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What’s on Disc by Thomas Schulte

SMASHEASY

Originally christened Tourmaline Music/Media, a trademarking dispute resulted in an early name change for Conni St. Pierre's label to SmashEasy. Smash Easy (Tourmaline Media, 894 Mayville, Bethel, ME 04217-4605; http://www.smasheasy.com/ ) offers "new ambient and improvisational conceptions in music." This spectrum runs from serene, New Age recordings by Keith Waa ("Music for Dreams") and Conni St. Pierre ("Legends of Lost Cities") to the eclectic, challenging concoctions of Forest Floor. But these forms of ambient composition are but one facet of SmashEasy. The compilations "Window of Opportunity," "Guilty by Association" and "Out of the Woods" explore the more punkish, rock-based. Brought together are such acts as the challenging Busk, the "metalgrass" of Otis Coyote and Gothic based Sky Frontier. Vintage punk/new wave recordingS include those by La Peste and Peter Dayton. The abrasive Peace Corpse offer a downright metallic experimental assault on their debut release "The Rat Sugar." More in-your-face rock comes from the same band whenthey changed their name to Theory of Negativity and released a self-titled CD on the label. An essential figure on the label roster is punk icon Willie "Loco" Alexander (Boom Boom Band, Velvet Underground). He has two spoken word albums of street hip rants and witty free associations: "HolyBabble" and "Private Wa." Smash Easy also offers cassette releases like the John Giorno-styled "Jimmy Page Loves Lori Maddox" by Emily XYZ.She eventually recorded poetry ads for The Olympics and secured a recording deal with Mercury/Mouth Almighty. Smash Easy offers both sideof the coin: the "smash" of unleashed rock energy and the "easy" of ambi-ent music for cerebral or reflective listening.