcamp (link in bio).



A colossal effort, this double CD release contains over 90 minutes of music and showcases the improvisational prowess of both artists. Taking their instruments past the point of recognizability, each has a knack for coaxing unpredictable yet beautiful sounds from her equipment – turntables and guitars treated in utterly novel ways.

Now based in Brooklyn, Chavez and Ewen have been improvising together since 2001, when they were just 21 and 17 years old respectively. Playing together for so long, since nearly the start of each artist’s musical career, has built an impenetrable sonic bond. Chavez sums up perfectly how the years of collaboration have affected their output, saying, “That’s why there is depth, that’s why listening is central.” The nuanced interplay on these recordings certainly demands close listening. The artists’ shared musical history comes through as improvisation elevated by a mutual intuition.

The recordings on “All The Duos” exhibit a certain incorporated sonic tension. Ewen and Chavez play off of one another like two sides of a brain. Chavez’s musical approach involves the deconstructing and reimagining of her turntables as instruments, leaving behind their common use as mere media players. Ewen’s treatment of the guitar is not dissimilar, making conventional playing and even a large number of her prepared guitarist counterparts seem musically mild-mannered by comparison. The transition of textures and the swelling together of these disparate elements bring out a sense of cohesion across this collection of tracks that makes them seem less improvised than they truly are. Both artists bring unique, thought-provoking styles to their instruments, resulting in collaborations untethered to musical normalcy. Vinyl records, needles, strings and pickups pushed past conventional use, coalescing into a unified and innovative sound art.

23/10/2023

Coming next month:
Soft as Snow - Organ Candy

Decimated synthpop from the uber-talented Norwegian duo operating out of Berlin.
Melted, galactic new wave for the future.


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Cover art installation piece by

03/10/2023

Live split tape coming in December featuring Galaxxu V.Y.R. and Beachmaster

Galaxxu is a long-running free jazz project out of Chicago, and in this incarnation the group consists of Corey Lyons, Alex Maerbach, Rush Falknor and Alexander Adams. The group's second release on Orb, this recording is a slow burning, wailing free jazz blowout recorded live in Erie, PA.

Beachmaster is the duo of Natty Gray and George Christ, hailing from Tulsa, OK. Their material on this split was recorded live in December 2022 as the first ever "alternative programming" at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa.

21/09/2023

Coming 10.27.23 - a brand new double CD collaboration featuring Maria Chavez and Sandy Ewen.
"All The Duos" showcases the depth of improvisation that has been developed between these two artists and highlights the idiosyncratic and norm-defying styles of each.

14/08/2023

Coming next month:
Heaven Drugs / Gravity's Constant split
vaporwave / electronica / chillwave

08/08/2023

Lots of cool stuff in the works.
Most of these will be out before the end of the year.

04/08/2023

New music out today:
Torschlusspanik - Micropen*s Envy

Torschlusspanik is the experimental moniker of the multi-talented, Tennessee-based artist Luna Mitchell. A follow-up to last year's "Intersexual Healing" on No Rent Records and her second release on Orb, this new tape features more of her unique and intricate style of sound collage that has come to be expected from this project. Garbled incantations, chopped field recordings, and the indecipherable in-between collide in beautiful, hectic harmony across these 8 new tracks.

Limited to 50 copies, link in bio

Music by
Cover art by .scrapple

19/07/2023

New music from Torschlusspanik drops August 4th- "Micropen*s Envy"
Meticulous, contemporary musique concréte.

Torschlusspanik is the experimental moniker of the multi-talented, Tennessee-based artist Luna Mitchell. A follow-up to last year's "Intersexual Healing" on  and her second release on Orb, this new tape features more of her unique and intricate style of sound collage that has come to be expected from this project. Garbled incantations, chopped field recordings, and the indecipherable in-between collide in beautiful, hectic harmony across these 8 new tracks.

12/07/2023

OUT NOW:
Drekka - The Water of Life

"... the displaced distortion of memories being recalled using faulty equipment... a sort of rats in the works chaos, and an emerging focus on mantra and stoic aims." - Mkl Anderson

Cassettes and digital downloads available on our BC page, link in bio.

05/07/2023

New music from Drekka drops this Friday, 7.7.23 - "The Water Of Life"

Mkl Anderson has been making music as Drekka since 1996 and shows no signs of slowing down. His style is singular, transportive and eerily ritualistic, or as Noel Gardner once put it so succinctly in The Quietus: "cave-bound and inscrutable."

29/06/2023

Coming later this year:
Maria Chavez & Sandy Ewen collaboration
We've been teasing this release for quite a while now, and though there have been logistical delays here and there pushing it back, concrete moves are finally being made to get this out into the world. This will be a double CD release featuring both artists' unique styles - abstract turntablism meets found object prepared guitar.
Artwork will be revealed soon along with the exact release date.

27/06/2023

Coming this Friday:
Drekka - "The Water Of Life"

Sound collage ritual, or "an assemblage of memories"

22/06/2023

New music from Torschlusspanik on the way - "Micropen*s Envy"
Deeply personal musique concréte for the 21st century.

Torschlusspanik is the experimental moniker of Tennessee-based artist Luna Mitchell. A follow-up to last year's "Intersexual Healing" on and her second release on Orb, this new tape features more of her trademark meticulous and autobiographical sound collage that puts the old European "masters" to shame.
Release date TBA soon.

19/06/2023

New music from drops 7.7.23 - "The Water of Life"
ritual ambient / industrial soundscape

Mkl Anderson's work as Drekka "is a project that experiments not only with sound, but also with memory as a subject and a process... [it] is both a sonic experiment and an assemblage of memories – at one moment dissonant and intimidating, and the next warm, hospitable, and ultimately soothing." (Dais Records)

13/06/2023

New music on the way from Soft as Snow
Noisy, avant-garde synthpop from Norway
More details and release date TBA
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08/06/2023

~~Beachmaster is coming to Orb~~

Beachmaster is the elusive noise duo composed of George Christ and Natty Gray of the Tulsa, OK-based art, music, and cassette collective Cult Love. Active since roughly 2014, Beachmaster has dwelled in the world of underground extreme music and experimental art, occasionally materializing for live actions and new audible offerings. Having collaborated and played with the likes of Crustgirls, Wolf Eyes, Raven Chacon, Bu****it Market, Campbell & Gardner, and Flora Morte, Beachmaster was originally a practitioner of textural noise, pseudo-power electronics, digital noisecore, niche remixes and obscure soundtracks. The modern manifestation of Beachmaster is a samplecentric harbinger of oppressive, petrifying soundscapes. Beachmaster crafts original, one-time-only, noise and experimental compositions for every performance, shaping its sonic form to best complement the atmosphere and audience of each live setting. A staple of Tulsa noise and a footnote in the city’s history of experimental art and music.

Coming soon via a split cassette with label alums Galaxxu!

06/06/2023

New music from Drekka coming soon - "The Water of Life"

Mkl Anderson has been making music as Drekka since 1996 and shows no signs of slowing down. His style is singular, transportive and eerily ritualistic, or as Noel Gardner once put it so succinctly in The Quietus: "cave-bound and inscrutable."

Pictures 1 & 2 are from Rhoneymeade Fest 2023 - presented by - where Mkl played a wonderfully captivating set.

The Water of Life comes out on cassette 7.7.23

02/06/2023

AVAILABLE NOW:
Kevin Sims - Yarrow Canon
Avant-garde compositions for percussion and voice.
Limited to 150 copies, link below.

"People misrecite the best portion of what they memorize, memorize the best portion of what they write, and write the best portion of what they hear. So if you acquire knowledge, acquire it directly from their mouths. You will not hear except the best—unstrung pearls."
- Ibn 'Arabi

"Most of the music I am attracted to represents some kind of undoing. Sun Ra's undoing of the big band, or of the jazz solo. Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern's undoing of the classical music concert. The A.A.C.M.'s undoing of the jazz combo and the club date. Pauline Oliveros' undoing of the musical score. Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, and Cornelius Cardew's various undoings of the profession. What's more, none of these undoings are antagonistic or destructive. The thing undone is the thing unstrung, unthreaded from its predictable row and progression.

In my own playing, my desire to undo things has at times led to "not doing" them. Yarrow Canon is a project that traces a sustained attempt I made, during the on-again-off-again months of solitude in 2020 and 2021, to actually (un)do it."
- Kevin Sims

25/05/2023

New music from Yotzeret Sheydim in the works.
Jewish mysticism turned noise.
Release date TBA soon, but you noiseheads won't want to miss this one.

       

05/05/2023

New batch out today!

OT_176: Sugar Pills Bone / Phoned Nil Trio - BIGBADHARVEY
~~weirdo noise, plunderphonics, absurdist sound collage, lurpwave~~

OT_177: Glacial Anatomy / Cementation Anxiety split
~~drone, ambient, dark ambient~~

OT_178: instant messenger - sologuitar 1
~~drastic guitar music~~

Available now on the Bandcamp page (and it's Bandcamp Friday so a great day to support independent artists and labels!) All 3 tapes also available in a batch at a considerable discount. Check the Sugar Pills Bone / Phoned Nil Trio release page for the batch.

Thank you all for your continued support!

03/05/2023

summer tour starts today!

28/04/2023

Thanks to for this short write up of the recent Speherule Trio tape featuring Patrick Shiroishi, Kevin Sims and Lucas Brode. Copies are still available on the BC page, link in bio.

27/04/2023

Drops 5/5 as part of our next batch:
Sugar Pills Bone / Phoned Nil Trio split
"BIGBADHARVEY"
weirdo electronics / absurdist noise / sound collage / plunderphonics

27/04/2023

On the way in our May batch, coming 5/5:
Glacial Anatomy / Cementation Anxiety split
Dense and robust drone / ambient zones on a c40. Info on the other releases in the May batch coming soon.
anxiety

07/04/2023

3 new releases out today:

OT_173: niku daruma - Love is an excessive thing
OT_174: New Grasping Machina - Pig F**k
OT_175: Samuel Locke Ward - Thrift Store Gtr Gold

The harsh noise / outsider folk batch you didn't know you needed until now. Links to all 3 below, batch is available on the niku daruma release page.

04/04/2023

23/03/2023

New music video for "Banned Books" by Samuel Locke Ward from the upcoming album Thrift Store Gtr Gold. The new album will be available on cassette on April 7th in a batch along with 2 other new releases.
Sam Locke Ward

"Banned Books" by Samuel Locke Wardfrom the album "Thrift Store Gtr Gold" - coming 4/7/23Video by SLWhttps://samuellockeward.bandcamp.com

24/02/2023

New music out today:
Spherule Trio - There Will Always Be Instruments

Consisting of Patrick Shiroishi on saxophone, Kevin Sims on percussion, and Lucas Brode on guitar, Spherule Trio is a (somewhat) newly formed group playing free and guided improvisational music. This debut release was recorded during the pandemic year of 2021 and, like much collaborative music recorded during that time, was put together remotely. The musicians took turns recording base tracks for each song and layering subsequent parts over the bases. In addition, one piece of visual art was used for each track as a loose cue or graphic score to guide playing. The result is a set of "free improv" pieces that are slightly more directed than a lot of strictly improvisational music. Running the gamut from restrained and brooding to chaotic and whirling, these recordings showcase three musicians at the top of their improvisational game who show no signs of slowing down.

Link below.

27/01/2023

New release out today:
Jericho Kane - Pimps Don't Commit Su***de
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"Pimps Don’t Commit Su***de" is the first full length album from Brooklyn, NY-based noise artist Jericho Kane. The album is a tribute to and cover of Southland Tales, the 2006 film from Richard Kelly. Critically panned and a commercial flop on release, Southland Tales is secretly the greatest achievement in film in the last 25 years.
Jericho Kane is the alter-ego of songwriter Brook Pridemore. An anodyne to the rigidity of songwriting and traditional performance, Jericho Kane performances are always improvised, eschewing structure for a plug-in-and-play sensibility.
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OT_170
Link below

Brook Danger Pridemore

02/01/2023

After some unforeseen delays, we will finally be bringing you the collaborative double CD release featuring and in 2023.
Broken record turntablism and prepared guitar.
Release date TBA this spring.

31/12/2022

Our first release of 2023 will be from Jericho Kane, a noise project of Brook Pridemore's. Exact release date TBA shortly.
"Pimps Don't Commit Su***de"

20/12/2022

WHITEPHOSPHOROUS tapes are now sold out, thanks to everyone who supported!omega

01/12/2022

Thanks to for including our recent .ucet release in their latest Cassette Culture column!