“Under the unexplored seas, where blues and greens get lost in the darkness, deep into the woods which holds folklores and beliefs, inside all the the journal entries of a recently deceased parent there lays stories that need to be told. The teller starts to tell, the reader begins to read and the listener starts to hear.
If you’re familiar with the projects of Cop Funeral, then by all certainties, you’re aware that this is a story teller. On the latest release, ‘2 STRESSED 2B BLESSED’, you’ll get glimpses into the past scenes of American modern history, fond memories of beloved friends and captured audio segments of scenes from the daily life of the artist.
The pains described in harsh loops of feedback, whirling and writhing through the crashing distortions, harmonious anthems of reflections through melodic drones stately attuned after blows of heartache, several blurs of lines crashing and curling – this is ‘2 STRESSED 2B BLESSED’. This is the latest release from Cop Funeral. This is…..well, this is just something you’ll need to give a listen to.”
-Ray Jackson, Already Dead Tapes, 2016
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"As founder of Already Dead Tapes & Records, Joshua Tabbia has long been an advocate for music that some might consider challenging or difficult. He's also provided a home for artists whose music relies on his tape distribution to reach their fans. But Tabbia is a musician himself, and when he's not stockpiling cassettes or working on artwork for his releases, he likes to indulge in experimental musical inclinations. More than just random noise holds his work apart from the mass of people who work with dissonance and static on a regular basis. His understanding and recognition of what makes these sounds so involving, despite their inherent caustic nature, is the foundation on which his fractured electronic aesthetic is based.
For "2 Stressed 2B Blessed," his latest release under the Cop Funeral moniker, Tabbia assigns large amounts of jarring noise and static to specific memories and experiences. These tracks document and reveal intricate details through harsh lines of whirring feedback and droning melodies. There is some semblance of structure, but it's buried under so much unfiltered emotion and density that, at times, you're only able to let the sounds pass over you without any idea of understanding—it's pure musical immersion. The realization of what you've just experienced comes later, long after the sounds have faded from your brain and left a permanent imprint of their collective passing."
- Joshua Pickard,
Nooga.com
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"Sound travels in monstrous forms. Hearing foreign wave lengths for the first time forces the mind to react. Formulating an opinion or trying to categorize what is being heard is meaningless at this point.
Allow the sounds to continue, the consciousness of another communicating through the aural medium, the experience is there. Cop Funeral rests beyond initial reaction of like or dislike. Similar to a craggy mountainside that is beautiful when viewed but treacherous when trekked. Depending on the variables of the place, the moment and the porousness of the receiving mind.
2 STRESSED 2B BLESSED is over a half hour of charred remains in audio transcription. The cycles of noise pierce through daily fabric and shred the binding foundations. An industrial pollutant mixing with thoughts and corrupting any manufactured safe havens. As with all things, like the predator catching and devouring it's prey, there is beauty in what seems tragic. Cop Funeral alters strides throughout this cassette. Balancing the listener on the needle point and putting the foot down on the sewing machine peddle. Sometimes it hurts, but the result is a well woven composition. The title of the second track "everything will be ok" is humorous after you listen to it, but "bloody tummy" sure is not.
This was released on Already Dead Tapes and Records. Joshua Tabbia an Already Dead label founder must work endlessly with the amount of releases the label produces. Adding to the output of the label is his own project Cop Funeral. Maybe this is where you end up when listening to so much music, broken and bleak blissfulness."
- Robot, Lost in a Sea of Sound
released September 16, 2016