CRZKNY – Groove 2
5.30.17 by Ryan Masteller

There’s no way to pronounce “CRZKNY,” and that’s probably okay, but if you’re interested in overworking your tongue, go ahead, give it a try – don’t say I didn’t warn you that you’ll end up with a doctor’s visit and a tongue splint for your troubles. You might end up with a doctor’s visit and a splint for another part of your body if you attempt to move along with the rhythms of “groove 2,” CRZKNY’s entry into the Wrocław-based Outlines label’s groove series, but that’s another story. Oh, no, wait, that’s the story, the one you’ll need to pay attention to right now because, haha, I goofed. Look, I’m no spring chicken, I injure myself badly enough to need a splint pretty much every time I get out of bed in the morning, so imagining myself jerking all around like a madman to CRZKNY’s interpretation of footwork is sort of exhausting. Comical, yes, but exhausting nonetheless. Fortunately, I can just sit right here in my chair, play “groove 2” over the stereo, and enjoy it with a nice glass of bourbon before I fall asleep.

Because “groove 2,” an equal-sided C20, starts low and slow – although it purports to be a record by a DJ from Hiroshima fascinated by techno and footwork – the almost ambient build flecked with IDM, and I can nod my old-man nod and smile knowingly that I don’t have to stand up at all. The A-side, “groove 2.1,” passes the six-minute mark (out of almost ten) before the beat drops, the tones and samples introduced coming into focus as they coalesce around the composition like me around an early bird special buffet spread. CRZKNY packs the rest of this track and its accompanying b-side – “groove 2.2,” DUH – with head-snapping neck breaks and skittering percussive elements that will have you imagining insect life scurrying about in frantic patterns. Actually, I feel the urge to stand rising, rising … fading… RISING! I’m up! Ow, for cryin’ out loud. OK, I’ll sway a little bit. I’ve turned into my grandfather.

This gorgeous C20 – seriously, it was even featured on the most recent Look at These Tapes – was produced in an edition of 50. Smack it up, flip it, rub it down, and buy it.

Boron / Argon – Mirages
5.23.17 by Ryan Masteller

“Boron?! More like Boreon, right?” Thus was revoked this writer’s music-reviewing license as the authorities at the Central Office realized I had intentionally paraphrased a Billy Madison joke, replacing “chlorophyll/boreophyll” with “Boron/Boreon,” a stupid, ham-fisted attempt at jocularity that falls even flatter as I continue to type it into oblivion by explaining it. I am the Adam Sandler of music writers. Somebody pull the plug on this laptop.

As much as Billy Madison was a dimwitted tool for suggesting learning about something new was stupid, I, too, am an unmitigated disaster for reshaping Boron to Boreon, as Dan Nelson’s output under a litany of chemical signifiers – including Freon and, uh, Elron – is consistently engaging from one release to the next. Here, on his Tymbal Tapes debut, Nelson transitions from Boron to Argon like a nonmetal to a noble gas, on paper an impossibility (probably – my chemistry’s super rusty; there’s something about ions or isotopes in there, and going from atomic number 5 to 18 probably requires some kind of act-of-God molecular interference), but in pseudonymical terms, Nelson makes it look easy. “Mirages” is a non-split split between Nelson’s two aliases, an anomaly relegated to official tracklists and Jcards. The music itself flows as a cerebral whole.

As is his typical terrain, Nelson, navigates a synthesizer bank set permanently to “billowing,” hewing closer to those noble gases and hovering in the atmosphere until pressure causes them to condense and oscillate, agitating for a few moments before drifting apart once again on their way through the ether. Tones and moods change ever so subtly throughout, and “Mirages” as a zoomed-out whole takes on soft, pastel hues through the synesthetic processes recorded by your brain. Don’t be fooled by the b/w cover art or slate-gray tape (although they are both unapologetically gorgeous) – Boron/Argon is filled with color and texture, radiating outward to cover the earth with its sonic particulate. Think of it as helpful pollution, restorative vibes penetrating the cells of every living organism, not remotely like the lung-busting amounts of carbon dioxide continually pumped into your system. It’s like the opposite of living in Beijing. Probably.

Released May 5, 2017, right here on Tymbal Tapes, this lovely catalog item “features pro-dubbed chrome tape housed in metallic silver shells, and double-sided 3-panel j-cards printed in black ink on luxurious antique gray linen.” The edition of 75 will probably go quick.