Charles Rice Goff III has been home recording his uniquely personal brand of audio art and music for over 40 years. My own Goff journey began in 2001 when Charles submitted a CD by The Magic Potty Babies to my web zine – Aural Innovations. Since then, I’ve been delighting in a steady stream of Goff concoctions.

Charles is also a video artist, which I became aware of from the DVDs he submitted to Aural Innovations years ago. Goff audio is pure craftsmanship. But Goff audio + visuals is… an EXPERIENCE.
 
The decision to write about Charles’ audio-visual work began with a question about a 1991 performance by his band Herd of the Ether Space. And then… it spiraled (these things often do). I hurled myself down the rabbit hole into Goff audio-visual Wonderland. There’s a lot there. And it’s a trip.
 
A few weeks and a couple hours of phone conversations with Charles plus many hours of listening/viewing later, I’ve landed on what will be a three-part series that seeks to lure readers into Charles’ world.
 
While working on these articles Charles’ notified me of a new album he’d made available (Transition Transmission) which he claimed might be his most psychedelic yet. That got my attention because everything about Charles’ work is over-the-edge psychedelic, but in a very Goffedelic way.
 
In his video work, Charles’ use of imagery and animation is influenced by an array of artists that will be apparent to viewers who immerse themselves in his work. As Charles summarizes: “People like Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam. And all the way back to the Fleischers (Max and Dave), Chuck Jones, Disney. And then there’s all the Dadaists, I’ve got a big list of those.”
 
To this list I would add that Charles’ video work in a way reminds me of the old Ralph Records videos I bought in the 1980s on VHS. Taken together with his stated influences, readers can imagine the avant-psychedelic cauldron that’s in store.
 
It should also be added that Charles does wonders with lo-fi, inexpensive video equipment: “All the edits and everything else are done on software that was made in probably the first decade of the 21st century, up until around 2011. I’ve functioned pretty much my entire life at the low end of the economic scale. Old technology is my friend, and I do a lot with that.”
 
In this, Part I, I’ll explore four of Charles’ earlier videos. These examples are only the sharpest tippy tip point of not just Charles' audio-visual work but the massive and continually growing Taped Rugs history.
 
The Bible, The Bullet & The Synesthesia (1990)
​

The Bible, The Bullet & The Synesthesia began life as a two-hour Dadaist video that Charles showed to only a handful of ‘victims’ and never released. Years later he trimmed it down to a compact 9-minutes that “combines images from an M&Ms ad, a Green Hornet episode, a Real Cheese ad, and a gun show TV promo.” The audio is provided by Charles’ band Herd Of The Ether Space. He explains: “It’s very much a serious experiment in lo-fi. It’s crude, but I think that’s what attracts people to it.”
 
Crude indeed. But the music and imagery are mesmerizing. Air raid orchestra, 1950s sci-fi soundtrack, freeform tinkly, jazzy and trippy spacey music provide the backdrop for a freakish succession of imagery… slow motion rodeo, flying saucer, toy aliens, explosions, geometric shapes, guns… it’s a wigged out parade! Charles packs a lot into 9 minutes.

Panaramania was the first official Taped Rugs release of Charles’ video recordings. I first experienced it when Charles submitted the CDR collection of MPEGs to Aural Innovations for review in 2004. The 28 videos range in length from several seconds to not quite 2 minutes. Charles later stitched them together for a single viewing experience on the internet.
 
Charles describes the nearly 29-minute contents: “Old and new videos and photographs from various sources were cut up, effected, re-combined, and blended with bits of pre-existing sound recordings from the Taped Rugs catalog to create this collection.”
 
Charles gives the Dada pioneers a run for their money. Images are manipulated, efx’d and set in motion to create an art-video bursting with color and psychedelic brain disruption. There are snippets of actual video throughout, but it’s the color-changing, swirling, pulsating, blurring and every which way but loose collagery fun that takes center stage.
 
Having given up ’substances’ years ago I’ve come to believe that undivided attention/immersion rewards with a much better experience than being under the influence ever did, and parking myself comfortably in front of the computer screen with the speakers turned up supports this belief. (Of course, I speak for myself. Readers can enjoy according to their personal preference.)
 
When I reviewed this in 2004, I would have clicked the individual files but revisiting it all these years later I much prefer sitting back and immersing myself in them as a single experience. The ‘tracks’ are easy to follow so I’ll single out a few personal favorites…
 
‘Gerd Up’ is creatively hysterical. Samples of genuine Gerd ads and/or infomercials accompany animated imagery of the brain and facial features, with a slice of pizza munchy munching into a skeletal mouth. ‘Mister Clean’ is Goff’s take on a Mister Clean commercial, which is extra fun because we’re treated to Charles in singing song mode. ‘Vondgina’ takes what looks like ‘In Search Of Ancient Astronauts’ imagery and gives it the lysergic alter-dimensional psychedelicazation treatment, backed by melodically warped acoustic guitar strumming and effects.
 
The cool and strange backing music runs the gamut of Charles solo work, his various other bands, and collaborations with such luminaries as Hal McGee, Don Campau and Bret Hart. For sheer variety, Panaramania is an excellent introduction to the Goff/Taped Rugs audio + visuals experience.
 
Dada For The 21st Century (2006)

A little background on Dada For The 21st Century. On December 27, 2005, then mayor of Lawrence, Kansas, Dennis ‘Boog’ Highberger, proclaimed various days to be International Dadaism Month. In response, Charles ended up organizing what became the April 1, 2006, International Dada Celebration, a 3-hour event held at Lawrence’s South Park Recreation Center. Video of the event is well worth watching but was not filmed by Charles because he was busy as a participant.
 
Of his Dada influences, Charles explains: “Dada video has influenced me. And it started to influence me more when the city of Lawrence, Kansas under mayor Boog Highberger issued an official Dada Month for the city of Lawrence. That was not filmed by me, but there are things in it that are… they helped inspire me. Anyway, all that Dada stuff really kind of reinforced my interest in Dadaism and gave me a good deal more concrete knowledge of the subject.”
 
Which brings us to the 46-minute Dada For The 21st Century, which was inspired by the Dada month and event in Lawrence. Like Panaramania, this was originally released as a CDR with 17 individual MPEG videos, which Charles later made available as a single file for the internet. The notes describe how “contained in these audio/video pieces are altered clips from old films and newer documentaries, old and new photographs, original art, original films, sound samples edited and treated, and original music.”
 
I’ll call out a handful of my favorites… ‘Dada Dada Dada’ is a perfect opener, being a lightshow collage of Dada documentation and posters. ‘Flight Of The Dresses’ is an old silent film of a dancer that has been Goff-O-Vision multi-colorized to look like a psychedelic video watercolor. ‘333’ is a stunner, marrying an eerie, noisy, chaotically musical Dadaist symphony with blurred, moving candles/lights/fireflies, rotating and swaying art and shapes, a constellation of painted and who knows what globules, clouds and more. ‘En Route’ is like a Sunday drive through a colorful pastel countryside painting, as if it were an avant-art version of the old cartoon (I forget the name) where a boy created his worlds with chalk. ‘View With A Horn’ is a fun parade of Dada verbalization and imagery. Other videos feature odes to Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Eric Satie and Francis Picabia. And all are accompanied by appropriately Goff musical mind-play.
 
SanduskscenesS (2008)

SandusksceneS (Charles lives on Sandusky Street) was originally released on DVDR in 2008. Charles later made the six videos in the collection available on the internet, though in this case as six separate ‘tracks’.
 
All the soundtrack music was created by Charles except for the opening video - ‘Newcolor Bomb’, which was a collaboration with Dave Woycechowsky. This video is worth calling out for particular attention as it’s an example of Charles’ animations – He created all the art himself, as opposed to manipulating existing film and imagery. Charles nails the effect in his own assessment of the visuals: “’Newcolor Bomb’ is one of my favorites. It’s a pretty powerful thing, where it’s all crazy colors and stuff coming at you.” Which is exactly right. Shapes, objects and symbols appear, shapeshift, dance about and fade in and out, the colors continually morphing, like a psychedelically dosed avant-garde cartoon.
 
Charles and I got into a discussion about his animations relative to his creative manipulation of images and film. Many of his videos do appear to be animations, though the dividing line is whether he did the drawings/artwork himself.
 
‘Euclid’s Domesticity’ is next and is a mind-bending collage of homes, their contents and surroundings, accompanied by Charles’ eerie guitar plus assorted rumblings and effects. ‘Kauffman Stadium’ takes Charles’ love of baseball and gives it the Goff-art treatment, with a Goffified take on the traditional ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ as soundtrack. The appropriately titled 'Mantis Meal’ features a praying mantis enjoying a katydid meal with humorous robotic narration describing the scene. ‘Trip To The Fair’ uses video Charles filmed at the Douglas County (Kansas) Fair to artfully document the ‘trip’.
 
Finally, ‘Unnatural Selections’ was featured at a couple film festivals in Lawrence, Kansas. Described by Charles as “an adventure in interpretation”, the viewer is treated to a seamlessly evolving, cascading succession of imagery and film. With lots of nature, seashore, insects and wildlife, but also construction, it goes from pastoral nature to industrial and on to more active form of nature in visuals and sound. Along with ’Newcolor Bomb’, this is my favorite of the set.
 
I’ve been writing about Charles’ music for over twenty years and as much fun as it is to share the impressions it all ultimately boils down to… ya gotta experience it for yourself!
 
Have I aroused, inspired, provoked your interest? Charles has meticulously documented his history, with nearly all audio and video releases going back decades available at archive.org.
 
The portal to Goff/Taped Rugs Valhalla is HERE
 
A comprehensive list of Goff audio-visual works can be found HERE

All of Charles' previously published articles at Electronic Cottage can be found HERE

Stay tuned for Part II in which I will explore more recent examples of Charles audio-visual work.

​Astro Al (that’s ‘L’) is the Massachusetts based duo of Paul (Count Robot) and Deb (DNA Girl) Angelosanto, whose uniquely uncategorizable recordings have been enchanting my cranium for over 20 years. They’re psychedelic, they’re theatrical/poetic, they’re experimental, they’re sci-fi, and they are always ripping FUN!

Exhibit A: Die Unceremoniously, the recently released new Astro Al album. Throughout its eight tracks, the Count (and sometimes DNA Girl) provide an ongoing spoken word preacher/poet/inspirational/ranting narrative, aided and abetted by a constellation of atmospherics, music and effects. Weirdly spacey jingles, psychedelically disorienting melody that sounds like phased shifted strings or an acid dosed Japanese tea ceremony, cavernous/aquatic soundscapes, rattling and tribal percussion, trippy folk guitar licks, kazoo jams, horn blows, whistles and spectral chanting voices. It’s subtle but there’s a lot going on. Instrumentation includes mandolin, bodhran, drums, acoustic guitar, theremin, duotron, kazoo, violin, stylophone, Aztec death whistle, duck call, modified tape player and FX… all put to righteous use.

And this is only one example in a sizable catalog of varied albums and projects. I’ve been communicating with the Count and DNA Girl for years, but it occurred to me that there’s much about their background and creations I don’t know. So now, I present to you… Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Astro Al But Were Too Disoriented To Ask…
 
JK: Let’s start with a summary of your backgrounds. Given the nature of Astro Al’s recordings, I’m guessing both of you have maybe some combination of music and theater background?
 
Count Robot: Just a heads up, since we’re discussing Astro Al, I’m going to answer as my alias for that band. Just to explain, I’m not trying to hide who I am. It’s just that I think rock and roll aliases are more fun. DNA Girl and I met whilst performing in murder/mystery dinner theater shows, so we have a shared performance background. We did a lot of those shows in real castles. They were fun. I was in a couple of audio projects before and during those days, but none of them really went too far until Astro Al launched. Many moons ago I did a bunch of poetry performances, some with or without music, but I just wanted more. A bizarre need to make bizarre sounds that weren’t being made as ineptly as they could be made.
 
DNA: Yes, very much so. I performed in theatre for many years. I got involved in dinner theatre as well, that opened the door to murder mysteries. That is where we met in Dinner and Death productions. We had to kill each other off several times. As for music, I used to sing lead in a rock band (Legacy) in college. After that broke up, I got the co-starring role of the Leading Player in Pippin, that led to a couple of decades of theatre. As for music, in addition to Astro Al, and all the other bands we are currently involved in, I was in Katfish 4, and the Lionhearts. (Both folk) playing primarily mandolin and singing a bit. 
 
JK: The first CDs you submitted to Aural Innovations were by Paul Angelosanto and the Melting Poetry Collective. I’m revisiting the A Blade of Grass album (2002) and it’s certainly in the same spirit as Astro Al… spoken word, music meets avant-garde radio drama, sci-fi freakiness. I’ve got a Jihad Cafe (2004) CD too. I see miscellaneous other names in the credits, but it still seems to be mostly Paul and Deb. Was the change to Astro Al just a reflection of that or a more thought out ‘evolution’?
 
Count Robot: Great question... well I want to apologize to everyone involved with those projects for being a bigger idiot than I always am, and for putting my stupid birth name above everything. It was hubris of the worst kind. If I could go back into the past and slap myself, I would. The original name should have just been, The Melting Poetry Collective. Instead, you can just look for me on the bridge of sighs. Egos shouldn't get in the way of creation. We changed the name to Astro Al for many reasons. Here's a few: 1. Astro Al is easier to fit on a CD cover. 2. We already had the domain name for Astro Al. 3. It’s easier to fit Astro Al on a marquee outside a club or other venue, etc. You may have noticed those CDs you mentioned are not on our Bandcamp page. The reason being is they are pretty much disowned. We really came into our own as Astro Al. More DNA Girl and less me makes it better.
 
DNA: That is when I started playing with Paul. Basically, I just planned on playing a little guitar to accompany his reading, but it turned into something strange, wild and fun. It became Astro Al. The name is not one we would have chosen today. So many people refer to Paul as Al, and I guess I’m just an appendage, hehe. 
 
JK: Another early encounter I had with you was your performance at Carlo DeShouten’s 2004 Space Rock Con. I didn’t get to hear it, but Carlo sent a bunch of pictures, and I published a photo gallery in Aural Innovations. Were you by that point Astro Al or was it still the Melting Poetry Collective?

Count Robot: When I saw how ridiculous our original name looked on the gig poster for that show, I knew we had to change the name of our act. It took a bit to make the change happen. Personally, I just pretend we were called Astro Al at Carlo's Space Rock Con and I feel happier. That was a fun show. We met some dude who came all the way from Chicago on his motorcycle to see Nik Turner. Big thanks to Carlo for putting the show together and super big thanks to you, Jerry, for enriching our lives.
 
DNA: What Paul said. We pretty much started to call ourselves that at the Space Rock Con. Carlo is amazing. Was a pleasure to work with.
 
JK: Has live performance always been a big part of Astro Al? Do you perform live much?
 
Count Robot: Playing live as Astro Al is something we now only do a few times a year. I think we only played once last year. If we had a road crew it would be possible to play out more. Otherwise, it’s just an occasional thing. Mainly we like to record and record and record and playing out live eats into that time. The lack of a budget means we can’t hire roadies which means we have to haul everything ourselves. My zillion year old back doesn’t enjoy lugging all our gear. Astro Al has never played out a lot. We have done a few cable shows. Those were quite fun. Especially Sal's Show and Lowell Train.
 
DNA: Not much anymore. We played out more before the pandemic. Oddly enough, ironic as it is, especially since I used to do so much theatre, I get stage fright playing music. It takes a while for me to get the courage up and lots of rehearsals. Paul does not have that problem, so with recording I feel much more comfortable. With experimental music too, I am much more relaxed.
 
JK: You went to England to perform at the 2022 Sonic Rock Solstice! How did that come about?

Count Robot: Ever since I was a teenager (about a billion light years ago) I have always wanted to go to a psychedelic music festival in England. The UK psych festivals seemed to be the gold standard for musical festivals. Well, I was right about that! After Crudvid ended, the amazing Martyn Hasbeen announced that he was putting together the 2022 Sonic Rock Solstice. I thought... well why not try and ask if we could perform? So, I contacted him and Martyn agreed to let us make noise on his stage. Martyn is truly awesome. He lent us a guitar, let us jam with Dr. Hasbeen, and we played as Astro Al twice at the festival. It was truly a dream realized. Martyn and everyone involved were so nice and fun. Even the security guards were polite. It was paradise. Thank you Martyn and everyone at 2022 Sonic Rock!

DNA: Again, what Paul said. It was such a privilege to play in the UK. The people were so nice. We felt right at home. Fun group of people and Martyn loaned me the guitar he was playing. That’s a lot trust he had in me, and he didn’t even know me. What a thrill that whole experience was!

JK: You seem to have targeted, associated yourself, etc. – at least in part – with the Space Rock crowd. There’s certainly a lot of spacey fun in your work, though you’re ultimately uncategorizable. Is the Space Rock connection intentional, a reflection of what I know to be Paul’s space rock interests, other?
 
Count Robot: Space rock is a vague genre. I have seen some bands described as space rock that don't seem to fit what I would have thought as being space rock. Astro Al is probably more psychedelic than space rock, but then again, psychedelia is at the core of space rock. Are we space rock? What is space rock? I've heard a couple of Madonna songs called space rock, so I guess we can fit into space rock too. Ultimately, Jerry, you are right, we are uncategorizable.
 
DNA: Comedy is a big part of what we do. Monty Python, Bonzo Dog Band, Robyn Hitchcock, etc. are some examples, progressive rock, experimental, folk, poetry, all influence me/us.
 
JK: Let’s have some fun. I’ve always loved your work because it’s impossible to describe. I just let the impressions roll when writing about new albums. When asked to describe Astro Al, what is your response?
 
Count Robot: Recorded audio that needs no purpose other than existing. Over the years we’ve described ourselves this way, or that way, and I think the descriptions were accurate at those times. Labels are best left at the grocery store. At one point we often said, it was children’s music for psychedelic adults. Now I am inclined to say, we’re just weird. 
 
DNA: I always liked psychedelic children’s music for adults. I think that describes us well, but we also do some heavy pieces, like Anne Frank, or horror stories, like on Beyond the Wall. It’s a mixed bag.

JK: Continuing with the describing Astro Al subject, you’ve got an enormous discography, but to further entice our readers I’ll select one example that’s stuck in my mind - 2024’s Dr. Gumdrop’s Flea Circus Show. Your description: “This is a recreation or a creation of a flea circus show with Astro Al acting as all the performers (musicians, actors, aardvarks, etc.) including the fleas who juggle elephants.” Who could possibly not love that! My description when I posted about it was - “Think Sesame Street meets Pee-Wee’s Playhouse at the Grand Ole Opry and the entire cast are tripping their asses off”. So, with this as an… if I may… Astro Al ‘case study’ - How does a work like this come together?

Count Robot: Love it! Thanks for that description. Pee Wee is so much unbridled fun, both in his edgy and not so edgy form. The Dr. Gumdrop album was a long gestating idea. Back on our first album, 4:20, we wrote a song called Dr. Gumdrop. It was fun to play so it popped up more than a bit during our few shows. At one point we just started talking about Dr. Gumdrop and what his life was like. In his first song, the doctor sold a medicinal elixir in the frontier wild west days of the United States. He had a medicine show, would sing a song, then pitch his tonic which he pitched all throughout the one song for his show. We started to talk about how what if the Dr. was now in the peak age of Vaudeville around 1900, but still that was too normal for Gumdrop, so instead he had a flea circus. Then we figured if we built an album around that premise, it would be fun. That album really pushed us in some odd directions and had lots of fun obstacles to knock over. Rules were created and changed as we went along. At one point I almost completely re-recorded the whole thing in mono. Finally, we settled on all the elements. We performed all the musical and comedy portions of the flea circus. The fleas and animal acts had no musical accompaniment because the Dr. was too cheap to pay anyone else to play during their segments. So, that's the show which is the album. How did Gumdrop get from the frontier age to the 1900s (it's possible, maybe)? Did his medicine work and extend his life? Was he a descendent of the original Gumdrop? Is someone stealing his name? Who knows. Maybe he'll be back again in another age.
 
DNA: I think our theatre/dinner theatre backgrounds were a big influence on that album, definite comedy vibe.
 
JK: Not sure what my question is here, but your work has always had a tremendous element of pure FUN!
 
Count Robot: Thank you! One thing any type of art should never be is boring. We do strive for fun. Even when we go goth and deep, I like there to be something fun at the bottom of the bottomless pit.
 
DNA: I like that. If we can put a smile on your face (and hopefully others) it makes it all worth it. I think some people just can’t believe we perform as off the wall as we do. Some love it, some don’t, I’m sure. We have fun though.
 
JK: There have been several Astro Al collaboration albums. But your numero uno collaborator seems to be goat herder extraordinaire - Tim Mungenast. Is there a special relationship there?
 
Count Robot: Tim Mungenast is a goat guitar god! We found him because of YOU! We heard Tim’s song ‘Candles’ on your Aural Innovations radio show and we were blown away. We went to see him play and what a great experience we had. It’s an understatement to say we get on well with Tim. He stays at our place a few times a year to hang out and record. Sometimes we go out to NY to see him. We are way overdue to do that again. All this is to say, there is a special relationship there. Tim is part of my brain! He digs a lot of the same stuff we do. Creating with him is easy, we hardly talk about what we're going to do, we just do it, and it is. Tim is a Zen Goat. Thank you for existing Tim! We love you man! He is a wonder! If you asked me to list my top 100 guitarists he would be on the list. Tim knows how to love his instruments and craft goat-rific music! He is whimsy! We often watch B movies when we get together. What can make you bond more than that?
 
DNA: We go back a long way with Tim. He is a great friend and a guitar master. He has become like family. It all started on your show. I thought he sounded like Jim Morrison, and the songs were fun, so we were curious to check them out. He and Michael Bloom (who I used to play with in Katfish 4) were playing at a coffee shop and we caught their set. Been friends since.
 
JK: In some cases, you’ve released albums under different ‘band’ names. There have been several Static Apparitions albums. That’s the two of you, right?
 
Count Robot: Yes, Static Apparitions is usually just the two of us. We did have a guest on one track on the first album which was Mark Paradoxos who played some fine keyboards. Thanks Mark! We found ourselves veering a bit from what Astro Al is (that's a whole question in itself) and wanted to do something more like a soundtrack to a 1970s Italian horror movie and that’s how Static Apparitions came into existence. There are two rules with Static Apparitions: 1. No lyrics or words although vocalizing is fine too. No writing in advance. It's all improvised and then cut/mixed/sculpted together later.
 
DNA: Yes, it started during the pandemic. We decided to goth it up and do strictly instrumental and cut loose music with a spooky vibe. We both love horror and supernatural movies, so it has become another part of us.
 
JK: And you’ve released several albums by Amplissima, which is clearly its own ‘band’. Tell me about that one.
 
Count Robot: Amplissima came about because Tim introduced us to Eric, AKA E Dahlfree. We got to talking and the four of us decided to record outside in an abandoned World War II gunnery site and we had a blast. Then we knew we wanted to do more and more. Now we have probably a couple of hours worth of stuff waiting to be mixed. Amplissima is... its own experiment. Is it free jazz? Is it art noise? Is it a caged John Cage? Who knows? I just know I really like creating with this band. We have plans for some more recording sessions this year at different locations. Not only is Eric truly a creative entity he also has a knack for locating harmonically rich or spiritually rich spots to record in, such as a potentially haunted house. He listened to classic Hawkwind a lot so that makes him cool in my book.
 
DNA: We have a ball recording with Tim and Eric, and sometimes Vanessa LeFevre joins us. So much fun making music with them. We try to find places outdoors for the most part - Echo Bridge, the bunker at Maudslay State Park, the artillery place Paul mentioned, etc. We have more plans for this year, though we did record in a haunted brothel at one point.
 
JK: Any other projects I’m forgetting?
 
DNA: Paul knows them better than I do. I always ask him what we are doing. 
 
Count Robot: Another project we’re in is Neurodivergent. A few times a year we get together with a vast array of characters in a secret house that looks normal from the outside, but the inside looks like the waking vision of any musician (with wall-to-wall instruments and gear) and we perform. The shows are all live streamed for free and then re-mastered and posted again for free. This is all run by the incredible David Peck. David is in a stunning collection of bands/projects and has played on more albums than Miles Davis (I'm not exaggerating at all). Pek (as he’s called) truly is a wonder, and I am so happy to make an idiot of myself with him. None of the music is planned in advance. We just improv and every time the show ends I want to cry. I just don't want it to stop.
 
Here's some links to this wild stuff.
https://neurodivergent1.bandcamp.com/
https://evilclown.rocks/nd-recordings/
https://www.youtube.com/@GiantEvilClown
 
JK: What are the best sources for Astro Al? I’ve got your Bandcamp and Astro Al web sites.
https://astroal.bandcamp.com
https://www.astroal.com
 
Count Robot: Those sites you mentioned are the best sites for us. There's also a YouTube channel as well. 
https://www.youtube.com/astroal
 
JK: Any final words? News? Wisdom? Other?
 
Count Robot: As David Lynch would say, "Be kind to each other." And I would like to thank you, Jerry, for being a giving, gifted, cool, person. As to news, we'll be dumping more sounds on this plane of existence throughout the year. Some of them include another Rust album with Tim Mungenast, an Amplissima album recorded at Echo Bridge, an album with our friend and experimentalist Vanessa LeFevre, an Astro Al single, some videos from Static Apparitions and at least one more Static Apparitions album. Phew. 
 
DNA: Not that I can think of, except thank you so much Jerry for having us on your show. It is always a pleasure.

Gabe Konrad began recording as Grey Tissue in 1984, releasing three cassette albums and contributing to some compilations in the mid-1980s. Most of the recordings were solo with occasional guests on individual tracks. Gabe also performed 8 or 9 live shows in Grand Rapids, Michigan with Toxic Scott (Bala) from the band ADC. Then ‘life’ imposed itself and Gabe’s activities went on hiatus. As he recalls, “We still called ‘noise’ Industrial back then, and for years I had the desire to start recording again.”
 
Fast forward to Christmas 2021 when Gabe’s wife bought him a Tascam 8-track for a present: “After a few false starts and tentative steps I received some gentle prodding and encouragement from Knox Mitchell of the Easy Listening label in Detroit. By late-2022 I was off and running, recording nearly every week since. Knox put me on a compilation in 2023 – my first release since 1986 – and released my first full-length CD, An Excess of Pathologies, in 2024.”
 
And now we’ve got two brand spankin’ new cassette albums from Grey Tissue…

​The packaging for this tape is pretty cool. Gabe collected mini-Bibles for several months and repurposed them for the cover. Of the theme, Gabe says: “I enjoy the juxtaposition of hope and terror deployed by most of the preachers featured on the tracks, though I think I fall squarely on the dread side of the fence in tone and manner. I wouldn’t say the songs are inherently anti-religious, aside from the fact that I had to destroy twenty Bibles to make the covers. I’m going to hell.” The comic that came with the tape is a real ministry that former ‘Son of Sam’ serial killer, and now born-again Christian, David Berkowitz is affiliated with.
 
There are three tracks on Side A, though the first two (‘Glory’ and ‘Wrath’) play as one to my ears. Pulsating squalls that sound like a blend of radio static and morse code combine with a drugged voice that struck me as a demon from beyond (but I now know is a manipulated preacher’s voice). Has the devil ambushed the readers of this bible?!! Eventually other garbled voices join in, only to be overwhelmed by intermittent high pitched chirp tones and scratch effects. Maybe these represent the born-again David Berkowitz crossing swords with evil? It’s fun imagining the possibilities with these themes in mind.
 
‘Books Don’t Cry’ opens with a sonic assault of noise that sounds like being in a tunnel when a water main has broken and we’re running for our lives. The noise waves pulsate in a way that produced an unsettling throb in my chest but is punctuated by free-wheeling tone whips and whirls against the incessant noise march, adding a sense of kid toy fun to the atmosphere of aggression. Eventually the noise builds to such frenzied levels of chug-a-chug aggression that the kid and his toy crank the volume to compete, blasting out wailing and pulsating notes as if from a ray gun. The remainder of the track consists of multiple interludes where the noise recedes and various creepy voices ramble and drone before the whitest of noise swoops in for the kill. Debates between good and evil? I like how it alternates between aggression and disorientingly spooky.
 
The entirety of Side B is taken up by ‘Last Days’. It opens with atmospherics that make me feel like I’m in a hellish dungeon with wind whooshing and clangs echoing. Then the familiar slowed down voice comes in with its unintelligible demon sermon. I like the way the soundscapes, waves and blasts of thunder and rumbling weather patterns develop an ongoing theme without quite tipping over into noise. It’s an interesting balance that communicates the dread of navigating hell itself. Maybe the droning voice is a helpful tour guide! Later in the piece the mood gets increasingly thunderous and unsettlingly static noisy, as if the venture into hell has taken the worst possible turn. Let your imagination run wild!

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this tape is part of Ron Lessard’s RRRecords Recycled series, where the artist takes a used cassette and tapes over it to create their own audio art. Good to know Ron is still at least semi-active.
 
Grey Tissue’s Recycled starts off with deliriously winding and pounding space-waves. Maybe we’re on an interstellar construction site, surrounded by the pulse of tornadic jackhammers and cranes and the men whistling while they work yet cautiously dodging meteorites. As the piece develops it becomes increasingly weather beaten, as if we’re fighting the worst possible blinding Arctic storm. The winds are incessantly furious, with howls that are like a cross between wolves and air raid sirens. Eventually the storm calms to the point of hissy silence. But this is brief, as a subtle rumble quickly increases in volume, gradually creating an atmosphere that’s just as sandpaper rough as it is eerily spooky. And from here we swing back and forth between quietly dreary, ghostly dirge and higher volume threatening chorus of anguished howls and noisy spectral space symphony.
 
The B-side is, for the most part, a more subtle affair. In fact, I thought maybe this is a one-sided tape. But patience reveals a long stretch of quiet hiss, interrupted by the most minute bits of sound. But ever so gradually the pace picks up… louder waves and blasts of hiss, the sound of what could be someone trudging through a tunnel, weather and construction bits and pieces that start to increase in volume. It’s all very sparse and, dare I say, ‘ambient’ compared to the A-side, and in a strange way gave me much more to focus on. There’s even some music near the end. Overall, a really cool tape for the noise/abstract audio art crowd.

Both tapes are available directly from Gabe. Email him at:
[email protected]

Gabe also has a seller page at Discogs with both tapes and the An Excess Of Pathologies CD.

An Excess Of Pathologies is also available at the Easy Listening label web site.

NOTE: Gabe has more Sunday School tapes than comics that came with my copy. FYI to those who order it.