CHRIS PHINNEY'S "Harsh Reality" (1990 - 2023)

 

I got this tape by Vikitimized Karcass from Chris Phinney back in the 90's. I daresay it was not the most cheerful cover I had ever seen, and even Chris himself told me once that it was pretty much over the top.

 

 

This tape was an  Alternate Media release from England, and lo and behold I found out you can still purchase or just listen to the whole thing on the Alternate Media Tapes Bandcamp page.

 

Here's who's doing what! Chris was the only one I ever had contact with.

 

These days Chris is still going strong, and although his label is still Harsh Reality, his work with Ed Drury has shifted from blood red to cruel azul and........

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Cruel Azul"

 

 

...................Deep blue!!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Deep Blue" 

And those are just two of the many blue tracks they've released in the last few weeks!

You can read all about it until you're blue in the face on Chris's

HARSH REALITY Bandcamp pages.

DON CAMPAU & CHRIS PHINNEY - "Rain Wash Me" (2022)

 

Just released today but sounding like vintage 1989, Don Campau & Chris Phinney have a new release on Bandcamp called "Rain Wash Me," and I dig it!

This IS the stuff!! I suggest you play it at least two times in a row for full effect, and then go buy it!!

DON CAMPAU & CHRIS PHINNEY - "Transpersonal Compulsions"

 

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Did You Get My Letter?" (2022)

 

I wondered why I hadn't heard from Chris Phinney in a while, then I realized I probably didn't get his letter! 

Chris & Ed have been busy! Covid didn't stop them, nothing seems to slow them down, and I think they are getting even better. Follow the path of their many releases over the past year or so, and you'll find it's like a musical diary written by the two of them, and just like life, there's good days, and sometimes there's bad days!

Today was a good day!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Did You Get My Letter?"

GODSPUNK # 23 and FOUR DAYS IN MARCH (2022)

 

There were two new releases on Bandcamp this week that should have all lovers of independent sounds frothing at the mouth! On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, pStan Batcow let loose a two CD collection in his Godspunk series. 

pStan is now up to Number Twenty-Three, and this sucker has got fifty-two songs from twenty-two bands/artistes like Howl In The Typewriter, Breathilizör, UNIT, Spam Javelin, and other Pumf favourites.

You can buy the CD's from the Pumf Website, or you can listen, download, and purchase all the songs from the Pumf Bandcamp page!

 

Then on Thursday, March 10, 2022, Hal McGee released a new title on Bandcamp on his Haltapes label called "Four Days In March," that is the end result of his two day session with Chris Phinney, Michael Thomas Jackson, and others called "Apartment Music." All the sounds came from a get together they had a couple of weeks ago!

 

Recorded the Same Day! Chris says this is "The Real Deal"

"SYNTHESIZER IMPROVISATIONS" 

There you go, time's a wasting, so what are you waiting for?

HAL TAPES - "Apartment Music 42 & 43" (2022)

 

It's not often I get to post announcements, but when a bunch of 80's & 90's home tapers and indie artists gather together for a private impromptu two day concert and birthday party for Chris Phinney, then I don't exactly have a choice. Put together by Hal McGee to be held in his Gainseville, Florida home, it will all be recorded and documented forever on the internet. It's all happening in about a week on March 5th and 6th, and I'm sure Hal will have it all online shortly after that!

HALTAPES - Stay Tuned!

CHRIS PHINNEY AND ED DRURY - "Life Will Kill Ya" (2022)

 

Pandemic be damned, Chis Phinney and Ed Drury are going to make music no matter what! It's not like they have a choice, it's just something that has to be done! For me, this is a definitive piece for Chris and Ed, and it's like sitting on a beach in Kauai under a moonlit sky, and drinking a Mai-tai on Mars. The title is "Life Will Kill Ya," but as we all know it's death that kills us! I've told Chris many a time that I thought their songs were too long, but this one at eight minutes and thirteen seconds is actually too short. I could listen to this stuff all day long! Enjoy!

CHRIS PHINNEY  &  ED DRURY - "Life Will Kill Ya"

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Live Life Lightly" (2022)

Chris Phinney & Ed Drury have been busy again, and have just put out a couple of new tunes on Bandcamp. This one is plenty laid back but cool! Ed's doing the guitars, fx, drums & submix, and Chris handles the synths, fx, & the Final mix at HRM.

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Live Life Lightly"

 

THE PURPLE DOT EXPERIENCE - "Songs Based On The Poetry Of Pamela Mary Stone" (1994)

"The Purple Dot Experience" was a various artists tape compilation put together by K.D. Schmitz in 1994, and the songs were all based on poems written by a young lady named Pamela Mary Stone.

 

 

I contributed two songs to this tape, and I almost wish I hadn't because my tunes kind of stink up the whole project. In fact I distinctly remember K.D. telling me that he played this tape for his whole family, and when my first song came on, his Mother asked if the stereo was broken. I think that about says it all.

We were given a few of Mary's poems to choose from, and the titles were "The Purple Dot," "Love," "Trees," "Books," and "Reading." The artistes involved were varied and included Chris Ballew of "The Presidents Of The United States," and one song by the late Dave Fuglewicz. Unfortunately Dave just passed away a couple of weeks ago on July 15, 2021, and if you'd like to help out his family with all the medical expenses that he incurred, Chris Phinney has set up a Go Fund Me page where you can do that!

Here are two songs from this cassette that in my humble opinion are the best of the bunch, one from each side of the tape. The first one is by Jeff Olson of the fantastic band "Screamin Popeyes," and the second one is by Edward Schmitz who I think is K.D.'s brother!

JEFF OLSON - "Books"

EDWARD SCHMITZ - "The Purple Dot"

CHRIS PHINNEY & ANTONELLA EYE PORCELLUZZI - "Love Politics & Injuries From Ancient Rome" (2021)

 

The dreams continue with the spacey synth sounds of Harsh Reality's Chris Phinney in Memphis, partnered up with Antonella Eye Porcelluzzi, who is Italian, but these days resides in France, on a brand new release called "Love Politics & Injuries From Ancient Rome" that they just finished up this week.

"Recorded between Feb 27th & April 11th 2021
"We had a wonderful time uncovering ancient Rome, it mirrors ancient poems from Rome & we hope you enjoy" - Chris Phinney

I've written about Chris's many projects several times, 

and here are some links you can use to delve deeper into Antonella's work!

Antonella Eye Porcelluzzi on YouTube!

Antonella's Bandcamp Page!

Antonella's Wordpress Page!

Here's some of what you can expect..........

CHRIS PHINNEY & ANTONELLA EYE PORCELLUZZI - "Orazio 1"

HARSH REALITY MUSIC - "Woundz Never Heal Volume 1 & Volume 2 Compilation" (1988)(2021)

 

 If Chris Phinney had any spare time on his hands, he'd be re-releasing some of the 100's of tapes he produced for Harsh Reality back in the day, but since he doesn't have any spare time, he does it anyway, because that's the kind of guy he is!

It's called "Woundz Never Heal!" and is a compilation tape by 36 different artists in 1988.

Just re-released today, here's the link to the Bandcamp Page!

Chris thinks it's one of the best compilations he ever made, and one of his proudest accomplishments!

It's been 33 years, let's see if the world has caught up to Chris's vision yet!

From HALTAPES, here's the full description with all the details and a review!

 From Voume 1, I think my fave in the batch is number 10................

SWINEBOLT 45 - "No Apologies"  

From Volume 2, here's the lead song to set the mood.......

PARADE OF SINNERS - "No Happening"

No Apologies - No Happening - No Healing!!!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Time Paradox" (2021)

Today marks the release of a new album by Chris Phinney and Ed Drury titled "Time Paradox." Chris and Ed are a veritable snowball right now. These two guys are rolling downhill so fast, there's no way in Hell to stop them! And here's the amazing thing, they're not just banging these out to try and set some new Guinness Book of World Records entry, instead, each and every one of these tunes is full of thought and purpose, and meaning. Weird concept, I know, kind of like a pair of dachshunds in a time machine!

 

I think my favorite tune from this release is the title song, but I like this one a lot too!
CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Rain Delays"

  You can check out the whole Harsh Reality Catologue right here, but if Chris stays in this vein, he might have to change the name to Harmonious Reality Music soon! (But I doubt it!)

ED DRURY - "Hidden Tracks" (2021)

Just yesterday Ed Drury released a new solo album called "Hidden Tracks" on Bandcamp!

Ed describes it thusly.....

"A collection of previously unreleased or "hidden" tracks. Some are the original recordings of compositions I did over the past several months for the Chris Phinney and Ed Drury project on Harsh Reality Music. As a bonus for buying Hidden Tracks, there are four "hidden" tracks of the collaborative pieces found on the six (soon to be seven) albums Chris, and I did together."

 

Ed Drury is a multi-faceted cat as you might gather from this image. Do yourself a favor and check out his website! 

But in the meantime, buy this music, open a bottle of wine, go sit out on the back porch in the rain, listen to it. and chill!

Here's just one good reason...

ED DRURY - "Remember Your Wallet"

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Back In Blue" (2021)

I don't know how they keep doing it or how much longer it will go on, but the duo of Chris Phinney and Ed Drury have been killing it for the last couple of months! With almost a song for each and every day, "Back In Blue" is their first complete release for the year 2021, which already makes this a better year than the last one!

There are 20 great songs on this release, of which four of them are bonus tunes you get when you download the whole thing, but my absolute favorite is this very Green and foggy tune called "Backstory." Most of the songs are Ed Drury playing guitars and added effects, and Chris Phinney on synths, more effects, and responsibility for the final production. I'm mighty proud of the fact that Chris decided to use this "Backstory" photo along with ten others that were taken by me.

I seriously suggest you check it out!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Backstory"

1980's & 90's TAPE TRADING CORRESPONDENCE

I still have a big box of correspondence from my 80's and 90's tape trading days, and not long ago, I pulled out a few interesting letters I got from all over the world. A common thing was to write a letter on the back of a flyer or some other odd piece of paper! The letter below from Chris Phinney was written on the back of this advert for MENTAL ANGUISH!

 

This letter cracks me up! I emailed it to Chris a while back, and he still remembered it!

It was explained to me that this letter from Egg & Anvil was stamped by the guy's wife. I never could figure it out, I guessed she either hated the tape I sent him, or it was just her own form of artwork. Either way, it was interesting, but a little difficult to read!

This was a submissions letter from Mike Tetrault for the multitude of his compilation tapes a person could be a part of if they so chose. Was there any topic not covered? It doesn't look like it!

Many letters were short and to the point like this one from Brian of The Lie Detectors.

People not only knew how to write back then, but many people made up their own style like this letter from Danielle in New Zealand.

When you didn't even know you had any fans, nothing was better than getting fan mail from somebody like mia hermana chiquita Geneveva in Bulgaria!!

Since most people don't even know how to write in cursive these days at all, I'll bet almost any amount of money that you don't know anybody who has handwriting like Ken Clinger!

At one point, I actually sent some of our tapes to real record companies like Geffen. I was totally surprised to even get a response, much less a cordial one like this!

CHRIS PHINNEY AND ED DRURY - "Store Windows" (2021)

Chris Phinney and Ed Drury just finished another new 20 track album that was released today called "Store Windows," and it's available from the Harsh Reality Bandcamp page. These two have been working diligently day in and day out for a couple of months now, and are turning into a finely tuned music machine that's full of surprises, so do yourself a favor and......

 Check It Out Right Here!! 

Here's just one of the wonders you'll find inside!

CHRIS PHINNEY AND ED DRURY - "Last Friday"

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Within The Bubble (2020)

 

Well, there wasn't a whole lot of good that came out of last year in my humble opinion, but one of the best things that did was an ongoing collaboration between Chris Phinney and Ed Drury.  

Released on December 23, 2020, their last album of the year is called "Within The Bubble" and has a cover photo by yours truly that I'm mighty proud of!

Here's just one of the freakin' excellent tunes on "Within The Bubble, and one of my real favorites!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Cool Boil"

There's a whole lot more to come in 2021, so dig in Freaks!

 Harsh Reality Music

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Doors in the Broken Mirrors" (2020)

 

Let's get this month off to a good start, and I got it for you right here! "Doors in the Broken Mirrors" by Chris Phinney & Ed Drury is their latest in a marathon pace of an album a month for a few months now, and the real problem is, they just keep getting better! They take misery and despair and turn it into awe and joy, or some bullshit like that!

There are 20 cuts (Four of them are hidden unless you download the whole package) on this release including "In Other Worlds, Hold My Hand," and Ed's guitar work is genuinely amazing, and you never know where Chris's spacey synths are going to take you! Add in the instruments from all over the world that Ed plays like the Didjeridu, Tibetan Bowls, Nature Recordings etc. combined with Chris's production, and you will never know where this trip is headed!

There's lots of good stuff here, but my favorite by far is this tune called "Holy Roll." 

"Black Magic Woman" was written by Peter Green, but made famous by Carlos Santana, "Holy Roll" sounds like Peter Green playing a Santana song! How cool is that?

Give it a listen and see if you agree!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Holy Roll"

You can download the whole package at the Harsh Reality page on Bandcamp for a dollar, and there's even an option to give it as a gift. You really can't go wrong!

Do it HERE!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Time Raveling" (2020)

So what do Chris Phinney & Ed Drury and Miley Cyrus have in common?? They can't stop and they won't stop! Chris and Ed have been on a tear the last couple of months, and this is their third release since September 24th! Amazing, and even more amazing, they just keep getting better, and if you don't believe me, then check it out for yourself!!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Time Raveling"

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Ayuda" (2020)

 

It's difficult times we live in today, but Ed Drury and Chris Phinney aren't letting it stop them, in fact, it's just the opposite. Ed and Chris have been cranking out a tune every day or two for the last month or so, and it just keeps getting better! Even though they live on opposite sides of the country, they seem to be on exactly the same wavelength!

Here's from the liner notes!

"Mental Illness effects more people than most diseases. We dedicate this album to all that are suffering mentally..in it's various different forms. May the sun rise up & caress your face!"

Ed has kind of laid his guitar down for this session, and although it changes from tune to tune, the instrumentation is basically:

 Ed Drury -Didgeredoo, Synths, Tibetan Bowl, Native American chant loops, Medicine drum, Clavichord etc.
and
Chris Phinney - Synths, FX, Treated bells, D. program, final mix etc. at HRM 

 CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Ayuda"

CHRIS PHINNEY AND ED DRURY - "Who Will Feed The Pigs" (2020)

Some people don't know what to do with all the extra free time they have these days, and then some do! Chris Phinney and Ed Drury are among the ones who do, so while most people are sitting at home twiddling their thumbs, these two guys have been very busy twiddling knobs and creating music that really sets the mood for where we are at these days.

 Ed and Chris just put the finishing touches on a new release they made available 9-24-2020 on Chris's Harsh Reality label called "Who Will Feed The Pigs"  and you can download all 19 tracks for a buck! It might look like there are only 18 tracks, but when you purchase it, you get access to the hidden 19th track.

 

Here's a tune I think will put you in the mood!

 CHRIS PHINNEY AND ED DRURY - "Interviewing Satan"