In celebration of Russian Tsarlag’s 24-date “Sleepwalkers USA” spring tour we’re offering this limited cassette reissue of a self-released RT CDR with the confoundingly Tsarcasmic title, Voyage To The Encrusted Pillow, which finds him at his most captivatingly narcoleptic and brain-burned, perched on women’s high heels, head wrapped in a plastic bag, fake blood seeping into a Radio Shack microphone. Duct-taped guitar blob-rockers like “Waiting For The Rat” and “There’s A Goblin On The Towel” devolve into rusty garbáge concréte laboratories like “Static Chamber” and “Michael’s On The Couch.” Dig under the rat traps and ancient wires though and you’ll uncover magic scraps of exquisite songcraft and lyrical idealism (“the fantasy will never end”). As with so many Tsarlag exports, a rough diamond for a rough world. Pro-dubbed and imprinted tapes in full-color J-cards with artwork by Carlos Gonzalez, plus a double-sided photocopied insert with text and an esoteric live photo. Edition of 90.

Audio-Visual Sample 1