10.22.13: Tape Of The Month – October 2013
ARTIST: Holly Waxwing
TITLE: Goldleaf Acrobatics
LABEL: Noumenal Loom
LENGTH: C50 – material repeats on b-side
DUBBED: Home
EDITION: 75
I had a decent idea as to what I was in store for when I opened the package sent from Noumenal Loom and gave the three tapes inside a once over. The first batch from this Montevallo, Alabama (Montevallo, Alabama?) based label were obviously gonna be on a hyper-mellow level. The covers were embellished with 3D, kaleidoscopic glyphs over psych backgrounds – a sure-fire sign of that. I would have liked to run a bath, lit some candles, sparked the ass-end of a j, and enjoy them like his Dudeness meditating to a “Song Of The Whales” tape, but settled for the everyday living room setup. One track into Holly Waxwing’s “Goldleaf Acrobatics” and it was painfully obvious that breaking out the suds and buds would have been the perfect setting for this reclined sound-cruise.
Unless I’ve been mislead by incorrectly tagged Facebook pics, Holly Waxwing is a dude. And unless his parents had some “boy-name-Sue” type deal going down, I’m guessing Holly Waxwing is an assumed name. I could be wrong though, and I’m not judging. Noumenal Loom is Holly’s label and “Goldleaf Acrobatics” is it’s 2nd release. The seven sound collages on this single-sided cassette have to be some of the most relaxing, straight up chill out forever tracks 
in my house. And I have Hypnobabies CDs around here somewhere. I could easily get to 10 centimeters without even noticing it if Waxwing was jamming in the background, and I’m also a dude. That should speak volumes to this tape’s max-relax ease. The majority of sounds here are sample based. Beats, vocals, guitars, keyboards, odds, and ends manipulate, layered, and corralled with tender and extra-tropical care. When someone is in Jamaica, well not Jamaica-Jamaica, but the carve-outs of Jamaica that white people go to (you know what I mean) they should be able to swim up to a bar and order a Holly Waxwing. It’s that tropical. In fact, I think I’m going to brand this with the genre name VapoResort. Oh, and I’ll come up with what exactly the drink Holly Waxwing is by the end of this review.
Each cut on “Goldleaf Acrobatics” has it’s own unique flavor while staying under the big tent of instrumental-avant-jazzy-r&bness. The opener, Goloboie (featuring New Orleans hip hop instrumentalist Pug), is a slow tempo dip into the pool. You wanna slip in nice and slow, one toe at a time, while the refreshing goodness goosbumps ya. Around a minute and a half in, when the airy beats surface, you should be neck deep and notice that the pool is full of Zima. Just pull up a flotation device with a cup holder and go with it. The remaining 22 minutes or so of this cassette is going to wash you with sweetly fragile vocals (some by label/life partner Isabel Barnes, credited here as Isleapple), drippy atmospheres (more nude age than new age), and plenty of encouragement to take a break from life for a bit. Fans of listening to New Edition cassettes in a player made out of a Pineapple, one that I’m sure the Professor from Gilligan’s Island could fashion for ya, Or watching a Shirley Temple movie on mushrooms will probably have a good time.
Inside you’ll find an insert with a link to a digital download that includes remixes of each track. I’m not really sure why those weren’t just on the B side instead of side A repeating itself, but I also don’t understand how planes stay in the air. So I have a lot of learning to do. I mean, they are so heavy. It doesn’t make sense. Remixes by Orange Milk’s Seth Graham, the always ridiculous Foodman, LBTV™, who’s also featured on the closing track of the cassette, and more.
The artwork was designed by Brenna Murphy, who’s work I am just now discovering and absolutely in love with. There are stickers on both sides of the clear shell of slightly cloudy blue skies, which are also on both sides of the Jcard. Floating in that sky on the Jcard are a scattering of these tight, textured labyrinth jams. They are like little embossed, lavender, dual story mazes for robotic mice to run through. And at the end they get some digital cheese. They are floating about all over the place and look smooth as hell. The text on the back flap that lists the tracks has the effect that it’s sort of under the clouds, which is a dope touch. A well executed package all around, definitely goes really nicely with the material.
The other releases in Noumenal Loom’s first batch are from Digital Natives and Gerda Taro, both worth griping as well. Oh, and here is the recipe to make a Holly Waxwing. If you try it please let us know!!
1 ounce Light Rum
1 ounce Dark Rum
.5 ounce Spiced Rum
2 ounces Pineapple Juice
.5 ounce Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
1 can of Clear Pepsi
Shake, pour over crushed ice, garnish with 10 cherries. Enjoy!!
