The band name suggests acidic, corrosive noise aplenty, but X Eagle Piss X merely seems to be a suitably inscrutable label for this out-there drone project. Despite the forbidding Gothic typeface of this cassette release, it’s full of generous, welcoming sounds- velvety, lo-fi guitar purr generates two sides of rolling, swelling tape-distorted textures. It’s an instinctive feeling-out of guitar pressure-points- the band (whoever they are) are at one with their instruments, sparking off harmonic feedback through the merest physical twitches, as if they’d simply plugged themselves into their effects pedals. Neat production touches such as re-edits and speed manipulations send shivers through the music, and Like You're Always Saying has a sound as warm and rich as a classic fuzz pedal.

Perhaps the joke band-name is a symptom of the lack of physical presence on much of the album- there’s no tangible riff-ular input into the guitars, just seismograph-like traces of electric tremors and aftershocks. Later in the tape, an acoustic guitar attempts to gives some foundations to the music- for the most part, however, the musicians are too lost in sound to care about finding their bearings. With a tape release, there’s always doubt about whether it documents a brief moment or a more deliberate project, but Like You're Always Saying certainly explores some sensuous amp-driven sound worlds. [Derek Walmsley]