6.20.15: Head Dress – Backwards
Ted Butler’s 2010 creeper gets a fresh treatment courtesy of Geology Records. [Check It Out]
Tabs Out | Head Dress – Backwards
Head Dress – Backwards
6.20.15 by Ian Franklin
Scooped out of the sedimentary blanket of worn earth lives “Backwards” from Head Dress released on Geology Records. Originally released on Distance Recordings in 2010, “Backwards” is getting a fresh treatment from Geology Recs. in an edition of 50; and this is good news for all of us because these 4 tracks of concentrated drone doom, running in the range of 7 to 17 minutes each, are superbly crafted slices of guitar ambiance.
Head Dress’ sense of pacing is exemplary whether using the cold, filtered sounds of modular synths as on “Warren” released last year on Phinery, or when using passages of slowly evolving reverberated guitar and distortion as he does here on “Backwards”. The melodic passages inch forward adding small pieces with every rotation growing into a massive force. Hair, the second track, builds with a slow and disorienting dread like the tide calmly rising up above your shoulders, creeping towards your neck. Reverberating wails of shimmering metallic guitar shine through and fade as pulsing heartbeats.
Slightly before the half way point of Fantasy comes the slow descent into distorted dust fields, though it never loses sight of the dancing melodic mirage within. The landscape is barren and mostly unforgiving, stripped of any unnecessary pretense. Feels like early Earth writing a score for a hard sci-fi flick where the dessert is the main character.
Backwards is pro-dubbed on chrome, features some killer acrylic based 2-sided color j-cards and clear shells with black imprinting. You know what to do… GRIP!
6.18.15: Curved Light – Mineral Wash/Indigo Rinse
Peter Tran ventures on micro-explorations with his new self-released long player. [Check It Out]
Tabs Out | Curved Light – Mineral Wash/Indigo Rinse
Curved Light – Mineral Wash/Indigo Rinse
6.18.15 by Mike Haley
I’ve spent the last couple of days playing this debut C48 by Curved Light on repeat. It’s made up of a dozen and a half tracks with lengths ranging from under a minute to just under six, but most populate the area of twoish minutes and exhibit fantastic concentration . Curved Light doesn’t meander down paths waiting to discover focus, but instead chooses one dynamic goal and pursues it like a motherfucker on each cut. A quick trip to the potty or taking a telemarketer call about diabetes and you can miss out on entire chapters of the “Mineral Wash/Indigo Rinse” story, but that can also make each listening session a fresh experience.
“Mineral Wash/Indigo Rinse” was self-released by Peter Tran, who also does the project HD Sunrise. Something I learned from an email while writing this up. You wont find marathon drones or protracted synth wanking here. Tran makes his intentions crystal clear as he offers up 160 seconds of lustrous, stained-glass licks, then moves on to a serving of flustered sound swirls or a minimal lucid injection. It’s not as if Curved Light runs out of steam or blows his load early on any of these terse jaunts. And I wouldn’t dare refer to this material as “bite sized”, because it just doesn’t feel that way. Nah, Tran has got the juice for sure. He pre-plans, dives in, and extracts the goods like a cosmic Navy SEAL. In other words, it’s No Pussyfooting with no pussyfooting. Ya dig?
The artwork and overall look of this cassette is equally simple and wonderful. The clear shell with white imprinting and reversible Jcard SEAL the deal. Get it in your deck before the 100 copies go bye-bye.
6.16.15: Geology
STRATA08: Head Dress “Backwards” C70