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Cloud Tangle – Pocket
10.17.17 by Ryan Durfee

Cloud Tangle is the recording project of Amber Ramsay, who released this gorgeous short EP through Valley Heat Records outta Brisbane. It also happens to me my introduction to both these Aussies, and what a pleasant treat both turned out to be!

I’m glad this tape appeared in my mail box when it did, when Seattle is getting cold and gray again for the next ten months. “Pocket” is perfect for sitting by the window while listening to the rain fall with a nice cup of tea. The A side of the tape, which the label lists as the feature of the EP, is absolutely fantastic. The first song, “Always Falling,” starts out with reverb’d out organ until Ramsay’s haunted vocals float in. With the appearance of drums, the song gently morphs into a beautiful post rock tune. This first side of the cassette is highlighted by “The Feeling Of You,” an exquisitely evocative song built off of dreamy guitar chords riding a hypnotic loping beat while Amber’s lyrics about missing someone just sends chills down the spine in the best way possible.

The B side is a collection of instrumentals (including “The Feeling Of You!”), an exclusive to the tape release. Unlike many a instrumental/remix/etc B side affairs, these are definitely not throwaway songs. Each compliment the flip side wonderfully, and I find myself rewinding it constantly to hear the track “The End Of You.” My only qualm with this EP is that, well, it’s an EP! Too dang short, it is! I’m really excited to see what Amber Ramsay does on her next album as Cloud Tangle.

This tape has been stuck in my player for about a week, so you can’t have my copy. But you may cop one of the other 49 copies here.

Adam Gnade And Planet B – Life Is The Meatgrinder That Sucks In All Things
7.10.17 by Ryan Durfee

“Life Is A Meatgrinder That Sucks In All Things,” a collaboration between prolific author Adam Gnade and Planet B, which consists of Justin Pearson (Struggle, Swing Kids, Crimson Curse, Locust, …) / Gabe Serbian (Cattle Decapitation, Holy Molar, …) / Luke Henshaw (producer extraordinaire), is a prequel to Gnade’s last book, Locust House. It documents a time and place which folks in my age range look back on very fondly; a golden era, pre 9/11, pre internet boom, when life seemed simpler, more primal, more dangerous. Being fed by oil stained hands into the maws of the military industrial complex fueled by late stage capitalism. Adam’s writing exudes a wholesomeness, a lightness of being, a way of cutting through the external bullshit to shed light on who people really are at the core of things.

This tape, in an edition of 100 copies, focuses on Joey from Gnade’s excellent Caveworld book and San Diego at the turn of the century. A time when one could catch The Plot To Blowup The Eiffel Tower playing with Terror at Che Cafe, people watch at Pokez, and go to a house party at the mythic Golden Hill House. He recites the story in a post-apocalyptic tone, reminding me of the best of the beats, while the music backing Adam is skronky, minimal synth jazz, like Delia Derbyshire jamming with Pharoah Sanders. The B side of the tape are songs that Adam recorded on his own with a homemade four string guitar at the Hard Fifty Farm, a small Kansas farm of rescue animals he works along with others at Pioneers Press.

I can’t say enough good things about this tape, how life affirming Adam’s stories are, how they buoy you up during dark times like that 45 you played over and over again during your first major heartbreak. Buy this tape and then go buy everything that Adam Gnade has released. You’ll be thankful that you did.

Robert Turman – Veiling Reflections
6.13.17 by Ryan Durfee

Where to even begin?

Robert Turman is easily my favorite musician, and someone I would consider the most important living American artist. He deserves much more praise than he has received and it is a shame when we talk about paramount outsider musicians, his name is not one of the first mentioned. Robert’s albums sound just as fresh and as enervating now as they did when released in the 80’s. If you have never heard of Robert Turman or his various projects before, “Veiling Reflections” is a great introduction to his body of work.

Turman recorded “Veiling Reflections” for a RBMA event held in Zurich in late 2016. It is seeing release on tape through Präsens Editionen [CDr version from Turman’s own label, Actual Tapes]. The recording is meant to be an exploration through the realm of sleep, described as sleep/dream inducing hypnotica, so I have used it to drift off every night for the last three weeks. In sound it is closer to his work on “Flux” than other albums, but it’s a new and further exploration of a soundworld he created many years ago. You’ll hear one hour-long song. A gently loping loop which minutely evolves to incorporate soft pings of noise and softly whirling synths stretches for a dozen minutes until a guitar-based piece is introduced. An element that fades into the original loop as quickly as it appeared. If we’re using this as an analogy for sleep, this would be where you start to doze off, the warm waves of sound engulfing and lulling you into a deep repose. The song really starts to pick up speed at about thirty six minutes in when a swell of noise threatens to consume the entire piece, the environment becoming louder and a little messier, which makes me think of the oneironaut, eyes fluttering as they are pulled into the darkest depths to fight the chimera of the psyche. The song ends on a gentle note, bringing the dreamer back into the cold light of the anthropocene.

Grip the tape from Präsens Editionen, or a signed and numbered CDr edition direct from Turman.

Anders Brørby – Mulholland Drive, 1984
5.22.17 by Ryan Durfee

Released by the always excellent Hylé Tapes in a now sold out edition of 50 copies, Anders Brørby‘s “Mulholland Drive, 1984” is a perfect album for the late spring, with it’s ominous tones bringing to mind mist enshrouded forests and decaying cities. The title of course is a David Lynch reference, something you can hear that in the DNA of the album, but what this cassette most brings to my mind is J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World. I can picture the second track, “Black Room,” playing as the men touch down in the deep jungle, it’s watery tones mirroring the submerged landscape. Another choice cut is the six and a half minute “Persuasion of Existence.” Clattering accents reflect the unease felt by Dr. Kerans while trying to navigate the emotional malaise brought on by the humid jungle – And maybe a tinge of Tim Hecker.

One of the few missteps on an otherwise excellent album would be “Defeat.” While still a good song, it throws off the smooth flow of the album with the vocals. A flow Anders immediately brings back with the haunting synths of “Room With A Different View,” soothing as you begin to formulate a way to escape from the waterlogged city. In what will most likely end up as a personal favorite from this tape “A Sudden Sense Of Loss” incorporates some Angelo Badalamenti-esque horns to augment Anders’ crackling, seasick background sounds. Listeners are left on an unsettling note, wanting to hear his project unfurl. I for one can’t wait to see what Brørby does next.

Cop a digital version of “Mulholland Drive, 1984” here, and scope the usual suspects for a analog version to pop up.

Pyramidal – Come Home
5.4.17 by Ryan Durfee

I have spent a week or two listening to “Come Home” three or four times a day, but I still feel as if I don’t have the right words to praise it. I’ve thrown about comparisons to Bonobo and Boards of Canada, and while they do seem apt, it’s only because of Pyramidal‘s penchant to draw from the deep wellspring of late 2000’s downbeat electronica. Still, that doesn’t go far enough for what may be my favorite tape from the always on point Already Dead. There are also definite nods to hip hop (I wanna say trip hop, but is that even okay in 2k17?), warm, lush, and rounded synths, snaps that are perfectly dusty, and bass that hits just right.

This cassette was released back in November of 2016, but came to me in February, just in time for the constant deluge of rain that Cascadia is famous for. The weather provided plenty of time to sit around my apartment taking it’s sounds in, windows open, a soft patter outside, while smoking a pre roll. As a matter of fact, that may be the best time to list to this tape. “Come Home” is an album to be heard to from front-to-back, as each song propels the next forward. The album starts out on a park bench, with a field recording of a siren wailing and feet crunching on pavement. Voices chatter in the background, giving way to dark, drafty chords swathed in reverb. The second song, Life And Upbringing with it’s lovely sampled harp, lends the feeling of sitting in a brightly lit corner of a room with sun shining and dust motes floating around while Love Should Be Easy, is full of beautiful night tones; Walking under streetlights, enshrouded in a dark sky’s drizzle. My Old Cassette, the most straight forward nod to late 2000’s hip hop, doesn’t sound out of place against those tunes or older Brainfeeder releases. “Come Home” covers much ground, rounding things out with sumptuous synth swells (and what I -think- is marimba?).

This C46 is fantastic and available in an edition of 60 copies from Already Dead.