Lee Noble - Persona + Zine 04

Second pressing of Persona from Lee Noble on No Kings. Originally released on the exceptional Bridgetown records, Persona is six tracks of incredible outsider pop swimming lazily among fragmented bits of vocal and warm ambient sound collage. Meloncholic, depressed, nostalgic, and somehow sill hopeful and even at times joyful. Sounds like your favorite Sparklehorse track played backwards at half speed in a haunted farmhouse, or something like that.

Snatch this up along with one of the incredible collaborative zines on offer at No Kings. Zine 04 is an absolutely stunning 68 pages of art from names such as Felicia Atkinson, Frank Baugh, Grant and Rachel Evans, Geoffrey Sexton, and of course Lee Noble and many others.

If you cherish your j-cards as much as your tapes, these will melt your mind until it runs out your ear.

Nuojuva - Otavaiset Otsakkaha

Soothing, uplifting, naturalistic stuff from the latest moniker of Ous Mal, Nuojuva, on Hooker Vision. Ghostly vocals, delicate layers of synth and guitar, soft chimes, and electronics that bubble and flow like spring ice melt. Reminds me of "Drift" from Adham Shaikh and Tim Floyd, with it's sense of warmth and character. Otavaiset Otsakkaha walks deep into lush green woods, looks up at the sun, smiles, and breathes deeply of the air. It is an impossibility to feel worse for having heard this tape.

I grabbed my walkman and summited the sun bathed hill to the best vantage point at Hawk Mountain. Tape and trail a perfect partnership.

I purchased from Discriminate, but they appear to be out of stock as does the label. Check around or keep your fingers crossed for a restock.

Oren Ambarchi - Audience of One

This AM in the Northeast brought with it icy squalls, covering everything in several inches of snow and providing the perfect juxtaposition to relax with the warm signature guitar tone of Oren Ambarchi.

Ambarchi can lay claim to one of the most expansive and genre traversing catalogues in the experimental scene. His work remains brilliant with his latest release from Touch, Audience of One, which offers an extremely diverse genre mix, from more traditional guitar fuzz and rumble, to softer sounds laced with pop arragemets. Like much of Ambarchi's work, Audience of One feels mechanically precise and yet somehow alive and unexpected. Track 2, "Knots" is a masterclass piece of progressional drone. An over 30 minute controlled chaotic blend of electronics and live instrumentation. Beginning in near minimalism, rising with a tide of mixed melodic guitar, and punctuating in a wave of live drumming before fading back into electronic debris. The entire disc is a complex, highly detailed composition.

I purchased from the exceptional Experimedia, and recommend their services wholeheartedly for your pursuit of auditory bliss.

Secret Girls - In Hiding

Really, really, digging this tape from Prairie Fire. Each of the four tracks on "In Hiding" is soft and fragile, yet open and massive. Faint whispers of beautiful drone are delicately painted against thick black brushstrokes of heavy cavernous bass. The entire recording shows restraint by never letting either layer outpace the other, maintaining the distance of each from the listener. Steadily drifting forward, and yet never seeming to arrive, these tracks are like the headlights of a car, approaching for miles on a country road. Far as I can interpret, these aren't sounds for the moment, these are sounds for the moment before.

I found this one, digging as I usually love to do, through the virtual bins at Discriminate, and copies are also available directly through Prairie Fire as well.

Try as I might, I can't find a clip to embed, but please, take an extra click here. I think this one is something truly special.

Venn Rain - Diamond Dust

Hot on the heels of his self released 20 Loops, Jimmy Billingham, the artist behind Venn Rain and Tidal drops another killer work, this time on Fadeaway Tapes. Super lush blurred out layers of melody one on top of the other, with occasional bits of rhythm build seamlessly into a something that simultaneously sounds extraterrestrial and nostalgic. Absolutely one of my favorite artists going right now, hitting all the right notes between melody, timbre, and engaging progression. If martians land in a jungle 1,000 years from now and use some type of futuristic dowsing rod to dig this tape up from under a layer of muck, they might just let us live ...assuming they have a tape deck.

The entire new batch from Fadeaway is pretty incredible, and includes tapes from Sparkling Wide Pressure, Cenote Glow, and Aphid Palisades. Venn Rain is already sold out at some distros, but the whole batch can still be ordered like I did, direct from Fadeaway Tapes.

Venn Rain - 20 Loops

20 Loops from Venn Rain is exactly what it says, twenty loops on a single cassette. Each loop seems capable of being fleshed out into a complete track, showcasing deep and moving melodies that drift into, and out of, fields of haze and distortion. However, the structure of the entire cassette gives us only snapshots and ends each track abruptly. Each loop has an almost robotic charm. It's hard to verbalize, but perhaps best described as a forgotten automoton playing a rusty piano thinking about more pleasant times, or something like that. Based on their similarity with other Venn Rain and Tidal tapes, I'm guessing these loops may be bits and pieces not fully incorporated into the other works from creator Jimmy Billingham.

I've always very much enjoyed both of those projects, and did not hesitate to pick this up by following the directions here. Word to the wise, don't wait long, there are only 20 copies, and each has a unique package.