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11.1.19 by Ryan Masteller

This could be a really big deal for the future of Tabs Out: Antony Widoff is an “insider’s outsider,” meaning that, although he’s truly making music for the TO crowd, he has also rubbed elbows with honest-to-goodness music celebrities – icons even – such as U2, Frank Zappa, Matthew Barney, and Bill Bruford, working with them in various forms as producer, keyboardist, technical artist, composer, and sound designer. I can almost hear Mike, Dave, and Joe B salivating at the prospect of this sort of attention. It’s the kind of thing entire podcast episodes are crafted around.

But Widoff’s not only skilled in all these areas – he’s also somewhat of a tech whiz, “implementing cutting edge music technologies for artists operating across an insanely broad range of genres and creative disciplines.” I’m not sure how you quantify “insanely broad,” but consider my interest super piqued! Fortunately, “Disposition” is a collection of Widoff’s work as he built demos of the software, which he did under the auspices of Intelligent Music, his employer. You know this is gonna be good – “Intelligent Music” is right there in the name, no guessing required!

“Disposition” is a combination of software output and Widoff’s own performances with it, a hybrid of sorts that allows us to really peek into the future and get an early understanding of what music will sound like when we’re all cyborgs. Of course Widoff’s focused on the programming here, exploring as we are the sounds and idiosyncrasies expulsed by whatever supercomputer whose tubes and junk he adjusted (like HAL9000, except not in space). The result is a fast-paced MIDI delight, a moody prog trip where the future is bright and, sure, we don’t even have to be bothered to make music anymore now that the machines are doing it for us. Regardless of whether or not Widoff’s even a real person or just a “ghost” in some “machine” pinging diodes and reading binary, we are graced with “Widoff’s” or “HAL’s” or “Intelligent Music’s” “Disposition,” a peek inside the glowing, pulsing, electrified mind of a living mechanism.

PS: U2 are also computer simulations; in addition, I can’t be 100 percent sure Mike Haley himself is not made of wires and floppy disks.

Cassette available in an edition of 100 from Full Spectrum Records. 

10.30.19 by Ryan Masteller

One of my favorite U.S. cities is NOT located in Delaware, if you can believe it, but instead in cold northeastern reaches of the country in the majestic state of Maine. Portland is a coastal delight, a perfect combination of old New England charm and contemporary city life, featuring a bevy of social amenities both modern and rustic. It’s temperate in the summertime and appropriately cold in the winter, perfect for anyone intent on experiencing the four seasons. I myself tend to skew toward cold weather (look at me, living in Florida), so Portland has always been a draw for me, and welcoming as hell whenever I ventured into it.

Look at me – it’s like I’m writing a promo piece for the Portland chamber of commerce or something.

What the townies may not realize they have in their midst is a brand new tape label called Traced Objects. I was never much of a visual artist, so anytime I ever had to draw anything when I was a kid, it looked like crap unless I traced it. I don’t think that piece of information has any bearing really on the label, and their awesome minimal collage aesthetic for their j-cards beats any art project I’ve ever done. Not to mention that their inaugural tape batch comes with an “Unknown Artist” print zine, wherein you can bask in even MORE aesthetic! Every picture tells a story, amiright? Well, so do my words. Here are the stories of the first two tapes EVER released by Traced Objects.

type/token – Still.

Matt Nelson’s type/token debut is a stunner. I don’t know if he spends a lot of time on the Prom watching ships or if he gets out of town to find some sort of wilderness to trek around in, but he sure has the centering-of-the-self thing pretty down. That’s what “Still.” suggests after all, a motionless state of voluntary contemplation where you allow the world and the universe to penetrate your mind in some way. A state of trying to commune with something, with nature, the infinite, whatever. The “four tracks of deep sounds composed from digital synthesis and live sampling” may seem like longform ambient drones until you get reeeeal close and peer beneath the surface. There you’ll find bubbling rhythms and warbling sine waves, melodies as playful as living organisms observed under a microscope. There’s a real and palpable joy here, delight in the minutiae of sound and vision, of light and life. I close my eyes while listening and I’m out there with Nelson, overwhelmed by the afternoon and the glare of the sun as its life-giving rays glow upon me. “Still.” is constantly searching for deeper meaning, and the generations’ worth of hard work before and after us weigh on each and every fragile note. Nice start here, Matt.

Dinky Mirage – 005

Morgan Tindall is Dinky Mirage, and if the statement on the cassette shell itself is any indication, we’re in for a heckuva ride – certainly one of a different ilk type/token’s: “I want this to be awesome and not just a bunch of random sketches, even though I also love just a bunch of random sketches.” You and I are kindred spirits here, Morgan, as I can think of nothing better than a grand, composed statement, except perhaps for a, ahem, bunch of random sketches. Point is, doesn’t matter in the end – if it’s good, it’s good, and you should just enjoy it for what it is. And “005” (although catalog number TO 002, just to be confusing) is indeed a HECKuva ride, flitting ever so deftly from quirky computer pop to plunderphonics to vapory synth work to delectable ambient, drone, and noise, all in the space of single-side compositions. That’s right, each side is a single 19-minute track, and each packs a baffling amount of source material into its runtime. It’s like Dere Moans and Mukqs got together and recorded a tape for Never Anything. I’m not kidding, everything is all over the place, and it’s completely perfect. Not to mention a perfect alien counterpart to type/token’s wonderfully terrestrial humanity. Dinky Mirage, by contrast, is like the “Mac and Me” alien on Ecto Cooler. Pretty much an unstoppable kinetic force.

10.29.19 by Ryan Masteller

It wasn’t that long ago that we introduced the world (well, whatever part of the world regularly clicks on this website’s internet link) to Jollies, the Brooklyn-based electronic tape label, with their inaugural label sampler “Crash Klang Bang Thang” (which was super awesome, in my opinion). I hope we keep getting to introduce people to Jollies, because now that we’ve got this new Reinartz tape, “Interactions,” we’re going to have to double our efforts. (Or at least just make an effort to cover “Interactions” in the first place. Hey, my work here may already be done!) 

The Berlin-based producer makes moody, sci-fi electronica/IDM from lovely synth patches that serve as streamlined capsules built for light-speed travel throughout the deepest reaches of the universe. Fun! There’s even a track on “Interactions” called “Sirens of Titan,” and I’m not going to try to cover up my recent relaunch into the works of Kurt Vonnegut (although I haven’t gotten to “Sirens” yet). I’m happy to report that it’s holding up so far, even though I haven’t read a Vonnegut book since college. But Reinartz is like the perfect observational soundtrack for those trips back through retrofuturistic science fiction, where every planet and moon was inhabitable, and hope abounded for the human race. Right? Maybe I’m just too far removed for that concept to be relevant anymore. Maybe I’m old.

Regardless, this whole thing plays like the lights blinking from the console of a personal spacecraft, a tentative rush of adrenaline mixed with fear at the prospect of the future and facing the unknown. Reinartz channels those reservations perfectly, shooting a weird mix of feelings directly into our spinal column like they’re some sort of preventative measure for too much space travel (or something) administered by scientists or physicians who don’t know enough yet to ensure the safety or viability of what they’re dispensing. The element of danger – THAT’S what makes “Interactions” so exhilarating! You have no idea what’s going to happen next.

10.25.19 by Ryan Masteller

There are several reasons why I’m the perfect person to tackle this tape: (1) I’ve watched a LOT of police procedurals – if it’s a TV show based on some sort of law enforcement agency cloaked in an initialism (e.g. CSI, New York, Miami, etc.), I’ve seen it; (2) I’ve watched a LOT of “X-Files” – see also point 1; (3) I’ve read that “Twin Peaks” book, the secret history one, so I know what classified files look like and what they contain. “Forensic Beats” by Xentone is a “homicide case file” from some unknown police department, and if I’m reading what’s going on correctly, I think we’ve stumbled upon some sort of superdetective who’s about to bust open a whole buttload of cold cases. Now THAT’S a show I’d watch.

Like Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes, Xentone is an absolute mastermind, parsing details that not only lay observers but also seasoned police veterans would miss. Ripping through things like “Cold Case 1” and “John Doe” alike, Xentone drips atmospheric electronic soundtrackery while slamming files down on the chief’s desk and yelling things like “You can’t ignore this new information, chief!” while the chief is all like, “Dammit Detective Xentone, I need more evidence!” Meanwhile, nefarious powers are at work, and all Detective Xentone can do after he’s stripped of his badge and gun (because you know that’s going to happen sooner or later) is to hunker down in his home lab and tinker with synthesizers and drum machines until he’s inspired to go behind the chief’s back and solve all the crimes off the book. The only thing he needs to figure out is how to sway the jury…

Anyway, “Forensic Beats” is a sci-fi/cop show smorgasbord, a blast for anyone who thought the “Fletch” soundtrack needed a twenty-first-century update. It did and it didn’t, but “Forensic Beats” is almost the perfect version necessary for our times, the best accompaniment for tracking down killers or finally getting that elusive lead that’s gonna bring the whole conspiracy out into the open. It’s like they brought on John Carpenter for NCIS: Los Angeles. Wouldn’t that be something!

Edition of 50 from Degenerate Trifecta. (Washington, eh? Speaking of Twin Peaks, you guys must know all about what went on there…)

10.24.19 by Ryan Masteller

Look, this is just what we’re all doing at this point, aren’t we? “Crawling into Tomorrow.” We can’t walk anymore, our backs broken from the persistent and massive weight of unease and expectation. We are fully on the ground, groveling, squirming along like wounded snakes, just hoping for enough to get by for at least one more day. That’s it. That’s all we’re looking for. Survival at a lowest-common-denominator level.

That’s an ominous vibe, isn’t it? Sorry. Sometimes you just feel it – the load bearing the full force of gravity as it encumbers your every movement, physical or metaphorical. Daniel Donchov, aka Non Photo Blue, has borne that load. He has also realized that the burden we bear can make us who we are, can shape us, and can guide us upon a path that may actually better us. It’s true! Take “Crawling into Tomorrow,” for example, a heady concoction of ambient synthesizer and ethereal atmospherics, loaded with meaning and importance. Every second is a moment to contemplate the state of yourself and your history, your current situation, your future. It’s a serious, sad moment for most of us as we realize our lot in life, but it’s also freeing: think about those dissipating expectations and the onrushing of self-worth once you’ve jettisoned those emotional burdens. Think about the time you do have, and what you can do with it, who you can spend it with, how you can help.

Maybe after “Crawling into Tomorrow” you’re just about ready to stand up, dust yourself off, and move forward with your head held high. That’s sort of how I feel after it – yeah, Non Photo Blue’s made me feel pretty good after all. Who would have thought that the melancholy soundtrack for sleepless, wandering nights and exhausted, gray dawns would be so fulfilling? It’s like chill northern air, morning mist, and fleeting sunbeams through clouds in aural form: sneakily invigorating.

Amek Collective’s done it again! Only five of the original run of fifty left from the label.

10.23.19 by Ryan Masteller

This one looks like math. There are axes (an x axis and a y axis) and an origin where they intersect. Quadrants. Geometry. Physics. Space talk. I’m bad at math.

XI-N sounds like a math thing, like a supercomputer or NASA probe. It is not – it is an entity called Dovlet Shyhmyradov, but Dovlet Shyhmyradov is not doing itself any favors by calling its tape “Pulsar” and then acting like a pulsar, what with the beams of electromagnetic radiation emanating out of its magnetic poles. It feels like I have to get down and dirty with the math just to parse these signals that are coming out of my speakers, and I’ve stated my position on my own math skills. I also wonder if XI-N realized it was way further advanced technologically as a being before releasing “Pulsar” on cassette tape? This thing should be strictly ESP waves. It’s obvious that XI-N is from a place where brain-to-brain communication is much more commonplace.

Well, you might say, this is all well and good, and actually rather interesting from a scientific and even maybe a lay standpoint, but if “Pulsar” ain’t good, I’m turning it off. Friend! Don’t touch that stop button. There are recordings that make you want to scan the night sky through a high-powered, government-funded mountaintop telescope, and “Pulsar” is in the upper echelon of those. The glistening synthesizer work and soft rhythmic touches form the perfect soundtrack to fuel curiosity beyond this lonely blue marble. XI-N makes atmospheric soundscapes that actually make you feel like you’re not a human anymore, like you’re an enormous nebula or rushing supernova or some crazy undiscovered anomaly that physics hasn’t accounted for yet. And you’re those things and observing everything that’s going on around you, for light years in every direction. Can you imagine that? It’s super hard to. Our brains are small.

XI-N is trying to help us expand them. Good for you, XI-N!

These gorgeous tapes are available in a batch of 50 from Bulgaria’s Amek Collective. Did I mention “Pulsar” is the first tape in Amek’s “EXPERIENCE” series, “which presents and preserves live recordings captured during Amek Collective events”? I didn’t? Well, now you know. Get in on the ground floor.

10.22.19 by Ryan Masteller

Jeff Lane is Tereshkova, and Jeff also runs Never Anything Records, a bastion of delicious weirdoness with an aesthetic as recognizable as Astral Spirits’. I have to get this all out of the way early, otherwise I’ll be wasting time on details you can just look up on your own on the Bandcamp page. If your time is as precious to you as mine is to me, then you’ll be thanking me for allowing you some free moments to work on your manuscript or your self-portrait or your noise set. Here is a preemptive “You’re welcome.”

Or you could spend those extra moments on “Chunks of Monochrome Rainbow,” which I’m doing right now. If a moment = a minute, then you’ll need 120 of them to get through Tereshkova’s magnum opus here. That’s right, “Chunks” ain’t kidding around, sprawling for two hours over two tapes, a single thirty-minute track per side, allowing Tereshkova plenty of room to mess around and experiment and generally go all out with whatever happens to enter his mind. Is it weird that this ever-shifting two-hour thing is as riveting and impossible to ignore as it turns out to be? Yeah, it is kind of weird. Modern attention spans aren’t designed for such stimulus.

The easy way out, of course, would be to say, “Oh, I’ve got two hours to kill, let’s just do an ambient/noise thing.” But Tereshkova isn’t interested in pushing a few buttons and selling a few tapes. (He’s probably interested in selling some of these tapes, actually.) Instead, all of this is carefully crafted and excellently curated, running the gamut from noise to ambient (shoot, blowing my point here) to avant-garde electronics to musique concrète, but flowing effortlessly from one to the other throughout the course of a side. You’ll feel the electric currents as if they’re jolting you as circuits switch and conduct, connect and disconnect. You’ll wonder how Tereshkova gets melody to form from what seems like scrap gadgets. You’ll beg for the secrets as energy ripples from unknown sources and disrupts secret communications.

You’ll also find yourself floating far out somewhere in your galaxy as science-fiction loneliness transitions to deep introspection and contemplation about your place in the universe. Tereshkova knows a good synth soundtrack when he hears one, and he can get right into it with the best of them (see, especially, “Amniotic” on side C). But even in the densest gas clouds more enormous and formidable than any human mind can comprehend, there’s an anchor of hope, a human element, a connecting thread that prevents the external from overwhelming you. 

All these things come together in an alarmingly cohesive whole. 

So no matter how precious your time is, you should still be able to find a good two hours to hunker down with this thing. Edition of 150 from Astral Spirits!