Pitchblende

I have no memory of how I came to possess this cassette by Pitchblende, a DC-area band that formed in 1991 and broke up in 1995. I think maybe it was sent to me by Damian from the contemporaneous but even shorter-lived DC band Load, with whom I corresponded a little bit around the time this came out, and whose own cassette I will post at some point in the future. Oddly I never wound up acquiring any further releases by Pitchblende other than the split single with Eggs that I posted earlier, so they're not a band I know really well, but listening to this tape again while digitizing reminded me how much I like it. Luckily for me (and you), the rest of their discography is posted over at Crumbs of Affection, so I should be able to find out what I've been missing all these years pretty easily.

The band also entered the digital age a few years back by creating a MySpace page, which details the group's formation and the circumstances surrounding the creation of this cassette. So I don't see much reason to go on and on about those details here. It is worth noting, however, that the description there does not reference the experimental and interesting hidden tracks that appear at the end of each side of the tape - the latter of which consists largely of an extended telephone conversation in Russian or Polish or some other Eastern European language. Also the MySpace entry lists the songs in a different order than the tape cover does - I've followed the tape here (including the mispelling of "Sum" as "Sump"), so someone let me know if it is incorrect. Finally, I really like the fact that one of the members of Pitchblende actually played as part of Unrest on the Yes She is My Skinhead Girl single, which I have also posted here. It makes me feel like I might be recreating just a little bit of the original community, which is nice.

One last thing: while I normally don't do much to alter the direct recording of my vinyl, I did remove the tape hiss from these mp3s. If I had better (OK, any) command of the EQ functions in Audacity I might have been able to keep this from sounding like it came from an 18-year-old tape altogether, but no such luck. At any rate, I hope it pleases some ears out there. Enjoy.










Pitchblende cassette, 1991
Self-released, #254 of a limited edition

A1: Redcap (3:26)
A2: Tuffet (3:12)
A3: Sump (4:06)
A4: Comatose Snail Punchout (4:48)
A5: Pilot Light (3:56)
A6: [Untitled hidden track] (2:17)
B1: Lacquer Box (5:42)
B2: Drop in the Big Drink (3:07)
B3: Infinite Mouse (3:03)
B4: Sawed Off City (3:12)
B5: Cars (4:20)
B6: [Untitled hidden track] (6:17)

Get it here.