I suppose it may be a bit irrelevant (not to mention irreverent), to mention that the band name Fricara Pacchu makes me think of a Peruvian quiche. All told, it?s probably as apt a description of things to come as any. Absurd and amazing in equal measure, "Space Puppet" wreaks chaos all over the damn place, at times reminiscent of Suicide, and at others, Richard James and his circus of madness. This is dirty, dirty music, and it has no interest in cleaning up. We should all be glad of this fact.

On a backbeat of dirty, scratchy techno, a la Casiotone, Pacchu lays down the electronic law. With more than enough manic flourish to go around, this is a frantic but compelling listen.

Lal Lal Lal, Finland?s cassette based label, is a true home for the bizarre Finnish underground, and definitely worth tracking down. I know next to nothing about Finland, but it certainly does spice up my image of that icy, distant land to imagine a country full of guys like Fricara Pacchu ambling about, collecting half-broken electronic devices (old phones, cracked toys, transistor radios, shitloads of Casiotones, etc?), and taking them back to his/her (?) hovel and turning this heap of other folks castaways and making music this intimately bizarre.

But hats off to Fricara Pacchu, because this is one fantastic tape. Now I?m no completist when it comes to the cassette underground, but if the stuff I?ve heard these past few months (Lal Lal Lal releases, Death Chants, a few others), is any indication, this is the new frontier for experimental, and undeniably fascinating music.

Here?s the deal: buy this tape (I don?t care how), wear it out, and as always, thank me later. 8/10 -- John Cramer (18 December, 2006)