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A Chat With Suite 309
6.8.15 by Mike Haley

Tim Horton was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, a defenceman for 24 seasons in the National Hockey League. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. Also a successful businessman, Horton was a co-founder of the Tim Hortons restaurant chain. Tim Thornton is the dude behind the label Suite 309. It was tough deciding which gentleman I should talk to for this feature. In the end I went with Thornton because he releases cassettes and is gearing up to drop an exciting batch on the world, and Horton died a few years before I was born.

 

You work at a record pressing plant, right?

Yes. I’ve been at Gotta Groove since they started in 2009. I’m in charge of quality assurance. I’m the one to blame in a million record store rants about noisy vinyl.

Do coworkers ever give you shit or make jokes about you putting out cassette tapes? Even though they work at a vinyl plant, which would make it pretty ironic. Right?

It would be if it weren’t so common. I’m going down the list of co-workers who also regularly put out tapes and I think there’s at least half a dozen other employees who have recently released a cassette or eight. A lot of the collector types I work with don’t really bat an eye at a release on any format.

I was hoping you worked with a bunch of “dad types” who made Obama jokes and eat fast food every day. And they were like “Cassettes!?!? Ha, Okay! Aren’t those extinct!? Hahah! Hey, hand me that lacquer.”

We had a guy like that for a while, but he ultimately did not work out.

I hope he’s doing well. Who do you work with that releases cassettes? Anyone I might know?

Matt Gallagher has been self-releasing some Fire Death material on a yet to be named label. Greg from Mole People/Tolmie Terrapin Press runs record presses, Mitch from Fascist Insect and a ton of other weird noise and metal projects… Plus there are quite a few employee bands who end up doing a cassette release since the overhead is so much lower and we all work in a factory. It helps that we also have a full service pro-dub place around the corner.

What’s it called?

A to Z, but not the one who also does vinyl. This is the one with the website that is straight out of 1997.\

Is that who you use for Suite 309?

That’s where I get all my professional dubbing done, but I’ve dubbed three releases at home also.

Right on. Let’s talk about some of those releases. So, the earliest stuff, I believe tapes by your project Tiger Village, were those “officially” Suite 309 releases? I don’t think I remember seeing the label name anywhere on those.

I actually started putting Suite 309 catalog numbers on releases starting back in 2011, when I released “All Sprinkles” from my Les Cousins Dangereux project (since shortened to CDX). I didn’t create a real identity for the label until the first batch last fall when I started releasing other artists’ music. When that happened I had a logo made, put up all the websites and started to consider it more of a real label than a way for me to catalog things for myself.

Was the Tiger Village series of tapes the first cassettes you released on the label?

Yes. The previous releases were all CDr or vinyl. A friend in Canada put out a cassette of mine on his label in early 2012 (Les Cousins Dangereux “Jacks” on They Live We Sleep), that started to introduce me to a scene of great labels who happened to release mostly cassettes. Tiger Village has always been a highly conceptual project. I set out knowing I wanted to do a trilogy in a year and still wanted it to look/feel official to me, so I put those out on cassette

Who were some of the first tape labels you got into?

Orange Milk was the first I really latched on to. Labels i’ve followed a while include Field Hymns, Constellation Tatsu, Hausu Mountain, Tranquility Tapes & NNA.

Who did the artwork for those Tiger Village tapes?

Raymond C. Scott III, or just Ray. He’s been a friend of mine for years. He’s not the synth guy that J Dilla sampled. He’s done art for everything on the label since 2013 except for two releases. He also contributed art for my release on Hausu Mountain. He makes music as Window Kits. He used to work at the record plant but now he’s a cemeterian.

The trilogy is about 2 hours of material, total. And you recently released a 2xC90. You find a lot of time to record I assume?

There are very few things that I actually “do,” but record music has been up at the top of the list for a few years now. “In Stereo”, the 2xC90 in question, was all material recorded live in the studio, culled down from about five hours of sessions. I wasn’t spending any time mixing any of that down or anything. Similar tracks appear on I-V, though I keep that to a minimum. The more polished tracks take a lot longer because there’s a lot more overdubbing, mixing and tinkering happening. But to elaborate further on the original question, I probably spend ten to fifteen hours a week working on audio at home. A lot of those hours are pretty late at night.

What sort of gear do you use for that project?

I love horrible samplers. I used a Boss dr-202 on a ton of material up until six months ago or so, when I started using this complete pile of shit that is the Akai MPX8. It’s a piece of garbage but too convenient in some key ways. I have a few analog synths I use a ton including a Dave Smith Tetra, Arturia Microbrute & the Korg Volca Bass/Drums. I have a bunch of FM synths and cheap stuff made by Alesis. I definitely have a soft spot for cheapo digital gear from the 80’s and 90’s. I sequence most of it with my computer to keep things organized and because it allows me to control a whole lot with just a couple small MIDI controllers.

I love teal, double wide Norelco cases you used for the “In Stereo” double tape. Where did you find those?

I looked far and wide for double, white back cases with no luck. Instead I went to your pals (and mine) at duplication.ca and got a couple hundred teal backed Norelcos. I sanded the backs of each one and glued them together with model glue. I swear I didn’t huff, that’s too scary.

Whoa, that’s all way too scary. That rules. What is the edition size on that one?

75 copies.

Before we talk about later releases, you gotta clue me on your catalog numbers. Did you start with 309?

Yes, the first LP in 2011 was s309-309.

Is there an actual Suite 309 in the real world you are referencing? If so, I want to guess what it is.

It is/was a real place. I’m not exactly sure if it still exists

I’m gonna guess it’s the office of your foot doctor. And you have really weird foot issues.

Surprisingly that is not at all it! I was in my first serious band in the late 90’s. I was in high school and we played metal. We went to Pennsylvania once to open for an Ozzy cover band at some weird festival. We stayed at a Comfort Suites hotel and stole the nameplate off our hotel room like any good teen vandals would do. I’ve hung the stupid sign in whatever place I’ve called my studio since then. The words ‘Suite 309’ are actually in the liner notes of various things going back to 2002. The sign currently hangs inside the closet in my attic studio/record room.

You should have made that your logo instead of using the Comedy Central one.

I like to think I stole more of my logo design from Trunk Records than Comedy Central

Let’s just agree that you definitely stole the logo. I don’t want to argue.

Stealing in art is a-ok in this day and age. If you’re not ok with it, go back to your ska show, grampa.

So about a year ago you released the first non-you batch. Radio Shock, Splice Girls, and Giant Claw. How did those tapes come together?

Plain and simple I heard Radio Shock on your show. I liked what was played, ordered the tape, reached out to M.P. and he was on board.

Shit, where is our finder’s fee?

Just wait until we talk about the new batch!

Who are/is Splice Girls?

Splice Girls are Mel D. and Mel Z. They’re working on a new mix right now, the clips I’ve heard sound amazing. I won’t be doing it on cassette though. The project is very method, I can’t really go farther into it. It’s like The Residents but with more glitter makeup.

That must take so much eye shadow.

I found out about Giant Claw and Orange Milk because they’ve always done a fair amount of vinyl that has passed through my hands. I loved the records from Ashley Paul & Sean McCann they did. Giant Claw’s “Mutant Glamour” really blew me away. I got to meet Keith and see him play a few times since 2012. I was shocked when he agreed to do a release.

Those were all pro-dubbed in various amounts, right? 70, 50, and 100?

Yes. You’ve done your research, Mr. Haley.

I have a team of researchers. All highly trained in Google. What search engine do you like, Tim? Be honest.

I use Let Me Google That For You. It’s a life hack, it does the Googling for me. I think Jeeves invented it.

Thanks for answering. I’m sorry to put you on the spot with tough questions, but I’m gong for a Noisey “Best Of The Web” Award. So those three tapes all have similar artwork. You Is that something you plan on doing with each batch? Have a theme of sorts?

There are a lot of elements I want on each release, but they aren’t always present. The Matthew Akers tape in the upcoming batch will look like a Suite 309 release on the spine and on the tape itself, but the rest looks like a Matthew Akers release. The other two new ones have unique design elements, but adhere more to what the design of the previous batch looked like.

So what is the new batch?

Matthew Akers, Jeremiah Fisher & CDX. Matthew Akers is another example of someone I heard of through my job. The first release of his I heard was the “Tough To Kill” LP. It was the right record at the right time for me. I started following his releases and then decided to reach out. What he ended up delivering is his most diverse and best collection of songs. I might be biased.

His tape “A History Of Arson” on Out Of Body is insane.

I think he has a knack for going a little darker than some of his peers. It originally drew me to his work. Jeremiah Fisher was another Tabs Out alley oop. What can I say, you guys can make or break an act!. “Martyrboys” was a big favorite last year. I had a hard time tracking down a lot of other material by him, so asking him to do a tape was just me requesting a new Jeremiah Fisher album. It’s been finished for a while and I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’s got a lot of the same melodic modular work as Martyrboys with some great vocal cut up pieces.

And CDX is you?

CDX is me, I recently cut down the Les Cousins Dangereux moniker to something I can say more easily at a loud show. It’s similar to the tape titled “CDX” that I did early in 2014. The lineage of project names and such is confusing, but all you have to know is that it’s acid house informed electronic music played on hardware and recorded live to cassette.

Is that name an Arrested Development reference?

Yes. It was a hastily named project very early on and I’ve been trying to knock it for a while. It made a lot more sense when I was doing a lot of remixes and such.

So what’s the edition sizes on all the new ones gonna be?

Akers is 150, but it’s a split release between Suite 309 and Akers’ Musique Originale imprint. We’re splitting the copies. Jeremiah Fisher is 75 copies and CDX is 60.

Man, how do you handle the Suite 309 spine aesthetic with a split release?

I got the spine and Akers got the rest. His catalog number is on the J-Card, visible on the back. I also home dubbed two special releases to send with orders.

Special, you say? Go on…

There was supposed to be a Tiger Village split about a year ago that never panned out, but I loved the material. I got a bunch of random color tapes, took a bunch of them apart and made some of them two-color tapes. It’s just a little c20 in a soft poly case. It doesn’t have a catalog number or any online version. It’s an edition of 50 but I really don’t plan on holding on to them very long. The other tape is a super limited thing that I made ten copies of. It’s a comedy tape based around a fictional small town radio talk show.

Those sound incredible! So you’re going to send them out along with early orders?

Yeah, the first several orders and any batch orders will get at the least the Tiger Village tape. The other one will obviously have to go out to a select few people. I also got buttons made. I often send out extra download codes for other releases, but only to people who specifically say they hate download codes.

When will they be available?

The release date is June 23. I’ll have preorders up a few days before that.

Right on, man. I’ll wrap this up the way I like to wrap up chats with label-folk. Right off the top of your head, name a project you’ve never done a release for that everyone should check out.

Ventla! In addition to a couple of great tapes you can download 25 great horny, free albums on his last.fm profile. Replace one of those greats with a better adjective.

Nava Luvu – Transport
6.5.15 by Mike Haley

First you gotta unfasten some twine. Then open up a hand-stamped box. Inside a Norelco case, along with a quaint little art booklet (I’ll get to all of that soon), is the golden ticket. Nava Luvu’s “Transport” on Apothecary Compositions. Much like Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde, and the rest of the old gang, you’re gonna get taken on a surreal trip. Not through Wonka’s slave-run deathtrap of a chocolate factory, but a journey through swampy textures and concentrated beats by the duo of Ashley Daw and Sami Blanco.

I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “rascally” before, in reviews or everyday conversation, but it seems like a perfect catch-all descriptor for the material on this C100. Personalities vary from track to track on “Transport”, skimming from IDM influenced electronic jams to low-key, soggy experimentation, but the one consistent trait is Daw and Blanco’s readiness to meddle with each track’s structure. Murky dronescapes get interrupted by intermittent drum fills. Fiery rhythms warble and become warped. Zaps, claps, slices, and dices speckle the scenery, turning ambient techno jaunts on their head, leaving you scratching yours. It’s a playful listening experience for sure, and fresh as biting into a handful of schnozberries. Nava Luvu doesn’t let ya know when there will be a sudden shift in tempo, or if bits of noise will materialize for no good reason. That is what makes these songs great. What makes em “RASCALLY”.

Let’s get back to the packaging and visual accompaniment I mentioned earlier. Everything comes packaged in a brown kraft box, the kind often used for jewelry and such. Those familiar with the Cabin Floor Esoterica label will know exactly what I am talking about. A simple black stamp of text on the front and the back of the box is the only design work going on. Twine is wrapped around to keep it closed. Inside is a 4″x4″ booklet with 8 pages of swirling color artwork by Daw and Blanco and the tape, complete with Jcard and case, that could pretty much stand alone. It’s an attractive lil’ bugger.

“Transport” is limited to 50 copies and available from Apothecary Compositions for $10.

New Batch: Hausu Mountain
5.27.15 by Mike Haley

There comes a point when you must realize that you inhabit one world and others inhabit a totally different zone. One with cybernated landscapes and insect-sized drones buzzing about. Where the songs of birds are light years removed from the ‘tweet tweet’ we’re accustomed to, and closer resemble a montage of mechanical cranks and herky jerky twitches. Where the water sparkles like it’s been infused with glitter, but numbs your insides if you drink it. A place juxtaposed by the outlandish and alluring. That place, my friends, is the peak of Hausu Mountain.

For a potato sack full of years HM has been wrecking the crowded field of experimental tape labels. Their bozo artwork is like a Who Framed Roger Rabbit for pill poppers, and the selection of jammers (from Grasshopper to Jerry Paper to Moth Cock to D/A/D) spins the compass needle like a never ending round of Wheel Of Fortune. We spoke with Pat and Vanna, er Doug and Max, for a Laser Focus last year if you want some more background. But I’m here to talk about the presents they’re providing in the present. THE NOW. The latest batch from these windy city warriors.

Along with the Hausu Mountain fellas, Natalie Chami is 1/3 of Good Willsmith. Alone she is TALsounds. “All The Way”, her C42 contribution to the May batch, is a sprawling supply of harmony and exceptional subtlety. For the most part, Chami keeps the focused synth work minimal and sharp. She sends drones gliding down the edge of a straight razor, so thin they don’t even slice. It’s more like a crystallization of sound when they reach their culmination. And in that powdery haze of charm are the distant echos of glorious vocals, midnight massages of keys, and aerial fragments of electronic nudges. No doubt one of the most elegantly eerie tapes of 2015. The artwork for this one is outside of the HM canon, but still baller as h*ck. It was made by Marie Sommers.

“Light and Dark” is the name of the Potions portion of this threesome. The solo project of Chicago’s Tom Owings, Potions takes part in what I (someone very much so uneducated in the ways of “musics”) have been referring to as 16-bit lounge jazz. It’s probably my new favorite genre, with it’s awkwardly booty shakin’ appeal and scintillating use of samplers and drum machines. And Potions sure does a great job at it. Possibly because Owens, the polar opposite of myself, is very much so educated in the musics, having studied jazz guitar at Uni. Rhythms get plopped right in the listeners lap then jiggle like a bowl of Kraft Foods JELL-O dessert on this C40.

Thee most confusing and desultory jammer in the bunch is Piper Spray’s “Krolorog” C49. Getting past the rabbit/unicorn hybrid cover, aka: the thing of nightmares, Piper Spray’s jams are spastic collages. The work of a distressed creature spackling a hole in space/time before whatever is on the other end gets through. In the rush to save it’s home planet, Piper Spray has no time to remove the bugs, bird seed, and brains. It all get’s mixed into the patch. Sort of like a Jackson Pollock painting converted to audio files, with beats added as an epoxy. I fucking dig it, even if it doesn’t want me to.

All three are available now from Hausu Mountain online internet e-store, alone or in a nice bundle.

Fire Death / Semaphore For Annie Besant – Split
5.26.15 by Mike Haley

Hot damn, my toes are curling up in anticipation for this one. And I have weird lil’ stubby toes, so I can only really pull that sort of thing off for cream of the crop action. The real deal. Like Holyfield. And I’m thinking that is what we got going on here with this upcoming split C60 from Cleveland mega-heads Fire Death and Semaphore For Annie Besant. Fire Death is the buy-two-get-one-free jazz outfit consisting of Ben “The Stone Bone” Osborne (previously of Tusco Terror stardom), J Guy Laughlin, and Matthew Gallagher. A couple of months ago they dropped “Circuits Of The Stars”, their first release as a trio. You may remember our very own Ian Franklin gushing about it. Or maybe you heard it at the start of Episode 64. I don’t know, I’m not in your head, man. Either way, it was nutso, and sources close to the gentleman inform me that a 25 minute, uninterrupted blast marathon is in store for the split with Semaphore For Annie Besant…..

Wait… Who?

Yes, that is what you’re thinking right now, ain’t it? “WHO the gash dag gum is Semaphore For Annie Besant!?” Calm down, pardon your french, and I’ll tell ya. SFAB is the seasoned duo of Telecult Powers’ Witchbeam and the Fluxed Monkey himself, Fluxmonkey (aka: Bbob). Freaks who are known to lay waste to home built, hoodtronik’d synthesizers. A six minute clip from their side was found in an underwater cave, being guarded by a half snake / half octopus / half skeleton wearing a top hat. That’s three fucking halves!! You can only imagine the difficult task of retrieving it. Out of respect to those who lost their lives reclaiming the sounds, listen to them right now. Get sucked into the maddening agitation of oscillations and hoodo-dribble.

Preorder the cassette, witch (get it? #pun) will be made in an edition of 100 on Gallagher’s nameless label, by clicking these words.

Fossils – Memory Box Vol.1
5.22.15 by Mike Haley

I’m sure no one owns the entire Fossils discography. The whacked Canadian unit has pumped out hundreds upon hundreds of cassettes, CDrs, lathes, and records over the past 10+ years, some with preposterously microscopic edition sizes. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if there is a Fossils 3xC92 with zine floating about that is limited to a single copy. “Memory Box Vol.1” isn’t THAT absurd, but at a dozen copies is still total Fossil-style.

What started out as a tongue in cheek “best of” collection morphed into Poor Little Music‘s (and eventual Fossils member) Rob Michalchuk digging through stacks of his own Fossils recordings. Ones he made himself with camcorders, tape decks, and cellphones. Over a few months Michalchuk combed through hours of material to come up with this “Memory Box Vol.1” anthology, which he refers to in the liner notes as recordings “seen from my perspective as a spectator and as a player in Fossils”. The overall fidelity is varied, as one could imagine, spread out over a 60 and a 92 minute long tape. That’s a hair over two and a half hours of moldy basement noise. The two tapes come packaged in a wooden box (splattered in paint, because duh) along with a bunch of inserts of photographs and show flyers.

Legit weirdos can order copies now from Poor Little Music. Sample the cut Greenebelt below.

Bookend Recordings Calls For Field Recordings
5.13.15 by Mike Haley

If you’re reading anything on this site, then chances are you’re a bit of a die hard cassette enthusiast. Meaning a wee bit of explanation is probably necessary… So, on the other side of that door is something people refer to as the “outside”. It’s like the inside, only different. It looks different (there aren’t tapes stacked up everywhere), it smells different (for better or worse, depending on where you live), and most importantly to what I’m about to tell you, it SOUNDS different. Tweeting is done by birds, sans character limits. Nature does what comes natural to it. Humans and non-humans scurry about. All constantly producing an audible array that through it’s repetition and routine goes unnoticed. But capture those everyday sounds with a recorder and play them back out of their element, and suddenly you hear previously ignored textures, buzz, and stillness. The charm of the field recording.

Tanner Garza knows what’s up. He’s currently putting together a field recording only cassette compilation on his Houston-based label Bookend Recordings and has an open call for submissions. Here are the details:

• All sources must be field recordings you have made yourself. No other sound sources, please.
• Light processing of sorts will be tolerated, but I ask that it be kept minimal. (Cut up techniques and physical manipulations if working with magnetic tape is absolutely fine)
• Tracks should be no longer than 7 minutes and in WAV format.
• Please have an artist name, track name, when, and where recorded specifically attached to track submitted.
• I will be accepting submissions for 1 ½ to 2 months.
• Everything will be listened to and artists that are chosen will be contacted.

Interested? You have about two months (around mid-July) to get your submission over to bookendrecordings@gmail.com. Godspeed.

Decoherence Enters The Cassette World
5.7.15 by Mike Haley

Brooklyn-based Decoherence Records is a damn fine label. It’s a relatively new operation that has released two killer LPs (by tape contortionists Form A Log and mind-zappers Mincemeat or Tenspeed) and a 7″ from label head MP Lockwood’s Radio Shock project. All are currently available. All are awesome sounding. All are awesome looking. Yes, all is awesome, but no tapes!? Why no tapes?! You fucking tell me why no tapes right fucking n… What’s that? Ahhhhhh, TAPES! And just like that Decoherence dips their big hairy toe into the pool of cassette peddlers. Up for order at this moment, officially “out” on the 12th of May, are Deco’s first two cassette releases by the underground/in the sewers acts Some Pepper and Sunk Heaven.

Some Pepper is a Philadelphia resident listed in the label description only as Daby (sorta like Cher or Beavis). My only taste testing of Daby’s work was a crazy good tape released a couple of years back on Refulgent Sepulchre where he/her/it belched out crude, unfurling electronics aplenty. The sampling offered up from this here “Nightshades” hour long cassette is very promising indeed. Using “busted consumer electronics and neglected sound gear” Some Pepper stacks and packs crumbly sounds that over stretches of time develop into confused rhythms and mutant melodies.

Sunk Heaven is the solo effort of Austin Julian, who’s name you may or may not recognize from The Sediment Club. Going down a similar road as batch-mate Some Pepper, Sunk Heaven mixes musicality with irrationality, but with a more of a creepy-crawly, trapped in the basement without clean water vibe. Gurgling “guitars”, moldy mics amplifying the environment/a perplexed voice, and random bursts are at the forefront on “Mirrored Confines”. I can’t tell if he is breaking things down or building them up, but I like it either way.

Like I said earlier, when you should have been paying attention, you can order both of these tapes now for seven bones a pop. Both pro-dubbed and lookin’ fine. Head on over to Decoherence and do so, okay!?

Bary Center – Endless High
4.28.15 by Mike Haley

With the exception of winning a round of Plinko on The Price Is Right, the simplest way to get a free weekend stay in La La Land is a deep listening sesh with some MJMJ Records releases. MJMJ, or Michael Jordan Michael Jordan, or TWO Michael Jordans (which is equal to 7.3 Scottie Pippens if you were wondering about the math) is an imprint out of Minnesota that peppers the world with rascally, techno-tinged, sanguine musics. They just put out a new stinger, so pack your brain bags, let’s take a trip.

The latest MJMJ offering comes from Bary Center. Bary Center, or Mark Williams as it says on official government documents, cruises through canorous canals of crisp BPMs on “Endless High”. Three tracks are portioned out over the half hour listening affair, with time allotted for both energetic joy rides and murky meandering. Remember Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Ferris was so gosh darn stoked to be skipping school, chilling with his best mates. He, Sloane, and Cameron killed it all day at baseball games and museums and shit, pretending to be Sausage Kings of Chicago and what not. The world was their oyster. But then things got sorta grim, and Cameron booted his pop’s ’61 Ferrari GT out a window. That high-high-low situation is depicted fairly well on Rung, Falling Down, and lastly Endless High. I wonder if Bary Center has any of Bueller’s sick gear? Brisk buoyancy and determined snap keeps the party going for 19 or so minutes of minimal techno jamage until the title track brings things down to reality. A sparse sampling of vibey sound clips and vocals make brief appearances. Not unlike the brief appearance original Sonic Youth member Richard Edson made in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as the parking garage attendant. #FunFact.

The five panel artwork, executed by Nico Stephou, is a rainbow of hell yeah. Seriously beautiful work. A brightly lit field of bubbly totems pattern the front, with a single piece canvasing the inside.

“Endless High” is available for the devilishly low price of $6.66.

New Batch: ((Cave)) Recordings
4.23.15 by Mike Haley

Cassette slingers ((Cave)) Recordings don’t go the bombardment route. Slowly and surely they dish out the goods, and when they do, it’s quality shit. Looks like that is once again the case for this damn fine Canadian label run by Robert Thurtle and Ben Seevers of The Ether Staircase with their first goodies of 2015. Three tapes, each pro dubbed in editions of 50 copies with ((classic)) ((Cave)) ((collage)) artwork, are now available for your listening enjoyment.

((Cave 31)) is a C46 by Winter Of The World, the duo of Ross Baker & Joaquin Rontxelius. “Coutie Tree” goes on a late-night nature walk, swirling mellow and organic elements. Field recordings, acoustic guitar, spoken word, and atmospheric crispness coalesce to get you mentally out in the elements. Bring an umbrella, some granola, plenty of water, and enough of the devil’s tobacco to get nice and cozy. WotW will handle the rest.

Sunny Dunes, a project I first heard through a dope 2013 tape on La Cohu who has been pumping out awesomeness ever since, brings 36 minutes of gliding synthesizer drills on over to the ((Cave)) crew. The samples from “Emmastaete” just hint at what is surely an animated brain buzzer, with bouncy arpeggios and seeping background interference.

A surreal lot of loops, breezy ambiance, and slow motion, reverb-submerged guitar wavering come together on the self titled C40 from Mahjoop. If you can’t feel the drift, then your head isn’t screwed on right. Get that checked out. All settings are tuned to “max relaxed” mode on this bottomless listen. Give in.

You can purchase the new ((Cave)) tapes from their store for an unreasonably cheap $5.00 (plus almost no postage). There is also a three tape deal for a cool $12, so get on that if you’re a smart shopper. I know you are.